How Your Theology Shapes your Worldview

1. Your doctrine of God.
Does God have all power and authority over the universe? Or is history a battle between good and evil forces? Is this world rational and ordered? What is justice, good, truth, beauty? How are these reflections of God's character? What is the significance of the affirmation that "the Word became flesh" for our view of our humanness and the importance of this world?

2. Your doctrine of man
Is man a product of chance? What distinguishes humans from the rest of creation?
What is the "image of God"? Do people still possess that image even if they aren’t?
Christians? What does this mean for the arena of life we share in common with non-Christians (work and play, etc.)? Are humans basically good or evil? What does this mean for government and law? How do we balance liberty and justice? Can we expect to build an ideal society?

3. Your doctrine of salvation
Is salvation eternal or temporal? Do people really need saving? From what? Of what does the Christian doctrine of salvation consist? Is salvation the work of God entirely, or the work of God and man, or man alone?

4. Your doctrine of the church
Are we saved from the world, or saved in the world? Is the church a community that is separated from the world or to God in the world? Is the church a community of only those who are truly saved, or is it a mixed body of Christians and hypocrites who will only be sorted out on the last day? How important are the earthly sacraments of bread, wine and water in our Christian experience? What are my responsibilities to the church as well as to my calling?

5. Your doctrine of history and the future
Is God's history of salvation, from Genesis to Revelation, a story of escape from this world and normal human history, or a story of providence and redemption in real time and space history? Arc we wasting our time getting involved in this world when it is going to pass away at our Lord's return?
Modern Reformation March/April 1992