What is involved in a Christian worldview? What truths or principles must one hold in trying to develop a Christian outlook on life. Below is a sketch of essential ideas and beliefs which must guide our thinking if we hope to be faithful to our calling as ‘the light of the world’ (Matthew 5:14). I adapted them from James Orr’s classic book, The Christian View of God and the World.

1. There is a Personal, moral and self-revealing God
2. God created the world, is immanent within it, transcends it completely, and governs it wisely.
3. Man is a spiritual being because he was created in God’s likeness. Thus he possesses dignity.
4. The world is sinful and disorderly, not by necessity,  but because man willfully turned against his creator. Therefore Redemption is necessary.
5. God has been revealing himself throughout history, starting with the patriarchs, through the line of Israel, then culminating  in the person of Jesus Christ. This revelation has brought to light God’s plan for the salvation of the world.
6. Jesus Christ is no mere man, but is the eternal Son of God who took on human nature for the purpose of redemption. For this reason, He is worthy of absolute honour, worship, and trust.
7. The world has and is being redeemed through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
8. The aim of Christ’s work is the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth, which involves not only the salvation of souls but the transformation of society.
9. The flow of time will be terminated by the return of Jesus Christ, when he will judge both the living and the resurrected dead, and there will be a final separation of the righteous and the wicked.