The Book of Genesis: A Biblical Worldview - Research Paper Example

And within the bible itself, the list of most debated verses is topped by the account of the creation as told by the Book of Genesis. Nonbelievers and scientists join forces to debunk the story of creation with their own worldview that is in stark contrast with the biblical worldview. Before I move forward with the discussion, there is a need to define the concept of worldview first. Worldview has been defined in different ways but my favorite is that of Philips and Brown (1999) which states that, "A worldview is, first of all, an explanation and interpretation of the world and second, an application of this view to life.

In simpler terms, our worldview is a view of the world and a view for the world." In the first four chapters of the Book of Genesis, there are several elements that I think are essential for a biblically informed worldview. The first element is the first verse of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”(Genesis 1:1). It is the first sentence of the entire bible which could also serve as the bible’s abstract or summary. In essence, it tells the reader that God made everything, no more, no less.

This is the biblically informed worldview. I also dare to submit that even the great big bang theory touted by science supports the worldview that indeed, God made everything.. This is the origin of the concept of stewardship. Humans are to take care of the earth, not to abuse and exhaust all of its resources. If only a majority of men and women who claim to be civilized, lettered and creative beings on earth adapt to this worldview, then there would be no global warming, no famine and no fighting over scarce resources.

The third element that is essential for a biblical worldview is the passage which states, “Where is Abel your brother?’ And he said, ‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’” (Genesis 4:9). This is the perhaps the saddest reality of the cutthroat capitalist culture that we have today. To each his own and mind your own business. When God asks Cain about Abel, he is actually telling us that we all are our brother’s keepers. We need to look out for each other. We are stewards of the earth and of one another.

This is the biblically informed worldview that we need to adopt. There is the biblically informed worldview on the one hand while there is the zeitgeist of our culture on the other hand. Merriam Webster defines the word zeitgeist as the “the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era.” Therefore, the zeitgeist of our culture is featured by capitalist competition for resources and a penchant for things created by modern technology some of which have gone to the extent of playing the omnipresent and powerful God like cloning.

We essentially live in a throw away society with little value for stewardship over the creations of God. There is also the culture of violence and sexuality that basically disregards the worldview that humankind is created out of the image of God. Desecrate a human being and you desecrate