Essentials of the Gospel

A worldview is a term that describes the foundation of truth that society uses to perceive and coexist. A worldview implicitly represents humanity's perspective on the universe. While everybody has a worldview, it is exclusive to them. Humans make choices about their lives, values, and how to live based on their worldviews. A person with a Christian worldview, for example, is dedicated to following Jesus Christ's teachings. The paper focuses on God, Jesus, humanity, and redemption when discussing gospel fundamentals of the Christian faith. The paper also includes a discussion of the Christian philosophy as well as a personal reflection on it. God The characteristics of God are the main components of the Christian worldview. God is a Sovereign creator of the heaven and earth upon which praise, honor, and glory belong. In John 4, God is like a spirit. In addition, Hiles & Smith, (21) states that God is a human being; he is love, holy and righteous.
While the book of Genesis presents the attributes of God, Merrick, (4) shows that God is not only loving but also great in mercies and forgiveness. God loves his children and there are several examples in the bible for instance in John 3:16, where God gives His only beloved Son to salvage humanity by dying on the cross. However, God also puts a demand that it is only those that believe in His beloved Son Jesus that are guaranteed of eternity. At that point, believing in Jesus Christ is a matter of choice. This demonstrates that God’s love is not only eternal but also bountiful because He gave his only son to take human sins away. In addition according to Psalm 145, God is righteous, good, faithful, kind, trustworthy and gracious. God is also merciful, unchanging and sovereign. While Paul brings into perspective the invisible features of God such as divinity and eternity as exemplified in Romans 1:20; God is also perfect and all knowing. Again, He exists as three persons, God the father, the son and the spirit. God’s creation is basically humanity and all other things. In essence, he created everything in the world. Kennedy, (15) view God as the source as well the creator of everything. He is also described with perfect characteristics such as omnipotence, immutable, and omniscience. Moreover, God created the earth, and it is evident that He created life. This reflects just how God has power over all humanity and eternal love for all individuals. Without the aspect of creation in which God is the chief architect, it would be impossible for humanity to exist, and yet since God he created everything on earth, it shows how powerful and sovereign He is.
Humanity
God created human beings in his image, which means that they have not only nature but also purpose and problem. The human nature is what makes humanity unique from animals. Moreover, human nature enables people to feel as well as think differentiating them from other creatures. With regards to the Christian worldview, human beings were created in God’s likeness and image to dominate His creation. Genesis 3 demonstrates that human nature is sinful due to Adam and Eve who were tempted by the serpent. This is recognized as the main fall of man. As such, the human nature is not good or fulfilling in God’s presence and humanity has to do well in the name of God and keep away from sins or give in to the devil’s temptations (McFarland, Kilby & Torrance, 8). When it comes to the human purpose, it involves giving glory to God, worshipping Him and abiding by his word, the Bible. Other human purposes include taking dominion over the world, multiply and remain faithful to one another. Even though human beings were created to live their lives based on God’s wisdom, human purpose provides ways of living wisely, knowing and loving God (McKim, 19). Due to the sinful nature of Adam and Eve, human beings are sinful. The main cause of the human problem is the sin committed by Adam and Even for disobeying God. Everybody sins and alleges that this is the major cause of pain, morality and other problems including famine and diseases in the world.
Jesus
The works and identity of Jesus are fundamental to the Christina worldview. For instance, the true identity of Jesus is being the Messiah, the son of God and one of the trinities. In addition, in Christian faith, Jesus is the focus. He is also the man that walked all over the earth preaching the gospel, but he is not an ordinary person. According to John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. In this context, the son refers to Jesus. Merrick, (4) states that Jesus is God’s word through which God communicated to his creation. Additionally, Matthew 20:28 show that Jesus came to serve while giving his life to save many. He came to redeem humanity from sin. Therefore, the identity of Jesus is essential to Christian worldview is the not just the focus but also the motivation of Christianity. The life of Jesus is a good example of how Christians must live. Jesus is the son of God and dedicated to serving others. Jesus does not focus on status rather on the needy that need help can as well teach humanity on how to like God and Jesus (Grenz, Guretzki & Nordling, 19). Jesus did all these to demonstrate to human what they should do as his disciples.
Restoration
Jesus brought restoration to human problems. Restoration comprises of faith and grace, which are important in transforming the society of people. Based on the Christian worldview, the salvation is the answer to human problems. In turn, salvation involves faith as well as grace, as such; humans should put faith in the salvation of Jesus. Additionally, they should confess their sins and need the savior. The need for a savior implies that Christians recognize that prayer alone, good actions, or rituals can guarantee salvation. Basically, God grants salvation based on grace and not individual actions (Hiles & Smith, 24-26). Many Christians acknowledge that transformation of people and society takes place through God’s grace. They believe that when a person receives salvation, they grow spiritually and moral actions.
Analysis
The popularity of Christianity is anchored in the testimonies of its strengths and benefits. Christianity focuses on the gospel as the foundation of life. It answers practical challenges, provides comfort in times o need, guides people how to treat others and provides hope. Hope is the main strength o Christian and denotes various things in different conditions. Pragmatically, leading a Christian worldview gives individuals hope so that they change their views and actions to live better lives. Nonetheless, the troubling aspect associated with Christianity is that it intricate to assess the outcomes of leading a Christian life (Merrick, 7). For example, the normative testimonies of Christian life and faith are considerably high whilst individuals that practice Christianity are extremely ordinary. In any case, there is a huge gap between what individuals profess and their actual regular actions. With God’s eternal love, Christianity has several benefits as well as troubles some aspects, and it influences, there is a gap between values Christians wish to fulfill and the capability. The death of Jesus on the cross was to save humanity from sins, which does not prevent individuals from sinning. According to the Christian worldview, only Jesus was perfect, hence free from sins (Grenz, Guretzki & Nordling, 25). Therefore, the gap is not an issue, but how Christians respond to it. Some believers set inevitable objectives to meet such that when they fail they move away from God. Others recognize the gap and are insecure. To respond to perceive inequities they espouse a holier-than-thou attitude of criticizing others due to their failures, which in reality is committing worse sins. The worst response a Christian may have is viewing the gap while ignoring the grace of God and adopting cheap grace (Merrick, 2). In fact, cheap grace is not only embarrassing but also harmful and corrupts people as it eliminates honesty.
Reflection
While living a Christian worldview is not easy, however, it is essential due to significance highlighted on truth. Living out the Christian worldview does not occur on Sunday. I believe that this places many opportunities that are used demonstrating Christian values in a secular setting. Nonetheless, as a Christian, I have come across many people that of not understand, which has opened up discussion regarding God’s purposes or everyone. In addition, I have learned that individuals are curious and what to know how I came to know about God. As a Christian, I try to keep away from sins while obeying the commandments of God. Nonetheless, at times this is intricate. I also find it useful to keep a diary of my daily actions. I keep this diary in my Bible and record the daily devotions. The diary has two columns; one column comprises of a record of activities I did well in the day and the other contains sins committed daily. I believe this is the simplest strategy that assists me to see areas that I should pray more and those that the Holy Spirit has helped me.

Conclusion
Christian worldview involves individuality; however, it depends on certain assumptions. There is God, who is powerful, omnipresent, merciful, gracious, compassionate, sovereign and so forth God also comprises of three components of the trinity including the father, son and holy spirit He created the earth and heaven with careful consideration of the earth and its dwellers. Human beings are God’s likeness and image. As such, they have the responsibility to take care of the creation while practicing free will. Adam and Eve did not use free will cautiously, which contributed to the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden. Because of the Adam and Eve’s sin, humanity is affected by sin, pain, diseases, suffering and death, which were not the initial plan of God. Sin is very pervasive that is now an element of human nature and the main cause of human problems. Sin separates people from God, as such, God sent his son to earth to save humanity from sin. Jesus lived on earth preaching as well as teaching disciple until he died to save humanity from sin. Jesus sacrifice opened heaven for individuals’ souls to ascend after death. Individuals are guaranteed of salvation by leading Christian values. Works CitedGrenz, S. J., Guretzki, D., & Nordling, C. F. IVP Pocket Reference Series: Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms. Westmont, IL: InterVarsity Press. Web. 1999. Accessed 12 Jan. 2017Hiles, J. S. & Smith, A. F. Evaluating wisely: Elements of a worldview. In A. DiVincenzo (Ed.), The beginning of wisdom: An introduction to Christian thought and life. Web. 2014. Accessed 12 Jan. 2017Kennedy, P. Christianity: An Introduction. London, GBR: I.B. Tauris. Web. 2011. Accessed 12 Jan. 2017McFarland, I. A., Kilby, K., & Torrance, I. R. (Eds.). Cambridge dictionary of Christian theology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Web. 2011. Accessed 12 Jan. 2017McKim, D. K. Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. Web. 1996. Accessed 12 Jan. 2017Merrick, J. The wisdom and mercy of God. In A. DiVincenzo (Ed.), The beginning of wisdom: An introduction to Christian thought and life. Web. 2014. Accessed 12 Jan. 2017