A moron's worldview

I mean more on worldviews. MORE ON. Of course, that's what I meant. Anyway, I see a difference between a worldview and an ideology. An ideology can be embraced and put on like a coat. But not a worldview�??a worldview is mostly involuntary. As an ideology, Christianity is a regimen for transformation. Like any regimen, the first thing it does is present me with a goal. The result is that I see how far from that goal I really am. Take "Love your enemies," for example. St. Paul writes to the Romans that they should "put on Christ." He reminds the Corinthians that they "have the mind of Christ," and the Galatians that they have "clothed themselves with Christ." It's all another way of saying, "Don't forget the ideology you have chosen to believe." It can be very much like putting on a costume, because so much of what the ideology demands is different from who I already am. It requires me to be far more than I am used to being. But one of the truly interesting aspects of Christianity is its transforming effect. It's an ideology that can actually reshape my worldview. It can give me new reflexes and new responses to life. Christianity on paper is an ideology, Christianity in practice can make a different person out of me. Loving my neighbor isn't just a good thing to do, it can change who I am. To the Ephesians, St. Paul writes "be renewed in the spirit of your minds," and "put on the new self." To Corinth he writes about "becoming the righteousness of God." This vocabulary can be off-putting to modern sensibilities, which is a shame, because what's being said is mind-blowing. The claim here is that through the full embrace and practice of the ideology taught by Jesus, we actually begin to acquire his attributes. We start acting like him and thinking like him, exhibiting his reflexes and his responses to life. And not merely because we're trying to, but because in time, that becomes who we really are. For me, that's the point. Transformation. Ever forward.

Posted via web from Ever Forward