Therefore, for the better part of the last fifteen years I was raised, and developed into the young man. Considering this, I believe it gives me a distinctive outlook on things and a diverse culture to share and learn from in comparison to other kids.
The most surprising world view I discovered in the book, The Transforming Vision, by Walsh and Middleton was the ability for a follower of Christ to be open-minded toward other cultures that are different in their beliefs, practices, and values. The reading has taught me not to be so one-sided on issues, but to listen to others who have a different perspective than I do. We all come from different backgrounds and not everyone shares the same values. The book gives examples of how each culture practices their traditions and customs. For example, the Japanese value the trait of loyalty.
Our worldview is influenced by our education, our upbringing, books we read, the culture we live in, the movies we see, Media, etc. According to (Weider & Gutierrez, Finding Your Worldview p.59) a person’s worldview “Is a philosophy of life, a framework a person brings to decision- making,” whether it is decisions about life, school, a new job, or more importantly religion. Everyone has a belief system. There are three prominent worldviews such as Theism,
I have received a great education and an understanding of my religion that has readied me for an amazing high school career and later a great life. One of the most important values OLG has taught me is to accept everyone because we are all equal in God’s eyes. OLG has a very diverse student population that has introduced me to many different cultures and religions. In the real world, we are not all going to look or act the same. God made each of us different!
Part One – Christian Worldview In today’s world it is easy to become enchanted by worldly things. The deceptions that Christian’s allow themselves to believe (i.e. just this once, it’s not going to hurt anyone, I can handle it, I can stop whenever I want, etc.) come directly from Satan. There was a time when hearing a curse word or seeing too much flesh in a movie would be embarrassing; now it appears to be the norm and most Christians do not even bat an eye at such things any more.
Although because of who I was and how I was raised, I developed myself on a basis of my family. Over the past 12 years my parents took my brother and I to Cambodian monastery temples. I recall going to ones in Silver Spring, MD, Chicago, IL, Atlanta, GA, Nashville, TN, and here in Lexington, and Louisville, KY. Experiencing different communities helped shaped my understanding of what diversity really means. My parents did not take me to these temples to put the knowledge
According to Nicholi Jr. (2002) our worldview, “helps us understand where we come from, our heritage; who we are, our identity; why we exist on this planet, our purpose; what drives us, our motivation; and where we are going, our destiny” (p. 7). The biggest strength of a worldview is that it enables an individual to form a theory of his or her own reality. The individual then utilizes this concept of reality and its ideals to understand the world in which they live in. For instance, my Christian Worldview is solely based on the solid foundation of God’s inspired Word.
Entering my junior year of high school, I felt compelled to start a Bible study at my school. I enlisted some of my friends, and we began building the foundation of, Alive. We were aware that we would face animosity from peers, but we wouldn’t let it stop us. Unfortunately, administration was worried that we would spark an uprising of groups who wanting the opposite of what we were about. The red tape of separation of church and state was brought to our attention, even though we were not doing anything wrong.
Starting public school opened my eyes to the differences between my family and the traditional American family. Through my progression in school, I noticed majority of my friends were Christians and their experiences in the United States were significantly different from mine. I remained perplexed by how unalike our lives could be even though we were all born and brought up in America. My friends ate pepperoni on their pizzas, had crushes on girls, and didn’t have to pray five times a day like I did. This led me to investigate what else was different about my religion.
How a person behaves, what they say, what they do, where they go, what they watch, what they listen to all comes down to three things…what they believe, who they believe, and how much they believe it. As followers of Christ, we will act, speak, and respond differently than when we did beforehand all based on believing the Word of God as true. For me, sometimes believing is hard and seems downright impossible because of situations and circumstances that are beyond my personal control. Sometimes I even question God, His ways, and His plans, and then, He reminds me not to lean on my own understanding, but on His. It’s okay to have questions, but it’s not okay to lose faith over them.
In university I took history, religion, and cultural classes. This gave me knowledge of a wide variety of diverse individuals and cultures. As well, I was
Growing up in a diverse city, the culture around me has always been different. Every person that I see always has a different type of belief than me. I’m a 17 year old Muslim student who lives in Southeast Texas. My father is from the Middle East, and my mother is from Western Europe. My parents migrated as refugees from Croatia to Houston in 1995 due to the ongoing war in Yugoslavia.
Furthermore my view of world rest in my basic belief system that summarizes what I values, morals and ethical. Those all contribute to the way I view the world. Coming from an African Christian background I have been grounded with a strict foundational religious beliefs that God created the universal and everything within this world. Which influences my religion, the culture in which I have grown up, my family upbringing and my everyday life. According to Genesis (1:26-27) man and female were created in God’s image that I strongly believe in.
Religion My earliest religious experiences shaped me to know God. Despite that fact, I also learned and had modeled for me how not be know God. I was raised in a religion that told me how to think and act without evidenced based facts. I did learn to care for others, but not all others.
Making a Difference in My Community What are your long-term personal and education goals? How has knowledge or awareness of your own culture and other cultures affected your understanding of yourself? What key experiences with your own and/or other cultures influenced your goals and your interactions with others? Please provide specific examples.
