Reflection On My Life

Christian Worldview is the most challenging course I am taking this semester. It has been a challenge because I have always been unsure in my beliefs; I was never taught more than direct scripture. I never fully committed myself to Christianity; I have been attending a Baptist church for around six years but I have never felt compelled to be baptized. It is hard for me to feel the authenticity of a church. I feel people who proclaim to be Christian wear a certain mask on Sunday mornings. I do want to become a baptized church goer but instead a blind follower of Jesus Christ. Through the last ten weeks the dust has been brushed my Bible and I have been actively searching for God. This course has exposed me to different ideas behind God, humanity, Jesus and the Restoration enough for me to create my own thoughts and opinions.

This semester of Christian Worldview has been beneficial for me learning more about all different types of worldviews. I started this class with a Christian background but a clean slate of not knowing what my true worldview really was. As I went through the semester, I gained tons of new knowledge to help me understand how my opinions matched with the different worldviews.

With the University of the Incarnate Word being a religious school with a strong religious background it was really no surprise to me that I would have to take two religious classes. Taking Religious Quest right after taking a Philosophy class has been quite mind altering to say the least. Thinking about all the different aspects of the universe, and trying to figure out the truth is something that I don’t think we as humanity will ever know the answer to. This is where religion fits in for me. It’s not our job to figure it all out, if we live by faith and treat others as we expect to be treated I believe it will all work its way out in the end. Like I mentioned in my autobiography in week one, I was raised Methodist. It was actually me that got my parents into religion at all. We used to go to church for the big events like Easter and Christmas. I ended up finding out when I was about seven years old that my mother felt badly for never getting me baptized as a child. When I overheard her talking about it one day I said to her “so why don’t we just do it know?” She started to tear up a little but said “okay.” Once I was baptized our family as a whole went to church almost every Sunday from that point on. There was a huge transformation in both my mother and father. It was amazing and I’ve never regretted it for a moment. This experience is very important to me, and really helped set the stage for what religion means to me.

Some of the biggest questions can be tied together. Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Does God exist? Numerous amounts of people ask these questions, every day, every second. Though it can be a bit hard to find the answers, especially when people have different opinions on topics. But there is one place in where people can take comfort and read when they have the huge questions. These all can be answered by reading the Bible. My worldview has also been altered by this course. Although it is not completely the same as what I have been taught, it has changed some.

Church ministry at a much smaller level handicapped my understanding for such lifelong learning. The semesters of study and hands-on ministry in Highlands College have deepened my passion for lifelong learning. My third semester class, A Biblical Worldview with Gina Cox, challenged me to expand my knowledge of the topics through research in both God’s Word and in outside texts. The need for a concrete understanding of the truths from God’s Word was developed by the challenging nature of the content presented. The book we used, Christian Worldview A Student’s Guide by Philip Graham Ryken, was an incredible help for me in better understanding “worldview.” I discovered that I had a very limited worldview as a result of a limited understanding of the topic. Upon self examination, I realized that my limited understanding of the topic was due to my lack of lifelong learning. This challenged me to become better in this and resulted in a deeper passion for lifelong learning. The challenge to be a great lifelong learner, instead of an average or good lifelong learner, has caused me to increase my scripture

When one chooses, to attend a Christian University, you expect to be met and challenged by the word of God and those who believe in the Christ, but I was not prepared for the amount of integration biblical principles would have in my weekly assignments. Through the adult studies seminar II course, I have learned to rest in the truth

This course helped me develop a deeper understanding of my faith and has helped to me progress along my spiritual journey. Before this class I did not really know that much about Christian history and how it developed as a religion. Now, I have learned more about they history of Christianity and better understand it. I also learned more about the Bible, especially the Gospels and the New Testament. I never really knew the differences between the four Gospels and how each one was interpreted and just understood that they were different books of the Bible. Now I understand how each are different from one another, especially the Gospel of John. Also I now know more about some books of the New Testament. I haven’t read the Bible in it’s entirety

Before taking this course, I had no idea that I had a worldview. I know my worldview didn’t change, but my understanding of myself, others and what that means changed enormously. I learned something very useful and important about the way I perceive things and gain knowledge; I learned about things I didn’t know previously.

Great to here that you have been impacted tremendously by this course. I believe that one of the greatest accomplishments of a Christian is to understand and learn how to make right choices in life. Such as, choosing to be obedient to the word of God, choosing that which is not passing, and choosing that which is for eternity can take time to learn. Why? It is so important, for the reason that one’s choices will determine the quality of life, circumstances, successes, victories, accomplishments, purposes, achievements, prosperity, triumph, tranquility, etc. On the other hand, not to choice wisely can bring failure, lack of success, nonfulfillment, dereliction, collapse, suffering, pain, lostness, aguish, spiritual bankruptcy, etc. Just as your

I never thought learning about Worldviews would teach me so much about myself and everyone around me. I am also excited to start using the knowledge I also gained about my finances and resources I have. I am more than grateful that I had the opportunity to take this course. First and foremost, I have learned about my worldview and why I believe the things I do. The required class book Making Sense of Your World was very beneficial.

Beginning the writing process, I established for myself a mental roadmap. I asked myself what I was trying to say, and what the goal or intent of the writing would be. Was I attempting to persuade my readers, or to be didactic instead? I considered the "how" part of the equation later, and honed each sentence word for word. The how part of the writing process was relatively simple compared to the question of what to say, and why. I had to imbue the paper with social commentary, for there was much to say about these readings.

One's dream and aspirations to supersede in life must be stronger and greater than limitations set forth by others. The experience that were bestowed to me during my short life has elevated me to the woman I am today. Please walk with me as I give you the opportunity to see the world from my eyes:

Today I reflected on my life and my ambitions and dreams. I also reflected on how I came to be where I am in my life. I can honestly say I like my job and the direction my life is going, finally. I have a wonderful wife that I know is the reason I am where I am today. I can take no credit for my job or even the education I am getting because she encouraged me to go back to school and continue my education or I would not have. These thoughts make me feel emancipated when I admit them because it is often hard for me to admit that my wife is the one who made me what I am and not myself. The decisions I made in my youth I know are a product of my own bad judgment and I cannot place that blame on anyone but myself. My children are grown, and we are not close in our relationship. I can only blame myself for my selfish attitude when they were young. I blame myself not only for not always being accessible to my children but because I chose to put my career as a detective before my children. This was no one else’s decision but my own and I have paid for these choices in many ways over the span of my life.

breathe or function at all and would be an empty shell for one cannot operate or function without it.

I grew up in Flower Mound, Texas, an affluent town which does not have a large diverse population. As I entered high school in 2010, 2.2% of the town’s population was bi-racial, which meant Flower Mound High School’s bi-racial student population remained minuscule. Due to the small population of bi-racial teenagers, I constantly felt as if a magnifying glass was held above me. For example, in several Pre-AP classes, my work was never showcased, even if I received the same or higher grade than my fellow student—my work and my work ethic were ignored, which encouraged me to excel. With every project, assignment, or test, I would go above and beyond by completing extra credit, asking for unneeded guidance, and going into a teacher’s off-hours