When I was a kid, I had unlimited energy. I ran around the house, I dug in the dirt and I explored creeks. I searched every single closet in the house looking for treasure, and I spent most of my time imagining other worlds. A dirt pile became a battlefield. A few trees became an enchanted forest. During that time in my life, I saw what could be instead of what was... and then I grew up. Not that I lost my imagination, but the demands of high school, and later college, forced me to acknowledge reality. If this sounds depressing to you, then you most likely have experienced something similar. The pressure to know what is real tends to extinguish the wonder of what real actually is.
Thankfully, the story does not end there. Sophomore year of college, I had the privilege of taking the Intro to Philosophy course as part of my biblical studies major. Dr. Meek, who taught that class, opened my eyes to the wonder reality holds. She posited that our worldview today deifies information as true knowledge of reality, but true knowledge extends much further than factual information; rather, knowledge involves an active pursuit of truth which respects truth as something alien from ourselves, yet ingrained in our being. In other words, if we are to know anything at all, we must first seek out God.
Thus as our knowledge of God grows, so too will our knowledge of reality and truth. Why else would Jesus claim to be the only way to the Father, and by extension, the only way to reality. Now you may be rolling your eyes right now. This may be either painfully obvious or completely bonkers to you. But consider this; the world and everything in it has been created by an all-powerful God who exists everywhere in this universe and yet is completely separate from it. His being is so beyond the physical and tactile universe, and he even transcends time itself, yet everything, including ourselves, bears his mark. Like an artist signing a canvas, God has woven himself into reality in such a way that we can look at the complexity of creation and wonder at the complexity of its creator. This act of wonder and this active pursuit of God is what I call "Christian Epistemology."
In philosophy, epistemology is the study of how we as humans know things. Christian Epistemology then, is the study of how we know all things through knowing God. Dr. Meek calls this Covenant Epistemology, which is her way of explaining the interpersonal relationship we have with creation and with God. Thus our knowledge of reality is not information, but rather knowledge is a covenant with truth itself; it is a covenant with God himself.
How does this relate to you then? If you are a Christian attending college in a world of science and fact, how are you to interpret the world? How do you know what you know? Simply put, the best way to truly begin to know the world is to look at it with wonder. Watch the birds live their lives and wonder at the simple beauty. Take the time to appreciate the way trees sway in the breeze. Listen to your friend as they talk about something they are passionate about. Recapture the beauty found in the mundane. Matthew 10:29-31 says, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." God pays attention to the smallest details, and if we truly want to know, if we truly want to see God, we can find him in the smallest of places caring for the smallest of animals. So next time you are in class, remember that by knowing all things you can know God.
Even the boring stuff can reveal wondrous things to those willing to look. This is my challenge to you; take five minutes each day to look at a plant or an animal or a friend and try to notice all the minute details God has built into them. I promise you that you will find more than you can count. This is not an in-depth guide to changing your world-view, but this is how to begin. And perhaps as time goes, on you will find less and less information in the world, and instead, begin to find more and more of God.
