My Email Signatures

I have multiple email accounts. Its pretty common for someone to have an account they use for their personal communications and one for their professional communications.

For the longest time my personal email signature has been:

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Dusten Lee Harward

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because I see everything by it.” C.S. Lewis.

www.dustenharward.com

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Being a marketing professional I have always felt that your email signature should be used to say something about who you are and give the recipient a way to connect with you.

So for a business email address it’s a great way to display your company logo, contact information, and a few links to your social media profiles. That way if the person you are emailing is a client or vender then they can follow you and have a way to leave you a review.

On a more personal side I thought I could put something in there that allowed someone to look into the window of my life for a brief moment and possibly understand me a little more.

This quote has been really important to me for a long time. As you should already know I am a Christian. I have always looked at life through the light of scripture.

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because I see everything by it.”

What quote defines the way you think about the world? Would you be willing to put that in your email signature?

Why does a biblical worldview matter? By Dr. Del Tackett


How does a biblical worldview get diluted?

Here is the big problem. Nonbiblical worldview ideas don’t just sit in a book somewhere waiting for people to examine them. They bombard us constantly from television, film, music, newspapers, magazines, books and academia.

Because we live in a selfish, fallen world, these ideas seductively appeal to the desires of our flesh, and we often end up incorporating them into our personal worldview. Sadly, we often do this without even knowing it.

For example, most Christians would agree with 1 Thessalonians 4:3 and other Scriptures that command us to avoid sexual immorality, but how often do Christians fall into lust or premarital and extramarital sexual sin? Is it simply because they are weak when tempted, or did it begin much earlier, with the seductive lies from our sexualized society?

Why does a biblical worldview matter?

If we don’t really believe the truth of God and live it, then our witness will be confusing and misleading. Most of us go through life not recognizing that our personal worldviews have been deeply affected by the world. Through the media and other influences, the secularized American view of history, law, politics, science, God and man affects our thinking more than we realize. We then are taken “captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ” (Colossians 2:8).

However, by diligently learning, applying and trusting God’s truths in every area of our lives — whether it’s watching a movie, communicating with our spouses, raising our children or working at the office — we can begin to develop a deep comprehensive faith that will stand against the unrelenting tide of our culture’s nonbiblical ideas. If we capture and embrace more of God’s worldview and trust it with unwavering faith, then we begin to make the right decisions and form the appropriate responses to questions on abortion, same- sex marriage, cloning, stem-cell research and even media choices. Because, in the end, it is our decisions and actions that reveal what we really believe.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

 

by my good friend and professor Dr. Del Tackett

This excerpt was taken from an article listed on focusonthefamily.org and can be found in its entirety here

What are some Christian Worldview Essentials? (From CARM.org)

A worldview is a set of beliefs used to understand the world. Everyone has a worldview.  Everyone has a set of principles by which to judge right and wrong, and which guides them in everyday living.  You stop at a red light, go at a green. You leave a tip with a waiter or a waitress.  You try and color coordinate your clothes.  You voice your order for food to a speaker box while sitting in your car.  You cast a vote for a political leader.  Why do these things?  Because you are accustomed to doing them in a manner that is consistent with what you believe.  In other words, you behave according to your worldview.

Your worldview forms the basis of how you interpret reality.  Your world view is a lens through which you look at the world.  Your worldview shapes your moral opinions.  It affects what you believe about God, marriage, politics, social structures, environmental concerns, educational requirements, economics, the raising of children, what kind of foods to eat, etc.  It affects everything, because all of that which is around you and all of that with which you interact must be interpreted and must be understood in light of your worldview.

According to Barna Research,1 “About half of all adults (54%) claim that they make their moral choices on the basis of specific principles or standards in which they believe. Other common means of making moral choices include doing what feels right or comfortable (24%), doing whatever makes the most people happy or causes the least conflict (9%), and pursuing whatever produces the most positive outcomes for the person (7%).”

Why the difference in results?  People have different worldviews, different opinions about God, man, purpose, life, right and wrong.

Philosophical and Social Questions

There are some basic philosophical questions that most everyone in the world wonders about.  Generally speaking, it is the answers to the following set of questions that guide how the next set of questions are answered.  First, let’s look at the philosophical worldview questions.

  • Where did we come from?
  • Why are we here?
  • Is there a God?
  • If there is a God, what does he want?
  • What happens to us after we die?
  • Did we evolve or were we created?
  • Is morality absolute or subjective?

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