Total Truth.

I've been re-reading a book I read in high school years ago, Total Truth, by Nancy Pearsey. I'm getting even more out of it than I did the first time around... mostly because I've experienced more now, I'm at a different stage of life, and because I've adopted some secular philosophy. I feel like she is writing right at me.
Total Truth is about liberating the gospel of Christ from it's current cultural captivity. She explains this by outlining the division our culture has between what is known as objective fact and what is known as subjective belief. To the typical non-believer, the gospel is trapped in that realm of subjective belief. It may be respected as a belief, but it is not taken seriously as THE truth that holds together all reality.
As I read each chapter, I realize areas in my life where I have adopted secular, humanistic, or even pagan philosophies. It has been SO LIBERATING to throw those philosophies out of my mind and transform myself to God's truth.
I'll share one of the areas where this happened to me. In the recent past, I have been educating myself and getting really into natural things. It is absolutely true that most of us use toxic chemicals everyday - whether they are in our food, shampoo, or air. I passionately want my child to be as healthy as possible, and right now it my husband and I's responsibility to do the best we can to keep him healthy. So you can see how finding out nutritional information is extremely helpful. Well, one thing led to another and before I knew it I was getting worried about the earth. Basically, I unconsciously became a greenie (that's the easiest way to say it :) ).
By reading this book, my eyes were opened again to the truth. It began just with me asking myself, "What would be the Biblical view of the environment and natural things?" Seeing as God made the earth, he must have something to say about it. It made sense to start at the beginning, so I read the first few chapters of Genesis. One phrase stuck out to me - when God tells Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it". Hmm. So we have a job of subduing the earth, using what God gave us to create new things and improve our life. Of course, we must be good stewards of what God gives us - we should be wise with the earth. But everything became clear to me - my foundational thinking about the earth was wrong. Here I am - childhood Christian, (used to be) Bible-college student, and I had to go back to the basics!
It's humbling.
But even better, it's freeing.