This winter quarter I began my final year as an undergraduate at Western Washington University. I wasn't minoring or double-majoring in anything, so I had some extra wiggle room in my schedule to take classes that genuinely interested me. Without giving too much thought (and because it fulfilled a GUR I needed to get out of the way), I registered for INTL 201: Introduction to Global Studies.

Taking a global studies class changed my entire worldview.

OK, well maybe not entirely. But, taking this course forced me to self-reflect in ways that no other class I had ever taken forced me to do. In doing so, I was tested and stretched mentally, and I honestly feel that my worldview has genuinely expanded.

Essentially, taking this global studies course forced me to think a lot about my faith. As a Christian, I am a "follower" of a guy known as Jesus of Nazareth. I believe that following His Life and His Teachings 100% allows me to live how a human being is supposed to live.

What this course did was show me that my religious views need to be respectfully in conversation with all cultures and people groups from around the world. Global studies forced me to put my beliefs under a microscope and sort out the apparent flaws or contradictions or elements I was unsure of.

The class I took specifically (INTL 201) focused heavily on the idea of globalization, or the process through which our world becomes more transnationally connected. As a follower of Jesus, this inspired me to reflect on one of the most crucial teachings Jesus ever gave.

Quick history lesson: The Bible tells one unified story about how God is working throughout history to bring full justice and restoration to our world. At the beginning of the Bible, God selects one people group on earth to work with, so that they will be mediators to help people see what God is like and how we should live as human beings created by Him. This people group thinks that's a dope idea, so they agree to follow a list of laws God gives them. The list of laws (also known as commandments) are not God's ideal way of fully living in His vision of justice and restoration, but they point this people group to what it would look like to do so in their socio-cultural context.

Hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of years go by, and this people group are still trying (even failing) at following these laws. That's when Jesus arrives on the scene.

See, Jesus' main mission was to inaugurate the "Kingdom of God," AKA a global movement of interconnected communities that live with God as their "king" or "ruler." This led many people already a part of this community, that seeks to honor and be God's people, to wonder: what about those laws? If this is the next step in the story-line of God bringing justice and redeeming our world, will we follow all of those old laws from the past (which played a key yet time-specific role in this same story)?

Jesus response was this: the two laws to be followed (and of whichever other law hinges on) are "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" and "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:30-31 NIV).

Bringing this back to my globalization class: the two greatest laws for Jesus-following people to live by are, essentially, love God and love my neighbor... but what happens when my neighbor is technically everyone now? My neighbor is the person in the sweatshop halfway across the world, who I unjustly underpaid and promoted poor working conditions for just so I could wear a cheap pair of Nikes. My neighbors are the migrants and refugees that I am neglecting to support because I have bought into idolizing nationalism and "putting 'Americans' first." Neither of those sound like fulfilling the life God calls me to live as a human being.

This is how global studies strengthened my faith: it called out all of my hypocrisy and laid it out on the operating table known as open, vulnerable dialogue and self-reflection, where I am called to examine it and pull it apart.

Whether you are a person of faith or not, becoming educated in global studies is going to rock your worldview. It will unearth your hypocrisy, the ways you could improve living as a human being, and give you ideas and situations to wrestle with and reflect on even after whatever course you take comes to a close. For me personally, taking a global studies class opened my eyes to all the ways I need to daily reflect and scrutinize my though process as a follower of Jesus, in the hopes that I can continue that story God is writing: how He is using us throughout human history to rescue and redeem this world.