The Importance of a Biblical Worldview: Part 1
“How we think about God determines how we think about the world and our lives in it. If we’re going to have a Christian life and worldview, the first thing we have to have, beloved, is a Christian God-view. How we think about God will determine how we think about the world and how we think about our own lives. I really don’t think that the Christian community in general devotes a lot of thought to the character of God. I hear again, and again, and again, ‘I don’t need to know any theology. All I need to know is Jesus.’ ‘Well,’ I ask the people immediately, ‘Who is Jesus?’ As soon as they begin to answer that question, they have already plunged themselves immediately into theology.”
One of the areas that the Columbus Division of Police tests candidates in is the area of critical thinking (something I recently went through myself). In this portion of the test, we are faced with several questions about specific material that we are given to read, and we are told to answer the questions without grabbing from outside sources. In other words, we are only looking at the information we are given to answer the questions we are asked. As a cop, we will be faced with information during robberies, assaults or home invasions, and it’s important for us not to make assumptions apart from the information given to us. For example, if we're faced with a store clerk breaking down crying while explaining the details of a robbery he/she just experienced, we can't assume the reason why he/she’s crying if that information is not provided.
This may seem like a simple task to some, but the reality is many people in our society fail to make conclusions based only on the information given to them. Secular psychologists and social scientists have made an attempt to figure out why "people are irrational" when given the full capacity to be rational. The reality is that we are capable of reason, but we oftentimes are irrational because of four factors: emotion, ignorance, prejudice, and preference. Emotion is responding based on instinct, without thinking first. Ignorance is making assumptions without knowing all the information needed. Prejudice is coming up with reasons to reject something we already dislike. Preference is coming up with reasons to defend something we already approve of. Although irrationality may be tempting for most people, I believe it will do us good by thinking through things before making an observation.
God is the Creator of human intellect, giving us the ability to comprehend, think, reason, and remember. He has made a well ordered universe in which truth can be known and logical rules applied. This pattern of thought is commonly known as critical thinking, which includes five sets of skills: observation, analysis, inference, communication, and problem solving. Some believe that there is no such thing as "critical thinking" since thinking itself is a critical act. But I believe that the act of thinking has been given little consideration and has become rather impulsive.
“Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.”
The triune Godhead has created people with the ability to use reasoning. But God has also called us to be set apart from those who are unregenerate. The unsaved walk In "the futility of their thinking." They are separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts (Ephesians 4:17-18). The intellect of the unsaved is also hostile to God. Their natural desire is to disobey God (Romans 8:7). People of the world depend on their own intellects, their own ability to reason, think, and comprehend. This is where Christians depart from the method that the world uses to apply human reasoning. It’s okay to rely on our intellect, but if we rely solely on human reason, we can never arrive at the truth of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 1:19). Christians should not depend on human reasoning because the Bible teaches that human intellect is limited (1 Corinthians 2:9). The Bible also teaches that the natural man believes that God's wisdom is "foolishness" (1 Corinthians 1:24). The greatest intellectuals in the world have never been able to grasp God's plan of redemption on their own without the aid of the Holy Spirit. In considering human intellect, Christians should have a sobering worldview.
As a result of sin, everything is affected including our intellect; our understanding has been darkened. If we leave it up to ourselves we would never know the truth of God. It's obvious that we need a redeemed mind. When God saves a person, He redeems the entire person: body, soul, and mind. A saved person is a new creation who's been given the mind of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Corinthians 2:16). A saved person is transformed by the renewing of his mind (Romans 12:2). As a person's mind is renewed, discernment between the "fleeting wisdom of this age" and God's wisdom increases. A way to think about this renewed mind is in the development of a biblical worldview.
One of my desires for the Village Church is for us to think biblically, or to have a biblical worldview. We will continue to be faced with cultural, social, philosophical and theological challenges and I believe it’s possible to be united if we approach these challenges by thinking biblically. I’m not suggesting that we all will come out believing the same thing, nor is that my desire. I believe unity will come by our approach to honor God by using Scripture as the standard by which we test all other truth claims. My aim in this article is to communicate why a biblical worldview is important. I will discuss why a renewed mind is important so that a biblical worldview can be developed and its benefits can be experienced. Before I discuss these things I believe it's important to address the question, "What is a worldview?"
What is a Worldview?
A worldview is simply a person's view of the world. This view is not a physical view but a philosophical one, including fundamental beliefs about the world and all the big questions about human existence. Questions like: Where did the universe come from? Where did humans come from? What is our purpose? Is there an afterlife? If so, what is the nature of the afterlife? Up until the fourth century, the western world was dominated by a Christian worldview. But over the last few centuries competing worldviews have become more dominant. These worldviews include but are not limited to…
Naturalism: there is no God; humans are just highly evolved animals.
Postmodernism: there are no objective truths or moral standards; “reality” is ultimately a human social construction.
Pantheism: God is the totality of reality; thus, we are all divine by nature.
Pluralism: the different world religions represent equally valid perspectives on the ultimate reality; there are many valid paths to salvation.
Islam: there is only one God, and He has no son; God has revealed His will for all people through His final prophet, Muhammad, and His eternal word, the Qur’an.
Moralistic therapeutic deism: God just wants us to be happy and nice to other people; He intervenes in our affairs only when we call on Him to help us out.
Cited from “On Worldviews” by James Anderson
Although Christians have been presented with a great challenge of competing views, we should not be discouraged but know that God has provided us with what we need so that we can develop and defend a biblical worldview. But this requires thinking. We should understand that opinions on ethics, politics, and theology are largely determined by worldviews. Worldviews shape what we believe and how we respond to different ideologies. My goal is to convince the reader why a biblical worldview matters and ultimately what a worldview communicates about our understanding of God. In doing that, there are common misconceptions I believe are important to address.
Common Misconceptions
Part of equipping ourselves for both apologetics and evangelism is to understand the times we live in. I'm not suggesting that we should only have an idea of what the culture is communicating, but we should study the language and logical patterns of what's being communicated so we can identify false philosophies and worldviews. For example, one of the leading ideas in our culture today is Progressivism, which is the idea that our culture is evolving, getting better with time and moving away from the dark views of the past. So in order for things to continue to get better, we should do away with views of the past and reinvent society. This language has appealed to the church so much that we have reinvented our ways of worship, of music, and of evangelism, our creeds and theologies, and therein discarded much of historic Christianity as if it was old-fashioned.
If we listen to the language of Progressivism and buy into the practices of what it teaches, we buy into the idea of doing "what works" and abandon a biblical approach to Christianity. This has led to a non-biblical philosophy called Pragmatism. Pragmatism is the studied effort to change the way the world perceives the church, to make the church more attractive to non-believers. Pragmatism is what leads to unbiblical marketing strategies, such as pastors tailoring their messages to avoid being offensive and to appeal to the current culture. Church leaders are now told by the world, through the media, that their congregation needs to look more diverse and develop marketing strategies to attract more black and brown people. The progressive approach to church leads to a church where God is not seen as sovereign, thus leaving the success of a church up to individuals’ efforts or marketing schemes.
The belief that historic Christianity is somehow irrelevant and "we can do better" goes against the exhortation made by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:15: "So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word, or by our letter." We do not follow the historic doctrines written by the Apostles for the sake of tradition, but rather the historic teachings of the Apostles were inspired by the Holy Spirit and the teachings were passed down throughout history untainted and preserved by God. Although my main focus in this article is not about Progressivism or Pragmatism, my point is that such thinking comes from a failure to understand the times we live in and a confidence in the sufficiency of Scripture.
Another common misunderstanding made by a lot of Christians is that Christians cannot grab from outside sources for an understanding of what's true. This is not necessarily true. The Christian worldview will always have a different view of the nature and character of God, the nature and value of Scripture, and the exclusivity of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, than the heathen world, but there are outside sources that can be helpful in our understanding of how God works. With a couple common misconceptions out of the way, part two in this series will look at how we can honor God with our mind, specifically as it relates to developing a biblical worldview.