Everyone has a way in which they view the world, to try to define “it” or to teach “it” can become confusing. There are many perfectly good books and websites out there that it becomes an overload of information. Sifting through various curriculums, reading various books, and taking different courses I still become confused. Two good texts for the everyday reader would be “The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog” by James Sire and “Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview” by W. Gary Philips, William Brown, and John Stonestreet. I prefer the latter because of its simplicity. All worldviews fit into four main categories these are: Theism, Naturalism, Transcendentalism, and Postmodernism. In “Making Sense of Your World” these are defined, explainied, and evaluated. Over the next few posts I will try to give some insight into each category. My concern is that according to the Barna Research Group 19% of “born again” Christians have a biblical worldview. Since I believe that the Bible is the inerrant and complete revelation of God to the world, I am disturbed by this. I understand that when a person becomes justified before God they are secure in their eternity, but we miss so much that God has to offer because we do not study, for ourselves, His Word. We have anti-intellectualized Christianity. We forgot about our minds. Jesus told His disciples that we are to love Him with all our heart (emotions), all our soul (personality), all our mind (intellect) and all our strength (physical). According to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary our minds are “The intellectual or intelligent power in man; the understanding; the power that conceives, judges or reasons.” Reason and Faith are the intellect and conviction of my mind. Biblical Christianity has shown me over and over the best explanation for reality. Barna’s questions follow, can you answer yes to them?
- Do absolute moral truths exist?
- Is absolute truth defined by the Bible?
- Did Jesus Christ live a sinless life?
- Is God the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe, and does He still rule it today?
- Is salvation a gift from God that cannot be earned?
- Is Satan real?
- Does a Christian have a responsibility to share his or her faith in Christ with other people?
- Is the Bible accurate in all of its teachings?
If you can not answer yes, then will you decide today to find a church or bible study that will teach the Truth and train you to develop a Biblical Worldview..
