Hello Friends!
Welcome Back. This week we will investigate the worldview of naturalism and some of the many aspects of its foundation. Enjoy!
The Worldview of Naturalism
Contrary to the Christian worldview is the worldview of naturalism (which is an essential tenant in similar worldviews such as humanism, materialism and atheism). Keep in mind that when a person mixes naturalistic thinking with God's Word, their starting point is really man's word. Once fallibility is introduced into one's starting point - then that starting point is man's word, even if it is mixed with God's revelation. As was mentioned in the beginning of this series, there are ultimately only two worldviews.
The thinking behind naturalism goes something like this: the world and universe as you see it is all there is. There is no God, no Creator, no one to whom humans give an account of their lives. The naturalist believes death marks the end of life in this world with no prospect of life beyond, in any form. For the naturalist, the universe is a closed system and therefore there is no need for humans to seek the involvement of a transcendent being.
Naturalism is a worldview that assumes it has succeeded at getting God out of the picture in every area of life. It is also intent in getting the Biblical God and His written revelation out of our educational process. In large measure, it has been very successful due to an often subtle influence as well as an overt and militant influence. The naturalistic worldview is the basis for the development of the public education curriculum of our public schools. As Ben Stein so aptly but it - God has been "expelled."
I contend that for the most part, this is a subtle fact among educators today. I doubt that most of them are even aware that they are part of the naturalist indoctrination. Try asking this question of your public school leadership: "What is the worldview or educational philosophy behind the curriculum of your school?" They will probably find it hard if not impossible to answer. If probed, they may think that Judeo-Christian principles are at the core of our public education system curriculum. Many educators are committed to the "Character Counts" movement, which borrows certain Christian values, but is completely mute on the source of those values.
Honestly, I believe that many educators would be greatly concerned if they were aware of the naturalistic presuppositions beneath their work. One of the problems is they have been convinced that including God and His Word (the Bible) is religion, but eliminating them results in a neutral position. They don't understand there is no neutral position! One is either "for Christ or against Him." What they perceive wrongly as a neutral position is in reality an anti-God position - it is a religious position - the religion of naturalism/atheism. We have much work to be done in pointing this out to the Church, let alone the secular world.
The naturalistic worldview holds steadfastly to the idea of evolution and the millions of years, as "the" explanation of the origin of life. The two are virtually inseparable in the Western mindset. If there is no God, and if the physical reality is all there is, then life must have come into being by itself... and somehow. That's where evolution (which means millions of years to even be postulated) comes in. What is "evolution"? Dr. Michael Behe, who is basically a theistic evolutionist but is against pure naturalism, in Darwin's Black Box, defines it this way:
Evolution is a flexible word. It can be used by one person to mean something as simple as change over time, or by another person to mean the descent of all life forms from a common ancestor, leaving the mechanism of change unspecified. In its full-throated, biological sense, however, evolution means a process whereby life arose from non-living matter and subsequently developed entirely by natural means. That is the sense that Darwin gave the world, and the meaning that it holds in the scientific community.
Join us next week as we discover why naturalism survives in our culture and what we can do about it...
If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com
I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!
Blessings on your success!
Shane <><
Lighthouse Publications <><
"Dedicated to the Never Ending Search for the Creator's calling within You" (TM)
Hello Friends!
Welcome Back. This week we will investigate the worldview of Christianity and some of the many aspects of Scripture that provides its foundation. Enjoy!
The Christian Worldview
The content of a Biblical Christian worldview must be well developed and be solidly built on the authority of Scripture. You need to know the basic time-honored truths of the scriptural history and doctrine that serve as a basis for Christian theism - a Biblical understanding of the character and nature of God and the true history of the universe as revealed by Him in His Word. Here is a short list of the many aspects of Scripture that provide a foundation for our worldview:
- He (through His Son, Jesus Christ) created the universe ex nihilo (out of nothing) because He is the sovereign God.
- Though He is transcendent, He is personal and immanent and longing to be involved in the lives of His creation.
- He has accomplished this through His Son Jesus Christ who is God incarnate, Immanuel, God "with us."
- Jesus is the exact representation of the Father.
- The Father has redeemed those who will believe in His Son as the only atoning sacrifice for sin.
- God makes it possible to be connected with Him through His Holy Spirit who is God "in us."
- His Spirit is our comforter, teacher and guide. He leads us into truth and is God's guarantee of His presence with us until the end of our lives.
- The Garden of Eden was real and our fore bearers made a decision of disobedience recorded in Genesis that affected the human family. Original sin is a reality.
- God gave the plan of redemption, the sacrifice of His Son, as the payment for the debt owed a Holy God for such an offense.
Beyond this, you need to have a command on why Christians believe the Bible to be God's Word to us. And you also need to know the evidence that confirms the fact His Word is trustworthy and true. You need to know how to answer the basic secular attacks of our day that cause people to doubt that God's Word is the true starting point of our worldview.
This is just an example to show you how your Christian worldview must start with the content we gain from the truths revealed in Scripture about God, His Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. They are the building blocks upon which your worldview is built. To not understand them or to understand them wrongly is to build a faulty foundation. Christians must think clearly and Scriptually about the basic tenets of theism if their worldview is to be Biblical.
Please join us next week as we examine the worldview of Naturalism - the basis for Secular Humanism - which has caused much death and destruction throughout the world.
If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com
I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!
Blessings on your success!
Shane <><
Lighthouse Publications <><
"Dedicated to the Never Ending Search for the Creator's calling within You" (TM)
Hello Friends!
Over the next four weeks we will investigate the two main worldviews vying for our hearts and minds - Christianity and Naturalism. In our previous series titled "Two Kingdoms: Light & Darkness," we examined the spiritual realities of light (God) & darkness (Satan) outlined in the Holy Scriptures and how they are at odds with each other as we decide for ourselves which we will follow, ultimately determining our eternal destiny once we pass from this physical life. In this new series, it is my hope that we will learn and discern the difference between these two worldviews and how we might respond to them. Enjoy!
What in the World is a Worldview?
"Worldview" is really philosophical term and was first used by German philosophers. In German, the word is weltanshung. Generally, it refers to how we view reality and life. In order for the concept of worldview to have significance for us, it pays to see what scholars have said about it, and how they define it. Dr. James W. Sire, in The Universe Next Door gives this definition:
"A worldview is a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic constitution of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being".
Though not originally a "Christian" word, Christian philosophers and theologians have used the word to help Christians understand that Christian faith is intended to be a framework (built upon the authority of the Word of God), by which we build the correct way of thinking about the reality and core view of life intended by our Creator. Being a Christian is not a matter of having a compartment of life that is religious and others that are secular - with the false idea that such a position is non-religious. In fact, there are ultimately only two religions in the world - you either start with God's Word or man's word.
The Scripture teaches us there is a God who expects us to live the whole of our lives, not part, in correspondence to His truth and purpose for all of life, based on the foundational propositional truths of God's Word.
For those interested in a very scholarly overview of the worldview discussion, one should read the resource titled, Worldview, the History of a Concept, by Dr. David K. Naugle. This book gives us a historical perspective on the various definitions offered by scholars including:
"Worldview" in a Christian perspective implies the objective existence of the trinitarian God whose essential character establishes the moral order of the universe and whose word, wisdom, and law define and govern all aspects of created existence.
The definition of "worldview" is the first step in understanding this important topic, but there is more to it than definition. It is important to understand the "content" of what goes into making a worldview.
In The Universe Next Door, Dr. Sire lists seven basic worldview questions:
"If a worldview can be expressed in propositions, what might they be? Essentially, they are our essential, rock-bottom answers to the following seven questions:
1. What is prime reality - the really real? To this we might answer God, or the gods, or the material cosmos. Our answer here is the most fundamental. It sets the boundaries for the answers that can consistently be given to the other six questions.
2. What is the nature of external reality, that is, the world around us? Here our answers point to whether we see the world as created or autonomous, as chaotic or orderly, as matter or spirit; or whether we emphasize our subjective, personal relationship to the world or its objectivity apart from us.
3. What is a human being? To this we might answer: a highly complex machine, a sleeping dog, a person made in the image of God or a naked ape.
4. What happens to a person at death? Here we might reply: personal extinction, or transformation to a higher state, or reincarnation, or departure to a shadowy existence on "the other side."
5. Why is it possible to know anything at all? Sample answers include the idea that we are made in the image of an all-knowing God or that consciousness and rationality developed under the contingencies of survival in a long process of evolution.
6. How do we know what is right and wrong? Again, perhaps we are made in the image of a God whose character is good, or right and wrong are determined by human choice alone or what feels good, or the notions simply developed under an impetus toward cultural or physical survival.
7. What is the meaning of human history? To this we might answer: to realize the purposes of God or the gods, to make a paradise on earth, to prepare a people for a life in community with a loving and holy God, and so forth."
So, how does a worldview get developed? Where does it come from? As I stated earlier, in an ultimate sense (as exhibited in Genesis 3 concerning the temptation and fall of mankind), there are really only two worldviews. Either one bases one's thinking on the Word of the One who is perfect, knows everything, who has always been there, who doesn't tell any lies, and has revealed to us what we need to know - or one has to build one's thinking on the fallible word of fallible and sinful man.
Now, we need to understand that there are many versions of these two ultimate worldviews. There are many that will compete for your attention. On what basis is one right? Aren't they all simply a matter of choosing (this would default to the religion of humanism, as humans would be the ultimate authority on the subject)? And further, who is to say one has merit, and others do not? Aren't they all equally valid (again, this would be more humanism)? But even so, these are questions with which we must contend. How will you answer?
According to Dr. Ronald Nash, three major tests should be applied when evaluating worldviews. They are: the test of reason, the test of experience, and the test of practice.
The test of reason has to do with logic - and ultimately the only logical starting point is the infinite God of the Bible (who is the basis for the logic and its existence). In other words, if there is no God of the Bible, there is no basis for logic in the first place. Logic is predictable on the existence of the God of the Bible.
Regarding logic, students should know about the law of non-contradiction as fundamental to our ability to reason. It states: A cannot be B and non-B at the same time and in the same relationship. This is an important philosophic notion in the study of logic. Simply put, it means: two contradictory ideas cannot both be true. Where there is contradiction, one side or the other is in error. Not all ideas are equally valid. To employ the test of reason in worldview development is to determine, among competing ideas, which are reasonable and which we might believe to be true. Ultimately only one passes the test - the rest will exhibit logical fallacies. The only true worldview is that which begins with the infinite Creator God and His written revelation to man.
The test of reason alone is not enough upon which to build the content of a worldview. Dr. Nash says:
"Worldviews must pass not only the test of reason; they must also satisfy the test of experience. Worldviews should be relevant to what we know about the world and ourselves."'
Here is a truth that many students need to connect with: Your experience counts. Sure it is considered subjective, but your experiences in life matter because the knowledge it represents is valuable and pertinent to your life. I am not suggesting that your personal observations are in any sense the exclusive test for developing worldview, but rather is coherence as a whole, where all aspects of reality work together. If your personal experience is your only criteria for developing worldview you are greatly mistaken. I am simply saying that your experience does matter.
The test of practice is how we evaluate our worldview in the circumstances of daily life (i.e., consistency). It is about how we actually live in a practical, down-to-earth way, with the ideas we profess to be true. For example. in an evolutionary worldview, people are merely animals that have no basis in wearing clothes. Yet inconsistently, these evolutionists betray their own worldview by wearing clothes that come from a literal Genesis 3! The question is this: can the ideas and concepts stand up as a real explanation for the way you experience your life, and do they have application beyond your own life?
Please join us next week as we investigate the first of the two main worldviews that are at war for our hearts, minds, and souls - Christianity...
If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com
I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!
Blessings on your success!
Shane <><
Lighthouse Publications <><
"Dedicated to the Never Ending Search for the Creator's calling within You" (TM)
