I stood before a group of grandparents to discuss the essential absolutes of the Christian faith that they ought to know and be able to talk discuss with their grandchildren. In the middle of my presentation one grandmother interrupted and said, “So, you own the truth now?” Puzzled by her question, I asked what she meant.
She went on to accuse me of deciding what the Bible says. She went on to debunk the basic tenants I was espousing as biblical truths. She proceeded to declare that in her opinion much of the Bible is simply the ravings of misguided and violent men who simply want to control people through fear. She also believed that Jesus was not resurrected, and there is no hell and eternal judgment. The only thing we need saving from is ourselves, and we can learn to overcome evil with good deeds—loving one another. After all, she proclaimed, a loving God would never condemn people to eternal punishment or tell the Jews to slaughter other peoples. The writers of the Old Testament simply did not know what we know about God now. Jesus came to correct all that by teaching by saying we should love our enemies. That is all that matters.
I did not miss the irony of what she said earlier about owning the truth. By her own admission she has chosen to determine what truth ought to be based upon what she ‘felt’ was true. Her worldview was definitely different than mine, but they cannot both be true. So, how do we know which is true. It matters which one is true. Either the Bible is God’s Word, or it isn’t. In other words, our worldview matters. It matters a great deal.
WORLDVIEW SHAPES EVERYTHING
Our worldview shapes everything we do and how we view life. That was evident in the conversation between this grandmother and me. That why I want to talk about worldview over the next several posts. I have engaged my good friend, Dr. Josh Mulvihill to help us unpack this critical matter. Before we do, let’s begin with a definition.
Worldview is what we believe about God and the world around us. That includes what we believe about who we are and why we are here. It is what makes every human being religious, even atheists. Religion is simply a system of beliefs. Those beliefs form our worldview which determines how we live and think. Jeff Myers from Summit Ministries describes it this way: “Worldview is a pattern of ideas that give rise to a system of belief that becomes the basis for our decisions and actions.”
Everyone has a worldview whether they realize it or not. They may not be able to articulate that worldview in a coherent way, but if asked where life came from, they would have an answer whether they can defend it or not. Most people get their belief system in much the same way they catch the flu—by being around people.
Christianity claims that the Bible is the “Word of God” given to us through human agents He chose to reveal to us what is actually true. Unfortunately, claiming to believe the Bible does not necessarily translate into a biblical worldview, does it? One reason may be that we have been taught ‘what’ to believe without ‘why’ we believe it.
When we don’t know why we believe something to be true, we are extraordinarily vulnerable to any ideas that surface and claim to answer the ‘why’ questions. As John Stonestreet often reminds us, “ideas have consequences, but bad ideas have victims.” How, then, do we know what is true? Is it possible to know truth? Is there even such a thing as truth?
That’s what we’re going to unpack with the help of Dr. Mulvihill in the next few posts. I hope you will take the matter of your worldview seriously and not be afraid to ask questions and share what you’re thinking as we make this journey together. After all, truth must be able to stand up to such questions with supportive evidence. So, let’s see what we can learn—no matter which generation we represent. After all, truth is truth in every generation.
A FEW RESOURCES
Dr. Mulvihill will be sharing a number of excellent resources with us in the next few posts. For now, I would like to mention two I think are worth investigating…
- The Story of Reality by Gregory Koukl. Every adult and teenager ought to have this book. It is profound, yet easy to read and understand.
- Understanding the Times series by Jeff Myers and Summit Ministries. This series of three volumes is for those who are really wanting to dig deeper and do some serious investigation into worldview. I think every family ought to have a set.
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