Worldviews in Conflict

Written by Rev. R. Dale Tedder, Jr.

Perhaps you remember the plane that crashed in 1989 on its way from Denver to Chicago. That plane, Flight 232, is perhaps best remembered for two things. One is the graphic picture of it cartwheeling across the cornfields in Iowa as it crashed. The second thing is that 185 people survived that fiery crash. After the crash, the survivors of that tragic event were asked to give their reasons whey they thought that particular plane crashed and why they, and not some of the others, lived through it. Many believed there was no particular reason for crash. "Things happen, it could have been anyone," said some of the people. Survivor Peter Wernick said,     "I am a humanist. I don't believe there is a kindly Supreme Being who responds to people one-on-one. People ask me if I am still a non-believer after my life was saved. If everybody had had his life saved except the bad people on the plane, maybe I'd believe a little more. But that's not what happened." Others believed that a personal God was directly involved. One woman said God took her through the crash for her own personal benefit. She claimed,     "I think I went through this for a purpose - to show that God can still be seen and felt and glorified in the face of this tragedy." Still others said the crash was caused, so to speak, by the "negative psychic energy" of some of the passengers. One person who believed this said,     "Everything that happens to us is a creation of our minds and spirits." A coincidence, a personal God, cosmic forces? Each of these conflicting answers represents a different worldview, or a way of looking at the world. Or how about this? You're watching a television talk show and you see someone who is boasting of marital infidelity or spousal abuse. Then, one person is the audience asks the forbidden question, "Do you believe in God?" The person questioned replies, "Yea, I believe in God - what's that got to do with anything?" Again, worldviews in conflict. Finally, how about this one? Many of you remember the old commercial that said,     "You only go around once, so go for all the gusto you can get." Another worldview. Perhaps discussion of "worldviews" is a foreign concept to many of you. Yet, each of us has one. It may be very complex or very simple, but we all have a worldview. So what is a worldview? A worldview is a way of looking at life or the world around us. There are several elements of a worldview that really provide the foundation for the rest of your beliefs and for how you live your life. I want to mention just three of the most important ones. The FIRST one is your view of God. Who do you understand God to be? This is the starting point for all worldviews. Do you believe in one God or many? Do you believe in God at all? Is the God you believe in personal or cold and distant? Is your God loving. Did your God create all there is? Can your God communicate with humanity? The answers to these questions will shape the rest of everything you believe and how you live your life. Did you get a chance to see Jeffrey Dahlmer's last interview before he died in prison? It was quite telling. He was asked why he committed such brutal murders? His answer was chilling. He said,     "I didn't believe in God, therefore, I didn't believe I would be held accountable for what I did." I'm not suggesting that every atheist will end up being a homicidal maniac, but in this case, Dahlmer's actions were the out-working of his worldview. What he believed fit hand in hand with the prophetic words of Dostoyevsky,     "If God does not exist, all things are permissible." What we believe about God has consequences for everything else we believe and how we live. The second major element of a worldview that I want to address is the question of how you view humanity. Are we basically good? Are we basically sinful? Do we need a savior? Are we made in the image of God, or are we grown-up germs and products of naturalistic evolution? Are we different that animals? Is there any difference between two people pulling a wagon and two horses pulling it? Whatever we believe about our purpose and worth in life will set the values we place on our families, jobs and countless other areas of life. Our behavior is shaped by what we believe. The last element I want to mention has to do with the area of ethics. Again, this list is not comprehensive, but I wanted to point us in an important direction with these three areas. The topic of ethics is important because we make moral decisions everyday. How do you make moral decisions? Are there absolutes or is everything relative? Are some things really wrong or only inconvenient? Should we really go for all the gusto we can get or is there a higher authority to which we should submit? Your answers to those questions will decide how you live. So, the question before us is: What do worldviews have to do with anything? Well, hopefully the answer is obvious. However, I do want to suggest a couple more ways to demonstrate how worldviews function in our lives. The first way I want you to think about worldviews is to think about the picture on the cover of a puzzle box. If you were to dump all the puzzle pieces on the ground without seeing what the picture looked like, you would have a pretty hard time putting the puzzle together. Similarly, life presents us with thousands of questions and issues which are like pieces to a puzzle.  Without the right worldview to follow, you don't know where the pieces fit. Second, think of a worldview like a movie script. The late Francis Schaeffer said that life is like entering a very long movie that has already started, and then learning that you have to leave before it ends. Thus, we sit there for a while trying to figure out what is going on. Schaeffer suggests that the Bible gives us the script of the whole movie. Therefore, even if we have missed the first part of it, and even though we will not be able to stay for the ending, we can still see how we fit into the whole picture. So, why have I made such an effort to talk about worldviews? Because I want to suggest that Christianity is the only worldview that makes sense of this life and this world. Christianity, it's important to understand, is more than a cure for our eternal destination, though that's a part of it. And Christianity is more than a code of ethics, though it encompasses that as well. My point is that Christianity is a worldview which makes sense out of this life. Christianity is more than a collection of theological bits and pieces to be believed and debated. It's the answer to all of life's most perplexing questions. Christianity is a way of thinking that glorifies and honors God because this is what God has revealed to us. 2 Corinthians says,     We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive everything thought to make it obedient to Christ. We are literally to think God's thoughts after him. But we are to be prepared for how that will appear to the world. The Apostle Paul tells us that the Christian worldview is foolishness to the world. Have you ever thought about the message you are sharing with someone when you share your fai th with someone? You are basically saying to that person that the one, true and personal God of the universe came 2,000 years ago to this planet - as one of us. And, instead of rejoicing in his presence, we decided to kill him. However, instead of defending himself, he allowed himself to be a sacrifice for us. Furthermore, because of his death on a piece of wood, we can now be forgiven for our sins. Moreover, because this God-man came back to life after being dead for three days, we can live forever with this God. Now, I think you have to admit, that's a pretty amazing story. That's a great deal to take in. It's therefore, no wonder Paul says that the Jews were offended by it and the Greek philosophers just laughed at it. Instead, Paul says that the wisdom of this world has no place for such "fantasy." And yet, Paul says that this "foolishness" of God is wiser than man's wisdom. As I previously mentioned to, if you have ever shared your faith with other people, you've probably seen them react in an assortment of ways. And among those ways, was probably cynicism. For not only did the Christian worldview sound silly to that person, but it crashed into their worldview. What do we do? Someone is right and someone is wrong. I have had so many conversations with friends and acquaintances who took their one obligatory religion 101 class in college and now the doubt everything. It is no wonder that a Gallop poll came out several years ago that suggested that 50% of all freshmen entering college today would give up their Christian faith by the time they were seniors. Their faith was attacked overtly and subtly by opposing worldviews. I believe that would happen far less if we would ground ourselves in worldview thinking. Unfortunately, we have equated Christian faith with warm-fuzzy feelings and ended up with a faith that is not God-glorifying. So many Christians seem to forget that Jesus calls us to love him with all our heart, soul and mind. Furthermore, we aren't Christians only on Sunday mornings. We aren't Christians only at a fellowship dinner. Christianity is a complete worldview. Just as the right eyeglasses can put the world into clearer focus, the correct worldview can function in much the same way. When a person looks at life from the perspective of the wrong worldview, the world either won't make much sense, won't seem as meaningful and will not be consistent. Human wisdom is foolishness because it is not grounded in the Triune God of holy Scripture. So, how do we come to a place where we think God's thoughts after him? How do we move toward a Christian worldview? Through the study of God's Word. And, this may be hard for some of you to swallow, but this means more than devotional reading of Scripture - though that's good too. Studying God's Word means digging into it to discover what God has revealed. If you aren't grounding yourself in God's Word, then you aren't going to know the difference between what God has said and what the world is saying. Let me conclude by asking a question. Picture in your  mind, a friend or relative who is younger in the faith than you. Perhaps they are still wrestling with some of the basics of belief in Christ. Picture this individual experiencing a sudden tragedy or crushing disappointment. Maybe they have encountered a deceptive false teacher or worldview. Your friend, really struggling, looks to you for help. Is your grip on the truths of Scripture strong enough to help your friend cope? Could you point your friend in the right direction? As you think about that, ask yourself what you could be doing to build a stronger Christian worldview. Because you may be called to be the instrument God uses to lead someone to Christ, and if you can't provide direction, the world will be glad to.

 

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