Writer: Walter Johnson
Everyone has a worldview — a conceptual scheme by which we, consciously or unconsciously, fit everything we believe and by which we interpret and judge reality. It is a comprehensive framework of beliefs that helps us interpret what we experience and gives us direction in the choices we make.
A worldview functions for us as eyeglasses do for the nearsighted. Without them, the world would appear as an unfocused, meaningless blob. The glasses help us make sense out of what we see and help us act accordingly. For example, differences in worldviews revealed at least three interpretations of an airplane crash in 1989 in which 111 of the 189 people on board were killed. A humanist said surviving the crash would not change his life at all. A New Age practitioner said the crash was caused by the excessive negative psychic energy of some of the passengers. A Christian said that God had spared her life because he had a purpose for her to fulfill. Each person experienced the same event, but because they held different worldviews, each interpreted the event differently.
A worldview is somewhat like a spider web. Our core beliefs are like strands near the center of the web. If one of these is cut, it threatens the integrity of the entire web. For the Christian, the belief that God exists is central to our worldview. To change that one belief would create a radical change in the entire worldview.
Core beliefs for any worldview include several components. Does God exist? If so, what is he like? How can one know God? Will God judge people? If so, on what basis? Who are human beings? How did humans get here? Is there life after death? What is the main problem with the world? How can that problem be solved? How does one determine right from wrong? Are morals absolute, or do they vary from person to person and culture to culture?
One way of stating the touchstone proposition of the Christian worldview is this: Human beings and the universe in which they reside are the creation of the God who has revealed himself in the Bible.
Here is a broad outline of the Christian worldview: There is one God. He is a personal, spiritual being who created the universe and remains active within it. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, holy, just and benevolent. His essential being is in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Having been created by God, the physical universe has value. We are to care for the creation because it is God’s creation. There is order to the universe, and human beings can discover that order, allowing for scientific knowledge. The universe, including human beings, has meaning and purpose.
God is the author of moral laws, just as he is the author of physical laws. In the Bible, God has revealed the moral standard by which human beings are to live. This moral law is objective; it does not change from person to person or culture to culture. God’s law does not change based on human opinion.
Human beings are free moral agents, made in the image of God. As such, human beings have dignity and worth, not in themselves, but because God ascribes worth to humanity created in his image.
Human beings have misused their freedom and are in a state of rebellion against God; they are sinners. Thus, the root of humanity’s problem is spiritual. Correspondingly, the solution is spiritual. In Jesus Christ, God has intervened to bring salvation. In the coming of Jesus, God has inaugurated his kingdom, which will be consummated at Christ’s return. People will be judged in terms of their relation to Jesus Christ: God’s Son.
The challenge of every Christian is to avoid being conformed to the world (Romans 12:1). This challenge is met in part by developing a Christian worldview. To have a Christian worldview, one must demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
— Walter Johnson is dean of the College of Christian Studies at North Greenville University.