One of the founding principles of Understanding the Times class is, "Ideas have consequences". However, astute readers will simply see such a statement as a precursor to the deeper question, "From where do these ideas originate?" The answer is quite simple--people's ideas come from their worldview. Norman Geisler and William Watkins define a worldview as "a way of viewing or interpreting all of reality. It is an interpretive framework through which or by which one makes sense of the data of life and the world" (qtd. in Nobel). Every person who has lived, is living now, or will ever live in the future will eventually develop their own worldview that reflects their personality and life experiences. Because of this, a worldview can be likened to a pair of glasses (Noebel 16). In other words, if one attempts to see through someone else's worldview, that is; their "reality glasses", then his or her vision of the real world will fade in clarity. Images become distorted and one must resort to guessing what is in front of his or herself without any clear idea of what the real world looks like. Noebel states that each person's worldview takes into consideration one's opinions of ten fundamental categories. These categories are theology, philosophy, ethics, biology, psychology, sociology, law, politics, economics, and history (16). Worldviews also answer questions such as the origin of Man and the human condition, the source of good and evil/suffering, and how to "fix" the world's darkness. With this in mind, then, the next important question to answer is, "What are the major worldviews, and how do they respond to the 'big questions'?" In response to this question, David Noebel declares that in terms of worldviews, "On one side is clearly the Christian worldview. On the other side are Secular Humanism, Marxism-Leninism, Cosmic Humanism (the New Age movement) and Postmodernism... [As well as] Islam" (14). Each person's worldview will generally coincide with the beliefs of one of these worldviews more than the others. For this reason, one might ask, "Which worldview is best? How do I choose the right one?" While worldviews such as both forms of Humanism, Marxism and Postmodernism either deny the existence of God (Marxism) or make the concept of God esoteric and unnecessarily mysterious. In addition, these theories have beliefs that devalue human life (Islam), as well as moral absolutes that everyone knows deep in their conscience to be correct (Postmodernism). This leaves only the Christian worldview as the most logical worldview to have. It explains the origin of Man as the Creative Will of God, and shows that the more depressing facets of the human condition, such as evil, come from the Fall. However, it does explain the solution by declaring God's eternal covenant of protection for Man, and that He has made reconciliation possible through the death of Jesus Christ. The Christian worldview not only shows a person that he or she has value and is loved by God, but can successfully compete against other worldviews, if thoroughly studied and understood by Christians.
The key to developing a Christian worldview is to acknowledge how Christianity plays into the questions of origin, the human condition/evil, and the remedy. The first step to gaining a Christian worldview is, obviously, to become a Christian. Ephesians 2:8-9 states that “...it is by grace you have been saved, through faith [in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior]— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast”. While this concept of salvation may seem simple, the truth is that coming to salvation in Christ requires onself to throw off all of his or her pride, and acknowledge that without God, he or she cannot hope to win against the sinful nature of Man that defines the human condition. Submitting to God's sovereignty in this way creates in oneself a divine humility that will allow God to reveal His Person to oneself, strengthening his or her Christian worldview. The next step to immerse onself in Christian knowledge is to read the Word of God, the Bible. Furthermore, while reading the Bible, one must not simply read one verse and then go on with his or her day. Without looking at the "paragraph" in which the verse is located, one can possibly misinterpret the verse and come up with a meaning or application for it that is inconsistent with its author's intent. For example, Proverbs 22:6 states, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he shall not depart from it". This is neither a promise to parents, nor a piece of ignorable advice on child-raising, as some people interpret the verse. Rather, it is a command to Christian parents to raise their child like a plant--that is, in a way that he receives the exact amount of "sunlight" and "water" that he needs as an individual. Finally, the last step to forming a strong Christian worldview is to actually live out Christ's commands in Scripture and pray to Him at every opportunity. While these two "semi-steps" may seem too different to be grouped as a full step, in reality they build upon one another. For instance, in John 14:15, Jesus says, "If you love me, you will obey what I command”. By learning to obey the Will of God in everyday life, one learns how challenging it can be to walk the disciplined life of a Christian. As a result, one's prayer life will expand dramatically through one's efforts to ask Jesus for strength and submission to allow Him to make him or her into the Christian He wants him or her to be. By giving His followers strength to resist the Devil's temptations, Christ also bestows upon His children the Counsel of the Holy Spirit, Who acts through ways such as the human conscience to convict one's heart of wrongdoing. The Holy Spirit fills one's body with the same spiritual life that God possesses; therefore, a true Christian has no excuse to not see the world the way God sees it. In conclusion, the Christian worldview is truly the best worldview to adhere to because of the ways God uses it to "train up" His followers "in the way they should go, so when they are old they may not depart from it". By granting one access to the real God, the Christian worldview is truly the only worldview that allows a person to see the universe as it really is.
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