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The big questions in life: “Where do we come from? Who am I? Where are we going?
Why on earth are we here for?” If death is the final destination, and that’s all there is to it,
then what difference does it make?
The moment we ask these questions, you begin to think about the ultimate issues that all
religions and philosophies throughout the centuries have tried to understand. Consciously
or unconsciously, every one has a mental map of what the universe is like and a vision for
what life is all about. Whether you realize it or not, the way you answer these big
questions reveal your assumptions, your ideas and your views of the world. It’s your
worldview.
"A worldview is, first of all, an explanation and interpretation of the world and second,
an application of this view to life. In simpler terms, our worldview is a view of the world
and a view for the world." It is like a pair of contact lenses through which we look at life,
our own selves, the world and what is ultimately real.
But why should we spend time understanding worldviews? Is it important at all? Isn’t it
just some philosophical stuff that has no connection to real life?
Here are FOUR reasons intentionally working out the Christian worldview can be both
spiritually practical and important.
Reason No.1: We need to understand the Christian worldview (or how the Bible
answers these big questions) because it is part of loving God. It is the discipleship of
our mind.
The greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our
strength, with all our soul and with all our mind. True Christian spirituality involves our
whole being - heart, head and hand.
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But what happens if we do not love the Lord our God with “all our mind”? Truth without
emotion produce dead orthodoxy but emotion without a true vision of the greatness of
God produces a shallow frenzy. But God is looking for worshippers who worship both in
spirit and in truth. We love God with our mind by letting our understanding of life and of
the world to be shaped and informed by what God has revealed to us in Scripture.
Reason No.2: Understanding the Christian worldview equips you to discern what is
right and beautiful from what is ugly and wrong in our culture.
We cannot totally isolate ourselves from ideas… even dangerous ideas or deceptive
philosophies out there in the market. And if we do not submit our thinking to God’s
revelation, then obviously our minds will be easily influenced by worldly ways of life.
We may still call ourselves Christians but we absorb notions about wealth, about sex and
about success from music videos, popular movies, novels or Youtube without even
knowing it. But the Bible says: “Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world but be
transformed by the renewal of your minds”. If our minds are renewed with a biblical
worldview, then we can begin to transform culture instead of conforming to culture.
Biblical faith is not wishful thinking, but based on facts. True faith involves knowledge,
agreement and trust. It has both objective facts as well as personal trust. You need to
know the facts of the Christian faith, you need to be convicted that they are true and
reliable, and you need to put your personal trust to embrace and practise these truths. The
apostle Peter says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to
give the reason for the hope that you have.” (1 Peter 3:15-16). All of us are called to be
prepared to give our friends a reason for the hope that we have in Christ. To do that, we
obviously need to know something about what we really believe and why we believe the
things we believe. It enables you to compare the answers from other worldviews and
show why the biblical answers are much more compelling and satisfying.
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Reason 4: Understanding Christian worldview helps you to connect your faith with
every area of life
Dualism says: “The heart is what you used in a relationship with God but the brain is
what you used while studying science, computers, economics and history in school.”
There is a separation of the heart for spiritual stuffs and the mind for secular stuffs. When
that happens, no wonder our faith has so little impact on how we do our work or studies
in the world. And no wonder our ‘daily activities’ outside the church has very little to do
with God or the gospel.
The famous Christian scientist Kepler once said that when we discover scientific laws in
nature, we are actually thinking after God’s thoughts. What true knowledge we discover
in biology or physics or chemistry are clues that point us to the wisdom of God and leads
us to wonder and worship. All truth is God’s truth.
When was the last time you were encouraged to think Christianly as a student of law,
business, information technology or education? Whatever our calling is, we need to learn
to think and live “Christianly” in areas specific to what we do – be it in media, education,
business, technology, politics or the arts.
Consciously or not, all of us already have some basic ideas about how to look at life and
the world that guide our actions like contact lenses through which we see everything else.
The only question is “Is our worldview biblical or not? Do we have a Christian
worldview?” It is important for us to examine our worldview together in light of God’s
word.