IV. Thoughtful Christians See the Relationship Between the Pattern of Christian Truth and a Christian Worldview Development
The reality is that everyone has a worldview. Some worldviews are incoherent, being merely a smorgasbord of ideas from natural, supernatural, premodern, modern, and postmodern options. An examined worldview, however, is more than a private personal viewpoint; it is a comprehensive life system, shaped by scripture and influenced by key Christian doctrines, as well as the Christian intellectual tradition, that seeks to answer the basic questions of life.47 Aware of the challenges of this “secular age”48 and the loss of plausibility structures,49 a Christian worldview helps encourage wholehearted devotion to distinctively Christian thinking, providing what Graham A. Cole describes as a frame of reference that tells a coherent story while illuminating the actual world in which we live.50
The beginning point for building a Christian worldview is found in the confession that we “believe in God, the Father, Maker of heaven and earth” (The Apostles’ Creed). We recognize that all true knowledge and wisdom flows from the one Creator to his creation. From these building blocks, we will be prepared to wrestle with questions such as the following:
- Where did we come from?
- Who are we?
- What has gone wrong with the world?
- What solution can be offered to deal with these challenges?
In addition, a Christian worldview must seek not only to answer these key questions of life, but to explore their general implications or specific applications as well.51
A Christian worldview must offer a way to live that is consistent with reality by seeking to present a comprehensive understanding of all areas of life and thought. The beginning point noted above brings us into the presence of God without delay. The central affirmation of scripture is not only that there is a God, but also that God has acted and spoken in history.52 God is Lord and King over the world, ruling all things for his own glory, displaying his imperfections in all that he does in order that humans and angels may worship and adore him.
To think wrongly about God is idolatry (Psalm 50:21). Thinking rightly about God leads to eternal life (John 17:3) and should be the believer’s life objective (Jeremiah 9:23–24). We can think rightly about God because he is knowable (1 Corinthians 2:11), yet we must remain mindful that he is simultaneously incomprehensible (Romans 11:33–36). God can be known, but he cannot be completely known (Deuteronomy 29:29).53
As stated clearly in our earlier section on creation, we recognize that God is personal and differentiated from other beings, from nature, and from the universe. In contrast, other worldviews say that God is part of the world, creating a continual process. The process itself, it is claimed, is God—or is becoming God. Yet scripture affirms that God is self-existent, dependent on nothing external to himself. He is infinite, meaning that God is not only unlimited but that nothing outside God can limit God. The creating and redeeming God is infinite in relation to time (eternal), in relation to knowledge (omniscient), and in relation to power (omnipotent). He is sovereign and unchanging, infinite and personal, transcendent and immanent; God is holy, righteous, just, good, true, faithful, loving, gracious, and merciful.54
Without the use of any preexisting material, God brought into being everything that is. Creation reveals God (Psalm 19) and brings glory to him (Isaiah 43:7). All of creation was originally good but is now imperfect because of the entrance of sin and its effect on creation (Genesis 3:16–19). This is, however, only a temporary imperfection (Romans 8:19–22), for creation will be redeemed in the final work of God, the new creation.
The creator God should in no way be separated from the God who provides redemption in Jesus Christ, and who gives new life through his Holy Spirit. Creation itself is the work of the Trinitarian God, who is the source of all things. This means that God has brought the world into existence out of nothing through a purposeful act of his free will. A Christian worldview affirms that God is the sovereign and almighty Lord of all existence. Such an affirmation rejects any form of dualism—that matter has eternally existed, or that matter must, therefore, be evil since it is in principle opposed to God, the source of all good.
Furthermore, a Christian worldview contends that God is set apart from and transcends his creation. It also maintains that God is a purposeful God who creates in freedom. In creation and in God’s provision and preservation for creation, he is working out his ultimate purposes for humanity and the world. This affirms the overall unity and intelligibility of the universe. In this unity we see God’s greatness, goodness, and wisdom.55
Our survey regarding the pattern of Christian truth in the previous section helps us answer key questions of life: “who are we?”, “where did we come from?”, “what has gone wrong with the world?”, and “what solutions can be offered?” A Christian worldview, in addressing these questions, provides a framework that helps us fulfill our responsibility for God-centered thinking and living. Any articulation of a Christian worldview must wrestle with the reality of sin. We can affirm that people choose to do good, but a Christian worldview helps us distinguish between doing good in a way that may be beneficial in a general fashion for society and doing the ultimate good, which is the goal of pleasing God. Central to a Christian worldview message is the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). The resurrection establishes Jesus’ lordship and deity, as well as guaranteeing the salvation of sinners (see Romans 1:3–4; 4:24–25). Jesus’ resurrection enables believers to see, think, and live anew.56
A Christian worldview becomes a shaping force for thoughtful Christians, giving us a sense of God’s plan and purpose for the world. Our identity is shaped by this worldview. We no longer see ourselves as alienated sinners. A Christian worldview is not escapism but an energizing motivation for godly and faithful thinking and living in the here-and-now. In the midst of life’s challenges and struggles, a Christian worldview provides confidence and hope for the future while helping to stabilize life, serving as an anchor to link us to God’s faithfulness and steadfastness.57
A Christian worldview also provides a framework for ethical thinking. We recognize that humans, who are made in God’s image, are essentially moral beings. We also recognize that the fullest embodiment of good, love, holiness, grace, and truth is found in Jesus Christ (John 1:14–18).58
A Christian worldview has implications for understanding history. We see that history is not cyclical or random. Rather, we see history as linear, a meaningful sequence of events leading to the fulfillment of God’s purposes for humanity.59 Human history will climax where it began—on the earth. This truth is another distinctive of Christian thinking, for Christianity is historical at its heart. According to scripture, God has acted decisively in history, revealing himself in specific acts and events. Moreover, God will act to bring history to its providential destiny and planned conclusion.60
God who has acted in history in past events will also act in the future to consummate this age. So when we ask, “How will it end?” we do not simply or suddenly pass out of the realm of history; we pass to that which is nevertheless certain of occurring because God is behind it and is himself the one who tells us it will come to pass.61 Developing a Christian worldview is best understood as an ever-advancing process for us in which Christian convictions more and more shape our participation in culture. This disciplined, vigorous, and unending process will help shape how we assess culture and our place in it. Otherwise, we open ourselves to the possibility that culture will shape us and our thinking. Thus a Christian worldview offers a distinctive way of thinking, seeing, and doing, based on a new way of being.62
A Christian worldview is a coherent way of seeing life, a perspective distinct from such philosophies and approaches as deism, naturalism, and materialism (whether Darwinistic, humanistic, or Marxist), existentialism, polytheism, pantheism, mysticism, or deconstructionistic postmodernism.63 The theistic emphasis of Christianity provides bearings and direction when confronted with New Age spirituality or secularistic and pluralistic approaches to truth and morality. Fear about the future, suffering, disease, and poverty are informed by a Christian worldview grounded in the redemptive work of Christ and the hope that is ours in him. Contrary to meaningless and purposeless nihilistic perspectives, a Christian worldview offers meaning and purpose for the living of these days, recognizing that God is guiding history toward the fulfillment of his providential plan.64