WORLDVIEW(Series)
Understanding Worldview
by Jonathon Gonzalez
Americas drift towards secularism (the complete separation of religious teaching and view) is because we the Christian Community have failed to apply our worldview to every part of society. In Mathew 5:13 Jesus said that we are the “salt and light of the earth” we are to be salt and light to our culture, society, and surroundings; to be real with you I don’t see enough of us being that salt and light to the earth. Our problem comes from the lack of understanding our worldview, and if we are not able to understand are worldview, the foundation of are beliefs, then as being the salt of the earth we will lose our taste and we will not be able to impact and preserve this earth the way Jesus Christ has sent us to.
A worldview offers a perspective on everything, a world view is defined as an ideology, philosophy, theology, movement or religion that takes an over arching approach to understanding God, the relationship of people to God, and the world. There are 10 categories that form a worldview which we will be studying on for the next couple of months; they are theology, philosophy, biology, psychology, ethics, sociology, law, politics, economics, and history.
In Mathew 22 37-38 Jesus says “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and your entire mind.” In Romans Paul writes “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, Then you will be able to test and approve what Gods will is, his good, pleasing perfect will, so we come to know Gods will in our life by the renewing of our mind, and Jesus said that our mind is involved in loving God, it is critical to understand that are mind plays a huge role in are Christian walk. Being a Christian warrior or a Kings daughter is much more than a personal/private relationship with God, it influences every part of our lives and also it influences how we relate to others, a follower of Christ considers all life sacred, the Christian worldview relates to all of life, Gods truth is everywhere you look.
"Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world and not based on Christ." We must see to it that no one takes us captive as we strengthen our faith and worldview, and once we have "taken captive our thoughts, and made them obedient to Christ" we are to use these thoughts to "destroy any argument or high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God."
Our Biblical worldview is founded on Christ; He affects everything we do. The Bible is our foundation, and the Bible is the way God chose to communicate to us his truth, some say faith is our foundation but faith is our response to Gods truth!
Colossians 1:15-20 says “He[Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation, He is before all things, and by him all things hold together, he is also the head of the body of the church, he is the beginning, the first born from the dead so that he might come to have first place in everything, because all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him and reconcile everything to himself through him by making peace through the blood of his cross, whether things on earth or in heaven.
Jesus Christ- holds all things together
Jesus Christ –The head of the church
Jesus Christ- Has control over everything else, including death
Jesus Christ- is the image of god
Jesus Christ- reconciled everything to himself through his blood.
Jesus Christ is our Foundation……….He is the way, the truth, and the life (John14:26)
Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2: 6-7
The next chapter we will study Theology- The study of the existence, nature, and attributes of God.
Application: Pick an article from the newspapers or magazines that you find interesting. Think about the big idea of the article, does it fit into one of the ten worldviews categories? Write the category at the top of the article: Theology, philosophy, biology, psychology, ethics, sociology, law, politics, economics, or history.