A Study on Worldview and the Cultural Captivity of the Gospel by CAS

8/8/2019 A Study on Worldview and the Cultural Captivity of the Gospel by CAS

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[email protected]

http://returnnow.org


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Because understanding how:

Worldviews guide and confine thought

andHow the present cultures worldview

was formed

is the essential step in understanding thestrategy of the secular world against the

Body of Christ


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The gospel is like a caged lion. Itdoes not need to be defended, it

just needs to be let out of itscage.


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So shall My word be that goes forthfrom My mouth; It shall not return to Mevoid, But it shall accomplish what I

please, And it shall prosper in the thingfor which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11 NKJV)


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The gospel is not merely religious truth it is truth about the whole of reality. Once letout of its cage the gospel cannot help but

become, by its nature, the chief power inany kingdom.

It is self-sufficient for providing acomplete worldview. Nothing needs tobe added to it.


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BUT

IT HAS TO BE USEDAND PROCLAIMED!


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WORLDVIEW

is the object of battle

Sin is working in the world to hold the gospel

in a cage. Sin expresses its power throughworldview.

For the message of the cross is foolishness tothose who are perishing, but to us who arebeing saved it is the power of God. (1Corinthians 1:18 NKJV)


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A comprehensive conception or apprehensionof the world especially from a specific

standpoint

A set of pre-existing beliefs or opinions thatequip us to handle the information that theworld presents to us.


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Everyone has a worldview.

Worldview is like the lens in our eye. We donot see it, but we see everything else by lookingthrough it. Worldview supplies the structuralframework, the foundations of the world that

we see.

By using it we filter out, often subconsciously,what is real and what is not.


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Worldview is a map of the universe that we all carryaround in our heads.

The same object or declaration will have totallydifferent meaning to different people, according totheir pre-existing worldview.

The problem is that sin has corrupted the lens, themap, our whole unregenerate worldview!


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To see how worldview can affect what we seeor hear, consider this verse from the Bible:

Jesus answered and said to him, "Mostassuredly, I say to you, unless one is bornagain, he cannot see the kingdom of God."(John 3:3 NKJV)


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Now think about how each of the followingworldviews, or religions would interpret thisverse:

Christianity

Hinduism

Secular Humanism (yes it is a religion)


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Jesus answered and said to him, "Mostassuredly, I say to you, unless one is bornagain, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

(John 3:3 NKJV)

Now on what deeper underlying premises orassumptions do these interpretations depend?


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Jesus answered and said to him, "Mostassuredly, I say to you, unless one is bornagain, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

(John 3:3 NKJV)

o The Christian worldview

o

The Hindu worldviewo The Secular Humanist or materialist worldview


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1. Materialism: the ultimate reality is matter, andeverything is reduced to material constituents.

2. Pantheism: the ultimate reality is a spiritualforce & the goal of meditation is to reconnectwith that spiritual oneness.

3. Darwinism: biology is ultimate, andeverything, even religion & morality, isreduced to a product of Darwinian processes.

4. Empiricism: all knowledge is traceable

ultimately to sense data & anything not knownby sensation is unreal.


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Worldviews arise from a pre-existing set ofassumptions or premises.

These could be the products of:

Prejudice

Culture Self-interest

Divine revelation


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It is important to realize that in most cases, thefoundations, or premises, of a worldview arenot provable, but instead are subjective andoften in major conflict with reality.


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Take a group of world class scientists as an

example. They may be working together in anuclear lab, or with a particle accelerator. Theyapply their intellectual gifts to their jobs, and intheir private lives they may be strong believers

in Jehovah God, New Age, or something else.After work they may go to their temple to feedtheir gods made of plaster, or get involved in aMasonic rite. Their worldview is split. Each

part rests on a totally different set of premisesor assumptions.


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Is either worldview supported by reality?

You may say yes to their scientific worldview.But this answer in most cases would be

incorrect today. Distinction must be madebetween faith in the scientific method, which isnot a worldview, and the worldview assumptionsof naturalistic science, which are based on

unproven and non-testable premises.

This latter point is the subject of futureFoundations presentations.


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The most important question in life, then, iswhat a person accepts as ultimate premises,

because they shape everything that follows.

They determine the persons worldview, which

then guides them through life.

A Ch i i f i h i Ch i i


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As Christians, our faith in Christ is moreimportant than our belief in science, oreducation, or family, etc..

Because our faith in Christ provides the lightthat illuminates our understanding and guides

our actions.

This worldview is based on REVELATION,and cannot be found by reason alone.

The REVELATION of God is reality. This is ourpremise.


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It is only after acceptance and testing thatexperience proves or disproves a worldview.

The premises in themselves may not beprovable. The proof is in their application.

The application of the Revelation of God, theBible, to the world proves its validity as total

truth, because it leaves no aspect of realityunexplained.

Reality and Gods revelation are in agreement.


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We have talked at length about worldview, itsfunction, and how it may be acquired.

Now lets move onto the next section, whichdeals with how worldview has been used to

put the gospel in a cage.


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Marriage

Lifestyle and entertainment

Education

Science

Government

Church

No part of our lives is left untouched!


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We know the objective

We know the battles

We should also know theweapon

Because we may be part of itunknowingly


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THE SPLITTING OF TRUTH

INTO PUBLIC & PRIVATE DOMAINS

Truth has been divided into two spheres:

Religion (upper story) Science & truth (lower story)


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Religion is put in the private upper story,where no-one goes except in their private life

Personal values

Choice Personal preference

Beliefs

Science and truth are kept in the lower story,

where public life takes place Truth

Reality

Everything here is supposedly value free and

neutral

Thi di i i i h i l


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This division is the single most potent weaponfor delegitimizing the biblical perspective inpublic life today.

The real weapon is not science, nor Darwinism, butsomething far more subtle, pervasive &fundamental.

By splitting religion away from the publicsphere, secularists can assure us that theyrespect religion, while at the same timedenying that it has any relevance in the public

realm. Science does not rule out religious belief, as

long as it does not claim to be actual publicknowledge.


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Contrary to what some may expect, thisdivision of truth into private & public realmdid notoriginate with Darwinism, nor with the

industrial revolution, nor with the ascent ofscience.

The origin of this 2 story view of reality can betraced directly back to Greek philosophy,

predating Christianity.

Pl t d li tt i f i f i l lif


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Plato dualism, matter inferior, form superior, real lifelike reflections on the wall of a cave. This led to 2storey view of reality.

Further developed & refined by Aristotle, Augustine, ThomasAquinas & others through the ages.

Dualism was reinforced which in turn led to a dualisticview of Christian life also. (Gnosticism, many heresies).

Eventually there came about speculation of anaturalistic origin of the universe.

The fact-value divide was then clinched in the late 19th

C. by Darwinism. The picture was completed by aseemingly plausible naturalistic mechanism forevolution.


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With Darwinism & a naturalistic worldview oflife & origins, the upper story was cut offfrom any connection to the realm of history,science, reason. Evolutionary forces

supposedly produced the human mind and somorality & religion are no longer transcendent.They are merely ideas that have evolved in thehuman mind. They are no longer real and have

no eternal significance. They are now the product of choice only.

Say Hello post-modernism.


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What we hear about the UPPER STORY(religious belief)

We respect yourbeliefs You can keep your personal values

That is an individual choice for yourself

Religious/spiritual belief

Praiseworthy, but need togrow out of it as part ofmaturity

Your beliefs need to be set aside in the real world


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What we hear about the LOWER STORY(naturalistic science)

science has discovered that ...

the way all rational people think everyone knows

this is the way we think today

Our mandate to teach is neutral of religious belief

Naturalistic science is value free Religion is in conflict with science

Religion has no place in the laboratory


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CHURCHES HAVE ELEMENTS OF SECULAR

WORLDVIEW

Is it any wonder many Christian youth decline

towards atheism upon leaving the home? Almost expected because they are going into the real world.

Parents & Church: are they covering up evolution? Guilt fromsilence on issue.

No teaching on how to detect & analyze worldviews.

Is it any wonder adult Christians are so biblicallyimmature? More & more preaching focussed on values & ethics. The full

counsel of God not preached, limits put on Gods Word (thecage).

Many secular techniques & values used in day to day Churchlife & administration, etc.


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We often dont see that what we may be

dealing with in the secular world, disguised asfact, or as presented as value free, or non-religious, is indeed a competing worldview orreligion.

We may then unknowingly absorb thisworldview into our lives.


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A belief system can be classified as a completeworldview if it tries to provide explanations

for: Creation or origins

The major problem facing mankind (the fall)

The solution (redemption)


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CREATION FALL REDEMPTION

God created the

heavens & theearth

Mankinds

rebellion & entryof sin

The Cross

Christianity


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Self-creating, self-

regeneratingmatter

The rise of privateproperty

Revolution!Overthrow theoppressors &

recreate theoriginal paradise

of primitivecommunism

Marxism


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The Absolute, the

One, a UniversalSpiritual Essence

Our sense ofindividuality

By being reunitedwith the

UniversalSpiritual Essencefrom which we all

came

New Age


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Spontaneouscreation of the

universe and lifedriven by blind,directionless,

random chance

By religion andsuperstition Through scienceand reason

Scientific Materialism


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o In the public sphere, worldview is the battlezone

o The upper-story lower-story split is the

weapon that has marginalized the biblicalworldview

o The current scientific, atheistic worldview isnot the result of brilliant science, but has its

origin in personal bias long predatingChristianity and the scientific revolution


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o Its is easy to detect & analyze competingworldviews

o The full gospel must be liberated from the cageimposed by our culture (it is our weapon)

o Are we part of the problem?


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We must remove the divide between faith in private

and public life

We must live out a total Christian worldview

Only by doing so will the cultural worldview bechanged, because worldview cannot be legislated. Itmust come from within each individual first.


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Accept the Bible as total truth. This will equip us to:

Live so that we honour God and express a Christianworldview in every facet of our lives.

Show the world that the Christian worldview is theonly one that works anywhere, anytime, foranybody.

Always insist that the Christian worldview fullydescribes and explains reality, because it is reality.


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Daily time in the Word & in prayer.

Understanding that the Cross not only gives ussalvation, but also has power for our ongoing

sanctification. This is not done by self-effort. Trusting God that His Word is sufficient and can

provide the answer to all questions and any heresy. Itis total truth.

Concerning the adversary, to disallow access to ourpersons and homes through TV, lifestyle, etc..


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A Study on Worldview and the Cultural Captivity of the Gospel by CAS