Framing a Christian Worldview:Lesson 3

I John 2:15-17

I John 2:15-17

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the

Father is not in him.16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,

and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

What is a “Worldview”?

"The term ‘worldview’ refers to any ideology, philosophy, theology, movement, or religion that provides an overarching approach to understanding God, the world, and man's relations to God and the world. Specifically, a worldview should contain a particular perspective regarding each of the following ten disciplines: theology, philosophy, ethics, biology, psychology, sociology, law, politics, economics, and history.”

David Noebel, Understanding the Times (Harvest House Publishers: Eugene, Oregon, 1991), 8.

Framing your worldview- questions to ask yourself:

1. Do you believe the Bible is the inspired -(theopneustos-‘God breathed’) word of God?

2. Do you believe it is without error, and infallible?

3. Do you believe the Bible is the sole basis of the believer’s walk, faith and practice?

Framing your worldview- questions to ask yourself:

4. Do you believe God’s word is fully relevant to the issues we face in life?

5. Do you think it is possible to believe the Bible intellectually, but not practically apply it to your daily life?

6. Is there a difference between the failure to obey due to weakness of the flesh, which we all do, and the evident, repeated pattern of consistently disobeying God’s word?

AssumptionsFor the sake of brevity and time, the following points will be assumed and accepted as factual:

1. God is sovereign in the affairs of men and history2. The Bible is God-breathed, or inspired3. The Bible is true and without error4. The Bible is the sole basis of faith and practice, and is THE authority in

life5. The Bible is relevant, indeed inseparably so, to this life

Should you have questions about these points, Jeff will be happy to speak to you about these after class.

The Intersection of Our Faith and the World

1. Theology2. Philosophy3. Ethics4. Biology5. Psychology6. Sociology7. Law8. Politics9. Economics10. History

Today’s Topics:

LawPolitics

EconomicsHistory

Ethics – A Review from May 24

• Ethics: How we determine right from wrong, how we handle various ethical dilemmas. Moral relativism vs Biblical standard, “ends justify the means”.

• Exodus 20: Thou shalt not:• Have any other Gods before me; make a graven image; take the name

of God in vain; thou shalt remember the Sabbath day; thou shalt honor father and mother; kill; commit adultery; steal; bear false witness; covet.

• Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

• James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to

him it is sin.

Law• Humanistic/Marxist law, rooted in Darwinian evolution, holds no

absolutes and deny the existence of God.“In what sense do we repudiate ethics and morality? In the sense in which it was preached by the bourgeoisie, who derived ethics from God’s commandments. We of course say that we do not believe in God.” V.I. Lenin

“There are no eternal, immutable, principles of law.” L.S. Jawitsch

• America, from her start, began with the idea that laws come from God, and along with that, the rights of men are inalienable, sourced in God Himself: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

• Amendment I of the Constitution“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Politics

• Democracy vs a democratically elected republic

• The Electoral College and the balance between the rights of the individuals and the rights of states.

• Politics and evolution- man is involved in evolution- modern applications: AGW, abortion (remember our biology discussion?), wealth redistribution and anti-bourgeois policies (evolution of the society).

Economics

• Ground up (supply and demand organicaly created) vs state-driven (state determines levels of production and distribution (socialism and fascism)

• America has traditionally recognized the middle class economy as being foundational to her prosperity – the bourgeoisie.

• Socialism focuses on the state knowing what is best to do with your money instead of you. The good of society as a whole is more important than your right to do what you should with your own money. The Bible says “For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward. (I Timothy 5:18)

History

• The secular world view of history is that it is the mere recording of random events based on the decisions of different people during various periods of time. If one is atheistic, then history, while good to learn, is still left to chance, without God’s involvement.

• The Christian world view of history is that it is the revelation of ordained events based on the plan of God from eternity past. It is not left to chance, but rather is the revealing of the hand of God in man's affairs.

Discussion Time

Ethics: Is it RIGHT or WRONG? How do we determine that?

Law – If not founded on God’s Word, then what is the basis for right or wrong laws?

Politics - Are the policies of the land God-honoring or man–centered? What is the worldview of those we vote for?

Economics – Does God reward your labor or should the government decide how your reward is allocated?

History – Did God bring it to pass, or is it a random, and ultimately meaningless, order of events?

How do these tie together?

Ethics

Law

Politics

Economics

History

The Big Picture

Theology

Philosophy

Ethics

Biology

Psychology

SociologyLaw

Politics

Economics

History