Worldview Made Practical - Issue 3-20

8/14/2019 Worldview Made Practical - Issue 3-20

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Introduction

Are you narrow-minded? What does that mean, anyway? Is your faith narrow? Are you tired of being characterized as big-oted and narrow-minded by people who dont like your faith?

This characterization of Christianity is a pretty popular one by people who dont like what we believe and who dont have

any way of addressing our beliefs except to insult us. But what is the truth, really? The fact is, the Christian faith is notnarrow in any unusual way. Those who say it is are simply revealing their own prejudices and ignorance of reality.Todays article gets at this and should help you deal with people who make this accusation.

I hope you are finding Worldview Made Practical a valuable resource in your Christian growth. It is certainly our desire toequip you to become more effective and faithful in your faith walk. I hope you will take the time to share it with your Chris-tian friends. How about forwarding this issue to those on your e-mail list and encourage them to sign up. Of course it isfree.

(Continued on page 2)

One of the most common accusations that non-Christiansmake toward the Christian faith is that it is narrow-minded.Before we go any further, lets just state up front that this istrue. But what does that really mean? Does it mean that thebeliefs of the Christian faith are false? Does it mean thatChristianity would be a better religion if it compromised onits beliefs?

In spite of the fact that this is a somewhat common accusa-tion, it is actually quite a meaningless charge. Those whomake this assertion really dont have any idea of what theyare saying. If you changed the beliefs of the Christian faithto something more broad, you would actually no longer be

dealing with Christianity at all. You would be dealing withsome other religion or philosophy. That is simply a factbased on simple definition.

Of course the Christian faith is narrow-minded. But the factis, it is not any different than any other religion or philoso-phy that exists on the face of the earth. In fact, the personwho makes an accusation like that is speaking from a beliefsystem that is equally narrow. Every faith position in exis-tence believes some things and excludes other things. Thebeliefs and exclusions define the faith. It is one thing to saythat Christianity is not true or that one prefers a differentbelief system. But to say that it is narrow-minded is not alogical statement. Lets look at this a little more deeply andsee if we can understand how to intelligently address thistopic.

Every Belief System Is Founded on FaithLiterally every time someone attacks the Christian faith forbeing narrow-minded, the attack comes from a point of view


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Volume 3 Number 20 October 22, 2008

Is the Christian Faith Really Narrow Minded?


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(Narrow Minded - Continued from page 1)

which is asserting a different narrow-minded belief. They are claiming a broad-minded and superior view, but it is simplynot true. Along with this attitude is often the notion that their point of view is based on factwhile our Christian beliefs area less objective faith position. Just to give one concrete example, Naturalists assert as fact that life must be founded ona belief that there is no God because science does not give any evidence that God exists. This is an example from Natu-ralism, but the same principle holds true as it relates to every worldview belief.

What they dont realize, however, is that every belief system in existence is founded on faith, even those which claim abasis on scientific fact. If you cut through the verbiage, you necessarily get down to a philosophical foundation whichstarts with unprovable faith presuppositions.

Following up on the previous example, while Naturalists assert that their beliefs are founded on scientific fact, nothingcould be further from the truth. For Naturalism to be true, matter must either be eternal or have spontaneously appearedout of nothing, life must have emerged out of non-life, and consciousness must have emerged out of non-consciousness.There is no science to support any of these. They are all faith presuppositions based on the belief that the supernaturaldoes not exist something which science cannot demonstrate.

Who is Narrow Minded?

But here is the real kicker. While some people tend to call Christians narrow-minded, the fact is every person who has aset of beliefs they adhere to is equally narrow-minded. Every belief system has a set of non-negotiable beliefs that it willnot compromise. With Christianity our non-negotiable belief is that a person can only get to God by accepting Christbased on his sacrificial death and his resurrection. Lets look at the non-negotiable beliefs of some other belief systems.

IslamIslamists believe that Allah is the only true God. A person cannot go to heaven without becoming a Muslim.

HinduismHindus insist that a person must live life in a certain way in order to accumulate good karma. A person cannot progressto higher spiritual levels without living according to their teachings.


(Introduction - Continued from page 1)

And, as you know, MarketFaith Ministries is a registered non-profit organization. We dont have any form of support ex-cept for people who believe in what we are doing and want to help. Our normal expenses are minimal, but there areprojects that we would like to do to more effectively equip the body of Christ using a worldview perspective. The big proj-ect we have coming up is the Worldview Summit for Ministry Professionals in January of 2009. If you would be willing tohelp us with this project, you can send your tax deductible donation to MarketFaith Ministries, 321 Anton Dr., Tallahas-see, FL 32312. It is also possible to donate online at the MarketFaith Ministries website at www.marketfaith.org. Simplyclick on the donate button. Thanks so much for your support.

And as always, I love to hear from you. Feel free to contact me at any time with your thoughts, opinions and sugges-tions.

God bless,Freddy

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great worldview resources at

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BahiaBahias assert that every religious belief must be incorporated into one all inclusive system. If you do not believe that, youwill not escape the captivity of your lower nature.

MormonismMormons believe that the Mormon faith is the only true faith. If you do not adhere to its beliefs and follow its practices, youwill end up in one of the lower levels of eternal existence.

Jehovahs WitnessJehovahs Witnesses believe that they are the only true faith. If you are not a Jehovahs Witness when you die, you willcease to exist.

Secular HumanismSecular Humanists believe that there is no such thing as a supernatural reality. If you do not believe this, you are destinedto live this life in ignorance and distress.

PostmodernismPostmodernists insist that there is no such thing as objective moral reality. If you do not believe this you are a bigot andintolerant.

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New Age

New Age adherents assert that mankind is on the cusp ofadvancing to a higher evolutionary level. If you do not be-lieve this, you cannot progress up the ladder yourself, andyou are hindering others from making this jump.

WiccaWiccans believe that there are many spirit beings allaround who can help or harm us, and that by learning theright incantations they can be controlled. If you cross anirritable Wiccan, you might possibly get a spell put on you.

Unification ChurchMoonies believe people must serve Rev. Moon and the

Unification Church in order to achieve heaven. Those whodo not will have a harder road in the afterlife.

So, what do we see here? Every belief system insists thatit has the truth. Every one is narrow-minded. So the personwho calls a Christian narrow-minded is just as much so.The only difference is where they draw the line.

So the real question is not whether or not a belief system isnarrow-minded. It is whether or not the belief system repre-sents the truth. What evidence exists to back up any partic-ular narrow point of view?

The Christian Faith Matches up Best with RealityNaturalism, and all of its derivatives, must show evidencethat matter is eternal or spontaneously emerged from noth-ing. It must prove that life can come from non-life and con-sciousness from non-consciousness. Of course, there is noevidence of any kind that can demonstrate this.

Every expression of Animism must show that there arespirit beings which can be manipulated by human actions.Of course, there is no objective evidence available to dem-onstrate this belief.


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Far Eastern Thought beliefs must be able to prove that we can be reincarnated and that karma is capable of moving usthrough successive lives. Of course, these things cannot even be demonstrated to exist.

Theistic belief systems must give solid evidence that their holy books are true and that their approach to reality matchesup with the way the real world operates.

Only the Christian faith provides the kinds and quantity of evidence that can objectively cause a person to conclude that itis the truth. (As it is not the purpose of this article to actually lay out the specific evidence for the Christian faith, we will nottry to deal with these here. (We will deal with that topic in the next issue.).

Yes, the Christian faith is narrow-minded. But that is not a bad thing, it is normal and expected. Dont allow that fact to bethe means by which someone pushes you into a corner. Rather, use it to help others understand the true narrow natureof their own belief system, and to share the message of the truth of our Christian faith with them.

In the next Issue: Evidence That the Christian Faith Is the Truth about Reality

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Worldview Made Practical - Issue 3-20