Christians Helping Our World

A worldview is how one sees life and the world at large. It includes one’s comprehensive conception of reality, the universe, the world, and humanity. Studies have shown that people's decision-making and behavior is influenced by their worldview. This is why the often heard adage "it doesn't matter what one believes" qualifies as a false assertion.
  
Each person has a worldview which they exercise to make sense of life and interpret the world around them. Depending on how well a person’s worldview aligns with reality determines whether or not their worldview brings them clarity or a distortion of reality that results in their ability to make the best decisions.

Palmer (1998) explains it this way, "Through our worldview, we determine priorities, explain our relationship to God and fellow human beings, assess the meaning of events, and justify our actions."

A person's worldview provides a general context for life, including a vision of what one considers authentically real. More than just an interpretive lens, a worldview perspective shapes, influences, and generally directs a person's entire life. Because people behave as they believe, their worldviews guide the development of the values that inform their decisions and actions.

Each person who seeks to live a balanced and meaningful life based on realistic values must think about basic and critical questions. One’s worldview attempts to answer them, functioning like a chart to navigate the journey of information critical to life. A worldview can be seen as a "road map" that supplies directions that guide a person's life decisions (Samples, 2007).

Samples (2007) outlines some basic questions that each person should attempt to answer in their worldview asking:

“What ultimate reality exists? What kind of God, if any, actually exists? Is there anything beyond the cosmos? What can be known, and how can anyone know it? Where did I come from? Who am I? Where am I? How should I live? What should I consider of great worth? Does humanity have a fundamental problem, and if so, what is it? How can humanity's problem be solved? What is the meaning and direction of history? Will I survive the death of my body and, if so, in what state?”

 Many world-class theologians, philosophers, scientists, researchers, etc… from a variety of cultures throughout history have attempted to answer these questions and develop a beneficial view of the world.

What a person believes influences their decision-making and behavior. This has wider consequences beyond one’s own life affecting others and ultimately society and our world. It is therefore necessary to cultivate an environment where people are taught how to logically qualify worldviews so as to be in a position to make informed decisions.

As Christians, we believe God is directing history toward a new or restored creation where he reigns in love over a redeemed people who live in harmony with each other. The teaching of scripture is that all humanity is loved with an everlasting love which invites, calls, and motivates us to draw near to our Creator in love and to live our lives in a living relationship with God. However, most of the people in the world are not Christians and have all sorts of ideas about God, religion, life, and spirituality which for good or evil affect the decisions they make in how they live their lives to the politics they support.

No person is wholly spiritual or secular. Everyone has these components, the spiritual and the physical. These components affect how they raise their families, how they function in society, and they interface with political institutions. Family normally provides the context for personal living and is the first place which basic values are formed. Society widens the circle of influence upon one's life where manners, values, habits, associations, and attitudes that allow a people to function in the routine of life are developed. Government is the institution that makes human interaction work on a larger scale. It creates and maintains the infrastructure necessary for societies to function.

Government possesses for its population questions about national allegiance, taxes, war, and legal prescriptions. Family, society, and political organization offer both guidance and restraints upon a person. These benefits and restraints are governed by a host of factors. Some work better than others. Some are rooted in truth while others are not. Desirable results are rooted in truth. The culture wars are over what this truth is and how it should be implemented (Enochs and Lynn, 2007).

But moral obligation is incompatible with ethical relativism. Ethical relativism is incoherent as a system and fails as a foundation for which a person or society can base moral values. Subjectivist ethics also fail to account for mankind's conscious awareness of moral obligation. Moral obligations are more than passing or culturally imposed impulses. In the end, the relativist approach to morality collapses because it lacks an adequate metaphysical basis like that found in Christianity.

Unlike secular humanism, Christianity is rooted in the holy, just, righteous, and loving nature of God. The Christian worldview thus provides a foundation and justification for absolute moral values something relativism simply cannot. One of the strongest evidences that Christianity is true is its ability to explain and justify the meaningful realities of life. And nothing is more central to human existence than absolute moral values. Though actually outlining the logic necessary to qualify worldviews is outside the scope of this paper the author recommends the reader take the time to qualify their own worldview using Kenneth Samples logical methodology found in his book titled ‘A World of Difference’ (Samples 2004).

People’s beliefs really matter in that they influence their decision-making which has an impact on the choices they make, how they interact with others, society, government, and ultimately our world. Since relativism cannot provide the basis upon which to ground these beliefs, worldviews that claim to possess this capacity must be properly qualified so accurate decision-making can occur leading to desirable results for individuals, their families, society and government, and ultimately the world.

                                                                References

Enochs, J. & Lynn, M. (2007). Being Christian in a Secular Society [Handout]. Brentwood, TN: Nations University: Diploma in Divinity.

McDermott, G. R. (2007). God’s Rivals: Why has God allowed different religions? Illinois: Intervarsity Press.

Palmer, M. D. (1998). Elements of a Christian Worldview. Missouri: Logion Press.

Pothier, P. L. (2009). Comparative Worldview Interview Form. Contemporary Worldviews

MFI 6. Brentwood, TN: Nations University: Diploma in Divinity.

Samples, K. R. (2004). Without a doubt: Answering the 20 toughest faith questions. Michigan:Baker Books.

Samples, K.R. (2007). A World of Difference: Putting Christian truth-claims to the worldview test. Michigan: Baker Books.

Wikipedia. (2005). Worldview. M.Div quick retrieval. Retrieved on January 12, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_view