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<\/a><\/p>\nLast time we blogged about a study<\/a> that found that only 6% of Americans and 9% of Christians hold to a consistent Biblical worldview, as defined by the researchers\u2019 benchmarks.<\/p>\n As I said, some of these questions have more to do with doctrinal lapses\u2013such as the authority of Scripture, the nature of salvation, etc.\u2013than worldview issues, as such.<\/p>\n And often the concept of \u201cworldview\u201d is used as means to smuggle in the notion that there is a Biblical \u201claw\u201d that governs every facet of life, as distinct from regular laws that govern that facet.\u00a0 A story on the study quotes the Reformed theologian, statesman, and worldview-thinking pioneer Andrew Kuyper:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThere is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!\u201d\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 But we Lutherans say, it is already<\/em> His.\u00a0 The secular realm even in its secularity is already<\/em> part of God\u2019s temporal kingdom, which He rules in a hidden way.\u00a0 We don\u2019t need to Christianize everything.\u00a0 The workings of ordinary vocations, the natural laws disclosed by science, the dynamics of social order, etc., etc., are part of God\u2019s creation and His providential care for what He has made, though we always have to contend with our sin, other people\u2019s sins, and the usurpation of the Devil in these realms.\u00a0 But meanwhile, we are also part of God\u2019s eternal kingdom through the Gospel, in which God is no longer hidden but revealed by His Word, which, though it contains God\u2019s Law,\u00a0 must not be reduced to a law book.<\/p>\n This is not to say that \u201cworldview\u201d is not a useful concept, but it just goes deeper than many people, Christians and non-Christians realize.\u00a0 Again, the term comes from the German philosophical term\u00a0Weltanschaung,\u00a0<\/em>referring to the view of the world that human beings bring to their perceptions.<\/p>\n Linguists talk about the \u201cdeep structure\u201d of language, the ordering principles that underly grammar itself and that can apply to multiple languages.\u00a0 Perhaps we can think of \u201cdeep worldview.\u201d\u00a0 The Bible indeed has shaped the deep worldview of Christians and non-Christians alike in Western civilization.\u00a0 Here would be some survey questions that reflect the deep worldview.\u00a0 I suspect that the scores for Biblical influence would be much higher in a study of these questions, though they too would show that this may be changing.<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong>\u00a0 Does the universe exist or is it an illusion?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The answer might seem obvious\u2013of course it does!\u2013but this is a worldview issue.\u00a0 The reason that virtually everyone in the West today\u2013no matter what their religious beliefs or lack of them might be\u2013is the Bible\u2019s teaching that the physical world is the creation of God, who, in addition, declared it to be \u201cvery good.\u201d<\/p>\n Hinduism, along with the traditional culture of India, teaches that the objective universe is an illusion<\/em>, one spun by the demon-goddess Maya.\u00a0 Salvation comes from escaping this maze of illusion through meditation, yoga, and acquiring positive karma.\u00a0 In doing so, one can end the endless cycle of reincarnation into this world of misery.\u00a0 (That\u2019s another point of difference:\u00a0 I suspect that all of the Christians documented in that study who believe in reincarnation think that this would be a good thing, that it would be really cool to come back and live a bunch of different lives.\u00a0 But Eastern religions who believe in reincarnation consider it a bad thing.)\u00a0 Buddhism<\/a> similarly believes that the objective universe is a realm of samsara<\/a>, a state of constant suffering.\u00a0 As opposed to the Biblical teaching that the objective, physical creation, for all of its problems, is \u201cvery good.\u201d<\/p>\n I do think that this worldview assumption is fading in the West.\u00a0 The postmodern notion that reality is a \u201cconstruction\u201d would be an example, similar to the Hindu notion of the god within who projects what we experience.\u00a0 The existentialist conviction that life is \u201cmeaningless\u201d is also similar to the Buddhist<\/a> assumption that existence is nothing but suffering.\u00a0 We have a broader, more popular trend of rejecting the physical world in favor of being \u201cspiritual,\u201d or, perhaps more accurately, just delving into our own subjectivity.<\/p>\n Notice that modern science depends on this Biblical worldview assumption and that it cannot be sustained by the denial of objectivity inherent in contemporary thought.<\/p>\n (2)\u00a0 Does time progress forward or does it simply repeat itself?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Again, a linear view of time seems to most of us, believer and nonbeliever alike, as the only way it can be.\u00a0 But it\u2019s in the nature of Weltanschauung<\/em>, or deep worldview, to be so fundamental to our perception that it will seem obvious and unquestioned.<\/p>\n Pagan cultures, whether animistic or the relatively sophisticated version of the Greek, tend to have cyclical<\/em> views of time.\u00a0 Indeed, this makes perfect sense.\u00a0 The sequence of the seasons repeats year after year.\u00a0 In human life, we are born, grow up, have children of our own, get old, and die.\u00a0 And those children likewise grow up, have children of their own, get old, and die.\u00a0 And on and on.<\/p>\n The Bible, of course, recognizes and speaks of the seasons of the year and of human life, and the weekly pattern of the Sabbath and the yearly courses of the festivals keep recurring.\u00a0 But it also speaks of time having a beginning<\/em> (the creation), a middle<\/em>, which is also the climax and the turning point (the incarnation), and an end<\/em> (Christ\u2019s return).<\/p>\n Again, this Biblical view of time is shared by modern scientists, Marxists, historians, and progressives in general.<\/p>\n (3)\u00a0 Is every human being equally valuable?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Of course!\u00a0 But that is a Biblical idea.\u00a0 In many hierarchical societies\u2013including here in the West, but also elsewhere throughout Europe\u2013some people really are considered better than others.\u00a0 Such a worldview gave us aristocracy, slavery, racism, and every kind of oppression.\u00a0 But such views in the West were hard to sustain in light of Biblical anthropology, with its teachings that all human beings bear the image of God, have a common origin, are equally subject to God\u2019s moral law (including kings, priests, the rich, etc.) and are objects of God\u2019s love and Christ\u2019s redemption (Revelation 7:9-10).<\/p>\n (4)\u00a0 Is war, though perhaps sometimes justified, a bad thing or a good thing?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>You don\u2019t have to be a pacifist to consider war to be horrible, tragic, and evil.\u00a0 But in many societies, war is considered glorious and greatly to be desired.<\/p>\n We could go on. . . .<\/p>\n Interestingly, when the New Atheists criticize Christianity, they are often doing so by drawing on the Christian worldview.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Image by\u00a0stokpic<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Pixabay<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christians often use “worldview” in confused ways. Lutherans look at the concept differently than the Reformed. But there is a deeper sense in which the Bible really has shaped the way the West views objective reality, time, the value of human life, and other fundamental assumptions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":55469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11,12,35,39,40],"tags":[5894,5552,10798,4597],"class_list":["post-55406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible","category-church","category-culture","category-philosophy-2","category-religions","category-science","tag-bibles-cultural-influence","tag-biblical-worldview","tag-weltanschauung","tag-worldview"],"yoast_head":"\n