KingdomView, Vol. III, Issue 11
IN THE SEQUEL, “OH, GOD BOOK II,” God [played by the late senior veteran actor George Burns] asks the help of 11-year-old Tracy Richards (Louanne) to help promote Himself. Tracy creates the slogan "Think God" and soon has her friends spreading the message by posters, graffiti and other ways. However, Tracy's parents and psychiatrists think the young girl is just crazy. God is the only one that can straighten out the situation?this is the basic plot. I would like to modify Louanne’s slogan with “Think Biblically.” In essence, as Christians, we should live our lives by a biblical worldview. You might be wondering what a biblical worldview is.
First, let me attempt to explain it by defining a “Worldview.” Every person, consciously or subconsciously, has some type of worldview. A personal worldview is a combination of all you believe to be true, and what you believe becomes the driving force behind every emotion, decision and action. Therefore, it affects your response to every area of life: from philosophy to science, theology and anthropology to economics, law, politics, art and social order — everything.
Furthermore, a person’s worldview is affected by many factors—education, by their inherited characteristics, background experiences and lifestyle situations, the values, attitudes, and habits they have developed, and more—and these vary from one person to another. The same is true of a biblical worldview. Subsequently, someone with a biblical worldview believes that his or her primary reason for existence is to love and serve God.
Now that I have explained what is meant by a biblical worldview, then an emerging question surfaces here, “Am I living my life by a biblical or secular worldview?” Here is another way to approach the question more pointedly. What are your views regarding some of the most contested social issues of our day? Are your views shaped and formed by biblical truths or secular arguments that conflict with Scripture? I would like to suggest that some believers are influenced by secular views that are in direct conflict with the Bible. A major contributor to this fact is a lack of biblical knowledge (Hosea 4:6). The apostle Paul addressed this issue somewhat with the church at Colossae. Here is what he said:
Colossians 2:8 - "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. NIV"
Therefore, we will spend a few weeks dealing with several controversial social issues by contrasting biblical and secular worldviews. My first topic is a biblical worldview of legitimate verses illegitimate gambling.
