What is the Christian Worldview?
The movie Don’t Look Up by Netflix is a satire about a comet bigger than the one that killed the dinosaurs heading straight for earth and is deemed “a planet killer.” Scientists discover this comet 6 months before it is calculated to hit, and they rush to warn the world leaders of this impending doom, but the response more or less is “let’s not talk about that and hopefully it’ll just go away,” that is, “Don’t look up.” Now, without getting into some of the more obvious political implications of this very secular movie, it’s a pretty good illustration of how the Christian evangelist and apologist feels! The Christian worldview is that Jesus is coming again as an ark to save believers from eternal separation from God, and you better get on that ship before it leaves the planet that is literally going to be burned up in fire (2 Pet. 3:7, 10, 12).
The Christian worldview is that Jesus is coming again as an ark to save believers from eternal separation from God, and you better get on that ship before it leaves the planet that is literally going to be burned up in fire (2 Pet. 3:7, 10, 12).
A worldview is the lens through which one sees the world and a person’s worldview matters because it impacts how she thinks and the decisions she makes. We saw the importance of worldview in the post Faithfully Different: Why Worldview Matters. A religion is a worldview, for example Christianity. For Christians, we understand the world through what is revealed in God’s Word, the Bible. From the worldview of what the Bible teaches, we know what the origin, meaning, morality, and destiny is for each of us who bears the imago dei.
Origin: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1) and “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). By this we understand that each person has inherent worth, an image-bearer of God, and we need to treat one another as equals in dignity and value (including the unborn) as given by our Creator—not any man, government, or other institution.
Meaning: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Luke 30:30) and “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19). The purpose of our life is to glorify God because He is worthy as Creator God and Father, and we walk with gratitude because He saved us through the Son Jesus Christ. We do this by using our gifts for His glory, doing excellent work as acts of worship, pointing to others by our conduct as well as our words to Jesus Christ our Savior through whom we are reconciled to the One who is God and Father of us all.
Morality: “But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:15-16). We are to behave in a way in which we believe that God is God - omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, and absolutely good. We are to strive to be holy as He is, to be like Jesus who was without sin, not because He demands our good works to be saved, but because we are saved unto good works.
Destiny: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21) and “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). We know what the end of the world will be like, and to love our neighbors is to warn them of the wrath to come if they are not in Christ.
From the worldview of what the Bible teaches, we know what the origin, meaning, morality, and destiny is for each of us who bears the imago dei.
When we look at the world through Christianity, we are looking with the perspective of the Cross. In this Lenten season leading up to Easter, I hope we remind ourselves every day through prayer and the reading of God’s Word that which is “of first importance…that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). When it comes to the worries of the world like wars or the cost of living going up, we can look forward to Jesus our hope. He told us we were to have tribulation in the world but reminds us He has overcome the world (John 16:33) and “that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28).
When we engage in apologetics, we primarily look to Scripture, not politics, not the culture, not our peers, not our celebrities for guidance on what is true.
When we engage in apologetics, we primarily look to Scripture, not politics, not the culture, not our peers, not our celebrities for guidance on what is true. Sometimes, we even need to call things out within the church if we see the brethren stray away from what the Word of God says. As apologists, we are firstly interested in Truth, always pointing back to Jesus who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). We can steady ourselves on the Rock while the sea of culture rages around us, and brace ourselves against the thrashing turbulence of its continuing change. We have peace knowing that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8) and the Lord is sovereign over all things. So yes, look up - for Jesus will be coming with the clouds (Rev. 1:7, 1 Thes. 4:17).