Life Perspective
A major aspect of the CTF mission, and one for which we spend a great deal of our waking hours, is the promotion and development of Biblical worldview to believing families and ministers. I am convinced that for Christian life to be effective there are two requirements—first and foremost, is regeneration (i.e., being truly born again and dying to self) and, second is the guiding influence of a Biblically literal reality about our origin, purpose, identity and destiny.
Because the Bible, without apology, declares itself to be truth, not about truth, not containing truth, but the totality of all that is true about realty, it must therefore be the primary source from which we think about all issues of life and death. This is why Apostle Paul told the Philippians that they must let the same “mind” (Gk. > fro·ně′ō > direction or thinking) that was in Christ be in them (Phil. 2:5). A Biblical worldview, then, demands that our thoughts, our conclusions, our assumptions, our ideas, our interpretations and our manner of life must be founded on the Bible.
In short, worldview is what the Germans called weltanschauung , or life perspective. It is that innate presupposition that has been formed in us. It can either be good or it can be bad depending on its ultimate source. Alvin Toffler, in his startling book Future Shock opined that, “Every person carries in his head a mental model of the world…This “mental model” is like a giant filing cabinet. It contains a slot for every item of information coming to us.” (NY: Bantam, 1971, p. 158)
But the question that must be answered is where does an appropriate “mental model” originate—(“appropriate” meaning God honoring)? Toffler doesn’t provide this important bit of information, but the fact is everyone has a worldview, or a governing belief system, but they can be as different as day and night. So, are we born with a governing paradigm already in place? Is it developed by life experiences or the educational processes? What is the source for a guiding worldview? Why are there differing interpretations about the same reality, or why do different people observe the same phenomenon and see it and explain it differently?
I was once told a parable about a robin and a buzzard that flew across an open field. Once on the other side they were asked what they saw. The robin said that he saw a running brook bubbling over brightly covered rocks, beside a field covered with an emerald carpet all tacked down with daffodils and daises. The buzzard said that he saw a decaying rabbit under the crag of a dead tree. In each case the interpretation was determined by each bird’s view of the field. We see and understand the world as our worldview interprets it. Some see life as a remarkable fact of the evolutionary process, and others see life as a miracle of the ineffable Creator God.
Well, it seems obvious to me that one’s worldview is an aggregation or a synthesis of their relationship with either God or themselves. The interpretation of the world and human origins is obviously determined by our worldview (our belief system). Thus we either see the world around us as a unique work of the Creator God that demands our obedience to that God, or we interpret the world as a self-producing, self-contained object of naturalism, leaving us all alone.
Thanks for your continued prayer and financial support! I am yours, as ever.
Sincerely,
G. Thomas Sharp
