Worldview Matters
After an evening message on a recent trip, I was approached by a father with his two children in a packed foyer of the church. Usually I might field a couple of questions from the children about our dinosaur fossils. He introduced himself and kids then passed some encouraging words my way for that evening’s message and our mission. Then he professed being a public school science teacher. At that moment the conversation can go many different directions, as I have experienced over the last 17 years.
This teacher and father began sharing his testimony of the Lord seeking him as he walked away during his high school years. Growing up in the church, he never had his science questions answered with a Biblical worldview. He saw a hypocritical faith being expressed one way on Sunday with only lip-service the remainder of the time. This drove his faith to agnosticism because to him the Bible did not have answers that adults could apply to the world today. So I asked him how the Lord impacted him to bring him where he is today. In college the Lord gave him a strong Christian roommate that impacted his life with genuine faith. After being invited to a campus Bible study group, he found the Lord is the answer. He began to study the Bible for himself the first time in his faith. In the area of origins, however, he still held to a traditional evolutionary worldview, until one night when surfing on youtube he watched a video about a scientist that was a young earth creationist. “It brought up some compelling points,” he said as he was relaying this experience to me. Then he was led to a Ken Ham (Answers in Genesis, President) video about his book Already Gone. The next thing he did was read that book and realized it was describing his worldview development growing up in the church and walking away from his faith. After that, he began studying and developing a Biblical worldview on origins and beyond.
The challenge at present for this teacher is presenting truth in the classroom. I asked how the Lord is using him in that mission field. He expressed the scenario of having an evolutionary concept come up and simply sharing with his students that not everyone agrees on that concept. His students then ask him for more explanation, where he shares that a very trustworthy source supports another option. His students continue to seek answers by asking him if the Bible is the other source. By the students bringing it up and asking questions, he is able to share the Bible’s truth and accompanying science as support for reality. I was so blessed by what the Lord is doing through this man as a father and teacher.
Our mission is to go where the Lord takes us and share the historical truth of the Word to encourage the faith of those present. It is always rewarding to know we are impacting lives for the Gospel. On this one night though, the Lord impacted my faith by the journey of this man as he seeks the Truth. I was so encouraged to see the importance of Genesis and the life answers it holds to be actively changing lives. The Lord continually works through His Word and you to save lives, families and others we may never see this side of eternity. Blessings.
