For those who are just beginning to try to understand the importance of the topic of worldview, and even for those who have been studying it for a while, it is still sometimes difficult to get at the very core of the subject and grasp why it is so important. In fact, I have interacted with some Christians who have actually gotten upset with me for even taking on this topic; because, for whatever reason, they don’t think it is important at all. I believe, for the most part, those folks don’t really grasp the implications it has for the Christian faith, or they would not be saying things like that. For some reason, these people have gotten the idea that worldview has to do with altering the gospel to appeal to people. Nothing, though, could be further from the truth. The gospel never changes. Worldview concepts relate to “how,” not “what,” we communicate.
There was a time when understanding worldview concepts was not so important for American Christians. Back before the country became so religiously diverse, the need for worldview understanding was not so great. At that time, worldview knowledge was more pertinent to missionaries who were going to places that had different worldview beliefs. But those days are long gone. America has radically changed, and Christians who do not understand worldview concepts these days will have a difficult time communicating the gospel to a large percentage of the American citizenry who hold a different worldview.
In sharing worldview knowledge, I have found that some people really do have a difficult time grasping basic worldview concepts. The reason for the difficulty is not that the information is so difficult to grasp, but that it is the expression of a different paradigm (way of thinking) than what they are familiar with. In fact, it actually does include the old paradigm, but reaches beyond it to include other things, as well.
By way of definition, a worldview relates to the way people understand what is real and what is not real. So, if someone thinks that another person’s way of thinking (their worldview) does not reflect reality, instead of trying to communicate to them a different reality, most people simply keep trying to make the same explanation using different words. But that simply won’t work. It is like the American who meets a non-English speaking person and thinks they can make the other person understand by simply talking louder. Loud English doesn’t communicate in that circumstance any better than soft English because the person simply doesn’t know English. A worldview is like a conceptual language. If a person doesn’t understand the concepts you are trying to explain because what you are saying does not seem real to them, then simply repeating yourself using different words will not make it sound any more real. The problem is not the words, it is the concepts.
Let me give a common example. If you, as a Christian, try to share Christ with an Atheist, he will not accept what you are saying because he doesn’t believe that God is actually real. The problem is not in your explanation of the gospel, but in the person’s belief that the gospel message itself is fantasy. Before the gospel will make sense to that person, you have to help them understand that their belief about God is not real, and that your alternative is. That requires you to begin by dealing with worldview issues, not gospel issues. The gospel will simply not make sense to them based on their worldview starting point.
The purpose of this article is not to give a full blown explanation of worldview. If you have explored the MarketFaith Ministries website (www.marketfaith.org), you have already seen that there are scores of articles and other resources about many different facets of worldview. What I do want to do here is to lay out an explanation of the essential core of worldview that will, hopefully, give a good starting point for understanding it.
Worldview Essentials
If you want to understand the practical implications of the topic of worldview, you must understand the concept of “essentials.” When you understand the essentials, you will, at the very least, see how faith operates in people’s thinking. It will give you a basis for understanding your own and other people’s faith, and it will give you a means for actually comparing them to one another and evaluating for truth. You get at the essentials of any given worldview by answering three simple questions: 1) What is the nature of ultimate reality? 2) What is a human being? 3) What is salvation? With that, let’s take a look at the essentials of a worldview.
What Is the Nature of Ultimate Reality? (God)
The concept of ultimate reality relates to the source of existence. Most of the time, though not always, ultimate reality is expressed in relationship to the idea of God. Every worldview has its own distinctive belief about ultimate reality. Theistic belief systems, such as our Christian faith, recognize ultimate reality to be some transcendent God. Other worldviews see ultimate reality in different terms.
What is a Human Being?
Each worldview has its own distinctive understanding about the nature of a human being. This can be anything from the assertion that human beings are merely natural animals, to a belief that humans are a special creation of God, or even the belief that humans are, themselves, gods.
What is Salvation?
Salvation, in worldview terms, relates to the ultimate a person can achieve in this life. Each worldview answers this question in its own unique way.
Why Understanding Worldview Essentials is Important
When we understand the worldview essentials, we gain access to certain kinds of information that allows us to more fully understand the faith environment we are operating in. It also gives us the ability to communicate in that environment more effectively. Here, specifically, are the ways it is useful. This knowledge gives us:
1. An understanding of the parameters of faith systems in general.
Everyone in existence believes something. Interestingly, most people can’t actually articulate their foundational worldview beliefs. I have had countless interactions with people who say they don’t believe in God; but when I ask them what they “do” believe, they can’t tell me. Typically they simply repeat, “I don’t believe in God.”
We, of course, as believers in Jesus Christ, ought to be able to articulate what we believe. But with so much confusion in society about matters of faith, it is sometimes difficult to actually talk about it because the people we want to talk to don’t understand the conversation. If we want to be able to engage these people, we must understand and become their teachers – even if they don’t realize what we are doing.
2. Knowledge of the core essentials of the Christian faith.
There are a lot of beliefs that are associated with the Christian faith. We find the essential beliefs in the biblical answers to the three worldview questions. But many beliefs associated with our faith answer different questions; these beliefs can be characterized as “non-essentials.” This does not mean they are unimportant – they certainly are; but they are not essential to the faith. These are beliefs that even if you get them dead wrong, it does not keep you outside of a relationship with God.
As we look at Christendom in general, we see a lot of different denominations and Christian groups that have very different beliefs on a whole host of topics. These differences are significant enough that people feel the need to have their own groups (ex. denominations). However, these are all differences in “non-essentials.” By being able to make that distinction, it gives us confidence in our own faith, and promotes spiritual unity in the body of Christ.
3. Insight about how to express the Christian faith in daily life.
Every worldview belief that everyone holds gets overtly expressed in life. When it comes to a biblical worldview, the same is true – there are belief expressions that should emerge out of every believer’s life. We come to understand what that looks like by learning how the Bible answers the three essential worldview questions.
4. The core essentials of every other faith system in the world.
One of the very exciting things about understanding worldview essentials is that it gives us a profound way of understanding other faiths. Since every belief system answers the exact same three questions to define their faith, it becomes easy to compare, contrast, and analyze every belief system in the world.
5. The message to share in witness.
If you have not picked up on this yet, there is one more very profound piece of knowledge that an understanding of the Christian worldview essentials provides; it is that the Bible’s answers to the three essential worldview questions is the gospel message. It is precisely what must be shared in order to give a witness to someone who does not know Christ. The gospel message is, after all, nothing more than an explanation of: 1) Who is God? 2) What is man? and 3) What is salvation?
To share Christ with someone, we must help them understand that:
1) God is holy, just, and love,
2) Man is made in the image of God, but fallen (therefore separated from God),
3) Salvation is accomplished by the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross. People must simply receive Christ into their heart in order to enter into a personal relationship with God.
There You Have It
So there we have it: If you grasp the concept of “essentials” you understand the very core of worldview concepts. If you get this, nearly everything else easily falls into place – you can understand your own worldview, as well as the beliefs of other people (probably even better than they understand their own beliefs).
© 2017 Freddy Davis