Biblical Worldview

“Worldviews are the most fundamental and encompassing views of reality shared by a people in a culture. The worldview incorporates assumptions about the nature of things—about the “givens” of reality. Challenges to these assumptions threaten the very foundation of their world” (Anthropological Reflections on Missiological Issues, Paul Hiebert, 38).

Everyone’s worldview is tainted in one form or another. All of us have our own set of biases in how we perceive our world. Your sex (male or female), your parents, your country, your schools and teachers, your friends, the experiences you have had in life and the temperament that God created you with are all ways in which your worldview is tainted for either the bad or good. The only way to straighten out our worldview is to bring our current worldview into a Biblical Worldview through discipling. The question is then, “Is there a Biblical Worldview and if so how do we attain it?”

All cultures change to some degree, as none remain stagnant. If you were to pick any culture and look at their history for the past couple hundred years you would see a continuum among them in their customs and relationships that tend to stay for long periods of time, but there are several areas that always start to incorporate change within the culture and ultimately within the worldview of the culture. One aspect that changes the worldview is the education systems within villages, cities or rural communities, as children never learn perfectly and this will result in some change. Some of these mistakes become habitual among the younger generation as well, because they perceive them as being current, progressive, or it differentiates them from their past generation.

People are also naturally creative and will devise new ways in presenting their culture through art, music, novels, or invention. They may also visit other cultures and adopt their customs because they prefer them to their own. They may visit other market places, or social gatherings; and even wars change the customs of a culture’s worldview. Lastly, people may just outright choose a different alternative to their normal customs, as we generally see in the youth; whether it is how they dress for church, or whether or not they go to church at all anymore. The goal of ministries, churches and parents is to help direct our culture into a Biblical Worldview, which does not mean the entire culture has to change, but only those practices that are outside the will of God, which is seen in the infallible Word of God.

Dr. Hiebert, in Transforming Worldviews, says, “To say there is no biblical worldview is to deny that there is an underlying unity to the biblical story, to say that the God of Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus are different gods, that the New Testament is discontinuous with the Old, and that Scripture is simply the record of individuals and ever-shifting beliefs shaped by history and sociocultural contexts” (Transforming Worldviews, Paul Hiebert, 256.)

Dr. Hiebert is exactly right, in that, there is a Biblical Worldview that has been laid out for us in stages and completed in our Bible, and to say otherwise is to negate what God has been doing through the different dispensations throughout history. As leaders within the ministry of God we have led those under our tutelage into a Biblical Worldview, which means helping them line up their innermost being with the Word of God. Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” For the purpose of this article, I will be focusing on three different areas that will help in moving towards a Biblical Worldview: Wisdom, Discernment and Contextualizing the Gospel correctly.

“Wisdom, then, is the consistent outworking of belief, action, and discernment from worldview. It is the process of sanctification” (G. C. Berkouwer, Providence of God, 133). We first must remember the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Proverbs 1:7, 2:5, 9:10; 10:27, 14:26-27, 15:16, 33, 16:6, 19:23, 22:4, 23:17; 2 Chron. 19:7-9; Job 28:28; Psalm 19:9, 34:11, 111:10; Isaiah 11:2-3, 33:6; Acts 9:31; 2 Corinthians 5:11). We are to become mature believers and one of the most important disciplines is growing in wisdom. Just praying will not gain you wisdom, as this plays a different role in your relationship with God. We forget about the thinking aspect many times in our Christian walk and instead look for the warm, bubbly feeling. What I call the soup feeling, when you eat soup; you get the warm, bubbly feeling. Growing in wisdom should lead to changes in our worldview and in how we behave within our cultural system. We need to have a right belief that leads to right action, and cannot have right actions without right beliefs.

Wisdom is the person of Christ and all that He is and stands for. Wisdom is found in the Bible, and to look for truth in other places that do not line up with the truth of Scripture is following a false truth. How many of us pray to be more like Christ and then complain when we are persecuted or what seems like a tough time comes along? Your worldview is not truly lined up with Christ then. Wisdom is not about right and wrong, but about what God thinks. Right and wrong may fit into this at times, but our main concern should be Christ. Our thoughts must correspond to His in order for us to be wise. More than right and wrong it is seeing good from evil. This will help us figure out orthodoxy (what we should believe) and orthopraxy (what we should do). We must take responsibility for becoming wise. It is a matter of willing it and going after it, and it sometimes causes pain and it is a life journey with no end, but it is a journey with eternity in sight.

James 1:5-8, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all with out reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts are like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

“Belief systems guide thought processes, and enable people to focus on experience and formulate theories to help them solve the problems of life and to pursue their goals” (Understanding Folk Religion, Hiebert, Shaw, Tienou, 40).

This leads to the second aspect of defining a Biblical Worldview, which is discernment. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus each year claim healing by their God and return to their temple of Venkateswara at Tirupathi, South India to fulfill the vows they made for their healing. 15,000 claim healing at Lourdes, and more then that at the Virgin of Guadalupe near Mexico City, (Louis J. Luzbetak, The Church and Cultures: New Perspectives in Missiological Anthropology, 375). All the “special” signs are used in almost all religions (tongues, miracles such as healing, exorcisms, and prophecies). Remember Satan can act as an Angel of Light. We must even test the experiences of people and test the spirits (1 Cor. 12:3; 1 Thess. 5:20-21; 1 John 4:1-6). We are to be careful not to be led astray, as Paul told Timothy quite often in the Timothy Epistles. In order not to be caught up in wrong cultural actions, we need to apply wisdom in discernment.

There are some tests for this: Does it give glory to God rather than humans (John 7:18, 8:50)? Does it recognize the Lordship of Christ (1 John 2:3-5; James 2:14-19). Is the power through the Holy Spirit emphasized, or the flesh? Does Scripture confirm it? Are the leaders making any claim accountable to the Church? Do the leaders manifest the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-25)? Does this lead to Spiritual Maturity (1 Cor. 12-14)? Does it lead to Unity in the body of Christ (John 17:11; 1 John 2:9-11)? (Ibid.). As Christians we must not take the beliefs of those we are trying to reach lightly. We must take them seriously, as we want to understand them so we can reach them. For many their beliefs declare the way things truly are. Why things happen the way they happen and for the reason they happen.

Lest We Forget

2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or bad.”

How often have you thought about this verse? I mean, seriously thought about the verse. One day you will stand before the Almighty One and give an account for what you have done in your body.

It has especially come to my attention during these times lately, where there seems that there is a great divide, especially in politics and religion where there should be none. We forget that our faith is tied to who we are, everything we do, and every decision we make. There is no way around it. To say in one respect you live this way and in another respect you live another way is schizophrenic at best and at worst it is living a very large lie.

Christianity seems to be the only religion in the world with the belief of separation of church and state. Every other religion ties everything to their faith, and we use to, but have lost it. We should be taking every thought captive and making sure every decision we make is lined up with Christ, which is found in the Word of God, because we are warned in Matthew 12:36, “I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak.” You will give an account for what you say and do as a Christian. How will you rate?

The church should be at the forefront in leading cultural norm by the way we present ourselves to the world. Will they like it? Absolutely not, they will hate it, as we are told in the Scriptures. This is not our home, and we need to stop acting like it.

When you vote, do you look at each candidate’s life and see if it lines up with what a leader should look like? Or do you vote for change, because it sounds cool and really do not even know what change they are talking about? As you are forming your political opinions, do you read Scripture to make sure your ideals line up, or do your force your ideals upon Scripture; trying to rationalize your opinion by using the Bible out of context.

I am not trying to propagate whether Jesus would be a Democrat or Republican, as I don’t think that would matter to him, but what would matter is the heart of the people. Even those we put into office. Does their heart line up, and can we tell by their fruit?

Does the leader love life and protect it, or does he vote to enable the innocent to be killed without even having a voice? If so, then they are not loving another like they love themselves. This is a big difference then when others are attacking us and soldiers who enrolled go to protect us by choice. Would the leader keep pushing us into war without justification, then we should not vote for him/her, as that is not loving either. But, we need to understand in this sinful world there are times we have to protect those that are under our care, whether emotionally, physically or spiritually.

The Bible is not quiet about leadership roles, and how a person who is a believer should walk and talk. We should be holding that same distinction with those we vote into office. My personal belief is that a Christian should not even vote for a non-Christian, as they will never have the constraint of the Holy Spirit, and will not have the convictions that they should.

If the church was evangelizing and holding its members accountable, and those who are believers listened and walked and lived their lives by the Word of God then we would have a much different country in America. We could get rid of the welfare state, because people would tithe and the church could help much more in the social arena, but as it is, most churches today can barely pay their utilities. If every “Christian” gave just 3% of their income to the church, the church would have more money then they would know what to do with, and just think if we gave 10%. It would change the country.

It starts with you and me, that we start holding the church accountable, and we start holding those in office that claim to be Christian accountable, and voting through a Biblical Worldview then our country would become a much different place.

If someone looked at the people you voted for, how would that look? Do those leaders line up with Scripture or do they line up with worldly passions? Why do you vote for the people you vote for? Self-serving or God-serving? Why do you hold the political views you hold? Because they are going to give you more money, or because they are leading by the standards of Scripture?

I think if we used these standards there would be a lot of seats lost in both houses of government, and barely a handful would actually last. I don’t care which side of the aisle they are on if they are looking through the lens of Christ and then actually study and pray over each decision they make for the people.

This will not happen until we start to do this first with the leadership within our own churches.

1 Peter 4:17, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

We The People!

Following as Long as You Live or Until You Die

Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

During graduation we gave out four honorary degrees to men well deserving of them. They have impacted the world for Christ nationally and internationally. One of them gave the Commencement speech for the graduating class. He talked about leadership within the church community and how we should live, and it impacted me and many listening deeply.

Through each of his three steps he kept coming back to one thing: “If you believe you are chosen by God then you are to serve Jesus faithfully while you live or until you die.” Meaning if you want to be a follower of Christ, it is a full commitment and not just a partial act. You take this part and that part of Christianity, but throw out the hard parts. No, you follow Christ head-on while on this earth as His follower until He takes you home.

It does not matter where you are in life. Maybe you are in a secular position, then you must serve Christ full-on until He calls you home. If you are in Christian ministry then let nothing stop you until Christ takes you home. There are no time-outs in this game, as there is eternity at stake for those who have not heard. Are you a student, then serve and tell people about what you have, or are you embarrassed? Are you sick, then you have a captive audience with nurses and doctors, or do you instead use your illness not to talk about the love of Christ?

Luke 14:26 proclaims, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” Wow! Read it again and let it soak in for a while. Your love for Christ in comparison to anyone else is like hate. He comes first before anyone, not your mommy or daddy, not your wife or children. If you have to choose between doing what Christ says or what family says, guess what, you choose Christ. Better to be hated or disliked temporarily then have to stand before the eternal God and answer for what you did.

How many of us have not walked the line because of church politics, or to keep peace within your family? How many of us have not walked full-on for Christ because we were afraid of what someone might say about us, or think about us? How many of us do not follow because we think the Bible does not really mean what it says? How many of us would rather have temporal fame and/or recognition then an eternal reward in Heaven? The questions can go on and on and on.

Think about how many ways we do not follow Christ fully, especially in the areas you know better. Think about your thought life when you are alone. How about your language? The Bible says not to use foul language, but how many of us do it just for shock or so people do not think we are pious. How many drink alcohol and use the excuse that the Bible says we can in moderation, but do not even know what they meant by wine in the context of Jewish culture? Do you mix your wine with 8 to 20 parts water? If not then you are not drinking moderately in the Biblical context, but as what the Jewish culture during that time would call ‘heathen’ drinking, because they knew it would intoxicate you.

As Christians we are called to follow Christ fully without the excuse that you do not want to be seen as a “tea-totaler,” or “pious,” or a religious fanatic. When persecuted for the faith you are to celebrate. When you are following the Bible in its context and what Jesus proclaims then you will be all those names I mentioned above, because the world hates it when Jesus is followed to the fullest. We forget the Spiritual world.

So, for the Christians reading this, I ask you. Are you following Christ fully and willing to do so completely in your life until Christ takes you home? If so, then do some things need to change? Start today, as we do not know when Christ is returning. Pledge to follow Christ no matter the cost.

Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Petition. . . Please Sign!

President Obama: Don’t Surrender our National Sovereignty!

President Obama is embarking on a new and troubling direction for our nation. Some are calling it the “Selling of America” — surrendering our national sovereignty in the interest of international cooperation. This is contrary to our very founding. We must hold America’s leaders accountable! Stand with the ACLJ and send a powerful message to President Obama — America is NOT for sale. The U.S. is a sovereign, independent world leader — and must not surrender its autonomy. Please read the form below carefully and declare your membership with the ACLJ by adding your name to our Letter of Protest.

LETTER OF PROTEST
https://www.aclj.org/Petition/Default.aspx?sc=3425&ac=1

An Act of Violence!

“Am I not to drink the cup the Father has given Me!”—John 18:11

One day you are sitting at your home, watching TV, cooking, or whatever it is you do when you are at home and there is a knock at the door. You answer the door and two government looking individuals are standing there showing you their badges. You ask them what they want, looking surprised and probably nervous that they are at your house. They tell you that they have found the cure for Cancer and AIDS. You are excited, but ask what this has to do with you.

They tell you that the last time you were at the doctors they tested your blood that was drawn, as the government randomly tests blood to see if there are any strong anti-bodies to fight certain diseases, and yours has what they are looking for.

They say that you hold the cure for both diseases, and would like for you to volunteer yourself to save all the people suffering. They warn you that the process will be very painful and will ultimately kill you, but because of your sacrifice many men, women and children will live because of it. Would you do it?

Most of us would like to say yes right away, but what if your family was completely healthy and you knew no one with either of these diseases? What then? What if you realize that your cure would be used on rapists, murderers, and everyone in jail just as much as everyone who is ‘good’ enough to deserve it? They would offer it to everyone bad and good. Would this change your mind?

And if you decided to do this, your life would in reality only save a few. But there was a much more violent event that paid for the sickness in all of us. A sickness that causes not just temporal problems, but in the end it can cause eternal devastation.

We must remember that there is not anyone good enough to earn their salvation, and to think so negates the Cross of Christ and is completely against Scripture. Because if Scripture is God’s then He has given us an answer through His word about who is “good.” Ecclesiastes 7:20 proclaims, “There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.”1 John 1:8 says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” Just know that goodness will not do it, as once you have sinned, you are no longer “good” enough.

Before we look at what happened, we need to remember that we are just as guilty as those who were shouting, “Crucify Him!” You demonstrated this by sinning. We all have!

Try to picture this in your mind. Jesus is praying and his body was so stressed over what was about to come that He was sweating what appeared to be droplets of blood, which is a real condition where the body becomes so stressed that capillaries break and there is a droplet of blood within the sweat droplet. Luke 22:44 says, “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Do you see it? Don’t just keep reading, but picture each event as it unfolds. Really try to grasp it.

The soldiers arrive to arrest Jesus in the dark because they were afraid to during the day. Everyone that said they would stay with Him flees and leaves Him alone with these soldiers (Matthew 26:55). It is dark. Only torches give off any light and Jesus is surrounded by many who hate Him. How would you feel at this moment?

Like any gang or rioting group, they act the part, as they spit in Jesus’ face, beat Him and slapped Him many times and then mocked Him (Mark 14:65 & Matthew 26:67). Can you see it? A group of men beating and slapping Jesus around. No one to stop them or to say anything because no one was brave enough to stay and all because we are not good enough.

Jesus ends up being flogged, which was probably 39 lashes with a whip that had many strands at the end. On each one of those strands would be pieces of bone or metal beads that were designed to tear flesh from the body. The Romans were perfectionists in torture and knew exactly how many lashes the human body could take before succumbing to death. His back and probably lower legs would be torn to shreds and blood would be everywhere. If you have seen the movie, “The Passion,” then you would have some visual to utilize (Mark 15:15 and Matthew 27:26). He was drinking the cup God gave Him for you!

Mark 16:15-20, Matthew 27:28, and John 19:1-4 tell us how Jesus was then stripped, mocked, spit on, hit on the head with a reed many times and a crown of thorns pushed into His skull. Lastly, they would put a scarlet robe on Him to mock Him some more. Then later they would tear it off, which would then tear at the wounds on his back. If you have ever watched a boxing match, UFC match, or actually if you have seen the movie, Fight Club, then you would realize that His face would be barely recognizable from the beatings that He has undergone, let alone the rest of His body.

Wouldn’t this be enough for our sins? No, there had to be the perfect blood sacrifice, which leads to what happens next, the crucifixion. Can you see it? Are you picturing it?

The goal was to cause as much pain as possible. They had to invent a new word for the crucifixion because of its torture. Excruciating, meaning: out of the cross.

Nails were driven into His hands and legs, which would break the tendons in both His hands and feet causing extreme agonizing pain, as it would also sever nerves. His hands would curl up do to the tendons retracting. He would no longer be able to move his fingers, hands or feet, as there would be no tendon connectivity.

Slow suffocation would be the way of death, because each breath would be a fight, as they would have to push themselves up, which would cause pain on their feet to grab a breath and then let the weight off for relief from their feet, which would then cause pain in their arms and legs, and this process would go on for hours and hours.

Think about what Jesus already went through, and what His back was like going up and down the wood. Bugs crawling in His wounds and on His body; sweat going into the wound causing more pain from the salty sweat. Pain ravaging Him everywhere and all the while they were still mocking Jesus (Luke 23:35; Mark 15:31-32; Matthew 27:41-42).

The worst is yet to come! He is going to finish the cup that He was given to drink. Mark 15:34, “And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi lema sabachthani?’ which is translated, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

God turns His face from Him. In some fashion Jesus in His humanity had His relationship with God ruptured for a moment. It is said this is when He bore our sin, for you and me and the world. Jesus felt the weight of all our sins on that cross. That was most definitely much more pain than the physical pain that He went through. During His time of stress in prayer in my opinion was over more of carrying the weight of sin and having that separation then anything with the physical pain. Can you see it? Can you imagine it?

When was the last time you reflected on what Christ did for you, so you could be where you are today, and where you will be in eternity? If you never have, then now is the time. Being “good” just does not cut it, because that was ruined the moment you sinned.

Ephesians 1:7, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace”

Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Mark Driscoll Speaks out on McClaren and Bell! Awesome!

Pak Taliban claim responsibility for New York shootout

Here is a claim I have yet to see be reported by any major American News Source. Why Not?

TIMES OF INDIA
Pak Taliban claim responsibility for New York shootout
4 Apr 2009, 1420 hrs IST, PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud on Saturday claimed responsibility for a shooting incident at an immigration services office in New York which claimed 14 lives.

The Pakistani Taliban commander claimed the attack was launched by a Pakistani man and another unidentified man.

"I accept responsibility. They were my men. I gave them orders in reaction to US drone attacks," Mehsud said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan warned that "such attacks would continue" to avenge missile strikes by US drones in tribal areas and "brutalities in Palestine."

Mehsud also pointed out that he had said a few days ago that his militants would carry out attacks on American soil.

The claim by the Pakistani Taliban commander came hours after a US drone attack in North Waziristan tribal agency killed 13 people, including women and children.

Authorities in New York said a man armed with two handguns killed 13 people at an immigration services centre before turning the gun on himself. The gunman was believed to be of Vietnamese-origin.

Mehsud had recently claimed responsibility for the terrorist siege of a police training centre at Manawan near Lahore that killed eight persons and injured over 90 as well as for two recent suicide attacks.