Competing Worldviews

Crosswalk has an interesting article on the war of worldviews we're engaged in today. A "worldview" is a philosophy through which we view the world around us, from the big political stuff, all the way down to what goes on in your home. You have a worldview, whether you realize it or not.

If you're not familiar with this war of worldviews, it can provide tremendous insight into why there is so much disagreement in Western culture today: it's because the traditional Christian roots of Western civilization are under assault by secular humanism:

There is a struggle underway in American culture and it is ultimately a battle between two competing worldviews or explanations of reality. These two perspectives are the secular humanist explanation versus the biblical explanation of reality. The former is man-centered while the latter is God-centered.

The conflict between these two worldviews is made most apparent in their respective views of sex and sexual morality.

Sexuality isn't the only aspect important in this war of worldviews, but as this article points out, it is the most apparent, because practically everyone is sexual, it is a deeply rooted drive within us, and the family--the natural outgrowth of human sexuality--is the foundational building block for our civilization.

The article pronounces an indictment of the Church and its derelict conduct in this war:

The consequences experienced in the last four decades should serve as convincing condemnation of the secular humanist worldview. Sadly, the Church still remains largely sidelined in this battle – seemingly ill-equipped to respond with a persuasive and convincing defense of God’s truth related to all of life. The absence of an adequate response only further marginalizes the Church and its message.

This article actually pulls its punches. The Church is not only sidelined, in many cases it is actively consorting with the enemy or even aiding the enemy.

So how should the Church (i.e. Christians) be fighting this war of worldviews? Not with guns and violence, but in a different, perhaps even more difficult way:

We constantly challenge false worldviews by publicly testing them against their apparent and predictable results and then displace them through effective persuasion pointing out the truth’s apparent and predictable benefits. The truth works while efforts based upon a false assessment of reality will inevitably and always fail to achieve their original intent and likely do a lot of damage in the process. The secular humanist approach to sexuality is a prime example.

The failure of the welfare state (e.g. LBJs "Great Society") is another. We spent $5-6 trillion dollars to eradicate poverty (they originally said $5 billion would completely eliminate it), and in the end, had made no progress whatever.

Why did this fail? Because it came at the problem from a secularist worldview that assumed people would make the right choice if only environmental factors were right. But the biblical worldview could have told them that people have a sin nature and will usually make the wrong choice...until their nature is regenerated or "born again" in a true relationship with Jesus Christ.

I would encourage you to read this whole article--and more on the subject. If you are really a Christian, but you're sidelined as this article describes, then you are AWOL, and the Commander in Chief isn't happy with you. But the Good News is the Commander in Chief is very forgiving to those who genuinely repent, and he'll restore you to good standing and get you on the way to a brilliant "military career."

So go ahead: run to the battle!