Ep. 3 | A Biblical Worldview

Speaker: Jesse Turkington

Summary: A worldview is a developed perspective that seeks to answer life's big questions. It's important for Christians to understand and commit to the Bible's worldview.

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Music created by Chad Hoffman
Artwork created by Anthony Kuenzi

Jesse’s Personal Notes:

A Biblical Worldview

Introduction

I want you guys to try something with me. Let’s try a little mental exercise.

Imagine an unexpected morning. You’ve just woken up and you realize that you’re not in the same place you feel asleep. You’re not even in a bed.

As you observe your surroundings, you notice a rocking movement, the sound of water and the smell of salt in the air. 

You stand up and grab the nearest thing to you and you realize that you’re on the deck of a ship. 

As you look around you don’t see any trees or any mountains or any land, you just see water. The sky is overcast and it almost matches the color of the water. Which makes you feel small because its so vast. 

As you look around with all your senses, you don’t hear or see any people or birds. And the ship doesn’t even seem to be moving, it just seems to be floating aimlessly in the water.

Now, at this moment, what would be some of the questions that you’d be asking yourself?

Probably it’d be something like: How did I get here? Where is here? Where is this ship going? How do I get home? Am I alone? Is there anyone else on this ship? Is this even real or am I dreaming?

These are all good questions because each one would reveal something about your situation. It would help you understand a little more about what’s happening. 

So, in a situation like this we would want to find information. Something like a GPS or a captain’s log that details where this ship has been and where it’s going (maybe some extra details like how we got to where we are now, maybe some coordinates) because that would help us know at least where we are at on a map. If we were to find a map.

Then maybe we could look for food and some drinking water and try to figure out if we have enough things to survive. 

Maybe we could wait for the clouds to pass and try to look for constellations or at least a star to try to figure out what direction is what. 

We would start searching for answers. We would try to think of ways to survive. We would start questioning everything.

And this is the basic premise of worldviews.

- Transition into music –

Hey, welcome to Pickled Parables. My name is Jesse and this podcast is presented by Parable Ministries. You can learn more at parableministries.com.

Today we’re going to be talking about worldviews. Through life’s greatest questions, like: 

·      Where are we? 

·      Why do we exist? 

·      What’s life’s purpose? 

·      Are we alone in this universe? 

Because of these questions, we search for answers and we come up with assumptions.

These presumptive conclusions, inform our understanding of the world, the people in it and even of ourselves. 

As a definition – a worldview is a theoretical lens through which we look at and try to make sense of the world. It’s an effort to answer life’s important questions.

But an important starting place is personal perspectives. Everyone has a unique personal perspective which influences the way they see the world. 

So, let’s begin there as we enter this topic.

- Fade out of intro music -

Personal Perspectives

Ideas have consequences. 

When faced with life’s greatest mysteries, we look for information. We try to discern and comprehend what we don’t know. 

Like with our thought experiment at the beginning, we try to figure things out and think things through. 

We come up with conclusions, or some call them assumptions, which then dictates how we live and interact with the world.

Ideas have consequences because based on how you think of yourself and other people determines how you treat yourself and then interact with others. 

There’s an old biblical proverb that says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so he is.” Or another way of saying that is, “As he reckons in his soul, so he is.” I like that one better. 

You see, through thoughts come actions, actions create habits and habits create culture. 

Scholars like to describe what we’re talking about as a worldview. It all starts with how you look at and perceive the world. 

According to one man, named James Sire, he says that a worldview is a commitment (a worldview is something that you commit to). He says it’s a fundamental orientation of the heart that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions. 

Now that’s a really meaty definition but I present it to you because it’s a helpful way of understanding it.  

I’ll read it again so we can chew on it.

“A worldview is a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions.”

Now, to break this down, presuppositions are assumptions which might be true, they might be partially true or they might be totally false.

But everyone has presuppositions. We come up with ideas through personal experience, research and mediation. Or we just think about it.

This means that everyone has a personal perspective that we have created which influences the way we see the world. 

We hold to all kinds of ideas, whether in a conscious effort or even in a subconscious effort. It could be something that we heard as a kid (or that was said to us) and we buried into the back of our minds. 

Yet, even that would still influence the way we observe and understand the world.  

We could call that a formative experience because it was something that we experienced and took to heart. It was something we learned. 

So, because of that, everyone has a unique personal perspective. Everyone has had formative experiences.  

Now this is super valuable, because we can share with friends our individual learnings and experiences and hopefully learn from each other. 

That’s a really healthy practice and it can also leads to the development of a worldview that is accepted by several people.

Now worldviews are ultimately established by what we discern or what we observe to be real and what we choose to value.

Here’s example, a naturalist is a term for people who observe Creation, who look at the world, and discern that that is all there is. There can be nothing beyond the tangible and experienceable. 

Then there are theists. Theists are people who observe the same world and discern that has to be a Creator. There has to be something or someone outside of the tangible. 

And so, based on what people discern to be real is how worldviews are created. Obviously, people come up with a lot of different conclusions because everyone starts with a personal perspective. 

Our worldview then influences our beliefs. It influences our values and even our behavior. Based on what we discern to be real determines what we believe to be true. Our beliefs create our values and our values then direct our behavior. 

Now, if everyone is looking at the world through a slightly different lens then how useful would it be to have something like a “captain’s log?” Some external source that we could turn to for a larger perspective.

You see, the problem that comes from personal perspectives is that information is limited. Observing the world from a fixed position offers little discovery. 

So, to keep with our initial analogy, I present to you the Bible or our “captain’s log.” This book removes us from the center of the universe and it shows us the world in the way it was meant to be seen. 

Biblical Perspectives

Believe it or not, but the Bible applies to every aspect of life. 

It presents God’s perspective of the world. It presents practical guidelines for hygiene. 

It details how government and authority should be used. 

It shows how to manage grief and other emotions that can consume you. It takes a deep dive into morality and it highlights what is good and what is wrong. 

It applies to every aspect of life.

Honesty the whole “captains log” analogy is kind of weak because the Bible is so much more than journal. 

But similar to how a captain’s log can help orientate a sailor, the Bible can help orientate our hearts. 

The Bible presents God’s worldview. It shows Him as the Creator of the universe. And as the Creator of the universe, He would know what is real and what matters. So, His worldview isn’t based on discernment. 

And this godly perspective dictates the values that the Creator holds to. And He values His creation. 

Listen to this instruction that He gave to an army. 

“When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. You may eat from them, but you shall not cut them down. 

Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you?  Only the trees that you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, that you may build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.” (Deuteronomy 20:19-20 ESV)

As we’ve learned from experience, war causes a lot of destruction. So, God gave instructions to the Israelite army on how to mitigate environmental destruction. Don’t use the food producing trees to make war machines.

God also gave instructions to famers.

“For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and (that) what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.” (Exodus 23:10-11 ESV)

God wanted the land to have rest and the opportunity to recover from heavy use. 

So, God clearly gives value to earthly preservation. He cares about the environment which makes sense because He made it. 

God also shows interest in animals. Listen to this from Deuteronomy chapter 22.

“If you come across a bird's nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.” (Deuteronomy 22:6-7 ESV)

God didn’t want animals to go extinct. He wanted people to treat animals with respect because He valued their existence.

Here’s another one:

“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.” (Deuteronomy 25:4 ESV)

Again, this is an example of showing kindness to animals. Especially, animals under your care.

Now here’s one more and this one is a little difficult to comprehend.

“If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. (Exodus 23:4-5 ESV) 

So, even if the animal belongs to your enemy, God would still want you to return it to them so they can take care of it.

The instruction continues:

If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving (your enemy) with (the donkey); you shall rescue (the donkey) with (your enemy).” (Exodus 23:5 ESV)

With him! As in, you should work side by side with him, to save his animal. 

That’s the worldview that the Bible presents! It’s radical in the most literal sense and it almost seems impossible to understand at times.

God’s perspective reveals what He intended the world to look like. His worldview is absolutely astounding. 

I mean, who would go to their enemy and help them save their animal? From my perspective, it would be a good thing for my enemy to be at a disadvantage so I wouldn’t feel inclined to offer any help. 

Ideas have Consequences 

But that’s why ideas have consequences. My natural inclinations fall short of God’s. When I remove God from my observations and I create a perspective that’s self-absorbing, my values will affect my behavior. 

When we live without God’s perspective, we create a world that falls apart. 

But if we commit to God’s worldview then we’ll see each other and the world in entirely new light. 

During His ministry, Jesus presented God’s worldview through His teachings. He talked a lot about something called the Kingdom of God. 

Jesus was revealing what a godly culture would look like. It all started with an individual’s thought life. Because people’s thoughts created actions and then when practiced enough, those actions became habits. And a corporate use of habits creates culture. Jesus was creating a culture that would fit and reflect the Kingdom of God. A culture inspired by God’s worldview. 

Ever since mankind’s fall in the garden, we have fallen farther and farther away from God’s perspective. 

I mean, look at what happens when people put on God’s perspective. We get Bible verses like this:

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.(Ephesians 4:32 ESV)

Worldviews are important because through a trickling affect, they ultimately influence how we act. 

The teachings of the Bible are super weird and hard to understand unless we commit to them allow them to orientate our hearts.

- the end

Conclusion

Thank you for joining me today. Worldviews are always a fascinating topic to talk about. 

We’re still working our way through our introduction series. Next week is the next step of this topic; how spiritual renewal effects people’s perspectives. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit and once He comes and indwells in a believer, He inspires spiritual change.

It is impossible to fully understand and commit to the worldview of the Bible without the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life.

The greatest power that the enemy has over you and me are the lies he gets us to believe. And the Spirit works diligently to undo the lies that rule our lives and our minds.

So, tune in next week for our topic on how the Holy Spirit works in people’s lives.

Thanks again for listening, and I hope you have a great day.