In a few words, differing worldviews and presuppositions are the source of most our intellectual conflict on topics that divide us as individuals and as a nation. What exacerbates the issue is when someone blends two world views that are like oil and water!

A worldview is how a person views the world, that was deep :)! Each worldview is based on certain presuppositions that are built either by research, but more likely based on heredity, emotion or personal experience. I will give you three versions of world views I am most interested in currently handling each of them in a separate blog.

1. The Biblical Christian sees the world through the lens of the Bible in a historical, grammatical interpretation. That means, the Bible is interpreted in the light of its historical and cultural setting and uses the basic laws of language and hermeneutical principles to gain understanding of its meaning. Taking the Bible literally is often derided in this culture but that is based on ignorance of what it means to interpret language literally. It is actually the same way any text-book is read.

This view believes a supernatural God reveals himself in this book as the creator and sustainer of life. He is revealed as alive, personal, involved, moral and perfection. As a living being, we don’t get to define who He is. He just is. What we know about Him is what He has chosen to reveal to us about Himself. That revelation has come through His creation, His Book and His Son, Jesus Christ. Many people have a god who only lives in their head because they have defined him/her rather than accept God as He has revealed Himself to us.

This God has defined Himself as absolutely holy, just and the one to whom we will answer and yet he IS love, full of grace and truth and shows himself merciful to us all. This view believes because He is the author of life and the supreme sovereign of the universe, we are the work of his hands and therefore, He knows exactly how he designed us, why we are here, where we are going and how that all works. He gets to make the rules of life, we can follow them or choose not to.

This view believes all human beings have missed the mark. We have fallen short of what He intended for us by our own willful acts of choosing to create a god in our own image and developing our own set of values we can live with rather than submitting to what He has said. Jesus Christ came to earth as God’s perfect son, to not only model what a human should look like but to die for our sin and raise back to life to give us new life. For God so loved the world, he gave his unique son, so that whoever would believe on him would have everlasting life and never perish. That Scripture and many others teach there are options for us in life and the options carry consequences that determine eternal destinies.

God is the ultimate authority of the universe and all other authority is simply delegated from Him. Governments, and all others in places of leadership work under His authority whether they believe it or not. The biblical freedom comes to us by a verse that says we are to obey God rather than man. Anytime an earthly authority requires I violate a clear teaching of Scripture I am to obey God and suffer the consequences.

A person holding this belief system approaches all subjects through this lens. The ultimate Goal is to discover the nature and character of God as revealed and make the best effort to honor Him in all choices. Not all but many who hold this view believe this time of history is a big sifting time, where God allows each of us the freedom to choose Him, His revelation and His Son Jesus or reject it and do as we please.

There could be a ton more but this will convey the major idea.

If you endured to the end of this blog, blessings!

Scott