Monday, March 21, 2011

“I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else…” 
-C.S. Lewis


The weeks seem to fly by, something I tend to have mixed feelings about. I love the fact that spring is here which means summer is right around the corner, but the thinker inside of me starts pondering on how time seems to be such a fleeting thing.  If you know me at all, you know I think, probably way too much; but sometimes, there seems to be a theme occurring in my thoughts.  These are the ones I try to give more attention. These thoughts are often the ones that I feel are God given, whether I am being convicted or being made aware of something I am supposed to do. 

The thought that has nagged at me now for a couple of months is…What is my worldview? What is your worldview? Now, in reality, I am only responsible for my own, but from everything from wars, and natural disasters, to Rob Bell, it makes me think of how others, namely those who call themselves Christians, view the world and what has been in the news.  How we see the world does come from what we put in front of us, TV, music, culture, education, Scripture…

What gets the most attention? Questions like this swirl around inside my head. Could I answer a question someone has about some TV show, but also be able to show you what the Bible says about Hell? Do we (Christians) really know what we believe or do we regurgitate what has been fed to us?  Do I view everything that goes on around me through the “lens of Scripture” or do I just see it through the flesh that I live in?  Now, before we all beat ourselves up or just flippantly respond with, “Of course I have a biblical worldview.” Think about it.

When you hear about a man who writes a book that goes against what Scripture says. How do you respond? Does it depend on what that man looks like? Does it depend on what kind of following he has? If he wasn’t “modern”  would I have ever paid attention to him in the first place?

It’s easy to think or feel that, “I always thought he was a bit off.” or “I don’t see what the big deal is.” But, seeing that people don’t get the Truth from our feelings, the questions that have been posed require responses. Not that all of us will find ourselves in a conversation with someone who is asking what we believe and our opinion on a book. We do,however, end up with: Do we respond? Can we respond? Are we able to answer and not just send them to someone else or a website.

All of these things require our thoughts. We have to think. We have to process what is going on around us.  Do I know what the Bible says about Heaven or Hell or am I holding onto what I was taught in my 2nd grade Sunday School class?

R.C. Sproul states in The Truth Project, even though we are living in a day with more access to more knowledge than we have ever had, “We are living in probably the most anti-intellectual day…’I don’t want to learn, I don’t want to study the Word of God, I want to have a feeling, I want to have some kind of mystical experience and let that supplant or replace the hard study of the content of the Word of God.’ But, the Scriptures say, the way life changes is when the mind changes.”

I love that last line, “…the way life changes is when the mind changes.” Our mind has to be conformed to the Word.

When our mind is conformed to His Word we can accurately gauge fact from fiction (Romans 12:1-2).  As 2 Timothy 2:15 says, 
“…rightly handling the word of truth.” Paul is addressing the issue of false teachers here and he goes onto say, “avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness…” (vs. 16) False teaching results in arguing.

What makes me sad about this whole controversy is the pastors who seem to be afraid of taking a stand on important issues.  I saw a quote from a pastor that stated, “We bash Rob Bell, but morons who say that earthquakes are God’s divine judgment get a free pass?”I know there are people out there who take Scripture out of context and say very hurtful things, but just like those, there are others who also take it out of context and say things that are false. Both are wrong. We should be asking, “Why do we NOT require (Scriptural) context from Rob Bell, but we do from the morons who say that earthquakes are God’s divine judgment?” It seems, that we are more concerned about being viewed as relevant, and dare I say it, “cool” than we are to being biblical. 

When we have a biblical worldview we see everything that goes on around us thru the filter of God’s Word. So, we aren’t surprised when someone comes along and preaches something contrary to it because we see that Paul addresses false teaching time and time again in the New Testament. This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last.

Can you, can I, answer the questions that have been raised by this book? I would encourage you to read, study, seek out godly counsel. We have the Holy Spirit to guide and teach us. We are told that the “…(Spirit) he will guide you into all truth…” (John 16:13). Wisdom comes from the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. 

A public or spoken answer to the questions won’t be required for the majority of us, but the very least these questions should do is to push us to find the biblical answers.