"Developing a Biblical Worldview in 2004" -- A Series in Eleven Parts
by Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts January 2004
Copyright © 2004 by Mark D. Roberts
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Part 1: Introduction
A recent survey by the Barna Research Group discovered that only 4% of American adults have a biblical worldview. This worldview centers around belief that absolute truth exists, and this truth can be found in the Bible.
Why is our worldview important? Because it shapes how we think and act every moment. If, for example, my worldview includes belief in a sovereign God, then I'll be more inclined to seek and to obey the will of that God than to follow the whims of my own intuition. Our worldview tells us what is real, what is important, what is right, and what is wrong. Thus it comes as no surprise that Barna found those with a biblical worldview to live according to a much higher moral standard than those without such a worldview.
In the past decade many Christians have rallied around the slogan, "What would Jesus do?" This is a fine question to ask. Unfortunately, it can't really be answered effectively by people who don't share Jesus' worldview. George Barna explains: "If Jesus Christ came to this planet as a model of how we ought to live, then our goal should be to act like Jesus. Sadly, few people consistently demonstrate the love, obedience and priorities of Jesus. The primary reason that people do not act like Jesus is because they do not think like Jesus."
Perhaps the most unsettling finding of Barna's study was that only 9% of born again Christians have a biblical worldview. That is to say, only 9% of those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior and committed their life to him have learned to think as he thought. As a pastor, I take this both as an indictment of the church and as a call to action. After all, where else will people learn to adopt a biblical worldview, if not in church?
As you think about the year ahead, why not set a goal of learning to think like Jesus, so that you might learn to act like him? Investing your time an energy in developing a biblical worldview will pay rich dividends, both for you and for the kingdom of God.
George Barna has written a book that helps Christians learn to think like Jesus. It is entitled, appropriately enough, Think Like Jesus.
My book Dare to Be True will also help you to adopt and live out a biblical worldview, especially when it comes to the central role of truth. I argue that truthfulness begins with the God of truth, and touches every part of our life. It is something to be spoken, felt, and lived each day.
Part 2: Biblical Ignorance and the Biblical Worldview
In my last post I cited a survey by the Barna Research Group which found that only 4% of American adults have a biblical worldview. Part of the problem is that even those who hold the Bible in high esteem don't know it well.
Today's news offers a striking example. I hesitate to cite this case, however, because it involves a prominent political figure. My intent in this blog is to avoid partisan political discourse. There are plenty of others who can handle this far better than I. Moreover, I believe that my pastoral effectiveness is augmented by my political neutrality in public. I've got prominent Republicans and Democrats in my church, and I don't want my political views getting in the way of my pastoral care for them.
But I can't help but comment on a story that appears in today's Los Angeles Times :" Dean Wrestles With the Question of Faith," by Matea Gold. According to this article, presidential candidate Howard Dean, who claims to be a Christian, has been reticent to talk about his faith. But in order to campaign effectively in the South, he is trying to be more open about religious matters.
Dean claims to pray every day and to be biblically-informed. After a recent visit to Galilee, the place of Jesus' early ministry, Dean said, "If you know much about the Bible -- which I do -- to see and be in the place where Christ was and understand the intimate history of what was going on 2,000 years ago is an exceptional experience." But then when he was asked about his favorite book of the New Testament, Dean cited the book of Job.
Well, nice try. Job is a fine book, of the Old Testament . Now it would be easy to make fun of Howard Dean at this point. I'll leave that to others. My concern is that Dean isn't the least unusual among Americans. Over the last decade the Barna Research Group did several surveys of biblical knowledge. They found that:
38% of American adults believe the whole Bible, including the Old Testament, was written decades after Jesus' death. (Much was in fact written centuries earlier.)
38% didn't know that Isaiah was in the Old Testament.
49% believe the Bible teaches that money is the root of all evil. (It says the love of money is root of all evil, in 1 Timothy 6:10.)
12% believe that Joan of Arc is Noah's wife (must be the ark/Arc connection!).
Before we wag our finger at Howard Dean, we should examine ourselves. How well do we know the Bible? Could it be that we don't have a biblical worldview because we really don't know what the Bible teaches?
Most of us will be spared the embarrassment of displaying our biblical ignorance in public because we won't run for President in the southern U.S. But all of us need to know the Bible better so that we might understand its truth and be changed by it.
Part 3: The Benefits of a Biblical Worldview
So, you might wonder, why would anyone want to have a biblical worldview? After all, the Bible was written a long time ago, when people saw the world in pre-scientific terms. Why would we want to think in terms that seem so antique?
The best reason for adopting a biblical worldview is that it reflects the truth about what is. If we believe in a Sovereign God, for example, our belief system reflects reality. (Or at least it does to the extent that we have the ability to conceive of God truthfully.)
But there's a very practical reason for adopting a biblical worldview, one that has appeal even in this pragmatic generation. To put it simply, if you have a biblical worldview, you will live better. You'll tend to make better choices. And you won't embarrass yourself by being blown around by the latest trend or fad.
And you won't marry your childhood friend in Las Vegas, only to annul your marriage a few hours later. As you probably know by now, that's what Britney Spears did to usher in the new year. Why did she do such a silly thing - as if we should expect more from Ms. Spears? Some press reports say it was all a joke; others insist that she was drunk. But the strangest report of all comes from The Jerusalem Post. This paper suggests that Britney married because she has become a devotee of the Kabbala, a form of classic Jewish mysticism. The Kabbala encourages marriage, and this, we are told, may be what led Britney to marry. Of course the Kabbala doesn't encourage immediate annulment, so its influence upon Britney may not be terribly deep at this point.
Okay, this is all good for a laugh, but a sad laugh. Like it or not, Britney represents millions of people in our day who live rootless, confused, and ultimately silly lives. She is the classic seeker, looking hither and yon, taking a bit of this and a bit of that, yet ending up with nothing trustworthy to guide her life. If reports are true that Britney has actually visited the Kabbala Center in Los Angeles, it reveals her longing for something deeper, something truer, something significant - and something that would keep her from making a fool of herself.
I believe that what Britney really seeks is the God who is already seeking her. Knowing this God and adopting a worldview in which he is the primary being would help her to do more than stop embarrassing herself. It would give her the meaning, purpose, and moral framework that makes life worth living: her life, my life, and your life. The more we embrace a biblical worldview, the more we will experience what the Bible calls eternal life: the rich life of the future beginning even now.
Part 4: Let's Start at the Beginning
If we want to develop a biblical worldview, where do we begin? I suggest we take a clue from Maria in The Sound of Music, who sings: "Let's start at the beginning, a very good place to start."
"In the beginning God created . . . ." So begins the Bible, at the beginning, or one might say, the Beginning. We're talking about the theological Big Bang, the start of all things. So what do we learn from the first five words (four in Hebrew) of the Bible?
First, everything starts with God. God is, in the classic philosophical phrase, the First Mover. All of life, including both material and spiritual reality, begins with the One identified in Hebrew as elohim .
Implication: God is Sovereign. God is ultimately in charge. To bring this down to a personal level, God is (or should be) sovereign over my life.
Second, the God who creates "in the beginning" was not created by something else. God transcends time and history. God simply is. (Later on God will reveal his name as Yahweh, which is a form of the verb "to be.")
Implication: God is not a figment of our imagination. We don't get to make up God according to our preferences. God's existence transcends everything, including our attempts to invent him.
Third , God is unitary. Though the Hebrew word elohim is plural in form, it was understood to have a singular referent, the one true God. This is seen clearly in the fact that the verb "created" is singular in Hebrew: one God and only one God created. Here the Hebrew worldview diverged starkly from every other option in the ancient world. Monotheism was peculiar; polytheism was the norm for all ancient societies. Yet the Bible reveals that there is one and only one true God.
Implication: Whereas in the ancient world the battle line was drawn between monotheism and polytheism, today things are much more confusing. Some will tell you there is no God. Others claim to believe in a god, but a god of their own making. Still others advocate theoretical theism, but live as if God made little difference. This can even be true of Christians. One of the most pervasive assumptions of contemporary culture is that God, if there is a God at all, is more or less absent from real life. Thus it's up to us to determine our own fate and to define our own identities. In The Sound of Music , Maria captures the modern ethos perfectly in her song "I Have Confidence." In the end she sings, "I have confidence in confidence alone, besides which you can see I have confidence in me." There it is, our culture's statement of faith. (Though perhaps the postmodern refrain would be "I lack confidence in confidence alone, besides which you can see I lack confidence in me.")
But there's a sad irony here. The real Maria von Trapp began life as an atheist who had confidence in herself alone. But then she had a life-changing encounter with God. She spent the rest of her life as a passionate Christian, even doing missionary work later in life. The picture of Maria in The Sound of Music - which happens to be one of my favorite movies - is an utterly secularized one, a picture stripped of what the real Maria considered to be the most important thing in life: God.
Here is the beginning of a genuine biblical worldview: God.
Part 5: Matter Matters
In Part 4 of "Developing a Biblical Worldview" I proposed that we start at the beginning - in Genesis 1, at the beginning of the Bible, at the beginning of time. We examined the first words of Genesis, "In the beginning God created," deriving from this the text the basis of a biblical worldview, in which one God reigns supreme, transcending creation.
Now let's continue on in Genesis 1: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth " (1:1). Does the addition of a few more words, "the heavens and the earth" impact our worldview significantly? Yes, indeed it does. It tells us that matter matters .
In the biblical worldview, matter matters, not only as neutral stuff in which good things happen, but as something that is good because it comes from God. Six times in Genesis 1 God sees that his creation is good. In fact, he concludes by noting that it is "very good" (Gen 1:25).
Why is this important for our worldview? Because it teaches us to value this life and this world as God's good creation. It explains why God seeks to redeem, not only human souls, but the whole creation (Rom 8:18-25). Ultimately it helps us to make sense of the Incarnation, the Word of God made flesh in Jesus (John 1:14).
For ages Christians have fought against the tendency to devalue this world. In the second and third centuries, orthodox believers defended the biblical worldview against the widely popular heresy known as Gnosticism. This philosophy, born out of Greek dualism, saw spirit as good and matter as evil. Gnostics believed that the divine spark resided within each person, who could be saved from material incarceration by the knowledge (in Greek, gnosis ) of his or her essential divinity. Much of New Age philosophy is simply a modern rehash of ancient Gnosticism. Gnostics denied the goodness of creation, the reality of the Incarnation, and the eternal value of this world. The orthodox church stood its ground, however, ultimately prevailing against the Gnostic degradation of the goodness of creation.
If we believe that matter matters, we'll live differently than if we believe that matter is valueless or even evil. For one thing, we'll care about the world God created and entrusted to us. For another, we'll embrace the biblical concern for justice in this life, and not only seek to save souls for the afterlife, however important this may be. Moreover, we'll also be set free to enjoy this creation, though within the guidelines revealed by God. Finally, we'll look forward to the new heaven and new earth (Rev 21:1), orienting our hope to the renewal of creation that is yet to come.
Part 6: The Image of God and the Divine Nature
So far our search for a biblical worldview has led us to Genesis 1, from which we have derived two essential components of this worldview:
1. There is one, sovereign, transcendent, all-powerful God who created all things.
2. Because God created the heavens and the earth, and created them good, therefore matter matters.
Let's build upon this foundation by pressing on in Genesis 1. Verses 26-27 read: "Then God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness . . .So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.'" The God who created all things chose to make one aspect of creation reflect his own nature in a unique way. Thus, from the image of God stamped upon humankind we learn vital truths both about God and also about ourselves.
What do we learn about God? First, we learn that God is personal , not merely a force or power in the universe. It's terribly common these days to hear people speak of divinity in these impersonal ways, but they fail to do justice to the personal God of Scripture.
Second, we learn that God is neither exclusively male nor exclusively female. In the ancient world surrounding the Israelites, gods were either male or female. Fertility cults often explained life in terms of the sexual exploits of the gods and worshipped by imitating these exploits. But the Bible reveals a stunningly different picture of God, one in which God transcends human gender with an image that is both male and female.
To this day, many people attempt to assign gender to God. Some Christians, noting correctly the predominance of male images for God in the Bible (king, father, etc.), have incorrectly turned God into an supernatural male, neglecting the truth of God's image in Genesis 1, not to mention biblical passages that use female imagery for God. On the other hand, it is increasingly popular these days to resurrect the worship of the goddess. The bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code , reads at times like an extensive apology for the goddess cult and the fertility rites associated with it. (See my critique of The Da Vinci Code. )
In fact, the God of Scripture, whom we are taught to address as King and Father, is neither essentially male nor female. God is both "the Rock who had fathered" Israel and "the God who had given [them] birth" (Deut 31:18, NLT). God is our Heavenly Father who comforts us like a mother (Isa 66:13) and rejoices over us like a woman who found her lost coin (Luke 15:8-10).
In the end, we are left with a God who is revealed to us in Scripture, yet who is also mysterious. The God whose image is both male and female is a personal God, not an it or a thing. Yet that personal God is not a man or a woman, but a transcendent being whose nature incorporates both maleness and femaleness. A biblical worldview, therefore, includes a God who is personal, transcendent, and mysterious - yet made known to us through Scripture.
Part 7: The Image of God and Human Nature
In my last post in this series I examined the image of God as revealed in Genesis 1:26-27. There God creates humankind in his image as "male and female." From this we come to understand that God is both personal and transcendent, a God whom we know truly and intimately, but who is also mysterious and can't be put in a neat little box, to use C.S. Lewis's apt image.
The creation of humankind as male and female also helps to shape our fundamental understanding of ourselves in several key ways.
First, we human beings bear a unique resemblance to God and are therefore extraordinarily valuable within creation. The dignity of each human life rests in part upon our uniqueness as bearers of the divine image. Of course this component of the biblical worldview powerfully impacts the way we think and live, whether it motivates us to seek justice for oppressed peoples or to defend the life of unborn human beings. The distinctive worth of human life means that, though we care about all creatures in God's creation, we do not follow those who equate the worth of human and animal life. Genesis 1:26-27 doesn't provide a free pass to PETA.
Second, that God created humankind as male and female shows us that maleness and femaleness are not merely cultural accidents that need to be ignored or corrected, but something essential to human nature. Efforts to obliterate the distinctions between men and women, as, for instance, in many arguments for gay marriage, stumble upon this building block of the biblical worldview.
Third, both male and female are essential to human community. Both share in the divine image. Both share together in the divine command to rule over creation (Gen 1:28). This implies a critique of those who would exclude one gender, either male or female, from full participation in human society. Sexism, whether from the extreme right or the extreme left, doesn't reflect the biblical worldview. Male and female are created to live and work as complementary partners.
Fourth, the creation of humankind as male and female suggests that we are by nature communal beings. God's image, though present in each individual, is most fully seen when we live in community together: in family, church, neighborhood, and friendship. We were not meant to live alone, as Scripture makes even clearer in Genesis 2.
From these four essential aspects of our nature, Christians make widely varied applications. It's well worth debating, for example, how Genesis 1:26-27 ought impact our understanding of the relationship between men and women in church and family. But at least this debate can be founded on the bedrock of a biblical understanding of human life. Many secular agendas, such as those that nullify the distinctions between male and female or equate human and animal life, are fundamentally inconsistent with the biblical view of life.
Part 8: What's Really Wrong with Us?
If, as we've seen so far, God created the world good, and created humankind in his own image, then why are we so messed up? Why do we suffer from sickness and hatred and sadness? What's really wrong with us?
The world provides lots of divergent answers to these questions. Modern day gnostics would say: "Your basic problem is ignorance. If you only had the right knowledge, then you could be set free. You need to know that, at the core, you are divine. Then everything will be fine." Others recognize that knowledge alone won't save us. "You need to exercise your will and take charge of your life. You need to decide to break free from the constraints of your life." Still others blame society or government for our personal ills. "You are a victim," they claim, "and things won't be right until the oppressors make things right. You can't do it on your own." And on, and on, and on.
A biblical worldview includes a diagnosis of what's really wrong with us. It isn't primarily a matter of ignorance, or weak will, or victimization. Our root problem is sin.
Genesis 3 tells the story of the first human sin. The man and the woman choose to disobey God. They do what God said not to do, thus rejecting God's rightful rule over their lives. We, like the first humans, do the same, again, and again, and again. Sin is what's really wrong with us.
As you'll see in my next post, sin leads to a plethora of other problems. But before we get to the implications of sin, it's essential that we acknowledge the fact of sin and its foundational importance. Most religions and philosophies offer salvation that doesn't deal with our sin. Thus they don't solve our root problem. From a biblical perspective, only that which deals with sin will allow us to experience life as God intended it to be.
Christians believe that Jesus is God's solution to the problem of sin. Yes, Jesus came to reveal God to us, but that's not his primary purpose. Yes, Jesus taught us how to live better lives under God's kingdom, but that's not his primary purpose either. Bottom line, Jesus came to eradicate sin and to restore us - and creation - to what God intended. (For more detail on how he accomplished this, see chapter 8 of my book, Jesus Revealed .)
As you confront today's marketplace of gurus hocking their philosophical and religious wares, pay close attention to their understanding of the primary human problem. Do they take sin seriously? The answer, outside of Christian orthodoxy, is almost always "No!"
Only those with a solid biblical worldview can see that our real problem as human beings is sin. And only those who know the whole biblical story will understand that the solution to this problem has come from God, in Jesus the Savior.
Part 9: A Broken World
In my last post I asked the question: What's really wrong with us? Genesis 3 answers that question with in one word: sin. Our core problem as people is our rebellion against the rule of God in our lives, which is expressed in specific acts of disobedience.
Genesis 3 helps us to understand how sin infects the whole of human existence, how it breaks apart that which God had made so perfectly.
Immediately after the man and woman eat the forbidden fruit, they see themselves in their nakedness and seek to hide themselves from each other. This is a fitting picture of brokenness between people. Whereas God's intention for the man and woman was a life of unhindered intimacy, sin shreds human relationships. In place of harmonious partnership between the sexes, now there will be deceit and domination.
Before long God comes to visit the first humans. But they scurry off to hide from God. Whereas they once experienced fearless openness with God, now they are afraid. What a sad picture of brokenness between God and people. Sin keeps us from experiencing the kind of intimacy with God that God had intended, and that our hearts still desire.
Human sin also leads to brokenness in the created order. The woman will still bear children, but only with great pain. The man will still till the earth, but it will put forth thorns and thistles to make work hard. Every time you find weeds in your garden, or every time your job drives you crazy, this is a reminder of sin's pernicious power.
Sin leads to pervasive brokenness throughout creation. What God had made good is now corrupted. Things aren't the way God had meant them to be. The goodness of creation remains, but not perfectly.
The essential goodness but pervasive brokenness of this world is a key element of a biblical worldview. It helps us to understand what's wrong in the world, why this world is so often filled with pain and sadness. Perhaps one of the hardest questions for any Christian to answer has to do with human suffering. If God is good and loving, why do people suffer? There is no easy answer to this question, but every biblical answer rests upon the fact that the world is broken. Although encompassed within God's ultimate plan, things are not working as God had intended.
Once we grasp the brokenness of the created world, we'll be able to understand the moral emptiness of one of the most common arguments for approving homosexual activity. This argument claims that homosexual desire is genetically determined and, therefore, acting upon that desire is good. God made homosexuals, it is claimed, and therefore homosexuality must be part of God's good creation. Even if we assume that homosexual desire comes primarily from one's genetic makeup - a claim for which there is scant scientific evidence - that tells us nothing about whether it's right for someone to act according to this desire. Our genes are part of the broken world. Just because I was born with certain proclivities does not mean they are right. Certain people may be genetically disposed to violence, alcoholism, or cancer - for which there is considerable scientific evidence - but this doesn't mean we ought to endorse these realities. People who are violent, alcoholic, or sick with cancer need healing, not the false gospel that "God made them that way."
Genesis 3 helps us understand the brokenness of our world, not to mention our own lives. It help us to see things - to have a worldview - that deals truly with real life. Christians don't pretend that pain isn't real, that suffering is illusory. Rather, we believe that it is a sorry result of sin.
The brokenness of our world and our own hearts also gives us a longing, a longing for repair, for wholeness, and ultimately for God. Genesis 3, though primarily a passage that give us the bad news, also hints at the good news yet to come. To this I'll return in my next post.
Part 9b: Proof That Our World Is Broken
In my last couple of posts I examined the heavy topics of sin and its sorry results. We live in a broken world and that brokenness surrounds us.
Now we have proof!
The Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch has just released the winners of its annual "Wacky Warning Label Contest." Check out these victorious entries:
Grand Prize -- Label on a bottle of drain cleaner: "If you do not understand, or cannot read, all directions, cautions and warnings, do not use this product." Reminds me of the brail instructions on my drive-up ATM machine. Great for blind drivers.
A runner up -- A treble-barbed fishing lure with the warning: "Harmful if swallowed." Would somebody please tell that to the fish?
Previous winners include:
A warning on a household iron that reads, "Never iron clothes while they are being worn." But what if you want to smooth out your skin at the same time?
A cardboard sunshield for windshield warns, "Do not drive with sunshield in place." I've actually seen this one. It takes away all the fun, of course. Won't bother the blind drivers that use my ATM, however.
Label on sleeping pills offers this caveat: "Warning: May cause drowsiness."
See what I mean? The world is a broken place. Not only can you get hurt if you iron your clothes while wearing them, but if the iron manufacturer doesn't warn you about this, they may get sued. As silly as all this stuff seems, it actually illustrates the brokenness of our world quite nicely.
My next post gets back to the more serious issues of our broken world and the hope we find even in the sad story of Genesis 3. I hope you enjoyed this diversion.
Part 10: Gimmers of Hope
In Part 9 we examined Genesis 3, seeing in this chapter the devastating results of sin. God made the world good, but sin broke God's creation. Because of sin, we struggle with brokenness between people, brokenness between people and God, and brokenness in the created order. That about sums up our sorry lives.
For the most part Genesis 3 focuses on what's wrong, but it offers glimmers of hope. The first comes in verse 9, when God calls to the man and the woman who have hidden themselves from God. In this simple action we see something profoundly important about God. Though the Lord could have rejected the first humans, though he had every right to exterminate them, instead he seeks them. Thus right in the beginning of the human story we see a picture of a God who pursues us graciously. Later in Scripture God will fill out the details, revealing himself as a Shepherd who seeks and saves those who are lost - including you and me (see Ezek 34:16; Luke 15: 3-7).
The second glimmer of hope in Genesis 3 comes when God curses the serpent, the satanic figure who led the man and woman to sin. In this denunciation God says, "From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel" (3:15, NLT). Throughout the ages, Christians have seen in this verse the first hint of messianic prophecy. Jesus, the offspring of woman, will one day crush the head of Satan. (If you see Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ, watch for how he incorporates this image from Genesis 3:15.)
The biblical worldview begins with good news: the good God created all things good, including human beings. But the worldview also incorporates bad news: human sin and its consequences. Yet planted within the bad news are the seeds of the best news of all, the revelation of a God who seeks and saves the lost, the gospel of Jesus Christ who will one day solve the problem of sin. The rest of the Bible fills out this story of how God makes right that which sin made wrong.
Part 11: Basic Elements of a Biblical Worldview
So far I have posted eleven segments on "Developing a Biblical Worldview in 2004." Though I could keep on going, I think it's time to stop and sum up.
If you are seeking a biblical worldview, begin at the beginning in Genesis, in the first words of the Bible. From Genesis 1-3 we learn the following, all crucial components of a biblical worldview:
1. There is one transcendent, sovereign, all-powerful God who created all things.
2. Matter matters, because God created heaven and earth and saw that all things he created are very good.
3. The image of God as male and female shows us that God is personal (not a thing or an it) and yet transcendent (not exclusively male or exclusively female).
4. The image of God as male and female shows us that we human beings are: uniquely valuable; essentially male or female; meant to share life together in a complementary relationship as men and women; created for life in community.
5. What's really wrong with us is sin, our rejection of God's rightful rule over our lives, seen in actions that disobey God.
6. Sin explains what's wrong in the world. Sin leads to brokenness between humans, between humans and God, and in creation itself.
7. A biblical worldview does not minimize or deny the reality of pain and evil, but even the bad news of Genesis 3 offers glimmers of hope. God has not abandoned his creation or his people, but seeks us out. Jesus will ultimately crush the head of serpent, eradicating both sin and its consequences.
Of course everything I've just said assumes the truthfulness of the Bible. A biblical worldview, reasonably enough, rests upon the Bible, and is adopted by people who accept the Bible's authority and spend time learning its truth. Perhaps one of the most distinctive aspects of a biblical worldview in today's world is the whole idea of absolute truth.
Yet, I should hasten to add, my belief in absolute truth doesn't imply that I perceive truth in an absolutely true manner. I am a limited and sinful being, one who sees "through a glass, darkly" (1 Cor 13:12, KJV). It's always possible that some of what I've said, even in these last ten posts, is wrong. Thus one who embraces and commends a biblical worldview must do with humility. In the phrasing of a chapter from my book, Dare to Be True, we must "speak gently and bury our big stick," even as we speak boldly of what we believe to be absolutely true.