So, what is a biblical worldview? For starters, it is based upon the Bible. Absolute moral truth exists as defined by the Bible. There is a Heaven, hell, Satan, absolute morality exists, salvation is through grace not by works, and there is a requirement for sharing your faith. Our lives should be modeled after Jesus and we should look to the Bible--the living Word of God--for guidance instead of new age gurus. While this is a basic summary definition, what does it actually mean? How does it impact our lives?
If we live using the Bible as our compass, it will affect every area of our lives. God's word, conveyed to us through the Bible, is clear on the use of psychics--whether called psychic, intuitive, etc--gambling (lottery, betting, etc), gluttony, drunkenness, murder, sexual sins, respecting parents and elders, respecting government, loving one another, and many other things.
We are warned in the Bible to "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because[a] narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14. In other words, in life, we cannot take the easy way out to escape persecution or to enjoy secular--but ungodly--pursuits.
The Bible also cautions us, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them." (Luke 21:8) New age gurus, self help books, and alleged spiritual experts advocate a self-development and self-reliance to develop the god within us. People, including some Christians, have been led astray to believe that "all paths lead to the same God". Yet this is not what the Bible says.
There even exists a group, The Jesus Seminar, made up of men claiming to be biblical scholars. Most were hand-picked by founder, Robert Funk who, himself, advocated "demoting Jesus" and called Christianity fiction. You might be familiar with some of their work. Around the time of the release of the DaVinci Code, "experts" from the Jesus Seminar were often quoted in interviews as biblical scholars to support the erroneous historical facts and bad theological doctrines used in the book and movie. The members of the Jesus Seminar met to vote on biblical stories and to decide, by casting colored beads, what made sense to them. Whatever didn't make sense, they deemed fictitious. It's not up to man; however, to decide what makes sense. God is bigger than man and heavenly concepts are often difficult to grasp. Jesus spoke in parables. Those that were hungry for the word, sought out the meaning and understood. Unbelievers failed to grasp the meaning of any of his stories.
This is just one of many instances of the secularization of Christianity. We're all familiar with the saying "when the going gets tough, the tough get going." In terms toward the shift modern Christianity is making, the saying should be edited to "When the going gets tough, we change the rules to suit ourselves."
Increasingly, Christians are attempting to change Christianity to suit their lifestyles. Pastors, anxious to draw people, are failing to preach the true gospel and are embracing new age practices and eastern mysticism. The new growing fad in Christianity is contemplative spirituality. If you do a Google-search of “contemplative spirituality”, you will find many articles, mostly negative. By its definition, I found the following terms and beliefs applied to it “divinity in all of us, no need to connect through Jesus and the cross, Eastern Mysticism, spiritual oneness.” All contrary to a biblical world view and warned of in the Bible, “Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit….” (Col 2:8 KJV)
So, is a biblical worldview relevant to us today? Of course it is. The Bible is living Word of God. Living. It is the same yesterday, today and forever. It tells the story of God's relationship with and love for people. Within its pages are words of guidance, love, inspiration, and reproof. It provides a code by which we are to live and gives us the example of Jesus' life on earth. We are to guard our hearts because they affect our lives (Prov 4:23). The movies we watch, the music we listen to, and the books we read have an effect on us. If we watch or read ungodly material, over time it will desensitize us and have an effect on how we live our lives.
So what is a Christian to do?
You've heard of "putting on the armor of God", right? Ephesians 6:13--17 is our action plan.
- Speak truth: have integrity, don't lie--let your word be your word---and don't gossip
- Live righteously: respect the Lord, love others, help those who are less fortunate
- Recognize pitfalls and traps ahead of time (what tempts you) and memorize some scriptures to recite when you get tempted. If you can identify triggers to your temper and environments that cause you to stumble and fall, you can plan to stay away or limit contact.
- Guard our minds: garbage in = garbage out. Stop reading lustful books, quit going to movies and watching television shows that are sexual, violent, etc.
- Study the Bible: memorize verses to help you in your daily walk
- Pray: ask the Holy Spirit to give you strength and to help you in times of temptation.
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