What is a Worldview?

Worldview thinking seems to be almost exclusively a task of the intellectual elite, however, the truth is, that all of us have a worldview whether we know it or not. Worldview thinking is rare today because very few in the pews are willing to deal with it. In fact, to think to establish a Biblical worldview we must learn to understand what it is.

Here is a simple definition for all of us as we seek to establish a coherent thinking that submits completely to the Lordship of Christ. My definition may have variations, but I find it helpful nevertheless:

A worldview is a set of glasses that everyone has from the time a person is born. As a person grows in age and in knowledge a person’s focus becomes narrower, not that he limits his ideas, but that all the ideas and concepts in his life (which he has been bombarded with in school, work, family gatherings etc.) are put together into a coherent system. Hence, he now sees the world from a selective pair of glasses, and everything he sees he will be able to determine whether it is good or bad, useful or not useful and so on.

Of course, the main reason many people do not have a coherent worldview is because there are many difficulties that hinder God’s people from thinking about it.

*Lack of clarity in academia and society, Example: I think this but you think that.

*People have not learned how to think critically, but rather accept all things without questioning authorities.

*Churches bore people with messages, which they have all heard.

*People don’t consider the context or environment in which they live.

*People are bound to only the New Testament and treat the Old as a story book with no relevance to contemporary life.

*People have lost their joy in the beauty of Creation, redemption etc.

It is my contention that unless we learn to deal with these issues first we will not even begin to think about thinking Biblically.

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