1. Worldviews
Based on Biblical Worldview: Creation, Fall, and Redemption by Dr. Mark L. Ward, et.
al.

2.  II Corinthians 10:4-5 is our memory verse for this week.
 Hebrews 11:3
 The National Council for Science Education put together Project STEVE, in which
they got 1000 scientists named Steve to sign a statement expressing their support
for evolution.
 The idea is that if this many scientists named Steve support evolution, imagine how
many other scientists do, too. It’s a way of saying Biblical Christianity is out of date
and irrelevant.
 Not everyone who rejects Christianity does so for intellectual reasons. In fact,
people tend to use superficial, head-level arguments to cover up deeper, heart-
level reasons for turning away from God.
 Many people in this world are hurting and blame God. They find it offensive to be
told they are sinners because they are the victims of other people’s sin.
 Many of the very smart people think your religion is not just an opinion, but a
foolish opinion.
 I Corinthians 1:26-27

3. 3 options to respond to these smart
people
 Option 1: Give in and give up your faith completely. (Yeah, don’t do this)
 Option 2: Give in a little – but only on the really disputed issues like evolution and
homosexual marriage. Admit the Bible is wrong in just a few places. (Don’t do this
either!)
 Option 3: Don’t give in at all if someone contradicts Scripture, no matter how smart
or how numerous the Steves are. Instead, argue back – lovingly and graciously, but
powerfully and confidently – knowing that God’s reason for using the weak to
shame the wise is so “that no flesh should glory in His presence.” I Corinthians 1:29
 Option 3 is obviously the biblical choice. The Bible speaks about all of life – not
just about morals and church.

4. Scenario: You vs. Dr. Steve in Biology 101
 Dr. Steve does almost all the talking because he’s the PhD. You and 150 other 18
year olds listen to a smart and engaging lecture about the basics of biology.
Nothing objectionable, no mention of evolution for three or four weeks.
 When Dr. Steve does discuss evolution finally, he is very disarming. He’s not nasty
or mean, and doesn’t single out Christians in any way. Nevertheless, he makes you
feel dumb because he has so much evidence and science to back up his
statements. You suddenly cannot think of a way to make the evidence fit Scripture.
 You have an immediate and practical problem with two choices.

5.  1. Argue back with your own superior understanding and evidence.
 While there are Christian geologists and biologists who can and do argue with their
colleagues from a position of knowledge and understanding with evidence, you’re
18 with a high school diploma and none of the above. Your arguments will be
defeated quickly and decisively.
 2. Argue back – perhaps initially just in your own mind – based on the concept of
worldview.
 Dr. Steve’s evidence is not the only ingredient in his thinking. The evidence he cites
sounds convincing only because he looks at that evidence in a certain way that is
colored by his worldview.
 A worldview is a set of lenses through which you view the world. It is something
you are so used to that you don’t see it at all; you simply look through it.
 Just like you cannot see your glasses distinctly while they are on your face, you
cannot look at your worldview without taking it off, which is very difficult to do.

6. Every worldview has three ingredients.
1. A worldview contains a “head-heart
system” of basic beliefs, assumptions,
and values.
2. A worldview tells a big story about the
world.
3. A worldview produces action.

7. 1. Head-heart system
 Peoples thoughts tend to develop patterns and fit into systems.
 Basic beliefs answer questions like “Can violence ever be right? Are there any
absolute, unchanging moral rules for human life? Is there a point to suffering?
Dow we survive death?”
 Hitler was a mass murderer who deserved to die. Why?
 Because killing people is wrong. Why is killing 6 million Jews and 5 million others
wrong?
 Because taking even one human life is wrong. Why is that wrong?
 Because human life is intrinsically valuable. Dr. Steve stops here in his worldview
because he sees another survivor of the evolutionary process rather than someone
created in the image of God.
 The Christian says human life is valuable because it was made in the image of God.
Our chain or reasoning goes back to an unchanging, foundational principle

8. Proverbs 1:7
 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge. It’s the ABCs, the basics,
without which we don’t have any knowledge worth calling knowledge.
 This verse also points out a key truth: One reason a person’s worldview can be
inconsistent, wrong, and even evil is that worldviews grow ultimately from the
heart.
 Matthew 12:34-35
 Jeremiah 17:9
 I John 1:7
 Ezekiel 36:26

9.  Only God has the power to reach inside you and alter you at your very core, your
innermost heart desires and loves.
 And by giving you a new heart, God sets into motion a life-long process whereby
He reshapes you into the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28-29)
 II Peter 1:3-5

10. 2. Master Story
 A worldview tells a master story, a big story that begins in the beginning (Genesis
1:1), and tells what happened afterwards to shape the world into what it is.
 Dr. Steve’s story goes something like this: “Once upon a time, the big bang
happened. We all evolved by random, undirected processes from non-life through
lower forms of life to reach the top of the evolutionary heap (at least here on
Earth). Our problems exist because our evolution is incomplete. Our purpose is to
evolve and progress still further toward…well, future extinction as the energy in the
universe burns out.”
 This is less than inspiring and does little to bring purpose to individual cultures or
peace to individual people who find themselves hurting at the bottom of the heap.

11.  Humans need stories to organize their lives and their ideas. The beliefs,
assumptions, and loves found in the head-heart system make sense because of the
story into which the fit.
 Which of the following makes more sense:
 The world is going to get better and better forever even though the world begins with a
big bang and ends with the dissipation of all matter and energy.
 I determine what is right and wrong because as a random collection of atoms and can
determine these things for myself.
 Humans are valuable because they are made in the image of God and God loves them.
 Psalms 19:1
 Romans 2:15
 Ecclesiastes 3:11

12. The Christian Story
 The Bible is the story of what God is doing to glorify Himself by redeeming His
fallen creation.
 This is the story of Creation, Fall, and Redemption (CFR).
 Pick anything God put in this world, and you can be certain that (C) it is
fundamentally good because God created it, (F) the Fall of Adam has tarnished it in
some way, and (R) it can be restored to do its original purpose by Christ, the
rightful Ruler of this planet.
 If you don’t have a Christian master story – a biblical metanarrative – you’ll tend to
get confused about what’s good and what’s bad in this world.
 With a biblical worldview, you will know who you are, where you came from, where
you’re going, what’s wrong with the world, and who can fix it – all the basic
worldview questions.

13. 3. Action
 The goal of this study is to move you to live out the Christian worldview and take
action.
 Matthew 5:13-16
 Light shines. That is its job. You and I are supposed to shine a light through doing
good works, a light that everyone can see. Influence the people around you.
 Salt flavors. If salt loses its sharp, distinct taste, it’s worthless. Some positions of
influence will be available to you only if you are willing to diminish the unique taste
of your biblical views. You can have the job only if you agree to be a little less
salty.
 Don’t drop your Christianity in order to gain more influence; what then will you be
influencing people to do?

14.  Jesus’ call here is, at the very least, a call to bring glory to God by living out the
Christian worldview. You need to live out what you learn.
 You won’t be alone, either. You will naturally find yourself aligned with and
influenced by other people and become part of a culture.
 Culture I what you and others together make of the world. Your worldview will
unite you with others and the things and ideas you al produce will change and
develop the culture you’ve inherited from previous generations.
 Remember, though, that the world you’re trying to change is a sinful one we are
not to love or let it shape us.
 I John 2:15-17
 Romans 12:2

15.  A worldview is a set of basic beliefs, assumptions, and values which arises from a
big story about the world and produces individual and group action – human
culture.
 All three of these things are visible daily in the lives of every human on earth. It is
simply part of being an adult.
 How can you be salt and light?