Do you have a Christian Worldview?

[Guest shiloh357]

I believe the following is a good start to developing a solid, Bible-based, and balanced approach to the Word of God. - Shiloh357

What are Some Elements of a Christian World View?

CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS AND RESEARCH MINISTRY

Following is a representative list of statements that can help you establish a Christian World View. This list is not exhaustive. But it is a good cross section of biblically derived principles that should help as you seek to understand a biblical world view. As you study them, notice how they would affect your beliefs and actions about various topics: God, church, evangelism, creation, worship, family, sin, salvation, homosexuality, abortion, etc.

Principles are like a fountain from which other beliefs and actions flow. The closer you are to biblical beliefs, the better able you will be to carry out the commission of our Lord and Savior to make disciples of all nations, to glorify Him, and to understand His creation.

[*]There is a God (Isaiah 43:10,11; 44:6,8; 45:5).

There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being. - Baptist Faith and Message

[*]The Christian Trinity is the only God (Gen. 1:26; Zech. 12:10; 2 Cor. 13:14; John 1:1).

A. God the Father

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.

Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah 43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7.

B. God the Son

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.

Genesis 18:1ff.; Psalms 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah 7:14; 53; Matthew 1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16,27; 17:5; 27; 28:1-6,19; Mark 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1-18,29; 10:30,38; 11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:7-11; 16:15-16,28; 17:1-5, 21-22; 20:1-20,28; Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20; Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1-8,24-28; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 8:9; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:20; 3:11; 4:7-10; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7-9; 3:2; 4:14-15; 5:9; 2 John 7-9; Revelation 1:13-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16.

C. God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Saviour, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Psalms 51:11; 139:7ff.; Isaiah 61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32; Matthew 1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mark 1:10,12; Luke 1:35; 4:1,18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; John 4:24; 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55; 8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6; Romans 8:9-11,14-16,26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 12:3-11,13; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 Timothy 3:16; 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:14; 3:16; Hebrews 9:8,14; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 4:13; 5:6-7; Revelation 1:10; 22:17. - Baptist Faith and Message

[*]God has revealed Himself in three ways: In creation, in the Bible, and in Jesus (Rom. 1:18-20; 1 Cor. 15:3; John 5:39; Acts 10:43; Heb. 1:1-3; John 14:9).

[*]God created the universe and all that is in it with order and design -- the universe is not an accident (Gen. 1; Isaiah 44:24; 45:18; Jer. 27:5; Neh. 9:6).

[*]All life on earth was created by God with a design and a purpose -- life did not evolve (Gen. 1:11,12,21,24,25; 1 Cor. 15:38,39).

[*]The unseen supernatural world is just as real as the physical world (Eph. 6:12; Job 1:6; Mark 5:2; Matt. 12:22)

[*]God made man in His own image distinct from the animals -- man did not evolve (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:7; 1 Cor. 11:7).

[*]Man, from conception, is human and possesses dignity due to being made in God's image (Job 31:15; Ps. 22:10; 139:13; Hosea 12:3; Luke 1:41-44).

[*]The first humans were Adam and Eve (Gen. 2; Rom. 5:14; 1 Cor. 15:22,45; 1 Tim. 2:13).

[*]Adam and Eve were the first family (male and female) according to the purpose of God for procreation and glorifying Him -- homosexuality, therefore, is unnatural (Gen. 1:28; 2:21-25).

[*]Man is morally responsible and answerable to God (Ex. 15:26; 1 Kings 11:38; Rom. 2:16; Ps. 50:6; 82:8; James 1:21).

[*]God gave dominion of the earth to Adam and Eve and, thus, to their descendants (Gen. 1:28; Titus 1:7)

[*]Man is steward of God's creation and is to subdue the world in a manner consistent with biblical revelation (Gen. 1-2; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).

Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God's creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Psalms 1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; 51:5; Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 17:5; Matthew 16:26; Acts 17:26-31; Romans 1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1 Corinthians 1:21-31; 15:19,21-22; Ephesians 2:1-22; Colossians 1:21-22; 3:9-11. - Baptist Faith and Message

[*]Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:1-6; Rom. 5:12-14)

[*]All people have sinned and are in need of salvation (Rom. 3:23).

[*]Only God can save. Man cannot save himself (Matt. 19:25-26).

[*]Jesus is the only way to escape the judgment of God (Acts. 4:12; John 14:6).

[*]The Christian Gospel is the key to the conversion of all people (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Mark 8:35; 13:10; Rom. 1:16)

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.

B. Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.

C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life.

D. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.

Genesis 3:15; Exodus 3:14-17; 6:2-8; Matthew 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; 27:22-28:6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24; 10:9,28-29; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31; 17:30-31; 20:32; Romans 1:16-18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3ff.; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 13:11-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18,30; 6:19-20; 15:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Galatians 2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; 6:15; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-22; 4:11-16; Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 1:9-22; 3:1ff.; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:12; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; James 2:14-26; 1 Peter 1:2-23; 1 John 1:6-2:11; Revelation 3:20; 21:1-22:5.

Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.

All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:5-8; 1 Samuel 8:4-7,19-22; Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 31:31ff.; Matthew 16:18-19; 21:28-45; 24:22,31; 25:34; Luke 1:68-79; 2:29-32; 19:41-44; 24:44-48; John 1:12-14; 3:16; 5:24; 6:44-45,65; 10:27-29; 15:16; 17:6,12,17-18; Acts 20:32; Romans 5:9-10; 8:28-39; 10:12-15; 11:5-7,26-36; 1 Corinthians 1:1-2; 15:24-28; Ephesians 1:4-23; 2:1-10; 3:1-11; Colossians 1:12-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 2 Timothy 1:12; 2:10,19; Hebrews 11:39

[OneAccord]

God has revealed Himself in three ways: In creation, in the Bible, and in Jesus.

I LOVE the concept of God revealing Himslef in His creation. I don't hear enough about this being preached. I think the entire creation tells the gospel story and reveals many, many truths about God and His plan.

In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation.

This is one of my big stumbling stones. I cannot grasp where sin came from, did God create it to test man, did Satan create it, did man create it. Huge theological conundrum.

I also have trouble with the idea that every human being since Adam is automatically infected with sin by proxy.

Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.

What is the creative purpose of God?

The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

Aahhh! This statement deserves to be front and center in the Christian faith, just after our declared LOVE for our Creator.

The Bible reflects the true and moral character of God; therefore, truth and morals are knowable and absolute, not relative (Exodus 20:1-17).

I like this statement, but fear that truth and moral character as revealed in the Bible have become relative to man's interpretation of the Bible.

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings OA,

This is one of my big stumbling stones.  I cannot grasp where sin came from, did God create it to test man, did Satan create it, did man create it.  Huge theological conundrum.

You might ask yourself: "When a baby or a small child does something wrong (sin), where did it come from? Did you or anyone else teach it to do that?" Adam and Eve had FREE CHOICE (free will), and Satan, being the master deceiver, was able to hold out a carrot, and they took it.

I also have trouble with the idea that every human being since Adam is automatically infected with sin by proxy.

In the Garden, before sin, Adam and Eve were consumed with doing the "will of God", after all, that was all that they had been taught, they knew nothing else until that evil Serpent came along. Once sin was committed, they had to contend with a whole new scenario, including the "curse", which included death. Being NOT GOD, and only a relatively poor example of Him, they could only pass on to their progency what they were like, which of course included "sin", and of course the curse that came with it - death. We do not "sin by proxy", but as in the answer to the above question, "we all sin and fall short of the glory of God", even from birth onward.

What is the creative purpose of God?

We were designed to be the "glory of Christ":

Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Ephesians 1:11-12 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

[OneAccord]

I got to thinking about this list of pre-requisite beliefs for having a balanced worldview.

I think our Christian Worldview should be based on the supreme commandments that Christ laid down for us:

Love thy God with all thy heart and Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Upon these hang all the theologies and doctrines, oops, I mean, the law and the prophets.

The Sermon on the Mount should be the Magna Charta of the Christian Faith and our worldview should be based on it. There is way too much focus on theology, much of which is hotly debated within the church and the cause of much division and hostility among brethren, and not enough of the focus is on the outworkings of being a Christian and the work at hand.

Where in this so-called Christian Worldview is any mention of helping the poor, the widow, the stranger? Where is any mention of LOVING God rather than analyzing Him to death? Where is any mention of loving our enemies, going the extra mile for our fellow man, conducting ourselves in such a way as to be lights unto men?

[Guest shiloh357]

I think our Christian Worldview should be based on the supreme commandments that Christ laid down for us:

It is based upon that.

Where in this so-called Christian Worldview is any mention of helping the poor, the widow, the stranger? Where is any mention of LOVING God rather than analyzing Him to death? Where is any mention of loving our enemies, going the extra mile for our fellow man, conducting ourselves in such a way as to be lights unto men?

All of that is the outworking of a biblical worldview. If you are firmly grounded in what Scripture says, you will naturally do what it says. As it is, we have so many people consumed with the sensationalist stuff (bible codes, for example) and are not doing the things that are commanded in Scripture. People are looking for mysteries and deeper "revelations," and they have not yet mastered, "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report..." We have people trying to play varsity, and they haven't even made it out of the batter's cage yet.

[nebula]

The Sermon on the Mount should be the Magna Charta of the Christian Faith and our worldview should be based on it. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think, though, we need to be careful about this.

Remember, the Sermon on the Mount was given to Jews practicing Judaism - who have been following the Torah and the traditions formulated based on the Torah. If you notice, Jesus was addressing to the Jewish people the difference between following the traditions of the Torah verses following the heart of the Torah.

If you notice, Matthew, who wrote his Gospel to the Jews, made much more of an emphasis on this sermon - or series of teachings put together - than did Luke, and it is completely missing from the Gospels written by Mark and John.

It's great, One Accord, that your heart is so burdened for ministering the hands and feet of the Gospel. I agree we do need more of this.

I also believe that encouraging and preaching to others that we need to do this should be advocated with love as well.

Anger and frustration can eat you up, you know?

[Guest shiloh357]

Man's Impotence

by Arthur Pink (an excerpt from the entire work)

It is of the utmost importance that people should clearly understand and be made thoroughly aware of their spiritual impotence, for thus alone is a foundation laid for bringing them to see and feel their imperative need of divine grace for salvation. So long as sinners think they have it in their own power to deliver themselves from their death in trespasses and sins, they will never come to Christ that they might have life, for "the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." So long as people imagine they labor under no insuperable inability to comply with the call of the gospel, they never will be conscious of their entire dependence on Him alone who is able to work in them "all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power" (2Th_1:11). So long as the creature is puffed up with a sense of his own ability to respond to God

[OneAccord]

The Sermon on the Mount should be the Magna Charta of the Christian Faith and our worldview should be based on it.

[OneAccord]

Man's Impotence

by Arthur Pink (an excerpt from the entire work)

It is of the utmost importance that people should clearly understand and be made thoroughly aware of their spiritual impotence, for thus alone is a foundation laid for bringing them to see and feel their imperative need of divine grace for salvation. So long as sinners think they have it in their own power to deliver themselves from their death in trespasses and sins, they will never come to Christ that they might have life, for "the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." So long as people imagine they labor under no insuperable inability to comply with the call of the gospel, they never will be conscious of their entire dependence on Him alone who is able to work in them "all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power" (2Th_1:11). So long as the creature is puffed up with a sense of his own ability to respond to God

[Bread_of_Life]

I'd be careful telling atheists (or anyone) that all of these 25 points are essential to being a Christian. After all, many perfectly legitimate Christians don't believe in at least a few of these (for example, the text is clearly creationist, it believes that man did not evolve, many Christians disagree with this, at least, many Christians outside the US). Also, many Christians would be uncomfortable with some of the stuff about the running of the state - I do know secularist Christians, who believe that whilst Christian principles are important, that the state should not be used to police people into acting like CHristians, and should be run in a religiously neutral fashion. In other words, not all Christians believe in Theocracy.

I would personally summarise Christianity in far fewer points than this:

The universe and man created perfect by God.

Man fell into sin by disobediance/rebellion against God.

God loved the world and made a series of covenants with man rather than destroy him.

The final covenant with man was made through Jesus on the cross at calvary, in a substitutional sacrifice to atone for man's sin (past present and future).

Jesus will return to end the physical world and judge us for our sins.

I think that's pretty much the essence of Christianity distilled - and if someone told me they agreed with all of these points, I'd say they were a Christian.