I ended my last post with the question; “How can we as teachers help our students develop their worldview in such a way that we aren’t creating brainwashed puppets? What’s the key to disciple them towards wisdom?” As I sat down to write today I realized that question is a bit premature. I have skipped a step. There is an important question that has gone, not just unanswered, unasked.
What is a Christian worldview?
I believe we can model a basic Christian worldview with five categories: truth, creation, the fall, redemption and purpose. Please bear in mind that the goal here is to define the most basic of Christian worldviews not one which a seminary graduate will necessarily find fulfilling… one which all believers regardless of denominational background can agree upon. This is spiritual milk… the meat and potatoes can come later. We need to first build a foundation. I will go into more detail for each of these categories below but remember… my purpose here is not to write an all-encompassing treatise on biblical worldviews. Many others have done that. We want to be able to see the big picture but keep it simple. We need something we can actually implement in our schools and classrooms not something to have endless philosophical arguments about.
Truth
- All truth comes from God. (Truth is truth. There is no secular truth apart from God.)
- We receive truth through direct and indirect revelation…
- God has provided us with a framework in which we long for and search for the truth and have the means to understand it when we find it.
- Truth is absolute and unchangeable.
Creation
- Origin— created by God
- Carefully designed with/for a purpose
- Man was created in God’s image… creative/rational/moral
- God is not part of creation… there is an eternal difference between God and man
The Fall
- Creation was warped and its nature changed.
- By nature we are against God. (sinful)
- Total depravity… we can never be good enough to gain salvation.
Redemption
- We are forgiven by grace which is freely given.
- Shows us some of the nature of God as redemption was planned from the beginning.
- Gives us hope.
- We are redeemed through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God.
Purpose
- Stewardship
- Greatest commandment
- Great commission
This brings us back to the question: “How can we as teachers help our students develop their worldview in such a way that we aren’t creating brainwashed puppets? What’s the key to disciple them towards wisdom?”
