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Someone once quipped that worldviews are like belly buttons; everyone has one, but we don't talk about them very much. So worldviews are worth some consideration and conversation because worldviews effect so much of life.
Minister and philosopher Dr. James Anderson illustrated the concept of worldview by telling the story of a very sick little girl. The doctors have done all they can, but the little girl is dying and has only days to live. The people in her church gathered to pray fervently for the little girl, for her family, and for the medical team. The very next day, the girl woke up feeling much better. Her laugh was back, and soon she was running and playing. Everyone knows that the little girl is better.
But there's lots of disagreement about why. Those disagreements come from differing worldviews. Believers will assert that God has answered their prayers and that a miracle has occurred. Those who don't believe in God will offer alternative explanations - that the doctors missed something and were wrong in their prognosis, that the medicines finally kicked in, or simply that unexplained coincidences happen every day. The same set of facts about a sick little girl who got better are interpreted in vastly different ways based on one's worldview. The presuppositions with which one begins shapes the outcome of one's thinking process.
Worldviews collide in many arenas of life, including politics, government, economics, medicine, and religion. Especially religion.
Suppose, for a moment, that God let you determine who gets to go to Heaven. Most likely, you'd start your list with the names of some good people: innocent children, generous philanthropists, kind-hearted souls like Mother Teresa and your first-grade teacher. Since you're going to spend eternity with these folks, you'll pick the best people you can find.
But God, who does determine the inhabitants of Heaven, didn't do it that way. In 1 Corinthians 1:19 (NIV), the Apostle Paul quotes Isaiah 29:14: "For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
When Isaiah first wrote those words, Jerusalem was about to be surrounded by the Assyrian army. The worldview of the Jewish leaders prompted them to trust military strategy; they planned an alliance with Egypt, the world power that rivaled Assyria, in order to stave off the Assyrian attack. Isaiah, however, counseled otherwise. His message to Israel from God was "Don't trust the Egyptians; trust Me. I will deliver you in a way you would never expect." God then fulfilled that promise by sending his angel to kill 185,000 of the Assyrian warriors. Sennacherib, their commander, retreated to Assyria where he was assassinated by his own sons.
Paul quotes Isaiah's words to remind the Corinthians that God doesn't always act in the way people might expect; God doesn't do "salvation" in the expected manner either. Rather than picking the best people to spend eternity in Heaven, God gave the Old Testament Law to demonstrate that no one can earn the right to spend eternity with him by good behavior. All people are lawbreakers, rebels who substitute their own bad choices for the will of God. But instead of sending a warrior to force rebels into submission, God sent His Son to hang out with them; Jesus became the friend of drunks and prostitutes and unethical tax collectors. Jesus was rejected by the masses, scoffed at by the religious leaders and executed as a criminal. He rose from the dead, but while a significant number (more than 500 people) see him after the resurrection, the vast majority of folks have to decide whether to believe that story of a dead man who came back to life based on the testimony of some common fishermen from Galilee. Paul writes, "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."
Some will see God at work and find salvation. Skeptics will search for another way, or reject the idea of Heaven outright. Some will choose faith in God but others will trust only their own intelligence.
What's your choice?
Mark Wilmoth is with Pinehurst Christian Church, Marietta and can be found at www.PinehurstChristianChurch.org