MacArthur Think Biblically! (Trade Paper)

Recovering a Christian Worldview
1. Auflage 2003
ISBN: 978-1-4335-1624-5
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 368 Seiten

Now in paperback, this helpful volume by pastor and best-selling author John MacArthur guides readers in cultivating a biblical worldview on a wide range of issues. What we think shapes who we are. That's why the Bible tells us, 'Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind' (Romans 12:2a). In a world of differing voices competing for our allegiance, we must learn to 'think biblically' so we can distinguish good from evil. God is the Creator of this world; his voice-his Word-must guide our thoughts and our lives. With the Bible in their hands, John MacArthur and other scholars and teachers from the Master's College confront the false worldviews that dominate our postmodern world. The authors provide models for cultivating a biblical mind-set on worship, psychology, gender, science, education, history, government, economics, and literature. This book will help anyone who is striving to think biblically in today's culture.

John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, where he has served since 1969. He is known around the world for his verse-by-verse expository preaching and his pulpit ministry via his daily radio program, Grace to You. He has also written or edited nearly four hundred books and study guides. MacArthur is chancellor emeritus of the Master's Seminary and Master's University. He and his wife, Patricia, live in Southern California and have four grown children.

Autoren/Hrsg.

MacArthur, John

Macarthur, John

Leseproben

INTRODUCTION

Weltanschauung.1 What is it? Everyone has one. It colors the way all people interpret life. It triggers the decisions one makes, not to mention driving one’s responses. It comes in many varieties. Philosophy, science, culture, and/or religion generally make the dominant contributions to it. What is it? It is the personal worldview of each living individual.

What is a worldview? A worldview comprises one’s collection of presuppositions, convictions, and values from which a person tries to understand and make sense out of the world and life. “A world-view is a conceptual scheme by which we consciously or unconsciously place or fit everything we believe and by which we interpret and judge reality.”2 “A worldview is, first of all, an explanation and interpretation of the world and second, an application of this view to life.”3

How does one form a worldview? Where does one begin? Every world-view starts with presuppositions—i.e., beliefs that one presumes to be true without supporting independent evidence from other sources or systems. Interpreting reality, in part or in whole, requires that one adopt an interpretive stance since there is no “neutral” thought in the universe. This becomes the foundation upon which one builds.

What are the presuppositions of a Christian worldview that is solidly rooted and grounded in Scripture? Carl F. H. Henry, an important Christian thinker in the last half of the twentieth century, answers the question very simply: “. . . evangelical theology dares harbor one and only one presupposition: the living and personal God intelligibly known in his revelation.”4 Without equivocation, Dr. Henry forthrightly and clearly believes that “Our theological systems are not infallible, but God’s propositional revelation is.”5 Henry earlier had elaborated on this theme: “In its ontological and epistemological predictions Christianity begins with the biblically attested self-disclosing God, and not with creative speculation free to modify theism as an interpreter wishes.”6 Ronald Nash approaches the question in a similar manner: “Human beings and the universe in which they reside are the creation of God who has revealed himself in Scripture.”7

For the sake of this volume, let it be stated that two major presuppositions underlie the chapters that follow. The first will be the eternal existence of the personal, transcendent, triune, Creator God. Second, the God of Scripture has revealed His character, purposes, and will in the infallible and inerrant pages of His special revelation, the Bible, which is superior to any other source of revelation or human reason alone.

What is the Christian worldview?8 The following definition is offered as a working model:

The Christian worldview sees and understands God the Creator and His creation—i.e., man and the world—primarily through the lens of God’s special revelation, the Holy Scriptures, and secondarily through God’s natural revelation in creation as interpreted by human reason and reconciled by and with Scripture, for the purpose of believing and behaving in accord with God’s will and, thereby, glorifying God with one’s mind and life, both now and in eternity.

What will be some of the benefits of embracing the Christian worldview? Let the following serve as a small sample representing the kinds of crucial life-questions that can be answered with ultimate truth and can be embraced with confident faith.9

1. How did the world and all that is in it come into being?

2. What is reality in terms of knowledge and truth?

3. How does/should the world function?

4. What is the nature of a human being?

5. What is one’s personal purpose of existence?

6. How should one live?

7. Is there any personal hope for the future?

8. What happens to a person at and after death?

9. Why is it possible to know anything at all?

10. How does one know what is right and what is wrong?

11. What is the meaning of human history?

12. What does the future hold?

Christians of the twenty-first century face the same basic questions about this world and life that confronted the earliest humans in Genesis. They also had to sift through various worldviews to answer the above questions. This has been true throughout history. Consider what faced Joseph (Gen 37—50) and Moses (Ex 2—14) in Egypt, or Elijah when he encountered Jezebel and her pagan prophets (1 Kgs 17—19), or Nehemiah in Persia (Neh 1—2), or Daniel in Babylon (Dan 1—6), or Paul in Athens (Acts 17). They sorted out the difference between truth and error, right and wrong because they placed their faith in the living God and His revealed Word.10

What essentially distinguishes the Christian worldview from other worldviews? At the heart of the matter, a Christian worldview contrasts with competing worldviews in that it: 1) recognizes that God is the unique source of all truth, and 2) relates all truth back to an understanding of God and His purposes for this life and the next. Arthur Holmes superbly summarizes the unique implications of a Christian worldview when relating absolute truth to God.

1. To say that truth is absolute rather than relative means that it is unchanging and universally the same.

2. Truth is absolute not in or of itself but because it derives ultimately from the one, eternal God. It is grounded in his “metaphysical objectivity,” and that of his creation.

3. Absolute propositional truth, therefore, depends on the absolute personal truth (or fidelity) of God, who can be trusted in all he does and says.11

Are there any common misperceptions about the Christian worldview, especially by Christians? There are at least two mistaken notions. The first is that a Christian view of the world and life will differ on all points from other worldviews. While this is not always true (e.g., all worldviews accept the law of gravity), the Christian worldview will differ and will be unique on the most important points, especially as they relate to the character of God, the nature and value of Scripture, and the exclusivity of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The second is that the Bible contains all that we need to know. Common sense should put this misdirected thought out of business. However, it is true that the Bible alone contains all that Christians need to know about their spiritual life and godliness through a knowledge of the one true God, which is the highest and most important level of knowledge (2 Pet 1:2-4). Also, while it does not exhaustively address every field, when Scripture speaks in any subject area, it speaks authoritatively.

How can a Christian worldview be spiritually profitable and in what life-contexts? First, in the world of scholarship the Christian worldview is offered, not as one of many equals or possibilities, but as the one true view of life whose single source of truth and reality is the Creator God. Thus it serves as a bright light reflecting the glory of God in the midst of intellectual darkness.

Second, a Christian worldview can be used as an effective tool in evangelism to answer the questions and objections of the unbeliever. However, it must be clearly understood that in the final analysis, it is the Gospel that has the power to bring an individual to salvation (Rom 1:16-17). Carl F. H. Henry clearly makes the point that

No person can be “argued into becoming a Christian.” Yet without meeting rational criteria one’s religious experience is less than biblical and evangelical. One can and ought to be persuaded intellectually of the logical consistency and truth of evangelical postulates concerning God and the world. One need not be a believer, however, to understand the truths affirmed by divine revelation. A person persuaded intellectually of the truth of the gospel but seeking to escape or seeking to postpone personal salvific trust invites divine condemnation. But personal faith is a gift of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit uses the truth as a means of conviction and persuasion.12

Finally, a Christian worldview is extraordinarily helpful in the realm of discipleship to inform and mature a true believer in Christ with regard to the implications and ramifications of one’s Christian faith. It provides a framework by which 1) to understand the world and all of its reality from God’s perspective and 2) to order one’s life according to God’s will.

What should be the ultimate goal of embracing the Christian worldview? Why is the Christian worldview worth recovering? Listen to Jeremiah who passes along God’s direct answer.

Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”

—JEREMIAH 9:23-24

FURTHER READING13

Geisler, Norman L. and William D. Watkins. Worlds Apart: A Handbook on World Views. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1989.

Hoffecker, W. Andrew and Gary Scott Smith, eds. Building a Christian World View. 2 vols. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1986, 1988.

Holmes, Arthur F. Contours of a World View. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans. 1983.

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