World view vs. Christian Worldview
Bible 103: Christian Theology I
10 October 2021
Word Count:1,917
Counselor: “Hi, John Smith-Jones I see you are not passing your classes, so just checking on you.”
Student: “I am fine, I am just struggling with some personal relationships and future family events which is causing me to delay school work. As for my gender, I purposefully had it left unmarked but I believe I had pronouns listed as they/them/elle and prefer to be addressed with one of my last names than my first, so they is Smith, Jones, or Smith-Jones.”
When did the pronoun “you” become a trigger word that would offend a person that they have to provide a reprimand. Isn’t it interesting that while chastising the student uses my am I pronouns. This may seem like an insignificant request but will lead to some significant consequences. It leads to generations of lost identities that are not only physical but has spiritual ramifications. Here is the mind boggling part which is the incomprehensible definition given to explain this student’s pronouns. People can classify as being gender-fluid, so no use of he or she as they are both so the use of they/them/elle. Non-binary people who prefer to be referred to as X can also be gender-fluid so can refer to themselves as they/them/elle, but others cannot so the X would apply as the banner of non-binary. This is under the guise of personal identity, but it removes the sense of self that was created by a loving and just God.
Do names and pronouns really matter? In the world view, misidentifying pronouns misinforms and misleads minds and hearts. In the Christian world view, names and pronouns give authority and power to the living word of God. In Genesis chapter 1 verse 27, it states “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (biblegateway.com). The foundation of creation is solid, unmovable, and uncompromising. The worldview would reduce creation to a myth or just a story. If it can blot-out the significance of God creating a man and woman then it can alter the construct of gender. “The doctrine of creation helps to differentiate Christianity from other religions and worldviews” (Erickson, 134). As believers, our identity comes from God as we were created in his image. God’s nature reveals that we each are valuable, given a purpose on Earth, and are to remain in a relationship with him. “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” (New Application Study Bible John 15:4).
When identity is fully erased can you have a true identity? To be inclusive is to be unidentifiable as an individual. Individual identity is confining. Stability only comes from acceptance of one’s fluidity. One must move toward a self-defined, fluid identity that reflects the worldview of group conformity that gender shouldn’t exist. This new world evolution is the most powerful catalysts of the inadequacy of what defines a male and female. As with the student example, he expresses his misery and an inability to connect with himself or his family. He redefines his name as a way to attain some sense of control, but it is a false sense of security. His identity becomes an excuse for his behavior instead of having personal responsibility for his own actions. He is conforming himself to the emptiness of the worldview that man doesn’t need God physically, mentally, or spiritually. Conformity demands control over behaviors and responses which reprograms people into a new morality. “The new morality aims at those who have not solidly established their values and who are therefore vulnerable to a time of questioning as they seek to develop their own identity” (Feazel & Swain, 23). Even those who didn’t grow up with the Bible or religion still innately know right from wrong and have a sense of good vs. bad. This push of new morality is that man is the “ruler of his own domain with his experience and knowledge” (Feazel & Swain, 36). The world view promotes that there is no natural moral law inside of a person. People can be devoted to their own selfish desires, lacking boundaries, no concern for others, and willing to trample on others to get to what they want. The worldview has influenced the sample student through indoctrination where the belief system is not supported by any evidence and the receiver is supposed to just accept as truth without question or critical thinking discussions. It is the act of forcing ideas and opinions and no one is allowed to question or voice an object. The expectation is the counselor accept the falsehood of fluid identity especially if one has a Christian worldview.
Our conscience reveals to us a moral law whose source cannot be found in the natural world thus pointing to a supernatural lawgiver. “God gave humanity a written moral code to complement the one already paced within the conscience of every person. These moral laws served to define the goodness and expose the evil withing every human hear, proving to all individuals their inadequacy to deal with and conquer their own propensity of wrongdoing” (Ross, 187). The Bible reveals that humans were made in his image and that means we are set apart over all other creations on Earth. The Christian worldview is that we represent Christ in everything we do. We have an activated life in Christ.
The saddest part is that “the new morality believes that distorting truth or presenting falsehoods constantly over time will one day result in those distortions being regarded by impressionable minds” (Feazel & Swain, 59). The worldview would entice our example student into a state of victim hood where pronouns are included as “trigger words.” Where if the counselor doesn’t comply then they are negatively labeled and unless transformed to the worldview then can find themselves on the wrong end of hostility in the forms of “wokeness” and “cancel culture.” There is no room for grace. This worldview would eliminate any belief in a one true God that values humanity which began at the creation of man and woman; the original he and she.
“God created the first man and woman as beings with free will. Human free will was crucial because with out it, love is impossible. But to be truly free, a person’s will must be tested by deliberate choices. So free will meant that at any time humans had the potential to their own way, do their own thing, and worship something or someone less worthy” (Ross, 189). The bottom line is that “no created being anywhere in God’s creation is more powerful, appealing, or clever than Satan” (Ross, 189). This worldview of gender fluidity is a reflection of his character. The worldview celebrates in its influence of depravity that corrupts the morality of human beings. The finality of the future is ominous for those caught up in the world view. “Whatever one is morally and spiritually at the end of life will continue for all eternity.” (Erickson, 475). It is the Christian world view that destroys Satan’s battle plan and in victory is God’s plan of the redemption of all people can also be found in the garden when Adam and Eve chose to eat from the tree of good and evil. God provided a provision in that of Jesus being fully God chose to become fully human to atone for our sins. Our identity is secure in Christ. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
So what of the example student whose worldview clashes with that of the counselor with a Christian worldview? That is me. I had a pastor ask me once on a day that I was really struggling to find my place in a secular world when my whole being screamed “you just need God to intervene in your life,” but all I could do was nod trying not to make it look like I was confirming or worse advocating the lies of the world view. I just wanted to quit and find a place where I could work in the comfort of believers. He first said we need you in the midst of the battle. Then he asked if not me than who? It was a convicting moment. I needed to remove barriers of a work that needs to get done in this world. “This is what the Lord says—he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:16-19).
The Christian worldview is that all people are valuable even in the blindness of their sin. As believers, we are not perfect, but embracing our identity in Christ means that we reflect the love of Christ to all people. Christ’s death was enough to cover all of humanity’s sin yesterday, today and into the future. My hope and prayer is that I can reveal God’s character through my own behavior and how I respond to others. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by grace given me I say to every one of you; Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (Romans 12: 2-3).
Living out a Christian worldview can be difficult when it is challenged with the world view where there is no clear identity to form the morals and values of those around you. Just remember each of us are part of that creation story. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2: 10). The consequences of living a life with a world view is an eternal separation from God, so in the midst of that frustration remember there is a soul yearning to be quenched. Jesus spoke of himself as the living water so “whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4: 14).
Bibliography
“Access Your Bible from Anywhere.” BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages., https://www.biblegateway.com/.
Erickson, Millard J. Introducing Christian Doctrine. Edited by L. Arnold Hustad, Baker Academic, 2015.
Feazel, Steve, and Carol M. Swain. Abduction How Liberalism Steals Our Children's Hearts and Minds. Christian Faith Publishing, 2016.
Life Application Study Bible: NIV. Zondervan, 2019.
Ross, Hugh. Why the Universe Is the Way It Is. Baker Books, 2008.
