A Teaching on Worldview

An excerpt from the LIFE International Abortion Recovery curriculum “Restoring the Abortion-Wounded Hearts Of Men and Women” 

Pastor Ryan Waalkes teaching on worldview in India. What is the shade of your lenses?

A worldview is the framework from which we view reality and make sense of the world. We all have a worldview that deeply influences how we see things, how we think, how we behave, and how we live. One’s worldview is the basis for understanding reality and for making daily decisions and is therefore extremely important.

A biblical worldview is the view of the world and life from the standpoint of the personal and supernatural God who reveals himself to us through the creation, the Bible, and Jesus Christ. For Christians God is the central focus of life, and the truth of Scripture is the basis for how we live.

Animism (or pantheism, “all is God”) features the dominant belief that everything has a spirit or a soul—trees, rocks, animals, humans, sun, moon, sky, stars, and so on. The world is full of spirits, some evil and some good. These spirits must be appeased or bad things will happen to you. This viewpoint leads to the worship of spirits in the natural world, rather than to the worship of the one true God. People often live in fear of the spirits and try to gain power and control through offerings and sacrifices, charms, or magic.

Secularism/atheism is a way of life and thought that strongly opposes belief in God, religion, or anything supernatural, and instead exalts human beings as simply the highest evolution of nature so far (although man is still only purely physical matter like plants and other animals). According to this worldview, man is the ultimate authority on all matters, including when another’s life should end. Man has the right to do whatever he wishes because he has no one but himself to answer to.

How we look at specific circumstances, such as an unwanted child or abortion, is influenced by how we look at the world at large. To follow a biblical worldview is to acknowledge a life in which the Word of God influences every value we embrace, every decision we make, and every thought we have. A biblical worldview establishes that every human life is valuable. A biblical worldview also supports the definition of moral absolutes, the significance of human dignity, and the possibility of redemption.