Yet, we are not just creators and cultivators; we are also consumers, participants, and critics. We live in a world in which others spin stories that are antithetical to God’s story of the world—views of reality that have conflicting definitions of good, true, and beautiful and views about whether there even is a God that we can please.

While only Scripture is trustworthy to show us which of these conflicting stories match reality, we need a tool that helps us navigate life in God’s true story in the midst of the contemporary false ones. Worldview is that tool. It helps us think scripturally about the dominant stories surrounding us at any given time—the stories that compete with the true story of Scripture and threaten to build in us false, ugly, bad habits as we live our lives.

This is the reason for the cliché in worldview circles that “worldview is caught, not just taught.” Our habits and experiences are shaped by the culture—including the stories about the world that nurture us—and these gradually shape our perception of reality, our worldview. Think of the way that television or movies, for example, over time shape the way that we live—how we speak, write, dress, and interact with one another. We very easily conform to the world around us. (See Rom. 12:2a.)

Of course, it works the other way around too: Our worldview shapes our actions, and our actions shape our cultural activities. A specific view of work, for example, compels us to act in a particular way at the office and in turn influences what we create with our hands and words. We are indeed “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” (Rom. 12:2b)

Ultimately, worldview and culture are inseparable. Worldview is participation in culture, and conflicting cultures shape us as we develop our worldview. Worldview is much more than simply principles that we hear and study.

What might all this mean for parents and other educators?

First, we must be familiar with prevailing cultural stories.
Anyone who lives in a house, buys clothing, owns a television, or surfs the Internet is confronted by stories that challenge the biblical story. In God’s true story, the world was created good and was then corrupted. All creation was and is polluted by human sin. God is at work to redeem the world through the work of His Son, Who is reconciling all things to Himself. Human beings, created in God’s image, have a role to play in that reconciliation, and through our culture-making activities, we take part with God in His work. Though the victory was complete on the cross, the work of full reconciliation will not be finished—consummated—until Jesus returns and makes all things right.

Contrary stories abound. One current antithetical story, consumerism, tells us that life is meant for success and that success is found in the acquisition of things that can make life easier and more enjoyable. Therefore, buying and using things—including material “stuff” but also power, people, and entertainment—is the way to the good life.

There are other cultural stories alive and well around us, including postmodernism, scientism, and nihilism, among others. We need to know the content of the dominant stories, because they work their way into all that we do as we seek to live as Christians in the world. We must be conscious of the stories so that we do not unconsciously begin to live them out.

We must be intentional, reading cultural commentary, listening to the news, and asking critical questions about the books we read, the movies we watch, and the people who teach us—all from a Christian perspective. We should read what our children are reading and know about the stories that are told to them. We must sit down with our daughters, look at a magazine or television ad, and ask them, “What is that telling you about what it means to be a good woman? Is that true?”

Second, virtually every current story borrows elements from the true story of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation, so wisdom and discernment are necessary in order to distinguish the good from the bad.
As we interact with culture and create it, we embrace what is true and reject what is false. Doing so requires discernment. This discernment requires living out God’s story, even in the midst of the competing stories.

Often, rather than risk living where these stories intersect, Christians attempt to escape the influence of false culture by withdrawing from cultural activity altogether. Not only is this impossible, it is contrary to our calling. Our culture-building task is at the heart of the human calling. That calling anticipates that we join God in his reconciling work in the whole of creation and come into conflict with the powers at the heart of the competing stories.

Finally, we will ultimately be assimilated into false stories if we live unintentionally—if we fail to live the true story.
The question is not whether we will live based on some story that defines reality; the question is which story will we live?

Note how the “consumerism” story described above is related to cultural ideas about individualism, free-market capitalism, and the American work ethic—all ideas that we esteem, at least to some extent. Consider whether we value these things because we are Westerners or because we have carefully examined each from a biblical perspective. Is the capitalist economy “good,” for example, simply because we are capitalists? Or have we seen that it is good and then pursued it? This is not necessarily a criticism of free-market capitalism but rather an example of how living in the midst of a story engulfs us—unless we intentionally pursue alternative stories.

Our spending habits; our language; our hopeful or cynical attitude toward church, government, or education; our use of technology; and even the way we eat and dress tell us (and others) what stories we believe about reality. My spending habits, for example, reveal how much I have been “conformed” to the consumerism story. It never hurts to stop and evaluate the habits and practices of our home. From where have they come, and to where are they leading us? Which cultural story do they reveal, and into which story do they push us?

Both the unthinking consumption of culture, on the one hand, and faithful culture-making, on the other, are key worldview builders. Our task is to be faithful to be salt and light to the world around us by living and proclaiming the true story—building true culture—and to resist and reject what is false, bad, and ugly in the cultural stories that prevail around us.

Select Bibliography

• Andy Crouch, Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Calling (InterVarsity 2008). Explains the cultural calling of Christians.
• Michael W. Goheen & Craig G. Bartholomew, Living at the Crossroads: An Introduction to Christian Worldview (Baker 2008). Discusses the “living at the crossroads” of conflicting stories.
• J. Mark Bertrand, (Re)Thinking Worldview: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This World (Crossway 2007). Discusses the concept of wisdom as it relates to worldview and story.

The post Worldview as Culture, Culture as Worldview appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

A worldview is a way of viewing or interpreting all of reality. It is an interpretive framework through which or by which one makes sense of the data of life and the world. – Norman Geisler, William Watkins

It was 1988, the year that Pat Robertson, Jack Kemp, and Pete DuPont ran against George H.W. Bush for the Republican nomination for president. The moderates were out in force at our Republican county convention. However, there were more conservatives than moderates in attendance; I know this because my husband was elected by the convention to serve as convention chairman—over the moderates’ choice of the man who had been elected county chairman. As you can imagine, it was a very tense convention—especially for me.

I was sitting in my seat, minding my own business, when somehow the woman in front of me figured out that I was Tim’s wife. I was later to learn that she had served on the local school board in the past; it did not take me long to realize that she was from the other camp.

This woman turned around and verbally attacked me. She angrily started talking about sex education: “I can’t understand how you people think it’s OK to not teach kids about sex! They need to know about these things and learn how to protect themselves!” and so on. I am sure that I just sat there, looking like a deer in headlights. I was thinking to myself, “I can’t understand why you people think we should teach children about sex and how to do it, and why you don’t understand that teaching them how to do it is going to lead to them doing it more!” Fortunately, a good friend, who was sitting next to me and who was much better prepared for such a discussion, chimed in and took over, allowing me to escape and calm my nerves before I completely fell apart.

I came away from that experience not understanding exactly what had happened. The woman and I had used some of the same words, but they did not always mean the same things. Neither of us could understand what the other was thinking and how in the world the other had come to the conclusions that she had.

A few years later I attended a conference at which the speaker was David Noebel, who was then president of Summit Ministries. It was from him that I first learned about the concept of worldviews. In his book Understanding the Times, Dr. Noebel defines the term worldview as referring to “any ideology, philosophy, theology, movement, or religion that provides an overarching approach to understanding God, the world, and man’s relations to God and the world.” He explains that “worldview” refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs through which an individual, group, or culture interprets the world and interacts with it—the glasses through which people look at the world, issues, and circumstances, so to speak.

I came to understand that situations like I experienced at the county convention happen because two people with opposing worldviews can discuss issues, but it can seem like they are speaking on different planes . . . or maybe even in different dimensions! They can use the same words, but the words mean different things. It is because they start off with different sets of presuppositions or foundational truths.

Though we like to think of America as a Christian nation, the Christian worldview is not the most prevalent in our culture. As we are bombarded by media, advertising, movies—even the government—most of what we see and hear on a daily basis comes from a secular humanist mindset. A major reason many of us home school is we do not want our children taught that ideology. Secular humanism is the prominent “religion” now taught in the public schools and in colleges.

In a time when more than half of young people from Christian homes walk away from their faith when they attend college, it is important, especially if your child intends to go to an institution of higher learning, to give him the tools to recognize from where different philosophies come and to where they will lead. Our children need to know what the Bible says and why that is important, or they become easy targets for those set on indoctrinating our culture in anti-Christian thinking.

Not long after I heard Dr. Noebel speak, I met Jeff Meyers for the first time. He was working with Summit Ministries and traveling around the country, speaking to college students on different campuses. (Jeff, now a nationally known speaker, is the current president of Summit Ministries.) I asked him how many colleges/universities he would say at that time taught from a Christian worldview. His very discouraging answer was that he could count them on one hand.

What can we as home schoolers do to learn about the different worldviews and to make sure that ours is in line with scripture? Is going to church enough? How do we teach our children to think biblically?

When your children are young, teach them to memorize scripture. Begin to help them see how scripture applies to every area of their lives. The reason that one should not hit his sister and that the one hit should forgive is because God says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32 NKJV) The reason our children must be respectful and obedient is because God says that we should honor our fathers and our mothers (Exodus 20:12).

As they grow, teach your children that scripture is the inspired, infallible word of God and the final authority for all truth and practice. As the issues of life become more complex, in each situation go together with them to the Bible to see what might be God’s direction and/or His principles that apply.

When your children are teens, teach them about worldviews. Send them to a camp at which they will learn these principles. (See sidebar for some suggestions.) My children took a course based on Understanding the Times in which they studied about differences between the worldviews of secular humanism, Marxism, Christianity, and others. They learned how to stand against challenges to their faith by those who have philosophies different from theirs.

As Dr. Noebel exhorts at the end of that book, “Go on the offensive! Light a candle. Pray (2 Chronicles 7:14; Colossians 1:9-14). Study (2 Timothy 2:15). Understand the times (1 Chronicles 12:32). Rebuild the foundations (Psalm 11:3). Spread the word. Truth is our greatest weapon. . . . Perhaps most importantly, Christians must shore up our worldview and teach it to young people. We must immerse ourselves and our children in Christian theology, Christian philosophy, Christian ethics, Christian politics, Christian economics, Christian psychology, Christian sociology, Christian biology, Christian law, and Christian history.”

Home educating my children was one of the toughest things I ever did. It was also one of the most rewarding. I wanted to do all that I could do to ensure that the evil one did not snatch away the seed that we spent so much time planting and tending. Giving them a foundational understanding of worldviews and teaching them to think biblically were the best ways that I knew to prepare and thus protect them.

Some helpful Christian worldview resources:

Worldview Academy
A non-denominational organization dedicated to helping Christians to think and to live in accordance with a biblical worldview so that they will serve Christ and lead the culture. Holding more than 20 camps nationwide, Worldview Academy reaches out to students aged 13 to 18 from across the United States and Canada, training and equipping them to understand and apply their faith in Jesus Christ. They also hold church and family conferences for all ages.

Summit Ministries
An educational Christian ministry whose existence is a response to the current post-Christian culture. Part of Summit’s goal is to challenge Christians to stand strong in their faith and defend truth, equipping them to have a positive influence on the society in which they live. Summit’s Student Worldview Conferences are intensive, two-week retreats designed to teach students how to analyze the various ideas that are currently competing for their hearts and minds.

Understanding the Times by Dr. David Noebel
Both the book and the curriculum outline the differences between Christianity and the other prominent worldviews vying for allegiance in Western culture: Islam, Postmodernism, Secular Humanism, Marxism, and New Age. This class will help students clearly understand the tenets of the Christian worldview and how it compares with the tenets of other leading worldviews of our day: Islam, Secular Humanism, Marxism, New Age, and Postmodernism. In book and video curriculum formats; intended for high school students.

TheChristianWorldview.com
An extensive website resource that provides audio, video, and written content from some of the most respected Christian leaders. The Christian Worldview is a nationally syndicated radio program hosted by David Wheaton. Featuring compelling topics, notable guests, listener calls, and sound bites, the program focuses on current events, cultural issues, and matters of faith from a decidedly biblical perspective.

The post How Should We View the World? appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

Take rose-colored glasses, for example. When someone is accused of “looking at the world through rose-colored glasses,” the speaker means that the person sees everything in a positive way and probably thinks of things as better than they actually are. Those glasses are like a person’s paradigm. They color everything a person sees. In the same way one’s paradigm, his worldview, colors his perception of all things.

We all have experiences and beliefs that impact our perception of reality. If we depend entirely on ourselves (our experiences, knowledge, etc.) our vision will be distorted, because we are finite human beings. Where do we get the wisdom that we need for the right perspective?

I believe that the only way we can have the right view of the world, life and, well, anything is to look through God’s glasses—His wisdom. We will never understand that wisdom completely, but we can find much about it in His Word (Hebrews 11:33). We need to avail ourselves of that wisdom and transform our thinking to agree with His (Romans 12:2).

As home schooling parents, we have the opportunity and responsibility to help our children develop correct paradigms through which, Lord willing, they will look at the world God made long after they are no longer under our care.

Praise the Lord and carpe diem!

The post When You Look at the World, What Do You See? appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.