Worldviews and their Importance

Everyone looks at the world in a particular way. This is a picture of a very famous landmark from a very different perspective. At first glance, you might not know what it is because you have rarely seen it from this view. Why? This is the view that reduces this world famous landmark to the ordinary. By now you know that this is the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

Albert M. Wolters, in his book Creation Regained, stresses the importance of worldviews. He defines a worldview as "the comprehensive framework of one's basic beliefs about things." Other terms he uses for worldview are "life perspective" and "confessional vision." All are for the expressed purpose of stating that everyone on the face of the earth has a worldview. Okay, so what are we to do with that information?

What is the role of a worldview in my life? Wolters believes that our worldview functions as a guide to our life. He states that "it orients us in the world at large, gives us a sense of what is up and what is down, what is right and what is wrong in the confusion of events and phenomena that confronts us." And, as Christians we will be confronted by all of culture. Our worldview shapes the way we assess our lives in relation to the world in which we live. Wolters maintains that, as human beings, we can not do without the "orientation and guidance the worldview gives." Which brings us to proverbial white elephant: what about the Christian worldview?

Wolters devotes an entire chapter to explaining how important a worldview is to the Christian. We will not be able to withstand persecution, trials or the simplest tribulations if our worldview is skewed, fragmented or inconsistent. Wolters states that the "Christian worldview must be shaped and tested by Scripture." It will guide our lives as Christians only if it is rooted in Scripture. We must constantly check our worldview beliefs against Scripture because our tendency and default will be to appropraite many of our beliefs from a secular postmodern culture.

Where do we start? As adults we start with our children by providing them a home, a church, and a school that understands worldview teaching and takes it seriously. Wolters states that "a worldview is a matter of the shared everyday experience of humankind, an inescapable component of all human knowing, and as such it is nonscientific, or rather prescientific, in nature. It belongs to an order of cognition more basic than that of science or theory." In other words, it comes before everything else and shapes everything after it.

Why is it important to maintain a consistent Christian worldview? Wolters states it best when he writes: "if your action is out of tune with your beliefs, you tend to change either your actions or your beliefs." Which will it be for you? Will your actions move more towards Christ, or will your beliefs move more towards to the world in which you live?