Foundational Ideas: Worldview Matters

Since returning from the School of Spiritual Direction and on the heels of the Centurions program, I have been pondering my framework of belief. In other words, what is my worldview. Over the next few days, I hope to share what I consider to be several ideas that are currently foundational to how I think about the world.

 Perhaps the most important place to start a multipart discussion like is with a review of worldview and how it matters to what we do. I like to think of worldview as our operating system. It often runs in the background and colors, or informs, how we see the world and what assumptions we make about the world.

Every person on the planet has a worldview. Each of us holds viewpoints about where we came from, what is wrong in the world, what can be done to fix it, and where we should go from here. For people who hold to a more secular worldview, they may believe that the universe began with an explosion from nothing to what we now know of as the existing universe. For a communist, what is wrong in the world may be related to an unequal distribution of wealth and that the rich oppress the poor. For the Christian believer, Christ’s death and resurrection is what was done to address the problem. 

In essence, we all hold to basic assumptions about the way the world works. I have found great benefit in seeking to understand my worldview and the worldview of those I come into contact with.  I also hope that you will see that my worldview, which I would consider to be an orthodox Christian worldview, informs the rest of my ideas that matter.

If you want to learn more about worldview, the people that have most influenced my thinking include Francis Schaeffer, Greg Koukl, and Chuck Colson. Each of these men were very much committed to the idea that Christianity was not just for individual salvation, but Christianity was for all of life and culture. 

Recommended Resources: 
Stand To Reason
Breakpoint
The Francis Schaeffer Trilogy 
Total Truth by Nancy Pearcy  
How Now Shall We Live by Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey