Dear Readers,

Listening recently to a lecture CD on "The Christian's Calling" , I was particularly helped by a section that included an overview on the importance of a Christian worldview. I listened a second time, and took notes, partly because I thought someone else might also be helped by these thoughts. I'm using my notes as this week's article. Please forgive glaring omissions, mistakes, etc. and don't hesitate to call my--and everyone's--attention to anything that might need further clarification. I'm still on antibiotics but generally feeling much better (thank you for your prayers) though still sneezing. The shot usually eliminates the sneezing, but the ragweed and goldenrod in this area seem particular abundant this year. I welcome anyone's thoughts on this topic of a Christian worldview (and/or of "Chistian calling")-- it could be the springboard for a good discussion among us.

The lecture is given by Os Guinness, and was given about twenty years ago, but these truths stand fast and hold true. May you find something in these notes that will be of benefit, and possibly be a help to you on the pilgrim path. May God enlighten our minds and enlarge our hearts to receive His truths as we serve Him day by day.

In Him,

Elaine

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Comments below are from notes, and the thoughts are from O.G.'s lecture. Scribbling notes hurriedly I sometimes remembered to include quotation marks, and sometimes I didn't . . . any mistakes are mine, but the original content is from Os Guinness's lecture, whether I include quotation marks or not. If anything is a stumbling block, please contact me and I will listen again and try to clarify.)

"A Christian worldview does not mean a grasp of international affairs, . . . it is a framework of Christian Truths which furnishes our mind and our thinking within which we see all of life as within a perspective". "A Christian worldview should be like your health--it should be functioning best when you're least conscious of it." It is "like a pair of glasses--you're not seeing it (the worldview)...you're seeing through it. A Christian worldview is the framework of Christian principles which furnish the way you see (man, reality, the world, and so on) . . . it is a Christian framework for understanding things that happen and dealing with it Christianly.

"Thinking Christianly is not a matter of knowing everything, or even a little about everything; it's a matter of having a Christian framework within which to handle what does come to us in life in terms of experience . . . it is an order for integrating, interpreting experience--a Christian worldview should be perceptive, accurate and deeply Christian."

As Christians, we should "practically, systematically, develop and be able to clearly delineate our Christian world view. "It's not the creeds we say, but it's what we show in practice that makes the difference. Or, we could say, actions, not creeds, reveal our worldviews."

Our world view (and we all have one, whether coherently developed or not) reveals

-- our view of God
-- our view of eternity
-- our view of evil
-- our view of nature
-- our view of man
-- our view of money
-- our view of time

. . . and so on. These all furnish our actions and reactions throughout life. As Christians, we should all carefully, and strenuously, become conscious in working these out. We should all ask ourselves: do they reflect Christian beliefs? We should question our practicing assumptions to discern if they are truly Christian."

As a help for this, Os recommends a couple of books, both by Jim Sire. The first is The Universe Next Door, which contains some questions to help us unearth other people's worldviews -- a practical help in evangelistic efforts . . . a good place to start. (I have this book but have yet to read it, so cannot make personal comments about it.) The other book is How To Read Slowly written by a Christian (James Sire) for Christians, (which is "on my list".) Os points out the importance of thinking and discerning Christianly, of understanding the other person's worldview through the framework of your Christian worldview as a place to start in evangelism in order to have vital communication.

If we consciously develop our world view--thinking Biblically under the leadership of the Holy Spirit--we will become more discerning.

Another value of having a coherent and concrete world view is that it will be enriching in terms of your own education. There is, says Os, a "danger of mediocrity in modern education". He quotes Van Gogh ("I'd rather die a natural death than prepare myself for it at university".) and also Hutchens (former President of the University of Chicago), who once described the modern university as "a giant playpen". Thinking Christianly, consciously developing your Christian world view, avoids the cessation of the hard work of thinking. Some people view education with a sort of "camel's hump" kind of thinking where you store up the things you learn as you pursue a degree, etc. and then hope to survive on that through the journey of life, and do no further exploring, probing into things, thinking critically, etc. -- this is not a Christian view of life. The Christian view is a life of growth in understanding throughout all of life. C. S. Lewis said (paraphrased somewhat): "One of the reasons it doesn't take education to be a Christian is because Christianity is an education in itself." As Christians, through the Word, under the Holy Spirit, with the fellowship of other Christian minds (sometimes clashing creatively), we're open, exploring, discovering -- all of which can be deeply enriching to us as Christians.

Ask yourself: "Are you sure your view is as Christian as you think (and hope) it is? We should do the hard work of consciously assessing our presumptions, and actively pursuing a Christian worldview. In this endeavor, we need to be aware of the illusion that we can know everything and understand everything -- this illusion grows out of an ideal of the Renaissance view of knowledge, which is an encylopedic view of knowledge. There is no way this is possible, especially in our modern world with the explosion of information and the easier access to that information.

The previous remarks on having a Christian worldview is embodied within Os Guinness's broader lecture on "A Christian's Calling" which would take too much space to include here in a helpful way, but one thing he said that ties in with having a Christian world view is that it (a sense of "calling") "maintains our integrity in adverse situations, as the pressure to conform to the world pushes in from all sides, like a strong current that would pull us under. (A sense of calling, and a Christian worldview helps us to obey the injunction of Rom 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.) "Who", Os asks, is best able to withstand the pressures to conform?"

"One who has countervalues (e.g. Christian principles),
counter community (the Chuch),
counter lifestyle (obedience to the commandments of God),
and a reason to be there (calling).

John Dean, of Watergate fame (or rather infamy), said that "the thing that ensnared him was the Washington maxim: "To get along, you have to go along . . . ". We need, as Christ's ambassadors in this world, to be focused and anchored" . . . . a sense of our calling and a Christian worldview are like "bearings", "a compass", "sights" on a gun, focus on a camera . . . otherwise, we will be too diffused, too vague to be helpful. Engineers, and builders, etc. can develop this next thought much better than I could, and it was only lightly touched on in the lecture, but a few degrees off course now can have disastrous results 5, 10, 15 years from now. In some "venues" the difference of where we should be, and where we actually are, could be interpreted as much as "hundreds of miles off".

Thinking Christianly, and a sense of our calling in Christ, can hold us anchored steady in the face of hard realities, when our basic convictions are often tested. We need to settle these things now for (as Jeremiah reminds us, in Jer 12:5 "If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?"). We need to know why we believe what we believe, and maintain a deep personal conviction of faith, knowing about God through His Word, and knowing God through faith and obedience.

"Election and vocation (calling) are flip sides of the same coin. In Election, God knows us and draws us; in vocation (calling), we know God so decisively that all our lives are lived out in response, absorbed in response to His calling in our lives. We need a general sense of calling (we are the people of God, the body of Christ), and an individual sense of calling (our individual sense of gifts, character, place, circumstances, used in service to God's Kingdom, and in response to Christ's call)."

A side note here: many years ago, some folks from church were visiting at our house -- the ladies were sitting around my kitchen table. We were discussing the difficulties of raising our children to be Christians in our particular place and time. One of the deacons's wives (whose kids were always in touch with the fashions, trends, etc. and dressed accordingly) remarked, "But if they do that (one of my suggestions), they'll be so different!" My response was that we are different -- we know the Creator of the universe, we're saved by His son, we can see by faith, and on and on. The fear of "differentness" is a great hindrance to the Christian life. Although we should be discerning, and certainly shouldn't intentionally draw attention to ourselves, but think about it--what makes us different is what makes us rejoice. One of my favorite verses, which I learned as a very young Christian, was--and still is--Psa 27:1 "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?". The world? Those in (temporal) power? The fashion police? Really!!! There are many verses in Scripture directing, instructing, encouraging us to " . . . be of good courage . . . ". I read a line recently in a novel (Bad Ground, by W. Dale Cramer--really a novel for men, but well-written, and set in an interesting mining situation near Atlanta . . . this book will never be made into a "chick flick") that made a lot of sense to me: "Bring what you got, do what you do, and be who you are". Anything else is bondage . . . since we've been liberated from that bondage, we ought not to continue in it, don't you think?

I apologize for the "scatteredness" of these notes, but hope you may have gleaned something from them that will be of help to you as you follow our Saviour . . .

In Him,
Elaine

p.s. In the book mentioned above (which is a story of redemption), toward the end of the book one of the miners--a newly developing Christian--upon reading Psalm 130, dubs it "The Swing-Shift Miners' Prayer". He prints it out and attaches it to the visor of his pickup truck.

Although this book is marketed mainly through Christian bookstores, and unashamedly touches meaningfully on the Christian life, it doesn't speak "Christianese" or "the language of Zion". It is first of all, a story. A very good story.

(Psalm 130:1-7)
"Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope.
My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~