One of the great tragedies in modern attempts to see people converted to Christianity is a narrow focus on how to be born again. It is a subject that the Bible spends little time on, and for good reason. Until people know the sinfulness of their hearts, and the lostness of their souls, majoring on how to be saved is counterproductive.
When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened (Romans 1:21).
This term comes from the German Weltanschauung, literally, “beholding the world.” Everyone has a perception, a basic set of ideas, about life as though looking at the world through a particular pair of glasses. Worldview then translates into the way people respond to surroundings, the goals that they set, and the values they pursue. The outcomes can be radically different. For one example, in our culture, one worldview seeks to destroy the very lives that the other is seeking to save. This also demonstrates how wildly worldview can swing, even in fifty years. Thus, cultural stability and cultural change are dictated by the way in which the energy of the dominant worldview is expended.
Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday (February 12, 1809) is widely celebrated this year with many special events. Even many churchmen, who take Darwin’s words over God’s Word, are caught up with celebrating “Darwin Day.”
Biblical separation is possibly the most neglected teaching in Christianity today, especially in the West. Through sheer neglect (or unbelief), the life of the Christian is reinvented as being a mere statement of belief apart from any change of life, or relationship to a world of ungodliness. The Gospel is reduced to this: “One accepts Jesus into his heart. God forgives. Heaven is sure. That’s it.” But nothing has changed. The new Christianity does not usher in the divine grace of transformation that breaks the old sin patterns and brings forth a life ordered by God. Instead, it has invented a divine blindfold, where God no longer sees the sin of the Christian.
“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).
BEYOND BELIEF! This was the bold headline of our newspaper the day after 9/11. Shortly thereafter, from Ground Zero, we were assured that the terrorists who brought down the Twin Towers can never destroy the foundation of America. But what is the foundation of America?
Did you ever hear someone reflect on the vast wealth of another and say, “If I had his money, I could throw mine away”? Sadly, much of the church has thrown away the authority of Scripture on the assumption that the “wealth” of scientific evidence disproves the human need of God as Creator.
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
Several items that have come to my attention recently, do not bode well for western civilization.