The Value Of A Worldview...

I am defining worldview as an explanation for the origin, meaning, and future of life itself. Answering the questions: Who am I? What is my purpose? Where am I going?

Two main competing worldviews in America are the secular and the Christian. Secularist adherents live for the here and now believing there's no hell to shun. In the secular one that means the government is the ultimate authority and we are not ultimately responsible to God--but only reckon ourselves justified in our own eyes. Making choices based on informed decisions is important, not being right or wrong--since there is no absolute truth or right and wrong (ultimately they believe there is no hell to shun and can do whatever they can get away with). In the Christian worldview, we are ultimately accountable to God (cf. Psalm 10:4) and are His stewards of the gifts and blessings given to us. There is a final judgment and one must live life accordingly. There isn't always justice in this life, but God is just and will serve it in the afterlife. God's authority trumps the government's and "we must obey God rather than man" when they conflict and this is called civil disobedience.

If you don't have a worldview at all, no matter what nature, you don't have a take on reality and a way to interpret and comment on life itself--you simply have no valid opinion worth noting. Now, if you take God out of the equation and try to reconcile reality without Him in the picture, life, and its outlook become very bleak and hopeless: "Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless," according to atheist philosopher Bertrand Russell. Life without reference to God becomes a "useless passion" according to Jean-Paul Sartre.

Everything we understand has to do with the basic question of whether there is a God (life's most meaningful endeavor of inquiry) and the impact and influence it has on you. With God, we simply have dignity because we are not some cosmic accident, but created beings in God's image, not evolving animals who are free to live and act unaccountably like animals too. There are those, of course, who claim to believe in God and live in immorality and are, in effect, for all purposes practical atheists. Some atheists live pretty upright and praiseworthy lives in the eyes of man. However, their motive is to please man and not God, and is therefore selfish and misdirected. Soli Deo Gloria!

Developing Christian Worldview

"No nation has survived the loss of its gods" (George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright and Nobel Prize winner for literature).

A worldview is a way of interpreting your world, such as purpose in living, where you came from, and where you are going--our role in the world-system--questions such as: Is there right and wrong? Is there a God? What is the meaning of life? How do you interpret reality? There is a current war of ideas in the world: Marxism (basically an economic understanding, but also totalitarian, aiming to establish a domination of the proletariat or working class and abolishing the bourgeoisie in class warfare), Secular-Humanism (basically that man is the measure of all things, making a name for himself, up with man, down with God, or deifying man and dethroning God, and reality starts from him), New Age (the idea of cosmic consciousness, or force, or supra-consciousness, [God is the force of life and an influence] being in touch with the inner god--they think Jesus was just this sort), Postmodernism (founded by Nietzsche as the patron saint, saying that "God is dead" or irrelevant and we can live without Him), Islam with its geopolitical concerns (believing that "tomorrow belongs to Islam" and being bent on (world) hegemony), and Christianity (Christ's kingdom is in the hearts of man and not of this world) itself--the first five have one thing is common in that they oppose Christianity. Any viewpoint that doesn't start with God is evil (man is not the measure of all things like humanists have taught)!


We are exhorted to "hate that which is evil and cling to that which is good" in Rom. 12:9 and in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 it says, "...hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil." [which means that when evil appears, resist it.] Only those who have their senses trained to "discern good and evil" can digest the meat of the word and the infants in Christ can only live on the milk of the Word according to Hebrews 5:14. We need to love God with our whole minds and not be indolent, slothful, or anti-intellectual--we are to use the minds God has given us to the glory of God (cf. Mark 12:30, Col. 3:23).

We are in the world, but not of it, according to Scripture (John 15:19 says, "You are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world"). If we love the world-system or cosmos of Satan, the love of the Father is not in us--indeed he entices us with many delicacies of the world to compete with our spiritual appetites. Beware of the pseudo-philosophies of this age as the admonishment in Col. 2:8 says, "Let no man spoil you through philosophy or vain deceit..." We need to "contend for the faith" like Jude said in v. 3 and that means taking stands for Jesus and sticking up for what is right in an evil world. We are the salt and light as the children of God.


Paul's swan song was: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7). We all have a conscience and can tell right from wrong (Rom. 2:15), and we are all responsible and don't have any excuses for knowing God (Rom. 1:18-20). In 1 Chron. 12:32 it says that only a few people were able to interpret the times and knew what to do. Daniel 11:32 says that the "people who knew their God "shall be strong and do exploits." At the time of the end, the wise will understand and the wicked will not" (Dan. 12:10). When Nebuchadnezzar realized that God was sovereign he came to his senses (Dan. 4:35).

Today we seem to be doing what's right in our own eyes (similar to the Israelites in Judges 21:25--"They did what was right in their own eyes"). The culture says that there is no standard of right and wrong--it is all relative and you can't force your morality on another person. It isn't that we can't legislate morality, it's whose morality we legislate.

In Allan Bloom's book The Closing of the American Mind, he says that people now believe "all truth is relative"--if that is true, then that statement has no value; it is also relative. They say nothing is always wrong and nothing is always right; what matters is sincerity. This goes back to Satan's taunt: "Hath God said?" They seem to believe that the only truths that are relative are those that defend the Christian worldview! One prof was reported as saying, "You can know nothing for certain." One astute student asked, "Are you sure?" "Yes, I'm certain!" Jesus was the Truth itself, the incarnation of Truth with a capital T and came to bear witness of the truth--the Romans, including Pilate, doubted the existence of absolute truth (true no matter who believes it and whether anyone believes it or not). They thought that "might made right." This was the epitome of cynicism and an insult to Christ's veracity.

God's providence works all things according to His divine decrees and He has no Plan B; He has no other plan, but to use us as His vessels of honor and to bring glory to him (cf. Isa. 43:7). Everything is going according to plan as Isaiah says in Isa 37:26 and He is in control according to Isa. 14:24, 27 and 46:8-11. "Behold, the nations are as a drop of the bucket..." (Isa. 40:15). "He's got the whole world in His hands." Psalm 22:28 says that God is sovereign over the nations and we can be sure even over every molecule in the universe. Eph. 1:11 says that God works out everything according to His will. John Wesley used to read the paper to "see what God is doing in His world." God is even in control of the toss of the die (Prov. 16:33) and in control of the whims of the king (Prov. 21:1). He leaves nothing to chance: Einstein said, "God doesn't play dice with the universe." The secret is to stay away from extremes: "Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot form evil" (Prov. 4:27).

As Christians we are to "submit [ourselves] to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors..." (1 Pet. 2:12-13) Paul says something similar: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God" (Rom. 13:1). We are to "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's" according to Matthew 22:21 and even be light and salt in the world, trying to make people see the light to get saved according to our gift. With privilege there is the flip side of responsibility; they go hand in hand. There is such a thing as "social justice" but no "social gospel." One only need refer to the prophets Amos and Micah. We assert that God is the only legitimate legislator according to Isaiah 33:22 (positive law says that man can make any law he desires) and His character is the law of the universe. Isaiah said, "Woe unto them who decree unjust laws..." (Isa. 10:1-2). It has been said, "If we have contempt for government, we get contemptible government."


"What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the face of the poor...?" (Is. 3:15). "Rescue the weak and the needy..." (Ps. 82:4). The believer who knows the Lord is concerned about the plight of the poor (Psa. 41:1) and the evil in the world: he doesn't just see evil and say, "Why?" He also sees good and says, "Why not?" This is what it means to know the Lord according to Jeremiah 22:16--to be concerned about those less fortunate and defending those who can't defend themselves, the weak ("He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy; Then it was well. Is not that what it means to know Me?" declares the LORD [in Jer. 22:16]). Amos and Micah are champions of the underdog and the underprivileged and deplore how "they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals--those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted (cf. Amos 2:6-7). "...Who oppress the poor, who crush the needy..." (Amos 4:1). Malachi is appalled at those "who oppress the hired worker in his wages..." (Mal. 3:5). We are not to be partial to the poor nor to the rich, but show justice to all (Deut. 19:15). Charity and welfare were mandated in Israel according to Lev. 19:9-10 Deut. 15:4, and other passages--they were allowed to "glean the fields" of the landowners. There was to be "no poor in Israel."

Now, what kind of values are Christians supposed to espouse? They should subscribe to the sanctity of the family unit as having preference over the government's authority, because it was established before it; it should believe in the inherent worth of the individual (you have rights, but they end where mine begin--you can swing your fist but not hit my nose!) as being in the image and likeness of God (the imago Dei), and that means having a mind to know and communicate with God, a heart to love Him, and a will to obey Him. These are called inalienable rights and our culture is based on it in the constitutional Bill of Rights. We are merely stewards of God's riches ("The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof" says Ps. 24:10) and are responsible to Him to give account at the judgment. (There is a Protestant work ethic mentioned in 2 Thess. 3:10 that declares that those who are not willing to work shall not eat.)

All authority ultimately comes from God and we get our rights and dignity form Him; "unless you assume a God, the question of man's purpose is meaningless," and without God man is a "useless passion." (Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre). We believe the government has limited power derived from God--it is not a necessary evil, as Augustine said, but necessary because of evil. We have a duty to this government since we owe them our security and protection of our property and our person from crime--justice and law and order are the primary functions. Marriage is to be held in honor and a "man shall leave his mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh" and "God made them male and female and said that it was good." No rights are absolute, such as you saying it's your religion to be a cannibal or that you can yell fire in an auditorium! Sometimes it may be our duty to disobey, which is termed civil disobedience--God's laws trump the government; shall we obey God or man? ("We must obey God rather than man" [Acts 5:29]).



I believe firmly that the Bible sanctions no certain type of government, as long as human rights are respected. The government was first documented to be divided into three parts in Isaiah 33:22 into the legislative, judicial, and executive branches (king, judge, lawgiver). I refer to Lord Acton's adage that is a cliche now: "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." We do not believe that our rights (note that the obverse of rights is responsibilities necessitated) are derived from the government, but directly from God, who gives us dignity and worth as man in His image or the icons of God, as it were.

If God doesn't exist, everything is permissible. But we believe in transcendent or natural law that everyone is able to know by nature apart from the government. Law is designed for wrong-doers and should confer rights on us. People are in a state of rebellion against our so-called bourgeois values (which really is the Judaeo-Christian heritage or Western civilization). As the psalmist says, "What can the righteous do when the foundations are destroyed?" (Ps. 11:3). For one thing, we should pray for our leaders, not condemn them [It is our God who put them there, as Paul said, "Is unlawful to speak evil of a ruler of your people", Acts 23:5].

Christians are not "utopians" but are waiting for Christ to usher in His Millennial Kingdom at His second coming. A word to the wise is sufficient: Christians have no geopolitical aspirations like the Muslim world bent on dominating the world with their hegemony, and they should not sound the alarm, but "occupy till He comes" (business as usual). As Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." In conclusion, we have read the last page of the Bible and know how it all will turn out and are assured that we are on the winning side and victory is inevitable in the end. NB: Keep the faith! "The LORD frustrates the counsel of the nations; He thwarts the plans of the peoples...Happy is the nation whose God is Yahweh!" (Psalm 33:10-12). A word of encouragement--all is not lost: God is able to heal our land if we confess our corporate sins and humble ourselves in repentance as His people (2 Chronicles 7:14)


In the final analysis, it is vital to know Scripture to combat the prevalent Secular Humanistic viewpoint (deifying man and denying and dethroning God) in the world and not to fall into the devil's trap. Sir Francis Bacon said, "Knowledge is power." And the Bible backs this up in Proverbs 10:14 saying, "The wise lay up knowledge..." And Proverbs 24:5 says, "And a man of knowledge enhances his might." We must not remain silent and concede everything away. They are trying to eradicate Christianity from the marketplace of ideas, the classroom, and the public square.


In summation: Common fallacies are that if an idea works it should be implemented (John Dewey said that the test of an idea is not whether it is true, but whether it works). Today we see pragmatism or doing what is practical, prevalent and politicians act expediently or doing whatever serves their purpose. The danger with these erroneous worldviews is that they contain an element of truth, just enough to inoculate one from the real thing--like a being vaccinated from the truth and immune to reality. A most dangerous philosophy is that the end justifies the means (in pragmatism and utilitarianism), or that if one has sincere motives it is sanctioned. Communism is replete with this doctrine. Modern times have necessitated a war of ideas and ideologies. Today with pragmatic politics they believe that, if it works, it's moral (Hitler was successful at what he did!). The "isms" of the world are on a collision course. It does matter what you believe and what your worldview is: What you believe affects what you do and how you act. The main battle is not against capitalism and socialism, but between the free world and totalitarianism. Soli Deo Gloria!


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Christian Worldview Outshines The Others

The problematic issue is that all religions and worldviews have an element of truth and just enough to make one immune to the real thing and inoculated, as it were. NB: The Christian worldview stands or falls on the veracity of the Word of God. The Christians' citizenship is in heaven as Jesus said in John 15:19, "You are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world." Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold it says in Romans 12:2 in one translation. My premise is that God is the moral center of the universe and is our Judge, we are not His judge (we are by definition held accountable to our Creator).

There are basically ten academic subjects that are directly affected by the worldview (which are as follows: Theology, philosophy, ethics, biology, psychology, sociology, law, politics, and history economics makes up Western Civilization or Christendom) and disciplines of a student of the truth. There are several worldviews including Secular Humanist (the predominant one in America), Communist or Marxist, Postmodern (which holds all truth as relative, except its own truths and especially those of Christianity) New Age, and Muslim. They all have this in common: They all agree to oppose Christianity.


Christianity is the only one that gives dignity to man and meaning to his life and purpose or teleology to his life's origin and destiny. Humanists, et al., describe Christians as out of touch with reality (Ted Turner, for instance, has labeled Christians as weak and Christianity a religion for losers), Freud described Christians as neurotic, if not psychotic. The problem is that Marx described religion as the opiate of the people--actually, young people are ill-prepared and don't know what they believe when encountered with worldviews, and should have their minds kept open.

What has happened is that man has forgotten God according to Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The historian, Will Durant asks if a man can live without God? Ironically, on the other hand, Bertrand Russell says what the world needs is more Christian love. Nietzsche proclaimed God as dead (not relevant anymore) and that "we killed Him." Russell (the most famous atheist philosopher of the twentieth century), also said that "unless you assume a God, the question of life's meaning is useless." God is indeed relative to all dimensions of life and every major academic discipline.

Ethics is in debate and is the chief problematic area because what you believe affects how you behave (orthodoxy or right belief is necessary for orthopraxy or right behavior)--Humanists say ethics are relative to one's culture. We believe that the faith you have is the faith you show, but Christianity is not a system of ethics, but a relationship with the living God. We have an inner sense of "ought." We will be held accountable to our Creator at the judgment. The summation of Christian ethics is to follow the Lord in discipleship.

Look at the gamut of value systems:

In Islam, Muhammad is seen as the exemplary hero held in superlative status, though he had many flaws in his character, while Jesus was sinless--what Jesus did, no man can do, what Muhammad did, any militant man can do. We believe in absolute right and wrong--certain things are always wrong in all situations at all times. 

Postmodernists, with more of a mood than dogma, say that they believe in no absolutes but moral relativism. If it feels right, then it is--make your own credo (essence of New Age)! "Truth is a short-term contract." Imagine the consequences of believing that! They essentially believe you should live as you please (see how your worldview affects your behavior--it has consequences!). 

Secular Humanists claim we are an evolving animal and it is no wonder they behave like animals! They believe in the science of ethics and reject absolute standards--nothing is conceived as good or bad--they believe in "no truth." Remember, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Therefore, truth can be known and does exist.  

Marxists claim man is the highest form of man. Christians are immoral and the enemy and Marxists feed on class hatred and envy--ultimately the end justifies the means. The question is whether we are headed toward perfection and a higher being someday. 

The Postmodernists refuse a Big Story (worldview), or metanarrative, or grand narrative, as they call it, and want to get in touch with the god within and that tolerance is the ultimate virtue--you might say they endorse neither atheism nor theism--their faith is highly eclectic and highly individualized. 

New Agers believe in the reciprocity rule of ethics (what Confucius taught-- don't treat others the way you don't want to be treated--don't even the score!), inner truth and enlightenment, karma, and being non-judgmental or tolerant. They believe we should design our own ethics--if it feels good, it's right for you! What modern-day schools teach is that your ethics or mores are okay as long as you can justify them or have sound reasoning behind them.

The big issue in psychology is whether we have souls, as others deny (except Islam). Is there a supernatural (the secular humanist vehemently denies any supernatural)? Does the mind supersede matter or vice versa? Which came first mind or matter? "In the beginning, God" not "In the beginning matter (no God)." The problem is that only Christianity deals with the problem of sin, death, and guilt in an acceptable way. Christianity is a competing therapy to psychology and is regarded as an enemy, not an ally.

There are parameters to a Christian worldview: mind over matter, God before people, plan, and design before creation, life from life, and enlightenment from Light. All things have their origin or genesis in God: "In the beginning God...." The problem most people have is that they know enough truth to be dangerous as Sir Francis Bacon (the father of modern empiricism, along with John Locke, and author of the scientific method), said, "A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion."

Let's show the ways Christianity outweighs the other worldviews:

In theology, there is more evidence for God than against and you cannot disprove God or the fact of a designed universe (argument from design)--Christian theology is Christ-centered and its validity is based on the veracity of the Scriptures; In philosophy the mind or logos precedes or is over and has power over matter and the Higher Mind and loving God is superior to moral relativism in concept--having a First-Cause or Unmoved-Mover fits the facts better than pure chance and accident of history in the making--the vast majority of great thinkers according to renowned scholar Mortimer J. Adler were believers in God--supernaturalism and faith are vital to reason (the main purpose of reason is to show that some things are beyond reason; 

 In biology creating life coincides with the evidence better and you cannot demonstrate or prove spontaneous generation--life only comes from life (biogenesis)--no evolutionist can demonstrate how life began (life could not have arisen by chance according to Sir Fred Hoyle in The Intelligent Universe); as creatures of God we have dignity being in the image of God--creationism should be given equal time to evolution as both are faiths and can't be proved (who was there?); 

In psychology, the need for a Savior and the solution to the guilt problem outweigh the evolution concept, and mind supersedes matter or what is called dualism is superior--man has a soul and a mind as well as a brain (actually Christianity is better psychology than psychology)--man's problem is sin and guilt and how to overcome it, not deny it, because we are fallen creatures--Christianity is the only view that treats this issue; 

 In sociology, the biblical standards of society and family are superior to free love, open sex, or any social experiment (we believe in the inherent worth of the individual and primacy of the family unit as fundamental to society; 

In government, there shouldn't be any more interventionist than absolutely necessary and lean toward laissez-faire and open and free markets. In law, God hates the perversion of justice and provides a firm foundation--all just law is God-oriented and founded on the absolutes of right and wrong (known also as transcendent law and natural law), We uphold the rule of law and that the basis for Common Law is the Bible, relying on its veracity and relevance; Christians are obliged to obey the law (however; God's law trumps man's), and believers should pose no threat to other types of government as revolutionaries or anarchists, but should be model citizens whose real citizenship is in heaven; 

In politics, rights are derived directly from God and the responsibility of governments to secure them (by the way government is not a necessary evil, but necessary because of evil according to St. Augustine)--involvement in the political process is encouraged and apathy and ignorance are wrong--justice and freedom for all is a right from God; 

In economics, the concept of private property, work ethic, and individual responsibility is far more motivating than a welfare state based on redistribution of wealth and class envy--everything is given from God and we are merely stewards of His provision and bounty;

In history, utopia will be ushered in by Christ and is far more than a pipe dream, not just pie in the sky--history is linear nor repetitious and is headed for a culmination of judgment and a millennial kingdom ushered in by Christ, not us, the climax of history is when Christ comes to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Secular views hold uniformitarianism or that things have always been as they are without catastrophe or intervention by God, such as the deluge. The story of history is "his story" and goes from creation, to fall, to redemption, resurrection, judgment, and eternity.

The role of government is to protect private property, ensure justice, preserve personhood from danger, and keep evil at bay, thus securing human rights and making the opportunity, as well as seeing the marketplace is fair and moral, as well as ethical-- the law is made for the evildoer who needs the motivation to be good.

Secular Humanism and Atheism have been declared religions by high federal courts in America, but children's minds are not kept open because there are violations of First Amendment rights in the classroom. After all, evolution is taught as absolute truth and not just theory, and creationism is not allowed equal time, though over half of Americans don't accept it as gospel truth.

In conclusion: It is time for Christians to stand up and boldly proclaim the truth, and to let their Christian colors show; that means taking a stand and not being ashamed of their faith or of Jesus, looking for opportunities to make Him known. It might be as simple as writing your congressman, or the editor of your paper, even lighting a candle, showing your Christian colors, and having a prayer meeting, chain, or vigil can be beneficial. We need believers who dare to be "Daniels" and will not just stand by the sidelines, so to speak, but stand up and be counted: "But the people who do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits" (Dan. 11:32b). Soli Deo Gloria!

Is The Social Gospel A Misnomer?

NB: The Bible addresses this issue directly in Amos, who decries the lack of social justice (5:24).

"Where there is no vision the people perish..." (Prov. 29:18 KJV).
NB: A church has a mission to the unchurched and a ministry to its congregation. We are all ministers and should all be on a mission. Many believers confuse works and faith not realizing that works are not a replacement of faith, but the fruit of it. Faith without works is dead according to James 2:17 and dead faith saves no one. We need people of social concern, but this is not the primary function of the church--discipleship is.

However, the faith you have is the faith you show, they say. We are not saved by works and we are not saved without works either. We are not saved by service but unto service. If we have no good works, our faith is suspect or spurious. Eph. 2:10 asserts that "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." We don't want to be like the Cretans: "They profess to know God, but by their works they deny Him." True faith yields fruit: no fruit, no faith. John 15:16 says, "But I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide...." Again: "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works" (Heb. 10:24). The danger is that there will be some who are converted to the program but not to Christ. To sum it up, the Reformation formula was that we are "saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone."

I do not believe He is even going to ask us if we are Arminian or Reformed in our interpretation of Scripture. However, He is going to say," I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was naked and you clothed me, and I was in prison and you visited me." Christianity is not a philosophy, but a relationship with a living Lord (and this has become a cliché) but, nevertheless, it is vital that our faith doesn't vanish into a religion of dos and don'ts, or a duty done out of obligation, rather than love as a high calling and not as duty (God sees our motives).

In Mal. 3:5 God is "against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages" and who "thrust aside the sojourner". God is indeed concerned about social issues (there are many social injustices that one could get concerned about privately) and it may be the calling of individual Christians to go on a crusade (e.g., against child labor or slavery), but this is not the calling of the church at large. Great Christians like William Wilberforce have influenced the end of slavery as we know it in the free world. The job of the church is to make disciples of all nations and teach them to observe all that Christ commanded (cf. Matt. 28:19-20). Soli Deo Gloria!

The Necessity Of A Christian Worldview...

"Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do, their chiefs were two hundred..." (1 Chronicles 12:32, NASB).

"... [A] people without understanding shall come to ruin" (Hosea 4:14, ESV).

C. S. Lewis, the literary apologist who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity, said we must defend our worldview and not lose by default or neglect---in other words, we must have the answers and be prepared for spiritual battle. Lewis also says "[we] must show our Christian colours, if we are to be true to Jesus Christ. We cannot remain silent and concede everything away." We must dare to be "Daniels" willing to get into the action and not stand aside and merely passively observe. We cannot remain neutral, for that is a stand against Christ and His truth. Matthew 12:30 says: "He that is not with Me is against Me."

The Judeo-Christian mindset has not failed, it has not been defended, but abandoned. The dual problem is that many do not know why they believe, nor even what they believe! Our mission: Get the truth out there and propagated in a culture that is convinced that "truth is a short-term contract," but there is absolute truth! But it is not all relevant. We must all be responsible to disseminate what light God has given us. The ramifications of being remiss or negligent are a nation devoid of divine viewpoint and being hi-jacked by fanatical or fringe movements, using God to promote their agenda, and possibly even the ultimate surrender to secular thinking, and the elimination of Christian input in toto into the public square could transpire, i.e., muzzling our freedom of speech!

What is a worldview (commonly referred to as Weltanschauung, the German terminology)? Opinions are something you hold, while convictions hold you: It is the sum total of your convictions and why you see a life worth living or something worth dying for. It has been said that it usually answers the queries: "Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going?" Your worldview helps you explain God (or explain Him away), your world, and the relationship between the two as to how they relate individually and as a society. In sum, your outlook on life. In essence, we have a theory of the world and God, and how we relate to them, according to the dictionary. This is a vital discipline because kids are going to college ill-prepared when there's a war of ideas going on, and too many need to get their thinking straightened out (cf. 2 Cor. 10:5: "... [B]ringing every thought [or viewpoint] into captivity to the obedience of Christ"). So how do you interpret reality?

To answer these questions from the viewpoint or perspective of Secular Humanism, they leave God out of the equation and explain away the supernatural, only believing in the observable and rational, and leaving the universal language of science and consensus to figure out all the answers. Science has become a religion--or "scientism" and making value judgments, (as Carl Sagan, the 1981 recipient of the Humanist of the Year award, according to my source, said, "The cosmos is all there is or ever was or ever will be"--this is out of the realm, scope, and domain of science). More people believe in the theory of evolution (which is unproven and "unprovable") as religious dogma and scientific fact, and this is the Big Lie. Dr. Karl Popper says that evolution does not fit the definition of a scientific theory.

But Evolution is the building block of Secular Humanism and this belief system has no place for God in the Picture. This is the predominant worldview today in academia and we cannot remain silent and concede everything away, according to C. S. Lewis, again. Humanism has been around since antiquity and was known as man being the measure of all things (define and begin all reality with man, not God) and it was called homo mensura--deifying man and dethroning God. They see all religion as just chasing some "pie in the sky," and believe in living for the "here and now," without living in the light of eternity.

According to scholar Carl F. H. Henry, Christianity speaks to all academic disciplines and is relevant to all facets of life, not just having a personal relationship with God. There is a struggle for student allegiance in the school system and atheism has been declared a religion by the Seventh Court of Appeals in 2005. And Secular Humanism was defined in the book Religion Without Revelation by Julian Huxley. In A Common Faith, John Dewey sees the Secular Humanist movement as having the elements of a religion. They say that children's minds should be kept open, but they proceed to brainwash them. A. Solzhenitsyn has said that "man has forgotten God," and Friedrich Nietzsche (the patron saint of Postmodernism) said "God is dead." meaning that He is "no longer believable or relevant" Will Durant has well said, "The greatest question of our time is whether man can live without God." A current politician has said he would "keep God out of it."

You either must begin with man and explain the cosmos, or begin with God and explain the cosmos. This begs the question: What was in the beginning? "In the beginning God," or "In the beginning matter." Which created which? Do matter and energy have inherent power and intelligence to fix all the more than fifty constants in our cosmos and make life suitable for us, known as the Anthropic Principle, or the fine-tuning of our planet for human life?

Athanasius (the father of orthodoxy), one of the Church Fathers, said that the only system of thought that Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point. The false assumption that science makes is that Christianity is anti-science: In fact, it made possible modern science in the first place and is the "Mother of Modern Science" Many good scientists have been theists: Examples are Kepler, Newton, Copernicus, Boyle, Pascal, Galileo, Maxwell, and Farad.

Shakespeare said it well, concerning our meaning in life apart from God in Macbeth as he mused about the entirety of living: "...['T]is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing." R. C. Sproul said in the same vein: "With God we have dignity and without God, we have nothing." When you insert God into your thinking you can explain reality and find meaning to it. Bertrand Russell restated it well, "Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless." Life is nonsensical without reference to God!

The biggest challenge Secular Humanism faces is the word "purpose" (and its corollary "meaning"), or the study of it known as teleology (from telos for purpose). The word seems almost theological to them in nature. There is indeed a war of "isms" and the battleground is the mindset of a whole generation that is apathetic toward them in their interpretive framework. The bottom line is that these "isms" have consequences.

It was the proponents of Secular Humanism that bemoaned the fact that children's minds weren't kept open when evolution was a forbidden subject in school; now they refuse to even let Creationism have equal time, though there is plenty of evidence, so that lack of evidence presents no excuse for denying it. We need to keep God in the public arena and defend the Christian worldview in the public square wherever possible, not letting Secular Humanism eradicate it or make it irrelevant. (They believe religion is acceptable as long as it is "privatized.")

"If there is no God," Fyodor Dostoevsky's dictum goes, "all things are permissible," and up for grabs, and we are without a moral compass--if we are animals, why not act like them? (Morals are then subjective and only a matter of personal conviction.) Some believe values are just a matter of public consensus--justifying Nazism and Communism! Listen to the New Age definition of it: "Morality is a nebulous thing; listen to the God within!" And if it feels like the truth, it is.

Postmodernists say that it can be right for you, but not for someone else. They dodge the morality and no-truth issues. Compare this idea to the situation described in Judges 21:25 (ESV): "... [E]veryone did what was right in their own eyes." All we need to know is that God is the moral center of the universe! A theologian Karl Barth, focused on Christians who are religious, but not righteous--and decried this as a natural fruit of this way of thinking.

We need to separate the wheat from the chaff, ascertaining the truth from the fiction. "My people perish for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:14). Note well: "Knowledge is power," said Sir Francis Bacon (cf. Prov. 24:5). "For lack of knowledge My people go into exile" (Is. 5:13). I Chronicles 12:32 says we need people who can interpret the times and know what to do. Our faith is "defensible" and we must meet the challenge and not lose by negligence or default. If we are versed in our worldview we will realize it outshines every other one.

The answer to Pilate's question: "What is truth?" is obtainable. Absolute truth is knowable since Jesus claimed to be the personification or embodiment of Truth with a capital "T" Himself! We need believers with a sense of "ought" and are committed to defending the truth as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran theologian. He penned The Cost of Discipleship and coined the phrase "cheap grace", and was a dissenter of Nazism (involved in assassination attempts), and a political/religious martyr, who said, "Who stands fast? ..., not the man whose final standard is his reason, his principles, his conscience, or virtue, but God." If we study the rationales behind these flimsy, bleak belief systems, we can readily detect their Achilles' heel. I rest my case! Soli Deo Gloria!

Focusing On Worldviews...

Deciding who to vote for is more than getting what you want on some issue that you deem vital. They don't buy your vote! What you may see as the most important stand he takes may be of no value or consequence to the opponent. It is not a matter of having a wish list and whoever gives you what you want wins your vote. A person can be a godly person and have a Christian worldview, and still be wrong on something--no one is infallible and inerrant. There is such a thing as selfish voting for one's personal agenda to advance one's economic cause or predicament. We shouldn't be able to vote ourselves out of poverty. True decisions should be for the welfare of the people at large and not favoring one group with a bias. The government is of the people, by the people, and for the people (all the people!). What happens usually is that when someone gets elected he only feels beholden to those who put him there and fails to realize faithfulness and responsibility for all the people. Everything is not going to change when your candidate gets elected and it is just pie in the sky to hope that a would-be messiah will save our nation.

The most dangerous thing is an idea whose time has come and this is what we see now is new ideas that resonate with the people--a revolution in politics and things are not as usual and candidates march to the beat of a different drum. I've never seen such finger-pointing and using someone as a scapegoat. The campaigns seem like movements and I'm not the only one saying that--people are voting who have before felt disenfranchised--but I question the sincerity and naivete of the youth of our nation who don't realize that candidates basically make empty promises to get elected, and true competence is a rare commodity in the political arena.

I find myself agreeing with a candidate some of the time, and simultaneously finding him obnoxious and repugnant personally--but this is the way the common man in our nation is and they relate to him. I believe that "character counts" and one must have a candidate that God can use and can be trusted--God is the one who is really in control and is the one who ultimately decides our election, though we must be good citizens and vote the best we know-how. One can be right on a number of issues and still not have a Christian worldview--it is not a matter of who is right on the most issues like a math equation. Some politicians are more problem-solvers than ideologues or purists. Martin Luther said that he'd rather live under a competent Turk than an incompetent Christian--but I think he means one that doesn't think like a Christian (have a correct worldview) and is one in name only without conviction. God gives a nation the politicians it deserves and politics is dirty business according to Goethe and makes strange bedfellows--so we must beware that they all pander to a degree and are saying what they believe we want to hear.

What is problematic is when you find yourself agreeing in spirit with someone who doesn't qualify and may be dangerous. I'm not saying that there are parallels to the way Hitler had so much charisma and promised to make Germany great again (great slogans, but no record), but we have to look beyond the issues and the promises and really find out what kind of man we are voting for--can he be trusted? Do we want a candidate that appeals to our lower nature that is divisive? The litmus test: "Power tends to corrupt," says Lord Acton, and "absolute power corrupts absolutely"--can we trust them with the nuclear code or national secrets? After all, we are electing the diplomatic leader of the free world and the commander in chief of the U.S. Armed Forces of our nation--not designated wheeler-dealer or deal-maker who thinks the path to prosperity is as simple as a trade war. As Bob Dylan sang: "The times, they are a-changin'." Promises have to be realistic and achievable, because anyone can just tell people what they want to hear and give their own solutions, but are they trying to buy votes with promises?

One must realize that in today's politics pragmatism rules and the test of the truth of an idea is its effects or whether it works. Adolf Hitler got a lot of success for that matter but was dead wrong--"the final solution" (making the Jews the scapegoat and eliminating them) looked like it was working. The end doesn't justify the means as pragmatists and utilitarians ultimately believe, and we can't just look at results to judge the morality of a law or action. Doing anything to win today's credo and saying anything to win is just politics as usual. The New Morality of today only looks at the motive and if one is sincere and well-meaning or doing it out of love, the methodology or the end result doesn't matter. In a Christian perspective, the motive, as well as the result or goal, must be concordant with Scripture and morality.

In the final analysis, we really don't know who God's man is until he wins and we acknowledge God's sovereignty. We do err in judging our fellow man for his political opinions, (no one has a monopoly on truth or wisdom) which may be due to ignorance of the biblical perspective, though he may be a Christian himself. No one is right on all the issues and should be crowned the king; we live in a democracy that respects everyone's right to vote their conscience and the way they see things in their world. Only God knows what is the most important issue--all we can do is vote according to what we know and our worldview and being willing to reach across the aisle and compromise to get things done in an otherwise dysfunctional government in gridlock. Soli Deo Gloria!

Biblical Economics

Christian economics is in accordance with biblical principles that are called God's economy.  It is stipulated, for instance, that it is more blessed to give than to receive (like Jesus said) and that God is interested in the success of His servants (not necessarily financial success), i.e., that God blesses the task or endeavor of the believer, and uses him for His glory as a vessel of honor ("... And in whatever he does, he prospers," says Psalm 1:3, NASB).   Jesus said in Matt. 10:8 (NASB) "... Freely you received, freely give."  It is also written, "Give, and it will be given to you.  They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return"  (Luke 6:38, NASB). We cannot out-give our generous God!

Jesus said, "To whom much is given, much is required." Thus, we all have different levels of talent, resources, time, money, and opportunity to let our lives bring glory to God.  Mother Teresa of Calcutta summed it up by saying that God doesn't call us to success, but to faithfulness. God isn't interested in our achievements, but in our obedience.  To put it in perspective, Einstein also said that we should not strive to be persons of success as much as persons of value--inherent worth in Christ.

The Bible doesn't endorse any form of economic system outright, but the spirit of it seems to view human rights and an open and free economic market.  Biblical economics relies on the profit motive, competition (the government should level the playing field and ensure fairness), stewardship of God's resources (we are accountable to God at the Judgment Seat of Christ), equal opportunity (not equal outcome) in an open market, as little government intervention as possible (even Adam Smith, in The Wealth of Nations, advocated this), i.e., laissez-faire policy, property rights (even the government cannot seize without due process), the Protestant work ethic (ensuring dignity in all labor), and the legitimate money system (stable, free from inflation, and not just fiat currency).

The barter system and mercantile (exchanging gold for products, etc.) systems were used before money in the form of coins or currency were in circulation. Now we have fiat  (it's money by decree, not inherent worth) or printed money from the government, which is only legal because the government says so and has the monopoly to do it, and it's not even backed by its value in precious metals anymore since 1963.  America went off the gold standard soon afterwards.

The basic types of economic systems in existence, though none exist in their purest  form, are capitalism (favoring free enterprise without governmental intervention,  fraud, theft, or force wand open markets that are unregulated), and socialism or communism that take away biblical rights and use a centralized governmental control one's freedom and the other entails totalitarianism or no personal liberty.  Note that economics is called a dismal science because it's not really science, but more like philosophy.  The Christian's main focus necessitates central planners that regulate the means of production and the economy at large.  We are not here to achieve the American dream or to amass wealth as the summum bonum, "for where his treasure is, there his heart will be also."  We are neither to be materialists seeking to become successful monetarily, not to be so spiritual that we are no earthly good. However, we are called to be productive and bear fruit and return on the investment that God made in us to the best of our ability, opportunity, resources, time, and talents.

With a Christian's ethical view, making the maximum profit is not the ultimate bottom line.  Profit must be legit and not by the exploitation of workers or the consumer.  Christ judges a company by its moral value and contribution to the well-being of society, not by how much it makes.  Serve God in the one that you can most glorify Him in and dedicate your service to.  We are made in the image of God and show forth that image best when we work or are in engaged in our calling--what we are meant and suited to do.

There was a film years ago "Wall Street" about a broker that said, "Greed is good."  Capitalism is driven by greed, envy, and covetousness.  We want to keep up with the Jones's!  Businessmen today interpret ethics as the art of not getting caught, not doing the most good to the most people, at the most times, in the most manners, as long as you can.  It has been said that capitalism is a system suited for sinners, while socialism is for saints (but we have both!).

Communist theory or mentality is basically that each one will automatically produce what he is capable of and society "owes" him a living to meet all his needs, if he cannot.  This is the source of the "entitlement mentality" that prevails today--people ruin their lives or are victims and blame the government for their own problems.  But note that society has granted certain people as being entitled.  No one gets something for nothing or undeserved, but only out of compassion and rule of law.  If they get laid off, the government is to blame and must support them. Prosperity is not about God blessing us and seeing how much we can produce and contribute to our fellow man, but how much we can get from the government by milking the system for all it's worth.


The Bible warns against governments that weaken or defile the money supply with dross and this is comparable to inflation, or what is in reality a hidden tax on the one's who are most vulnerable. Inflation is not just an increase in taxes, but an increase in the money supply, which drives up everything in turn and no one comes out ahead.  The only way to eliminate this juggernaut is to balance the budget, but today's economists basically follow the Keynesian model that makes deficit spending respectable and the government just prints money and increases its supply as a hidden tax, which the politicians have gotten away with because of the ignorance of the common people.  Even defender of free enterprise, Milton Friedman, calls for limited and controlled inflation as being in the best interest of the general public, and so it is commonplace to subscribe to.

The Christian worldview doesn't call for a redistribution of wealth or the scarce natural resources of robbing the rich and giving the poor, but of creating equal opportunity under the law, because we believe that "all men are created equal," not equal outcome under the law--the goal is to equitably distribute natural resources.  Also, the Pledge of Allegiance calls for "liberty and justice for all."  The Bible nowhere teaches that we are to be one economic class or classless, as communism teaches, but we are still "one in Christ." Before the law, we are all equal and no one is to be denied liberty and justice, which are never to be perverted--we must not resort to the law of the jungle.

Mandatory welfare was known in antiquity and Israel was obliged to practice it with their tithes, alms, and farming practices, such as being allowed to glean in the fields.  There was to be no poor in the land (cf. Deut. 15:4).  But a welfare state whereby the state takes care of you from cradle to grave, called a "nanny state," was unknown in biblical times--people took responsibility for their own lives and fates.  The more rights we receive, the more obligations others have. Today only a small portion of all entitlement (20 percent) goes to the poor (actually less than 2 percent of the total budget) and most of it goes to Republican party members who own farms and other businesses that get a take. Partisans are talking about cutting entitlement, they are focused on food stamps or some other aid to the poor, not the upper classes.  Scripture condemns labor exploitation in Malachi 3:5 and warns against not giving him his due. The worker deserves his wages and the farmer ought to be the first to benefit form the fruit of his labor. The Greeks looked upon labor as a curse that was only fitting for slaves, but Martin Luther gave it dignity because all manner of labor, secular and sacred, can be done to the glory of God (cf. Col. 3:23). America has championed the Protestant work ethic since the days of Jamestown and Captain John Smith, who declared that if a man is unwilling to work he shouldn't eat, just like Paul told the Thessalonians in 2 Thess. 3:10. There is to be no "idle rich" or leisure class living in luxury that is unproductive or retired from engaging in the Lord's work, in which we never give up doing--doing the Lord's work with slackness is cursed (cf. Jer. 48:10).

The government has the divine right and obligation to assure equal treatment in the marketplace and that there is a fair and equitable exchange of goods and services, whereby no one takes advantage of or defrauds the consumer.  It respects the right of private property and its chief purpose is to maintain peace and safety and protection of personal property in the society.  There must be law and order in a land run by the rule of law for there to be opportunity to make the investment because of the ability to make a profit is not infringed on by an over-regulated economy.  We need as little government as possible, known as being against Big Government, and need to stop thinking that government is the solution to all our problems.  The more government, the less freedom and rights and more obligation to others.  There has to be a balanced trade-off because of the law of diminishing returns on interventionism by the bureaucracy, lest one system run amuck.

However, the Christian is concerned for social justice and whether there is equity and opportunity for the poor.  "He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well.  Is not this to know me?  declares the LORD?" (Jer. 22:16, ESV).  The prophet Amos decried the social injustice of his day and how "... They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals"  (Amos 2:11, NIV).  John Wesley had the right attitude and motto:  "Make all you can, save all you can, give away all you can--this is good stewardship of God-given resources.  Never lose track of the fact that we own nothing, but are just stewards of God's gifts.  In sum, there is no "social gospel" that we are called to convert the world to (however our social commission per Jer. 29:7  is never-ending), other than the Great Commission and making disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all that Christ taught (including labor/management rights and responsibilities).
Soli Deo Gloria!

Eradicating Christian Worldview

The Christian point of view is not only disdained but frowned upon, including any mention or hint of it in the open marketplace of ideas. Back during the Scopes trial of 1925, they bemoaned the fact that the kid's minds must be kept open, and they shouldn't prohibit the teaching of evolution. In our nation, you can criticize the government, but not Darwin; in China, you can criticize Darwin, but not the government--which one is muzzling the Christian worldview the most is your guess. This is not the building block of secular worldview and religion in its own right. Now the reverse has occurred: You must teach evolution not as a hypothesis, but as unquestioned scientific fact, even though it doesn't even qualify as a theory--it is unproven and cannot be proved in a scientific manner, because no one has observed it nor is able, and there is no evidence in the fossil record. There are no missing links found when there should be millions. Darwin said that if his theory were correct it would be evident in the fossil record--it isn't!

It seems like Christianity is copacetic if one privatizes it and doesn't try to "proselytize" or spread the faith to the infidel. Evangelistic outreaches are a no-no in academia. The primary result of believing you are just a glorified animal is that you begin to act like one, irresponsibly and unaccountable with no hell to shun and make up your own set of values as you go along. Christians are to stand up and be counted and not be ashamed of the faith, nor of sharing it. They are to defend the Christian worldview and fight the secularization of society, forcing God out of our courtrooms and being politically correct, which is wrong--you want to be correct if it differs.

Daniel was forced to make his faith known when they prohibited him from praying. He neither flaunted his faith, nor privatized it, but demonstrated that he would not be hindered in the free exercise of his religion. The government, likewise, can make no law abridging the free exercise of religion, as well as establish a religion by force. Today they say: As long as your religion is private and doesn't bother anyone else, it's okay! However, we are a nation founded upon the Judaeo-Christian worldview and we stray from it at our peril. This interpretation and framework of thinking is not failing, nor has it failed; believers are abandoning it because they actually are convinced their faith cannot be defended on the open marketplace of ideas. When Christianity is no longer welcome in the public square it is time to take a stand and not lose our worldview by default or negligence, conceding it away without a fight--we are to fight the good fight and contend for the faith!

Au contraire! There is plenty of evidence to make our worldview believable and relative. There is plenty of evidence for those who have the will to believe--God can make a believer out of any skeptic if he is willing to do God's will (cf. John 7:17). No one can say there wasn't any evidence, because people reject Christ out of the hardness of their hearts, not because they are wise (cf. Psalm 14:1).


We are in the world, but not of it (cf. John 15:19), but this doesn't mean we are to love the world or its system--we are to be lights and salt to the lost. We, who see the light, are to share our vision with a lost world and stand up and be counted for Jesus, showing our Christian colors. Today it seems like the resurgent atheists are the militant ones out to convert the prospects to their way of thinking! We are to let our "lights so shine before men, that they may see our good works and glorify [our] Father who is in heaven" (cf. Matt. 5:16). In the final analysis, the philosophy of leftism says religion is unobjectionable as long as it is "privatized." What they really mean is that you make no effort to propagate your faith and spread the good news of Jesus and just keep your faith to yourself. There comes a time to act in protest and civil disobedience and to defy the law that prohibits any free exercise of our faith or establishes some other faith by decree or mandate. Soli Deo Gloria!

What Is Truth?

"Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 2:25, NIV, emphasis mine).

"[A]nd you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32, ESV, emphasis mine).

"... For this purpose I was born and for this purpose, I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice" (John 18:37, ESV, emphasis mine).

"Pilate said to him, 'What is truth?'" (John 18:38, ESV).

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge..." (Proverbs 1:7, ESV).

"Without the way, there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life, there is no living." (Thomas a Kempis (Thomas von Kempen in German) medieval author of the classic Imitation of Christ, emphasis mine)

This is the famous question of the notorious, weak-willed, wishy-washy Pontius Pilate addressed to Jesus during one of his so-called trials. Of course, he wasn't interested in waiting around for an answer, but only in being cynical. To him Rome was truth, there was no universal truth that applied everywhere except Rome's truth, because "might made right." To him, there were just too many religions for one to have the gall or audacity to claim exclusivity. He is the example that the Bible defines non-Christians as those "who reject the truth" (cf. Romans 2:8).

But truth is knowable because Jesus claimed to be truth incarnate ("I am the truth"). It isn't all propositional, but something we can have a relationship with and get to know personally. There are statements that are true or false, and there are relationships between them that are either valid or invalid, according to Aristotelian logic. When you make conclusions, you've assumed something beforehand! Conclusions are only as valid as their premise or presuppositions. Logic just defines the relationships between statements or propositions assumed as true. 

The point is that no matter what conclusion you reach or what you claim to know, you have started somewhere with some proposition that you cannot prove. "Faith precedes reason" is the formula. This means all knowledge begins with faith and assuming something you cannot prove, according to Augustine and all truth is God's truth. And Aquinas added that all truth meets at the top. What this also means is that God is the God of truth and "no lie is of the truth"--Satan is the author of deceit and father of lies, and there is no truth in him.

The problem with evil is that it isn't the opposite of good, but infection and distortion of it. There is an element of truth (this is what makes it so enticing and alluring) and this element is in every false religion and cult--that's why they are so dangerous and appealing to people in need or with a vacuum to fill in their desperate lives. New Age people would say that if it feels good it is truth for you. And Postmodernists (and the only truths that are really relative are those relating to Christianity) and Postmodernism would say that it might be true for you, though not for someone else and that all truth is relative (relative to what?). For them the "truth is a "short-term contract." "

You can know nothing for certain," they say. And they are certain! Pragmatists, on the other hand, may posit: "It may work for you, but not for me (confusing something that works as something that's true)." They sincerely believe you cannot know whether something is true, but only whether it works and this is the true test of an idea. New Age thinkers go beyond that in urging you to listen to the "God within." We do have a right to our own opinions, but not our own truths. We must not fabricate our own truth! Being opinionated is no compliment if not based on truth.

When we stray from "absolute truth" and God as its source, all things are permissible according to Dostoevsky. Would anyone argue that rape or incest isn't wrong under all circumstances, at all times, and for all people [unless you are forced to do it]? They're never right! That's because it is an example of absolute truth that exists and we don't argue about it, but accept it as a universal standard, just as much as a mathematical table. We all have a sense of right and wrong, or sense of "ought" and things like fair play, good faith, truthfulness, sportsmanship, integrity, altruism, courage, honor, duty, and unselfishness. This is a sense and a sense implies a person or personality, not a thing; which implies a "Higher Mind and/or Sense" or God behind the cosmos that keeps things going so orderly.

We all appeal to an ultimate standard of behavior all the time, even when someone buds in line, steals a parking spot, or cheats at golf. Life would be chaos without some standard of decency to expose lewdness and without principles to live by. We don't just make up our own rules as we go along and we don't live and do according to what is right in our own eyes. Even in prison, convicts have a "code" and a conscience that if you steal their cigarettes you will pay dearly. Man is a "moral" creature in that he has an inner sense of right and wrong, even if he ignores it at his peril.

"Absolute truth" is true everywhere and all the time and applies to everyone. Objective truth is true regardless of whether we believe it or not. There is absolute, universal truth, but there is no absolute, universal belief. There is no belief that is regarded as true by everyone, and just because we don't believe something doesn't make it untrue. What people erroneously do is think that belief and truth are identical. And they are right in saying there is nothing that everyone universally believes in the way of religion, for instance, but principles of right and wrong apply to everyone. There is an invisible moral code we all appeal to and it is just as real as the laws of logic or a musical scale or math table.

In a court of law, your opinions don't matter as evidence, except as expert testimony if you are one; however, people will believe what they choose to believe and will always have prejudicial and irrational opinions. By and large, it only matters what is truth, not what is an opinion. It's just like in the TV show Dragnet, when Sgt. Friday said, "Just gimme the facts, ma'am!"

Truth is defined by God (it's "true truth," according to Francis Schaeffer), and this truth is what God says it is because He is the God of truth--i.e., "the only true God" (cf. John 17:2). Things we believe may be true, but God's Word is truth and the difference is that truth doesn't just inform or reform, but transforms and sanctifies (cf. John 17:17). It is so true despite the fact that "they exchanged the truth of God for a lie" (cf. Romans 1:25, ESV). As Paul Little has said, "Believing something doesn't make it true; refusing to believe it doesn't make it false." Don't equate belief with truth! The Bible is objectively true; true regardless of who says what or who told us! It is self-attesting, appealing to no one or nothing for verification of its truth but itself as the highest authority. Only Scripture can objectively be called "truth," since total objectivity doesn't exist--except with God!

In the final analysis, truth is what God decrees as truth--you cannot dispute God! (it has been wisely said). And truth is what conforms to God's divine nature and is immutable, not subject to our criticism or scrutiny--it is often too profound for us to fathom ("Canst thou by searching find out God?" Job is asked). You cannot label it, put it in a box, confine it, nor define it because it is infinite and the "finite cannot grasp the infinite" according to the Greek maxim of antiquity. Soli Deo Gloria!

Christian Worldview 101