Back in February, I wrote an introduction to the field of Christian Apologetics, the field which could perhaps be better called “defense of the Christian Faith.” As ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20), we are called to share the truths of the gospel, but also to show unbelievers the inadequacy of their way of thinking about the world. A helpful way to think about this task is through thinking in terms of the concept of a person’s “worldview.”
So what is a worldview? Ken Hemphill says that a worldview is “the way we view the world and make our judgments about life.” A worldview is the philosophy of life that underlies a person’s thinking. A worldview is where we go to look at the bottom line – to make sense of the world in which we live. Now whether you know it or not, you have a worldview; everyone does. Each and every person has a way that they try to make sense of the world at the most fundamental level.
Often times a person may have never thought about how they would describe their worldview, and many people have worldview beliefs that are inconsistent and contradictory, but they have a worldview nonetheless. A good analogy for this concept is to think that worldviews are a lot like the foundations of a house: vital, but usually not visible. Most of the time we are not consciously thinking about the foundation of the building that we are in, but it is the most essential part of the building. Similarly, if people have never thought about these foundational beliefs and principles, and though they may have a tough time describing these beliefs if you asked them to “explain their worldview,” the beliefs and principles are still there.
To see the importance of a person’s worldview, let’s think of our attempts to share the gospel with an unbeliever. When we witness to those around us in our modern culture, it is often the case that the unbeliever not only rejects the gospel, but more than that, he or she doesn’t really understand what we’re talking about. The reason for this is that many unbelievers have a worldview that keeps them from seeing even the possibility of the truth of Christianity.
For example, when we are talking to a man or woman who has been educated in modern psychology and we talk about our guilt before God and our need for forgiveness, this person will probably have a tough time even understanding what guilt really is. After all, many modern psychological theories teach that man is basically good and that our “problems” are not the individual’s fault, but are caused by either our environment or by our genes.
As another example, when we try to share that Jesus rose from the dead and promises eternal life for all who put their faith in Him, someone who has been influenced by scientific naturalism will see this claim as impossible, because scientific naturalism teaches that all reality is only physical (naturalism), and so the only things that can be true are those that can be proven by the natural sciences. Someone who has this kind of thinking as a part of their worldview will be unable to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, unless he gives up this belief. After all, if reality is only physical and the only way that events must happen according to “scientific laws,” then all miracles, including Jesus’ resurrection, are impossible.
If we fail to realize that there is a disagreement at the level of worldview here, we may spend lots of time talking to people who are not listening. What we need is to do what the great Christian thinker Francis Schaeffer called “pre-evangelism,” or talking with the lost person about the problems with their worldview. Because God created the world and all that is in it, any worldview that denies the truths that God has given us in Scripture is going to be inadequate and lead to contradiction. When we are able to show that all the worldviews besides the Christian worldview cannot ultimately make sense of the reality that God created, we can then explain to them the contours of the Christian worldview, of which the gospel is a vital part.
Now this may seem a bit too theoretical for some, I have found this to be incredibly practical. While we can’t argue someone into salvation (as I hope I made clear in my last article), we can be used by the Holy Spirit to clear the mental obstacles out of the way of the unbeliever. When we remember that the evangelistic discussion must sometimes take one step back to look at the unbeliever’s worldview, we will be better witnesses for the truth that God has given us.