In my previous posts I talked about how the church is losing our children at a very early age to the world. If you recall from the first posting many of the young people indicated they walked away from their faith because they could not get solid answers about God, the Bible and today’s social issues.
1 Peter 3:15 tells us
“…, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” NASB
In this post and the future posting, I am going to try and provide you with the information that will help you to be able to make that defense of your faith. If you read the context of this verse (3:13-3:16) you will find that it was talking about being ready to give an answer even when people want to ridicule or even harm you for your faith. I cannot stress enough that last part of “yet with gentleness and reverence” no matter what people are saying to you. If you get in someone’s face and try to “one up them” with the facts or tell them what they believe is wrong in a harsh tone you will probably lose any chance of them ever coming to Christ. It is that kind of “Bible thumping” Christian that does more harm to the cause of Christ, especially in today’s Acts 17 world (see previous post).
The Four Questions of Life
At some point in almost everyone’s life he will ask the following questions (or something close to them):
Who AM I?
Why AM I Here?
What happens when I die?
Why is there death and suffering?
Your Worldview will dramatically change the answers to those questions.
The Two Worldviews
To better understand why the answers to these questions will be so different, we need to first have a basic understanding of what the two worldviews are. In future posts I will be doing a more detailed comparison of the worldview focusing on Biblical and non-Biblical worldviews.
Evolutionary (non-Biblical) Worldview
Evolution teaches that about 13 or 14 billion years ago a “big bang” happened from nothing and from that explosion of time and matter, the stars, solar systems and eventually planets and earth formed. After the earth formed it “cooled down” for billions of years and water vapor was created from the cooling effect. The water began to collect and evaporate which caused it to eventually rain down on the earth. About 4 billion years ago the first cell formed from the “prebiotic soup” (water that collected after raining down on the rocks and spreading minerals while it was cooling) and it began to split and create more cells. Over time the cells began to randomly mutate and the mutations began to form different cells which eventually began to evolve into various life forms (plants and animals). Over millions of years the life forms began to evolve into higher forms of life which eventually ended up with what we have today including the most advanced animal, man.
Biblical Worldview
The Bible provides us with a much different worldview than evolution. If you remember the 7 C’s of history (see previous post) you see that the Bible teaches that in the beginning God created all things, seen and unseen, visible and invisible (Colossians 1:16). God planted a garden (Eden) and put the man in the garden to “dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15) and later God brought the animals to Adam to see what he would name them (Genesis 2:19-20). Genesis 1:26 also tells us that God created man to have dominion over the earth and to take care of it. God loved the man that he created, but true love has to be a choice not a pre-programed condition or response. We love because we choose to love. How many times have you heard someone say “I do not love them anymore”? They must have chosen to love the other person at one time but now choose not to.
The major differences in the worldviews are simple. One says that we are product of random chance over time and not much more than pond scum (from the prebiotic and primordial soup) that evolved into what we see today. The other says that we were created for a purpose, that we are loved and there is a better day coming.
Now that you have a basic understanding of the two worldviews here are how the two different answers to those questions.
| Question | Evolution Worldview | Biblical Worldview |
| Who AM I? | You are nothing more than a product of random chance and changes over time and have become nothing more than an highly evolved animal | A Child of God. Created to be loved and to have fellowship with your creator |
Why AM I Here? | No specific reason. As a product of random chance you are basically here for yourself. Nothing or no one else really matters | Your first purpose is to love God and serve him by putting others first. God also put man in charge of all of the earth and asked him take care of it (God gave him a specific job to do) |
| What happens when I die? | When you die you simply cease to exist and your body turns back to dust and decay or becomes a meal for the “other wild animals”. | Many places in the Bible tell us that someday Jesus will return and we will have a new heaven and a new earth to live in and that we will spend eternity with God. For those who do not put their full trust Jesus as savior, they will also live forever but will be eternally separated from God. |
| Why is there death and suffering? | There is no reason for suffering and death. It is all part of the random chance of things. If the “chances” would have been more in our favor we may never die or may never suffer physical or emotional pain. | The Biblical worldview tells us that God created everything perfect and there was no suffering and death. When Adam sinned that changed everything. Sin corrupted everything and God removed some of his sustaining power and thus we have the second law of thermodynamics (everything goes from order or perfection to disorder or imperfection). We understand from the Bible there is a reason for suffering and that the day will come when it is all removed for those who trust Christ. |
Depending on your worldview and how YOU answer those questions you can better understand the world around today and why some people behave the way they do.
If people believe in the evolutionary worldview that they are nothing important, they have no purpose and they are nothing more than an evolved animal, is it any wonder why people (especially younger people) behave like animals these days? When you are taught over and over that life has no value and that you are nothing more than an animal (get rid of spare cats, get rid of spare kids) then how are you going to behave? You will be more likely to kill, steal and treat one anyone with contempt, especially if they are different than you. After all, “if life has no real value and killing others helps me survive, why is it wrong?”
If people believe that they have a purpose and meaning, that they were created and loved and that a day will come when all will be perfect you will see people taking care of each other and respecting life. Instead of killing unborn babies, the sick and aged, they will strive to preserve life at all stages but will also understand that there are absolute moral standards and rules. Hence, when someone breaks those rules there is a punishment that must go along with it.
Summary, Part I
It is easy to see why the world is in the shape it is in today. We are consistently being bombarded with the “evolution is how we got here” and anti-God type of messages. Proverbs 18:21 tells us that the tongue has the power of life and death. How quickly can you kill a person’s self-esteem by always telling them they are worthless, have no purpose in life or that they have no hope of things getting better? In some cases the “power of the tongue” will drive a person to kill themselves, abuse drugs and alcohol or just be in such pain that life has no meaning which can lead to harming (or even killing) others either directly or indirectly.
In my next posting I am going to show you some examples of how deeply entrenched the non-Biblical worldview is today, and that there are some people who will never accept the truth no matter what the evidence says.
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