Do we need to engage in “worldview training” with our children and grandchildren? What difference does it make? Isn’t all of that “worldview” stuff just for philosophers who use big words that my kids and I can’t understand anyway? Isn’t it enough to just follow Jesus and leave worldview to others?

It might be tempting to think that way, but let’s pause for a moment to consider what a “worldview” really is. Our worldview, simply put, is our view of the world. It’s the philosophy or viewpoint we use to interpret everything around us. It’s our road-map to how we live our lives.

That means every single one of us has a worldview. It might be an organized, coherent philosophy, or it may be a hodge-podge of ideas we’ve picked up here and there with no organizing principles. But each one of us, whether we realize or not, has some kind of worldview.

Of course, there are many worldviews in our culture today. There’s humanism, pantheism, socialism, postmodernism, etc. And, of course, there’s Biblical Christianity.

But again, what difference does it make what our worldview is as long as we follow Jesus? And why do we need to go to the work of teaching our kids about worldviews?

To begin, let’s dig a little deeper on what a worldview is.

Defining a Worldview

At the foundation of any worldview are certain “big ideas” that undergird everything else. Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey, in their book How Now Shall We Live?, contend that every worldview must answer three questions:

1. Creation: Where did we come from, and who are we?
2. Fall: What has gone wrong with the world?
3. Redemption: What can we do to fix it?

The Bible answers all of these questions, of course, and those answers form the starting point of a Biblical worldview. And if we choose to live consistently with those answers, every facet of our lives will be impacted.

But what happens if we change the answers to those three foundational questions? Simply put, we’ll end up with a very different worldview.

Marxism, for instance, gives answers that are radically different compared to Christianity. In her book Total Truth, Nancy Pearcey explains it this way:

1. What is Marxism’s counterpart to Creation, the ultimate origin of everything? Self-creating, self-generating matter.
2. What is Marxism’s version of the Fall, the origin of suffering and oppression? The rise of private property.
3. How does Marxism propose to set the world right again? Revolution! Overthrow the oppressors and recreate the original paradise of primitive communism.

And once again, from that high-level, big-question perspective, Marxists can figure out what it means to live a life consistent with Marxism.

If the Bible is true—and it is—then its answers to these big questions reveal and describe the world as it really is. It gives us an accurate picture of true reality. All other worldviews, to one extent or another, distort reality and lead their adherents to live contrary to the truth.

Where We Are

Our children are going to believe something. They’re going to have some view of the world around them. And if we don’t give them a Biblical worldview, the world will be glad to give them a substitute to take its place.

The truth is, most of the children in our country today are enrolled in secular government schools that don’t share our worldview. They’re also spending vast amounts of time plugged into media that doesn’t share our worldview.

What ideas are they learning? What worldview are they absorbing through all of this educational and entertainment content?

Young people have been walking away from the church in massive numbers, and the number of “nones”—essentially, those who hold to no religion—has been on the rise. According to Pew Research Center in 2015, 35 percent of Millennials were “nones.”

Moving from the religious to the political sphere, consider these headlines from the past couple of years:

• CNBC: “Most young Americans prefer socialism to capitalism, new report finds”

• Axios: “Gen Z prefers ‘socialism’ to ‘capitalism’

• Fox News: “Americans warming to socialism over capitalism, polls show”

• Gallup: “Four in 10 Americans Embrace Some Form of Socialism”

Are these young people hardcore socialists? As Gallup notes, “Whether the appeal of socialism to young adults is a standard function of idealism at that age that dissipates as one grows older, or will turn out to be a more permanent part of the political beliefs held by the cohort of millennials who have come of age over the past decade, remains to be seen.”

Of course, once we find out the answer to that question, it may be too late.

As we look around our culture, we see the decline of Christian thought and ideals. If ever there was a time to teach our children a Biblical worldview, the time is now. And I’ll say it again: if we don’t give our children a Biblical worldview, someone is going to take our place and teach our children a different one. But it probably won’t be the one you would have chosen.

Why it Matters

There are at least three negative outcomes our children may succumb to if we fail to teach our them a Biblical worldview:

• Without a solid understanding of a Biblical worldview, they may fall prey to one of the false worldviews prevalent in our culture—perhaps under the impression that it better explains the “big questions” of life—and walk away from the Christian faith entirely.

• They could remain faithful to Christ at one level, but be led astray by wrong ideas (such as socialism) because they don’t understand the Bible’s teaching on anything other than personal faith and values (in other words, they think Christianity is only about a personal relationship with Jesus, not truth about all of life).

• They may absorb elements of many false worldviews without having any Biblical framework to filter them through, leading to a life lived without any real core.

Worldview training, then, is about equipping our children to understand the world as it really is (because only the Bible has the real answers to the biggest questions), refute the wrong ideas our culture tries to hand them, and live confidently according to what they know to be true.

Of course, having a Biblical worldview isn’t a substitute for saving faith in Christ. It’s possible, after all, to know all the right answers yet remain spiritually lost. Yet if our children trust Christ but don’t understand how the Bible offers the best answers across life’s many questions, they won’t be equipped to stand strong in a culture that has lost its way and point others toward the Truth.

Let’s make sure we’re passing on a Biblical worldview to the next generation.

IFI Worldview Conference

To help equip Christians to think and live out our faith in the public square, the Illinois Family Institute is hosting their annual Worldview Conference on March 7th at the Village Church of Barrington. This year’s conference is titled “Thinking Biblically About Our Corrosive Culture” and features Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Rob Gagnon.

What:  IFI Worldview Conference

When:  Saturday, March 7th, 10 AM to 3:30 PM

Where:  Village Church of Barrington, 1600 E. Main Street, Barrington, IL 60010 (map)

How much:  $20 per person/$50 per family

Click HERE for a flyer for this event.

You don’t want to miss this!

In the previous article, we looked at the first two myths about neutrality in education:

• Myth #1: Neutrality is possible.
• Myth #2: Neutrality is acceptable.

Let’s move on now to the third of the Neutrality Myths. 

Myth #3: Neutrality Is About Facts; Worldview Is About Spin

This myth may not be as pervasive as the first two, but I wonder if it may affect some Christian parents. It’s the wrong idea that neutrality is all about facts and that anyone who brings a worldview to the discussion is going to skew or spin the truth.

Yes, it’s true that some worldviews distort, ignore, or manufacture their own “facts.” In truth, all worldviews except Christianity are guilty of getting some facts wrong. But we must never forget that the Christian worldview is, in reality, true. It is not neutral, but it is true. This is a key distinction and one we must understand. Presenting our children with a distinctively Christian education is not a disservice to them, as if they won’t understand the real world if they are taught according to the Bible. Indeed, only Christians can properly understand the world, because Christianity—the biblical worldview—is all about reality.

Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey point out in their book How Now Shall We Live? that every worldview follows a three-part grid: Creation (how did we get here?), Fall (what is the problem with the world?), and Redemption (what is the solution to mankind’s problems?). Only Christianity offers the correct answers to these questions and thus gives us an accurate view of the world around us.

The greatest truths in the world are that God exists, He has spoken, and He has sent His Son in the person of Jesus Christ to redeem a lost world marred by sin. This is true reality, and God intends that these truths shape everything about our lives. For the Christian, neutrality must retreat in the face of this truth.

God is the Author of all truth. Thus, an education centered on a correct understanding of God and His Word will never be neutral, but it will be factual, truthful, and an accurate representation of the world as it really is.

This brings us full circle to my opening point in Part 1 that we often overlook the significance of education in the lives of our children. Neutrality tells us the ultimate meaning of nothing and tries to keep us from taking sides, even if truth demands it. We would never think of joining a neutral church nor of being a neutral family. So why is it that we believe neutrality in education is no big deal? Why do we take such a large slice of our children’s lives and say it doesn’t really matter what the content is or how it is presented? We have lost sight of what education is meant to be.

A True Education

Biblically speaking, education is not meant to be a purely intellectual transfer of facts from one mind to another. God is certainly not anti-intellectual; He does, after all, command us to love Him with our minds as well as our hearts. But to reduce education to a completely intellectual pursuit is to make it something God never intended it to be.

Let’s go back to the study of history as an example. In Psalm 78:4–8 we read:

We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

We see here an overtly spiritual purpose to the typically intellectual (and secular) study of history. In God’s model, the study of history involves the mind and the heart. As knowledge of their past was gained, the goal was for children to learn of God and follow Him. The heart and mind were both engaged.

Israel Wayne points out in his book Full-Time Parenting that, biblically speaking, education is discipleship. In other words, education is meant to be something more than the mere transfer of information. As planned by God, it is meant to be transformational, impacting the complete person, both mind and heart.

If this is true, then we have a clear mandate to center education on God and His truth. Even academic subjects should be taught within a biblical framework. This means that attempted neutrality, rather than being desirable or acceptable, should be banished. God calls us to something far higher.

Moving Boldly Forward

If we are to raise up a generation that is everything God desires it to be, we must reject convictionless education. We must reject the idea that our public schools are neutral and that neutrality would be acceptable even if it were possible. We must embrace the biblical concept of education, which is to shape and mold our children’s hearts as well as their minds. And we must stand boldly on the Word of God, centering our educational efforts on God’s eternal truth. We must teach our children in the fear of the Lord, for it is this—and not a hollow mask of neutrality—that is the foundation of all wisdom and knowledge.

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A Night With Rev. Franklin Graham!
At this year’s annual IFI banquet, our keynote speaker will be none other than Rev. Franklin Graham, President & CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Christian evangelist & missionary. This year’s event will be at the Tinley Park Convention Center on Nov. 1st. You don’t want to miss this special evening!

Learn more HERE.

Although the subject of worldview has become a hot topic among Christians, there are many in the church who still don’t understand what a worldview is and why it matters. At best, it can often seem like an entirely theoretical topic with little bearing on the practical realm. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

What is a Worldview?

A worldview is simply a framework of beliefs we use to interpret the world around us. Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey, in their book How Now Shall We Live?, write that any worldview addresses three issues: Creation, Fall, and Redemption. In other words, they say, a worldview answers these fundamental questions:

1.) Where did we come from, and who are we?

2.) What has gone wrong with the world?

3.) What can we do to fix it?

It’s easy to see that different worldviews will answer these questions in very different ways. Christianity teaches that sin is the problem in our world. Marxism, on the other hand, teaches that private property is the problem. While the first two questions above are largely philosophical in nature, they lay the foundation for the third question which is intensely practical.

The Impact of Worldview

Worldviews aren’t simply theoretical constructs that have no impact on the world around us. Hitler had a worldview and used it to wreak havoc on the world and exterminate millions of people for no better reason than their ethnicity. William Wilberforce had a different worldview and used it to stop the slave trade in England and put an end to untold human suffering. These two men—with their different worldviews and world-changing legacies—show us that when worldviews are put into action, they can either do great harm or tremendous good.

Why Your Worldview Matters

It’s easy to see why the worldviews of leaders and influencers—whether in business, politics, the arts, or education—matters intensely. These individuals wield enormous influence over the culture and impact the destinies of men and nations.

But what about you and me? Most of us don’t hold the fate of the world in our hands. Why does our worldview matter? Let’s look at a few reasons.

Because You Can Vote. In a representative republic like ours, we have the freedom to help decide who governs us. An understanding of a Biblical worldview will help us understand the proper role of government, which will help us stand up for these principles at the ballot box. If the worldviews of our leaders matter, our worldview also matters.

Because We’re Raising the Next Generation. I don’t know what my children will grow up to be. Perhaps one will be a future president or Supreme Court justice. Perhaps one will become an extraordinarily successful entrepreneur. Perhaps one will write books or make movies that will influence millions. If so, I want them to have a Biblical worldview, and it’s up to me to teach them. But even if they grow up to occupy quietly ordinary roles, it’s important for them to have a Biblical worldview because they’ll still have some level of influence on those around them.

Because We’re Supposed to Live Out Our Faith. If we believe that Christianity is separate from the practical realm—in other words, that some things are sacred and other things are secular—we’re not going to successfully live out our faith on a daily basis. Implementing a Biblical worldview essentially means bringing our faith into our daily lives in every area—from family life, to finances, to the workplace, and so on.

The Bottom Line

Our worldview matters because, as the saying goes, ideas have consequences. If they didn’t, it wouldn’t matter what we believed or what worldview we held. But if we really want to live out our faith on a consistent basis, we need to understand a Biblical worldview.

The balanced Christian life consists of both a personal relationship with a personal God and a proper understanding of how His truth impacts everything in our lives. Having a Biblical worldview is an indispensable part of that equation.

IFI Worldview Conference

To help equip Christians to think and live out our faith in the public square, the Illinois Family Institute is hosting their Fourth Annual Illinois Family Institute Worldview Conference with John Stonestreet – President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview.

What:  IFI Worldview Conference with John Stonestreet

When:  Saturday, May 5th, 10 AM to 3:30 PM

Where:  Medinah Baptist Church, 900 Foster Avenue, Medinah, IL 60157 (map)

How much:  $20 per person/$50 per family

Click HERE for a flyer for this event.

You don’t want to miss this!