Measuring Your Worldview
by Brannon Howse
October 19, 2004
(AgapePress) - According to the Barna Research Group, 91 percent of teens in our "evangelical" church youth groups do not believe in absolute moral truth. They may believe in truth, but not absolute moral truth. A recent study by the Southern Baptist Convention found that 88 percent of their students were denying the Christian faith by the time they graduate from college.Worldview Weekend desires to raise a generation of students who love God with their heart, soul, strength and mind. To accomplish this goal requires parents and adults who are prepared to give a defense and a definition of truth. We need to teach more about truth, not more about the lie.
Secular humanists deny absolute truth by proclaiming that all truth is relative and situational, thus man must decide what is right or wrong based on each situation he encounters.
Postmodernism is the belief that truth is not discovered by man but created by man. Man creates truth when he surveys every situation and then chooses a course of action that will yield his best results. This idea comes from the humanist worldview that proclaims man as the measure of all things; therefore, man is free to do what is in his own selfish interest.
This is exactly why you will hear some people say, "That may be truth for you, but it is not truth for me."
A postmodern worldview actually allows two opposing truth claims to be equal, unless one of them is based on a fixed, moral absolute standard. Such a view is seen by the postmodernist as unacceptable and "intolerant."
On the other hand, the Christian believes that God created truth for man to discover and that God's truth is for all times, all places and all people, and man will be held accountable by God at the end of his life for what he did with truth.
If what Hitler did was evil, and it was evil, then there must be a standard for good and evil. There must be a standard for truth and untruth. Truth must be fixed and unchanging or it would not be truth.
So What is Truth?
James 1:17-18 reads, "Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above, who created all heaven's lights. Unlike them, He never changes or casts shifting shadows. In His goodness, He chose to make us His own children by giving us His true Word." The source of all truth is God. The Bible is a reflection of God's character and nature, and that is why the Bible is truth.
Jesus says all other attempts to receive salvation or reach heaven apart from Him are wrong and futile. This is an extremely "intolerant" message in today's world.
Josh McDowell, frequent speaker at Worldview Weekends, set out to disprove Christianity and became one of the world's greatest Christian thinkers and defenders. McDowell writes in his book The Discounted Generation:
"God is the original. He is the origin of all things that are in existence. And if we wish to know if anything is right or wrong, good or evil, we must measure it against the person who is true. 'He is the Rock,' Moses said. 'His work is perfect ... a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He' (Deuteronomy 32:4, KJV). You see, it is the very person and nature of God that defines truth. It is not something He measures up to. It is not something He announces. It is not even something He decides. It is something He is."
Jesus Christ and truth are one and the same. The Truth loves us so much that He gave His life on the cross so we can know absolute Truth and have a personal relationship with Him.
Christian Apologetics on the Web
www.worldviewweekend.com -- Website of Worldview Weekend conferences. Includes links to the websites of speakers who appear at the conferences and an online worldview test.
www.apologeticspress.org -- Website of Apologetics Press, publisher of tracts, research articles, video and audio tapes.
www.leaderu.com -- A very large website with articles covering every issue of Christian apologetics.
Brannon Howse is president and founder of Worldview Weekend Conferences; author of Cradle to College: An Educational Abduction and Reclaiming a Nation at Risk; and co-host of Christian Worldview This Week, a weekly radio program aired on the American Family Radio network. This article appeared in the October 2004 issue of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association.
