The meaning of worldview is simple
actually, which is “the way someone thinks about the world” according to
Webster dictionary. In other words it is
a philosophy of the world, of life, of how we live. The American Scientific Affiliation explains
worldview as “a mental model of reality – a framework of ideas and attitudes
about the world, ourselves, and life, a comprehensive system of beliefs.” In such abstract conception of the world, we
are urged to attempt to answer THE most important questions of life, such as:
“What is man? Does God exist? Is there a heaven and a hell? What can we know? What must we do?” Ever since a human being is born into the
world, the formation of worldview has started.
All the information the person gathers through the senses or experiences
begin piling up waiting to be understood.
The human mind can’t rest well until understanding is reached.
The great debate between Rene Descartes
and David Hume over reality is an appropriate illustration of the importance of
worldview in human life. Descartes is
well known as the father of modern philosophy.
And modern philosophy is dominated by his branch of philosophy called
Rationalism. Whereas Hume is very well
known as one of the sharpest minds in the Empiricism front. For Descartes our understanding of reality is
predetermined by all the categories in our mind that exist innately (a priori). Hume disagreed, he said that our perception
of reality is dependent upon the information we receive (a posteriori). In other words, for Hume, the environment –
more specifically the external environment – is the critical factor to shape
our understanding. Descartes’ philosophy
puts a heavy emphasis on the mind – that the human mind is the source of
knowledge. Thinking alone may prove the
existence of man – thus his maxim “cogito
ergo sum=I think therefore I am.”
Hume, on the other hand, argued that our knowledge is found as we
experience the environment. Environment,
therefore, according to Hume, is the source of knowledge. One can’t prove his existence by merely
thinking about it but by testing it through the environment. Therefore Empiricism. These two opposite worldviews lead to a very
different way of life. Cartesians rely
on reason to make sense of the world.
Humeans rely on experience to make sense of the world.
While the two philosophies run into
opposite directions, Immanuel Kant attempted to bring the two together. So he proposed that both reason and
environment form knowledge. Kant argued
that there is indeed the framework of categories within our mind exists
independently of one’s experience and interaction with the environment. He called the framework “Categorical
Imperative.” Then he proceeded to argue
that the information we received as we encounter the environment would be
required to fill the box of the categories we already have innately. Now, this branch of philosophy is probably
best known as realism. This too is a
different way of seeing the world. Kant
rejected the idea that human mind is born as a blank slate – Humean and also
Lockeian (from John Locke). Kant also
disagreed with Descartes who believed that our mind can exist independent of
the world. For Kant, these two were not
realistic.
Now, our mind is extremely
complex. We have not yet discovered
completely the mystery of the human mind.
Our understanding of the world is formed in that complex nature and
interaction with the world. Therefore,
our worldview is so complex in nature.
But this framework of worldview that exists in our mind governs our life
into its minute details. It is necessary
thus to understand what kind of worldview that governs our life. Is it the Cartesian Rationalism, or the
Humean Empiricism, or Kantian Realism, or Confucianism, or Taoism, or
Calvinism, etc.? Whatever kind of
worldview we adopt, be it consciously or unconsciously, will for sure affect
our way of life.
Let me give you an illustration of
how a person puts relativism into life.
Two persons, one is very old and the other is very young, go on a
journey. They bring with them a
donkey. They walk throughout their journey
with their donkey following them. At the
first leg of their journey they arrive at a village wanting to rest because
they had been walking for a long time.
Some people looking at them say: “You must be exhausted walking. Especially the little one. Why did you not put him on the donkey? Poor lad.”
So after they rest, they set out to continue their journey. This time, after listening to the people in that
village, the old man put the young lad on the donkey. And then they walk again. It’s still quite a long journey to
cover. Halfway, they meet some people
who make a comment: “Now, that is not right.
How can you let the old man walk while the young ride on a donkey?! Very disrespectful!” Hearing such comment, they are uneasy. So right there and then they are switching
place. Now, the old man rides the
donkey, while the young lad walks. After
sometime, they meet some other people.
And this time these people comment: “Now that’s just not right, is
it? How can you let the poor young lad
suffer like that walking, while you old man ride on a donkey and enjoy all the
comfort?” They are feeling very
uneasy. So they decide to both ride the
donkey. Young and old both ride the
donkey. It’s quite a hike and the donkey
is working very hard to carry both of them.
Then as they near a bridge, they meet yet some other people who say to
them: “Well well, aren’t you the cruelest people, you punish the poor donkey
with your heavy weight, and force him to work so hard. Poor donkey.”
They are surprised at the comment.
And so they quickly go down.
Still haunted by the last comment, they then think of caring for their
donkey by carrying it. And so they
continue their journey with the donkey on their back. Then approach the second village. Just as they enter the village, the people in
the village laugh at them so loudly, and say: “What stupid sods are you? Aren’t you supposed to ride on the donkey
instead of the donkey riding on you?”
And they continue to laugh at them while shaking their head at their
stupidity. The young lad and the old man
look at each other and are so confused.
They lower their donkey on the ground and begin to cry. That, my friends, is relativism at work.
In Romans 12:2 Paul exhorts: “2 Do
not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewal of your mind.” With Paul’s exhortation we are now talking at
a higher level. This is a level higher
than that of the world. Descartes, Hume,
and Kant spoke at the worldly level. But
Paul speaks at the heavenly level. The
difference between the worldly and the heavenly is clearly elaborated in the
Scripture. Paul gives a lengthy teaching
on this matter as recorded in Colossians 3:1-17:
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the
things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set
your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For
you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When
Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is
idolatry. 6 On
account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were
living in them. 8 But
now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk
from your mouth. 9 Do
not lie to one another, seeing that you
have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on
the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its
creator. 11 Here
there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian,
slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one
another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as
the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds
everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And
let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in
one body. And be thankful. 16 Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in
all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in
your hearts to God. 17 And
whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.
The
mind of the Christians is redeemed in Christ.
Now, the mind of Christ must become the mind of all Christians. In doing so, we can’t continue to live in our
old ways of life. Consequently, our old
worldview too can’t be employed. A new
worldview must take place in order for the entire being be transformed. This new world view is the worldview of
Christ. Now we have what is called as
the “Christian Worldview.” It is
necessary for the followers of Christ to shed their old self – their attachment
to the world – and put on the new self – attachment to Christ. The adoption of Christ’s worldview is what we
know very well as “Repentance.” This
repentance is the total change of self.
The way we view the world is drastically changed as we begin adopting
Christ’s worldview. No worldly worldview
no matter how good it may seem that we are to adopt. Not adopting the worldly worldview doesn’t
mean that we seclude ourselves from the world.
We do not adopt the asceticism view.
We do not separate ourselves from the world. For we are sent into the world. As Jesus has said in His high priestly
prayer: “18 As
you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
(John 17:18). So, not adopting the
worldly worldview means that we do not abide in the world. We only abide in Christ. All the practices of the things that are
highly valued on earth are to be abandoned.
Things like the achievement of power, of wealth, of fame, of pleasure,
etc. are to be abandoned. If one is to
abide by the world, he is to focus his life into all that worldly things. Now listen to what Paul says in Romans 8:5-8:
5 For those
who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but
those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the
Spirit. 6 For to set
the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and
peace. 7 For the
mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to
God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those
who are in the flesh cannot please God.
This
flesh of ours tends to agree with the world.
The worldly gain like power, fame, wealth, pleasure and the likes fit
our flesh very well. The worldly
worldview leads toward the things that fit our flesh, even if it is considered
to be noble. Even if the worldview
seemingly focuses on the punishing of the flesh, it would also for the purpose
of self-gain. I will show you bits and
pieces of worldly worldviews so you may know the danger and deception of some
of them. Time won’t permit us to exhaust
everything. If we force to do so we
would stay here for the next 50 years just to discuss every single false
worldviews. It would be enough for you
to know a little bit so you may be aware of the dangers and then focus more on
the right worldview. Even this we won’t
be able to exhaust everything within the Christian worldview. It usually takes a long time to shape the
mind to understand the Christian worldview.
For to understand a worldview one must live in it intellectually,
passionately, and behaviorally for a period of time. For example, the Jews require each child to
be immersed in the Jewish belief intensively since birth. Then at the age of 12 the Jewish kids would
go through the Bar Mitzvah ritual as the rite of passage ritual to mark the
maturity of the mind of the Jewish kids.
Passing through the Bar Mitzvah (also known as the Children of Torah) is
the sign that these kids have adopted the Jewish belief to the fullest. Thus the Jewish worldview is internalized in
the mind of these Bar Mitzvah kids.
Now, there are many dangerous
worldviews out there that you need to be aware of. For example a philosophy called “Atheistic
Existentialism” with Jean Paul Sartre and Friedrich Nietzsche as some of their
prophets is a dangerous philosophy that has gained a lot of practical followers
in the 20th and 21st centuries. Sartre for example taught that our value lies
not in the traditional values as humans know it throughout the ages. What is good or wrong is not determined by
the traditional values such as the Aristotle’s Summum Bonnum. For Sartre
what is good is determined whether humans are free to make a choice. So he illustrated his view like this. A certain man is driving his car on the road. As he drove he saw from afar there was a man
on the shoulder trying to fix whatever problem his car had. This certain man driving has some options,
his value will be determined by his freedom to choose among those options. Say there are three options: 1) stop the car
and help the man with the car problem, 2) pass him by, and 3) hit the man with
the car problem. Then Sartre said that
it doesn’t matter what he chooses, as long as he chooses. His value is not determined by the content of
his choice, but by the fact that he is free to choose. And so even if he chooses to hit the man with
the car problem and the man died, it is considered good because he makes a
choice. Now, imagine the whole world
adopting such worldview, what kind of chaos do you think the world would
become? Terrorists can’t be judged
according to the traditional meaning of good and evil, since they too make a
choice. So whatever they do is good too
as long as they choose.
Nietzsche taught that God is
dead. He also taught that since God is
dead, now then is the time of man. Man
must find the “replacement” of God. And
he called that replacement as the “ubermensch” or as the superman. The coming of the ubermensch must be from the
superior people. Therefore the superior
people and culture must rule and take charge of the world. Then ubermensch will be born to take the
supreme command. Some historians said
that Hitler picked up Nietzsche’s worldview and internalized it. Then Hitler moved on with his plan to destroy
the Jews – the inferior people and culture – following Nietzsche’s book “On the
Genealogy of Morals.” Hitler boasted
that the German people – the Aryan – was the supreme people and culture. He believed that Germany must rule the world
therefore. World War II broke out
because of such worldview. And since God
is dead, man is free to do whatever their hearts desire. In his book “The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor
Dostoevsky rightly spoke that: “If there is no God, then everything is
permitted.” Well, we have seen what that
worldview did to the world, haven’t we?
Now, the Hindu religion has a
fascinating worldview. The world famous
karma and reincarnation system within the Hindu belief is something that many
people truly devote their lives in. The
impact of this system is that Hindu people would think 1000 times before doing
anything. Because they are afraid of the
consequences of their actions. If they
do evil, then the karma will return the evil to them with a vengeance, ten
times or even a thousand times more severe.
If they do good, then the karma will return the good to them ten times
or even a thousand times better. With
this system, they supposedly are choosing to do good rather than evil. They would not want to be reincarnated as a
mouse, or as a cockroach, or as other insignificant insect. So they discipline their bodies in such a way
so as to achieve the higher reincarnation form.
To be a better person. To be in a
better caste. To be a god. Or even to break the reincarnation cycle
(samsara – the cycle of death and rebirth) through moksha. In order to achieve moksha one must go
through some kind of bitter suffering through seclusion. So they would withdraw from the world,
renounce their desire, and always do good.
If we look at it carefully, this system, while works very well for the
Hindu people for so many thousands of years, in the end doing good is for their
self-gain. For their liberation. For their freedom from the pain of
reincarnation. In this worldview, people
do not do good for the sake of others or for the sake of good itself, but for
the sake of their own life so that they would not receive bad karma but instead
good karma. Any genuine good deeds you
can find? I’m saying this not to mock
them, but to show you that a worldview has its inevitable consequences in the
life of man.
Deepak Chopra, the New Age Guru of
the 20th and 21st century, teaches his followers that we
are essentially god. That when god is
born in us we will reach the highest state of our life. All we need to do is to channel that god within
us. This god, according to Chopra, is
waiting to be unfolded. Our attachment
to this world is what hampers the birth of this god. Chopra also argues that if we are broken down
into the atomic level, we are no different than all other objects in the world. As all things are broken down, we will find
energy and information, and thus here we share our essential components with
all the other objects in the world. Humans
therefore are no different than cockroaches, for we share the same essential
components. With these views Chopra
proposes that in order to be successful we then must become one with the world.
Among his seven laws of success, the
first one is the foundation – which is the “Law of Pure Potentiality.” This law requires you to be in tune with the
one spirit that unites everything.
Meditation therefore is the key – to channel the one spirit. For Chopra, god or that one spirit is
recognized in many different names. In
Christianity we call him Elohim, in Islam he is Allah, in Buddhism he is
Buddha, in Hinduism he is Brahma, and so on.
And so, consequently, according to Chopra it doesn’t matter which
religion you follow, you still channel the same uniting spirit. And therefore, for Chopra, if one is to be
successful in the world one must eliminate differences and find only what is essentially
the same. Now, this law is combined with
what is called as the “Law of Least Effort” and you will find a view that
proposes to embrace everything without discrimination. In his “Law of Least Effort” he says that
love is the uniting principle of everything in the universe. And so for Chopra we are to do the least
effort, which is to love, loving everything.
The problem with his view is that then we are to embrace even evil,
murder, disaster, terrorists. All that
is needed to be done is to love and everything will unfold itself for our
success. If he is right, Jesus did not
have to die. He did not have to put in
his best effort to save humanity. And we
do not need to work with our best effort to bring peace into the world. For Chopra it will come by itself through the
least effort. And so we all will have to
become pacifists and do nothing. So, why
go to school? Why study? Why work?
Why evangelize? Why do we even
eat? And so on and so forth. Hope you can see the danger of this New Age
worldview through this short discussion.
There are many other worldviews in
this world. There are pragmatism,
communism, agnosticism, utilitarianism, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Islam,
and so on and so forth. But since we are
Christians, it is only fitting if we adopt Christian worldview. In a nutshell, it is the view of the world as
Christ views the world. In which the end
goal is to become like Christ, our older brother. In which its ethical principle is the golden rule:
“So whatever you wish
that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the
Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12).
In which we are to love God more than anything and to love our neighbor
as ourselves. In which when it is
necessary for us to do so, we would sacrifice ourselves for the sake of our
love to God or to others. In which we do
good not for the sake of we are gaining heaven, but even if heaven is not
bestowed upon us we still would do good.
In which when we do good it is a reflection of who we really are as
created in the image of God who have been redeemed in Christ Jesus. And in which we start from: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7a).”
My final word to you is that what
worldview you are adopting will make you.
Or in other words: “You are what
your worldview is.” Therefore it is
important that you know what your worldview is.
For wanted or not, consciously or not, you have already had a worldview
within your framework of being that governs how you view the world, how you
live your life, or how you treat others, etc.
For sure, if you are to live a Christian life, Christian worldview must
be adopted, and not other worldviews.
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