In Philippians 2:5-11 KJV, Paul admonishes the believer in Christ to allow the mind of Christ to exist in the life of the believer.  This mind of Christ is the beginning of our understanding of a biblical worldview.  Every man-made religion has a worldview.  The difference between the biblical worldview and the religious worldview is having the mind of Christ.  This mind of Christ allows the believer to live triumphantly over a life beset with living for our sinful nature.  This does not mean that humankind is without faults and failings, but it means humankind can, through the Holy Spirit, rise about the ancestral traits that descended from our parents Adam and Eve.  These sinful traits cause our minds to be corrupted by our personal desires. Therefore, the believer must have a biblical worldview that compels the believer to acknowledge God in every facet of life, framing every decision, belief and thought and holding the very life of the believer captive to the sovereignty of God.   

What is a Biblical Worldview?

Biblical Worldview consists of a mind and heart that has been redeemed by God through a personal relationship with His Son, Jesus. (Powell, 2006) The believer is empowered by God’s Holy Spirit to focus on living, breathing, and having their being found in Christ (Acts 17:28, KJV).  Apart from Christ living in the believer, humankind is forced to make life decisions based upon whims and sinful lusts.  For the believer in God, it is a shift in the thought process.  Romans 12:2ab admonishes the believer to “not conform to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  The mind of the believer must be transformed by the power of the living Christ.  This transformative mindset then gives the believer a new thought process by which all things are carefully and critically measured.  Everyday dependence upon God and His Holy Word are necessary to maintain this new mindset.  Not only is this new mindset changed into a new person, but it also plays a key part of the believer’s obedience to God.  When the believer has evaluated every decision and every life principle through the prism of God’s Character and His Word, he or she is able to be obedient to God.  (The Truth Project, 2010)

The Question of Origin: How did we get here?

The question of biblical cosmology beings with the first five words found in Genesis 1:1 “In the Beginning, God created” (KJV). Scripture declares that God is the sole creator of the heavens and earth; God, who existed before creation and is ever-present created everything.  Within the first few verses of Genesis chapter 1 we find that three Persons make up the Triune Godhead and were all present during the creative process.  God, as defined by Deuteronomy 6:4 is found as three united all-powerful Persons, God, the Father, God, The Son, and God, the Holy Spirit (Ghost).  Through God’s design/plan He created the perfect location for human beings to survive and thrive.   This place was called Earth.  Humankind came into existence because God “formed a man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7a, KJV).    It is a fact that everyone born has unique traits that can not be found in any other person.  Although we share human traits, which make us human, we are in no way exactly alike. 

The Question of Identity: Who is Man?

King David asked God the question found in Psalm 8:4-8, KJV “What is man that thou art mindful of him?”  Why is God, who through His Word framed the heavens and the earth thinking of his creation.  Why are we unique?  God answers through scripture that we have been made “a little lower than the angels” (Psalm 8:5, KJV).  God created us to have control over the earth that God created. (Psalm 8:6, KJV). Everything has been placed under humankind’s absolute control.  Why?  We are God’s workmanship.  Humans have thoughts, wishes, and concerns.  We have been created to maintain the earth.  Never in scripture do we see that humankind is to control themselves.  That is God’s domain.  God wants to be in control of our lives.  Why?  So that His sovereignty is declared to all. The last verse in Psalm 8, exclaims “O Lord our Lord How excellent is thy name in all the earth.”  This is King David’s declaration that God is sovereign over all the earth and all that dwells in the earth. 

The Question of Meaning: Our Purpose for Existing

In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon at the end of his reign as king, looks back over his life and decides that “all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2b, KJV).  At the beginning of their lives some children ask the question, “What am I here for?”  This is a question that has echoed throughout time.  Our purpose for being here is not clear to all of us.  Some people take years to discover their purpose for living and existing.  King Solomon had all the wealth he could want, all the wives one man could handle, and still felt empty.  The eleven (11) chapters in Ecclesiastes helps the believer walk through these difficult life questions.   Finally, in Chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes, Solomon reminds the reader to “remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).  In verse 13b of the same chapter, Solomon declares, “Fear God, and keep his commandments.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13, KJV).  Solomon decides that putting our whole trust in what God says in His Word is the answer all our questions and our entire purpose for living. 

The Question of Morality and Death

Humankind, designed in the image of God, has been given choices to make regarding whether or not to obey God.  Those choices are important to God.  The choice was so important, that God created only one law for human beings in the beginning.  God told Adam and his wife not to eat from the tree in the midst of the garden which was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, (Genesis 2:17, KJV) The punishment if they broke the law of God, was death.  Scripture has been clear about death.  It is a separation of the soul from the body, then a separation from the presence of God to a place of eternal damnation.  Separation from Him was never God’s plan or purpose for humankind.  His plan was to bring humankind into His presence to live with Him forever!  Jesus Christ, himself taught that heaven and hell are both real places.  It is important that we make moral choices before we depart from this place.   In the Rich Man and Lazarus, found in Luke 16:19-31, Jesus explains clearly to the listening audience that your choices must be made before anyone departs this life because there is no returning from death to warn others about hell.  (Word Count 742)

How Now Shall We Live?

Understanding and living in Christ means that we should be careful to treat others with respect and dignity.  They are creations of God as well.  We must live to love those who do not love us.  We first must be transformed.  We must allow God to clean up our lives first.  Then we can help others make logical sense out of the offer of new life that God has given freely to all men. (Colson, 20).  In conclusion, believers have an obligation to share the life-giving story of Jesus Christ, to anyone who will listen.  No matter what the individual chooses, it is up to them to choose life with God or choose life without God. A biblical worldview holds to the truth that Jesus died for our sins (John 3:16 KJV), we must repent of the sin that Christ died for; we must confess that Jesus has risen from the dead and “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10 KJV) (Word Count 200)

References

Colson, C. W., & Pearcey, N. (2004). How Now Shall We Live? Tyndale House Publishers.

Powell, D. (2006). Holman QuickSource Guide to Christian Apologetics. Holman Reference.

The Holy Bible.  King James Study Bible.  (1988) Annotated. Thomas Nelson Press.

Treier, D. J., & Elwell, W. A. (2017). Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

YouTube. (2010). The Truth Project – What is a Worldview? YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k51PgdUv__E&list=PLAF2E6BC58181DF67.