What is your worldview?

What is truth to you? From where do you derive what is right and wrong in your own life and in this world? Is truth relative based on the situation or what a person thinks/feels, or are there absolute truths in this world? Is your worldview based on what makes you comfortable and happy or is it based on unchanging absolutes?

During my lifetime, I have seen a lot of changes in the world around me. Some of those changes have been helpful to society: advancements in healthcare, technological inventions make it easier to communicate and reach the world, and new industries provide much needed jobs to people, just to name a few.

Other changes have more to do with people's attitudes and preferences: the entertainment industry continues to push the envelope with sex and violence, children are given much more freedom much earlier in life than in the past, and some states allow gay couples to marry while other states have bans against it, just to name a few. Isn't it interesting that our country is very divided on these issues? A person’s worldview will be the main factor in determining where he stands on these issues.

In the last few years, I’ve noticed that many people cling to a worldview that suggests truth is relative—each person can determine what truth is and everyone’s “truth” must be accepted. In other words, my truth can be completely different from your truth and we are both right. How can two completely different viewpoints both be true? When I ask people why they believe what they do on a certain topic, the answer is usually some form of, “That is just what I believe and am comfortable with.” When I press them further by asking if there is a reliable source or foundation on which they can stand on any given issue, they typically can’t point to anything other than their own heart and mind and they also know of other people who agree with their position on the issue.

Jesus Christ was faced with the issue of truth. In the Gospel of John, Jesus is questioned by Pontius Pilate: “Therefore Pilate said to Him, ‘So You are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say correctly that I am a king For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’” (18:37-38a)

Jesus answered this question four chapters earlier when he said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me” (14:6).

The Bible clearly teaches absolute truths that we must accept. An example of an absolute truth is that 2+2=4. If someone tried to give any answer other than 4, everyone else would agree that he is wrong. Here are some absolute truths from the Bible:

1. There is only one true God
a. “I am the Lord and there is no other. Besides me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known me. That men may know, from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides me. I am the Lord and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:5-6).

2. The God of the Bible created everything (the world, people, animals, etc)
a. “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:3).

3. Every human has sinned
a. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

4. Sin is breaking God’s moral Law (10 Commandments)
a. “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’” (Romans 7:7).

5. God’s moral Law is written on everyone’s heart and the conscience already condemns us
a. “in that they show the work of the Law written on their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them” (Romans 2:15).

6. Every human deserves hell for his/her sin because he/she has sinned against a holy and just God
a. “Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death” (Romans 6:21).
b. “Then I said, ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts’” (Isaiah 6:5).

7. God doesn’t desire for anyone to go to hell
a. “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

8. God sent His Son to take the punishment of our sins on Himself
a. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
b. “But God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
c. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

9. God demands that everyone should repent and put his faith in Christ
a. “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).

10. It is only through repentance of sin and faith in Christ that we can be saved from God’s wrath.
a. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

11. There is no other way to eternal life in Heaven outside of Jesus Christ
a. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me” (John14:6).

If truth is relative (as many believe), then the truth claims that our country and world live by will constantly change based on certain factors like who is in a leadership position making decisions and which viewpoint is the best funded and/or most vocal, etc. Each time new leaders are elected (from the local to the federal level), new "truth claims" are put into place under his/her leadership. Citizens are then asked to accept these new truth claims as what is best for the city/state/country and research is provided explaining why certain changes need to be made. These changes are made until the next new guy/gal is elected and the process repeats itself. "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12).

The Bible has never changed its viewpoint or position. It is constant in its message and teaching and is just as relevant today as it was when it was first written. Unfortunately, our society does not recognize the Bible as an authoritative source. As one of the family devotionals we use put it, “Without God’s Word we would have to guess about how to live wisely and how to know right from wrong—and each person’s guess would be different from every other person’s!” (Training Hearts, Teaching Minds by Starr Meade, p. 14).

My worldview is based on the Bible. I believe the Bible “because it is a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses, who report supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophesies. These authors claim their writings are divine rather than human in origin” (From Voddie Baucham’s sermon "Why I choose to believe the Bible").

"For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, 'This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased'--and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God" (2 Peter 1:16-21).

What is your worldview? What is the foundation of your worldview?