QUESTION #2: Why does a biblical worldview matter for all ages and what happens when it’s missing?

Answer:

Dr. Christian Overman:

“Let me explain briefly what I mean by worldview. It is your view of reality, the world and everything in it. Also, your view of what we don’t see and that gets into the issue of God, for example. Your biblical worldview, hopefully, is a biblical concept or a biblical understanding of God. It’s also a biblical understanding of what He has made. It’s a biblical understanding of who we are as human beings. It’s a biblical understanding of moral order, right and wrong, and it’s a biblical understanding of purpose. We try to boil that word “worldview” into five areas: God, creation, humanity, moral order, and purpose, just to get a good handle on it.

The reason how you think about those five areas is so important is because, as I said, they will shape your values. Your view of God has a lot to do with what you do or do not value. Your view of humanity has a lot to do with what you do or do not value. If you have a biblical view of humanity, you will not value abortion, for example. That’s just one example. Those values tend to influence our behavior. Our really significant behaviors are shaped by what we really think is real, what we really think is important, and that in turn is shaped by your view of God, creation, humanity, moral order, and purpose. Those collective values then shape behavior. That’s where it gets very, very serious because the collective behavior of any group of people in any community eventually shapes the culture.

(Unfortunately)… It is a reality that opening in prayer, closing in prayer, tacking a Bible verse, having chapel, does not Christian education make. What we have to be concerned about is how are our students seeing algebra? Do you they understand why God created numbers? Do they understand what God’s purpose is for us in using those numbers in fulfilling our purpose in life? Those are the big issues of how worldview connects to what actually goes on in the classroom. I don’t want to minimize the apologetic value of worldview, by apologetic I mean the reasons for believing that Christianity is true. I think those reasons are very, very important. Most worldview organizations tend to focus on the apologetics of worldview, and again, we need that. This is not either/or. Our organization tends to focus in on the practical application of that understanding. What effect does that understanding have on our study of plants, for example?”

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