Tag Archives: worldview

Victims of our worldview

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Feeling particularly uninspired, I thought I’d share an article that I found interesting, which combines two ideas we’ve looked at recently:

  • how our worldview affects our interpretation of the Bible
  • the need to read the Bible looking for broad themes, rather than isolating individual passages

Found over at The Relentless Monk, the article is called “Are We ALL victims of our worldview?”

A few interesting quotes (for those lacking the time or patience to read the article):

  • “The problem is that we are all trapped in our presuppositions. Had my friend, or I, or the fundamentalist pastor down the street, been born in a different culture with different presuppositions about how the world works, what we see as the ‘plain meaning’ of anything would be different.”
  • “As I thought more about it, I realized that my friend was assuming that how he understood the text was, in fact, the way the author intended the text to be understood. From his perspective, things like symbolism, repetition, and literary structure were secondary, and few other people would notice them. He was assuming that what he saw as the plain meaning of the text was, in fact, it’s meaning. He was saying what we all say—that his presuppositions are the right ones.” (author’s emphasis)
  • “At the same time, however, my western worldview requires that what I believe be logical and consistent, and, in a general way, make sense.” (author’s emphasis)
  • “As I have learned more about the Bible, I have identified and rejected many of my past preconceptions, but I cannot imagine not holding Scripture to some standard of inherent logic. Is that logic some universal aspect of how humans understand truth, or is it, too, just a transient characteristic of my culture that is so ingrained that I will never be able to get out from under it?”

Interesting thoughts. Tell me what you think.

More than meets the eyes

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In general, the Jewish world of ancient times saw a direct relation between many things on earth and in the supernatural world. We hear Jesus speak of how children’s angels are constantly in the presence of God. The seven letters of Revelation are addressed to the angels of the churches. As Joshua prepared to begin the conquest of the Promised Land, he was met by the commander of the army of the Lord.

In the ancient world, many peoples saw their kings as divine. The Bible often speaks of rulers in spiritual terms, even using the term “gods” in Psalms 82 and 138, although that’s probably a bit of sarcasm. They are called “sons of gods,” recognizing their human nature with a link to the spiritual world. I did a study of Genesis 6 when I was in grad school, coming to the conclusion that the passage was talking about human kings. I would probably modify my view a bit now; I still believe they were human kings, but the terminology used probably indicates a demonic rebellion against God as well.

An interesting passage is Deuteronomy 32:8. Most versions follow the reading from the Masoretic text. The ESV chose to follow the Septuagint (and a text from the Dead Sea Scrolls) which reads: “When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.” (Deuteronomy 32:8) [Masoretic text says “sons of Israel”] The passage goes on to read: “But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.” (Deuteronomy 32:9) This reading reflects the idea that the nations of the world were divided up. God kept Israel for himself and gave the rest to “the sons of God.” While God was king over Israel, others would rule the rest of the nations. Whether or not this reading is the original one, it reflects an ancient Jewish understanding of the relationship between the nations and the spiritual powers.

That helps us understand apocalyptic literature. Physical problems on earth are solved through cosmic warfare, heavenly beings defeating demonic forces. We read Revelation, for example, and wonder why John would describe the fall of Rome in such terms. If we were immersed in the Jewish milieu, we wouldn’t ask that question. The tie between earthly powers and unearthly ones would be assumed and expected.

All of this to remind us that as we look at the world around us, we need to remember that there’s much more than meets the eye. Our physical world is the tip of the iceberg. That’s one reason we have to place complete trust in God, for only He can navigate us through situations that are bigger than we can possibly comprehend.

Living out spiritual realities

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Following up on yesterday’s discussion (thanks for the great comments!), I want to think about how we can view the world with more spiritual eyes. As someone who takes a high view of Scripture, I have to believe that the world it portrays is a reality. Because of this, I believe there is more to Creation than what meets the eye. There are spiritual realities that need to be recognized.

I think we need to see that our physical actions can have spiritual consequences. There are “deeds of darkness” and “works of light.” When we choose to do evil, we are partnering with evil. We are doing its bidding, allowing it to be our master. We are weakening ourselves spiritually.

We choose between carnal and spiritual, flesh and spirit. Each choice we make shapes us and affects us. Giving in to sin makes it easier to give in the next time. Resisting temptation makes it easier to follow the Spirit in the future.

Even sins that “don’t hurt anybody” hurt me. They weaken me, because we’re not just talking about superficial actions; we’re talking about placing ourself in the camp of evil or the kingdom of good. Paul put it this way: “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16)

I think that we need to help people see that we are in a spiritual struggle, an all-out war between the forces of heaven and the forces of evil. Far too much of our thinking about sin has to do with “will I still get to heaven or not?” That kind of thinking misses the point, fails to see the realities of the world in which we live.

Or am I missing the point? As always, feel free to correct me or steer me in the right direction.

Tempocentrism

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Anthropology talks about a concept called tempocentrism, the belief that your own time represents the norm and that all other times are to be judged by it. It’s never easy to escape the trap of tempocentrism. To put it bluntly, we think we’re smarter than everyone else that’s ever lived.

Part of that, I guess, is the influence that evolutionary concepts have on us. We believe that society is progressing, moving forward, growing far beyond what it used to be. Therefore, our ideas are inherently better than those of people from other times.

It’s not easy to reconcile this view with a high view of Scripture. If you approach the Bible tempocentrically, you either have to believe that God revealed things to the ancients that they had no hope of understanding or you have to think that some of the things expressed in the Bible are just wrong. The liberalism of the 19th and 20th century held to the latter of those views; they sought to sort through the “mythology” in the the Bible to find the truth. This led to the “search for the historical Jesus,” among other quixotic quests.

Contemplation of Jewish cosmology led me to all of this. To put it bluntly, the Jews believed in an active spirit world which expressed itself in the world we know. Spirits, demons, angels, false gods… these beings existed and affected our world. When God led the Israelites out of Egypt, he triumphed not only over Pharaoah, but over Pharaoh’s gods as well. (Exodus 12:12) Witchcraft was forbidden, not because there was no truth to it, but because it involved dealing with ungodly powers. When Daniel was visited by an angel, in response to his prayer, the angel said that he had been delayed “by the prince of Persia.” (Daniel 10:13) Paul says that, by eating food sacrificed to other gods, Christians can enter into fellowship with demons. (1 Corinthian 10:20–21)

All of these things, and many more, reflect a view of the world that is far different from the modern view. Do we write it off to the inferiority of ancient understanding? Do we chuckle and say, “Yes, yes, they believed such silly things”? To what degree do we adjust our own worldview based on the worldview of God’s people in ancient times?

I want to explore this a bit more, but I want to hear from you. Whose worldview is inadequate, theirs or ours? Or is there a middle ground?

Theology and worldview

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Kwast's model

Yesterday, I began a discussion of the value of theology. The insights in the comments section was excellent. One thing Adam Gonnerman pointed out is that the term “theology” is imprecise. If we were to limit ourselves to the true meaning of the word, we would only study God when doing theology. For the purposes of this discussion, we’ll stick with the general usage of the word.

When talking about culture and worldview, I often use a model that was developed by Lloyd Kwast. It views culture as having four layers. The outer layer is “Behavior,” looking at what the culture does. Below that layer lies “Values,” what the culture views to be good. Under values, we find “Beliefs,” what the culture sees as true. And underlying it all is “Worldview,” what the culture understands to be real.

When we read the Bible and merely look at what is done, I think it’s like looking at a culture and merely observing behavior. We’re not really going to understand what is going on. I won’t try and find parallels for each of the four layers, though you’re welcome to do so in the comment section. I will say that I think theology is the functional equivalent of worldview in this model. In other words, theology is to our faith what worldview is to our culture.

Theology underlies the behavior, beliefs and values of the church. If we merely look at the surface, we won’t really understand what is going on. To merely read 1 Corinthians 16 as a model for church funding is to miss the significance Paul placed on that offering. To imitate Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet without exploring all of the richness of meaning that was present in that act leaves us with an empty ritual instead of the powerful example of God serving man.

Do you think the comparison is valid between worldview and theology? What dangers do you see in a surface-level reading of Scripture? What problems arise if we dig too deep in our studies?

And dare we ask… how does our worldview influence our theology?