Mohler on Worldviews

President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, one Dr. Albert Mohler, has written an excellent book on leadership entitled The Conviction to Lead. One of the many leadership related topics that Dr. Mohler deals with is that of worldviews. For Mohler, our convictions shape our worldviews, and then the worldview that we have embraced shapes us. The Conviction to Lead defines worldviews in the following paragraph:

Worldviews work by organizing ideas. At the most basic level of our thinking, every single one of us operates out of one unified understanding of the world. As Sowell says, these worldviews are the "silent shapers of our thoughts." You might even say that they are sets of ideas that make the world operational for us. If we did not believe these ideas, we would have no idea how to make sense of the world. We cannot rethink our basic understanding of reality every morning. (45)

As a Christian, our "basic understanding of reality," and the "framework for our thoughts, decisions making, and way of analyzing issues" (45) should be purposefully developed and enriched. We cannot be lackadaisical about something of such incredible import. Mohler continues,

A robust and rich model of Christian thinking-the quality of thinking that culminates in a God-centered worldview-requires that we see all truth as interconnected. Ultimately, the wholeness of truth can be traced to the fact that God is himself the author of all truth. Christianity's doctrines are not like separate tools in a mechanic's belt to be used only when needed. Instead, Christianity is a comprehensive worldview and way of life that grows out of Christian reflection on the bible and the unfolding plan of God revealed in the unity of the Scriptures. (45)

A Christian worldview is a powerful thing. But you do not receive this in the genetic material from your parents. You have to work at it, intentionally, and grow and develop it. Mohler adds,

A God-centered worldview brings every issue, question, and cultural concern into submission to all the Bible reveals, and frames all understanding within the ultimate purpose of bringing greater glory to God. This task of bringing every thought captive to Christ requires more than haphazard Christian thinking, and is to be understood as the task of the church and not merely the concern of individual believers. The recovery of the Christian mind and the development of a comprehensive Christian worldview will require the deepest theological reflection, the most consecrated application of scholarship, the most sensitive commitment to compassion, and the courage to face all questions without fear. (45-6)

Episodic Christian thinking

As I continue to enjoy For The Fame Of God's Name, I am being exposed to some great writers. One of those is Albert Mohler. Mohler's contribution to the book is a chapter on worldviews entitled A God-centered Worldview. Here is an example of his writing:

A God-centered worldview brings every issue, question, and cultural concern into submission to all that the Bible reveals and frames all under-standing within the ultimate purpose of bringing greater glory to God. This task of bringing every thought captive to Christ requires more than episodic Christian thinking and is to be understood as the task of the church, and not merely the concern of individual believers. The recovery of the Christian mind and the development of a comprehensive Christian worldview will require the deepest theological reflection, the most consecrated application of scholarship, the most sensitive commitment to compassion, and the courage to face all questions without fear.

Christianity brings the world a distinctive understanding of time, history, and the meaning of life. The Christian worldview contributes an understanding of the universe and all it contains that points us far beyond mere materialism and frees us from the intellectual imprisonment of naturalism. Christians understand that the world—including the material world—is dignified by the very fact that God has created it. At the same time, we understand that we are to be stewards of this creation and are not to worship what God has made. We understand that every single human being is made in the image of God and that God is the Lord of life at every stage of human development. We honor the sanctity of human life because we worship the Creator. From the Bible, we draw the essential insight that God takes delight in the ethnic and racial diversity of his human creatures, and so must we. (364)

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More from Schaeffer

From A Christian Manifesto:

There is no way to mix these two [Christianity and humanism/materialism] total world views. They are separate entities that cannot be synthesized. Yet we must say that liberal theology, the very essence of it from its beginning, is an attempt to mix the two. Liberal theology tried to bring forth a mixture soon after the Enlightenment and has tried to synthesize these two views right up to our own day. But in each case when the chips are down these liberal theologians have always come down, as naturally as a ship coming into home port, on the side of the nonreligious humanist. They do this with certainty because what their liberal theology really is is humanism expressed in theological terms instead of philosophic or other terms. (21)

Schaeffer on worldviews

These two world views [Christianity and materialism/naturalism] stand as totals in complete antithesis to each other in content and also in their natural results-including sociological and governmental results, and specifically including law.

It is not that these two world views are different only in how they understand the nature of reality and existence. They also inevitably produce totally different results. The operative word here is inevitably. It is not just that they happen to bring forth different results, but it is absolutely inevitable that they will bring forth different results. (A Christian Manifesto, 18)