For Susan: Christian World View

It pleases me when something I write strikes a cord with someone.  Susan waxed appreciative on my Nimrod post.  She pointed out that there are several Old Testament stories that have modern day application.  She is right.  Before you can make application to those events, like I did with "Nimrod",  there is a step that needs to be taken first.  There is a larger picture that we often over look, the Christian World View (CWV).  Without it, there isn't much point making application to ancient events.

I haven't heard the CWV talked about in several years if not decades.  It was a popular topic among the Baptists of my youth, but the topic seems to have dropped off the popular radar.  The CWV is just a more refined version of a philosophy known as the Judeo-Christian moral/ethic or belief system.

The Judeo-Christian belief system is the philosophical umbrella of Western Civilization. Any number of other philosophical systems used in the United States depend on the fundamentals defined under it.  The founding fathers belief in Common and Natural Law depend on Judeo-Christian definitions and concepts.  Government by Constitutional Consent, which is what we theoretically have as a basis for our Administrative and Legal systems is based on those principles.

Wow!  Was that a dry monolog or what?  If your eyes haven't glassed over with phrases like  "philosophical umbrella of Western Civilization", congratulations!  Here is the point:  We used to have a common basis for our understanding of how the world works.  As a nation we don't have that anymore.

100 years ago if you said, "he is a good man", people knew what you meant.  You were saying that he was the kind of guy you could rely on to do as he said, do his work etc.  If you said, "he is a good man, but he likes his spirits", you meant that he was reliable, honest etc but that he like to drink more than what was socially acceptable.  Most of the people you talked to shared this point of view, and understood what you meant.  Our society doesn't have that common point of reference anymore.  If I say, "this would be good for the country", or "we are going down the wrong path", people don't automatically share the same point of reference with the words "good" or "wrong".

So what is a Christian World View (CWV)?

• It is a perspective that evaluates information or events from a Christ centered view of the universe.
• It requires that Biblical texts be viewed as authoritative.  
• A commitment to consider and reconsider information in light of Biblical principles and standards.
• A consistent exegetical and hermeneutic standard.
• A Biblical view of history, modern and future events.

There are some things that it does not require.

• You do not necessarily have to arrive at the same conclusions as some one else.
• You do not need to subscribe to a particular theological belief system.
• It is not denomination specific.

There are probably other points you could interject that would make this list better.  The basic idea is one of accepting the traditional/historical perspective on Jesus Christ and using the revealed truth of scripture to evaluate and understand the events happing today.

This is just an aside but its important.  A CWV has not been the historical American standard.  The generic Judeo-Christian belief system was.  Until about 40 years ago most people operating under the Judeo-Christian belief system understood where the folks under a CWV were coming from.  That isn't the same as believing it.  Many people today, who aren't Christians, accept Judeo-Christian morality because they see the practical utility of the system.  For them it is a matter of a social construct, not a matter of faith.  Since they view it as an optional form of morality, and not as a fundamental requirement of reality, they do not feel it is binding or even the default setting required for civilization.