Volume 3 Number 20 October 22, 2008

MarketFaith Ministries is an equipping ministry which is focused on helping Christians become more effective
in living out their faith in the midst of the increasingly diverse worldview environment of modern society.
Introduction

Are you narrow-minded? What does that mean, anyway? Is your faith narrow? Are you tired of being characterized as big-
oted and narrow-minded by people who don’t like your faith?

This characterization of Christianity is a pretty popular one by people who don’t like what we believe and who don’t have
any way of addressing our beliefs except to insult us. But what is the truth, really? The fact is, the Christian faith is not
narrow in any unusual way. Those who say it is are simply revealing their own prejudices and ignorance of reality.
Today’s article gets at this and should help you deal with people who make this accusation.

I hope you are finding “Worldview Made Practical” a valuable resource in your Christian growth. It is certainly our desire to
equip you to become more effective and faithful in your faith walk. I hope you will take the time to share it with your Chris-
tian friends. How about forwarding this issue to those on your e-mail list and encourage them to sign up. Of course it is
free.

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Is the Christian Faith Really Narrow Minded?

One of the most common accusations that non-Christians
make toward the Christian faith is that it is “narrow-minded.”
Before we go any further, let’s just state up front that this is
true. But what does that really mean? Does it mean that the
beliefs of the Christian faith are false? Does it mean that
Christianity would be a better religion if it compromised on
its beliefs?
In spite of the fact that this is a somewhat common accusa-
tion, it is actually quite a meaningless charge. Those who
make this assertion really don’t have any idea of what they
are saying. If you changed the beliefs of the Christian faith
to something more “broad,” you would actually no longer be
dealing with Christianity at all. You would be dealing with
some other religion or philosophy. That is simply a fact
based on simple definition.
Of course the Christian faith is narrow-minded. But the fact
is, it is not any different than any other religion or philoso-
phy that exists on the face of the earth. In fact, the person
who makes an accusation like that is speaking from a belief
system that is equally narrow. Every faith position in exis-
tence believes some things and excludes other things. The
beliefs and exclusions define the faith. It is one thing to say
that Christianity is not true or that one prefers a different
belief system. But to say that it is narrow-minded is not a
logical statement. Let’s look at this a little more deeply and
see if we can understand how to intelligently address this
topic.
Every Belief System Is Founded on Faith
Literally every time someone attacks the Christian faith for
being narrow-minded, the attack comes from a point of view

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Contact MarketFaith Ministries

312 Anton Dr. Toll Free: 888-883-0656
Tallahassee, FL 32312 info@marketfaith.org Phone: 850-383-9756
http://www.marketfaith.org Fax: 850-514-4571

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And, as you know, MarketFaith Ministries is a registered non-profit organization. We don’t have any form of support ex-
cept for people who believe in what we are doing and want to help. Our normal expenses are minimal, but there are
projects that we would like to do to more effectively equip the body of Christ using a worldview perspective. The big proj-
ect we have coming up is the Worldview Summit for Ministry Professionals in January of 2009. If you would be willing to
help us with this project, you can send your tax deductible donation to MarketFaith Ministries, 321 Anton Dr., Tallahas-
see, FL 32312. It is also possible to donate online at the MarketFaith Ministries website at www.marketfaith.org. Simply
click on the “donate” button. Thanks so much for your support.

And as always, I love to hear from you. Feel free to contact me at any time with your thoughts, opinions and sugges-
tions.

God bless,
Freddy

(Narrow Minded - Continued from page 1)

which is asserting a different narrow-minded belief. They are claiming a broad-minded and superior view, but it is simply
not true. Along with this attitude is often the notion that their point of view is based on fact while our Christian beliefs are
a less objective faith position. Just to give one concrete example, Naturalists assert as “fact” that life must be founded on
a belief that there is no God because science does not give any evidence that God exists. This is an example from Natu-
ralism, but the same principle holds true as it relates to every worldview belief.

What they don’t realize, however, is that every belief system in existence is founded on faith, even those which claim a
basis on scientific fact. If you cut through the verbiage, you necessarily get down to a philosophical foundation which
starts with unprovable faith presuppositions.

Following up on the previous example, while Naturalists assert that their beliefs are founded on scientific fact, nothing
could be further from the truth. For Naturalism to be true, matter must either be eternal or have spontaneously appeared
out of nothing, life must have emerged out of non-life, and consciousness must have emerged out of non-consciousness.
There is no science to support any of these. They are all faith presuppositions based on the belief that the supernatural
does not exist – something which science cannot demonstrate.

Who is Narrow Minded?

But here is the real kicker. While some people tend to call Christians narrow-minded, the fact is every person who has a
set of beliefs they adhere to is equally narrow-minded. Every belief system has a set of non-negotiable beliefs that it will
not compromise. With Christianity our non-negotiable belief is that a person can only get to God by accepting Christ
based on his sacrificial death and his resurrection. Let’s look at the non-negotiable beliefs of some other belief systems.

Islam
Islamists believe that Allah is the only true God. A person cannot go to heaven without becoming a Muslim.

Hinduism
Hindus insist that a person must live life in a certain way in order to accumulate good karma. A person cannot progress
to higher spiritual levels without living according to their teachings.

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Find these books along with other

great worldview resources at
www.marketfaith.org

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Bahia
Bahias assert that every religious belief must be incorporated into one all inclusive system. If you do not believe that, you
will not escape the captivity of your lower nature.

Mormonism
Mormons believe that the Mormon faith is the only true faith. If you do not adhere to its beliefs and follow its practices, you
will end up in one of the lower levels of eternal existence.

Jehovah’s Witness
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that they are the only true faith. If you are not a Jehovah’s Witness when you die, you will
cease to exist.

Secular Humanism
Secular Humanists believe that there is no such thing as a supernatural reality. If you do not believe this, you are destined
to live this life in ignorance and distress.

Postmodernism
Postmodernists insist that there is no such thing as objective moral reality. If you do not believe this you are a bigot and
intolerant.

New Age
New Age adherents assert that mankind is on the cusp of
advancing to a higher evolutionary level. If you do not be-
lieve this, you cannot progress up the ladder yourself, and Subscription Information
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So, what do we see here? Every belief system insists that
it has the truth. Every one is narrow-minded. So the person Reprinted from Worldview Made Practical; a free e-zine
who calls a Christian narrow-minded is just as much so. produced by MarketFaith Ministries featuring practical
The only difference is where they draw the line. teaching and life tools to help Christians become more ef-
fective in their faith life. Discover MarketFaith Ministries at
So the real question is not whether or not a belief system is www.marketfaith.org.
narrow-minded. It is whether or not the belief system repre-
sents the truth. What evidence exists to back up any partic-
ular narrow point of view?

The Christian Faith Matches up Best with Reality

Support MarketFaith Ministries
Naturalism, and all of its derivatives, must show evidence
that matter is eternal or spontaneously emerged from noth-
The purpose of MarketFaith Ministries is to equip the Body
ing. It must prove that life can come from non-life and con-
of Christ to become more effective by sharing the practical
sciousness from non-consciousness. Of course, there is no
applications of worldview. We are involved in developing
evidence of any kind that can demonstrate this.
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Every expression of Animism must show that there are
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Of course, there is no objective evidence available to dem-
onstrate this belief.

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Far Eastern Thought beliefs must be able to prove that we can be reincarnated and that karma is capable of moving us
through successive lives. Of course, these things cannot even be demonstrated to exist.

Theistic belief systems must give solid evidence that their holy books are true and that their approach to reality matches
up with the way the real world operates.

Only the Christian faith provides the kinds and quantity of evidence that can objectively cause a person to conclude that it
is the truth. (As it is not the purpose of this article to actually lay out the specific evidence for the Christian faith, we will not
try to deal with these here. (We will deal with that topic in the next issue.).

Yes, the Christian faith is narrow-minded. But that is not a bad thing, it is normal and expected. Don’t allow that fact to be
the means by which someone pushes you into a corner. Rather, use it to help others understand the true “narrow” nature
of their own belief system, and to share the message of the truth of our Christian faith with them.

In the next Issue: Evidence That the Christian Faith Is the Truth about Reality