Worldviews Notes

Worldviews
FASTRACK NOTES
TRAINING A NEW GENERATION OF LEADERS

Worldviews
FASTRACK NOTES
Scripture references are from the Holy Bible WORLDVIEWS

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION Copyright © 2004-2006 Every Nation Leadership Institute
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. P.O. Box 12229 Ortigas Center, Pasig City, Philippines
Used by permission of International Bible Society All Rights Reserved.
Contents
Session 1: What is a Worldview?.................................................... 1
Session 2: The Christian Worldview ............................................. 9
Session 3: Secular Humanism ..................................................... 18
Session 4: Postmodernism .......................................................... 28
Session 5: Mysticism ................................................................... 37
Session 6: The Christian Response ............................................. 47
Worldviews Course Reflection .................................................... 56
Glossary of Terms ...................................................................... 57
Answers...................................................................................... 59
E Q U I P P I N G A N E W G E N E R A T I O N O F L E A D E R S
Session One
What is a Worldview?
Introduction
• The goal of this course is to provide an understanding of the biblical worldview, and
an understanding of other major competing worldviews in the world today.
• This course also seeks to challenge believers to apply the biblical worldview in their
communities and ultimately in the nations of the world.
The world is filled with people trapped in a rat race, in bondage to the economy, social class,
or the social image they have or desire to have. Self-help books fill the shelves of bookstores.
Talk shows try to get people to “deal with their inner selves” and to find healing in sharing
life experiences. People turn to mysticism, sports, entertainment, or the shining tower of
success in their attempts to find answers to the questions in life.
But modern man has rejected the notion of universal truth and turned his back on God and
His Word. As a result, society generally reflects a lack of hope. People doubt the sincerity of
others, if there is any purpose in life, or whether it is possible to know anything for certain.
It is not surprising that society faces such a multitude of problems: terrorism, ethnic conflict,
high divorce rates, teenage suicides, escalating crime, unemployment, poverty, drug
addiction, national debt, and the threat of biological warfare.
One way to change things is to attack the problems themselves: to sign petitions, wage
protests, enforce stricter laws, and over-police the streets. However, the visible problems are
only symptoms of the underlying, invisible problem: the collective worldview of society.
The Root Cause
1. The root cause of a wrong worldview is a

and a
.
Every Nation Leadership Institute Worldviews • 1

17
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as
the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their
understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in
them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have
given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity,
with a continual lust for more.
Ephesians 4:17-19
2. After turning to Christ, we must then begin the

of renewing our minds.
Been born again does not automatically change our behavior. We must learn to think
differently—biblically—about every area of life. This is a critical part of discipleship.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what
God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2
These six sessions will concentrate on what it means to renew the mind. The goal is that
we will learn to love the Lord not only with our hearts, souls, and strength, but also with
our minds.
The goal of this course is to provide an understanding of the biblical worldview, and an
understanding of the major worldviews competing with it in the world today.
This course also seeks to challenge us to apply the biblical worldview in our communities
and ultimately in the nations of the world.
Ideas
1. Ideas have .
For example, the humanist idea that “Man is good by nature” results in several
consequences. If man is good by nature, then obviously he is not evil. So if a man does
evil, it is not him doing it but some other force outside of him. Therefore, the man who
does evil is not responsible for his actions. This is the conclusion of modern man with his
humanistic presuppositions.

As Carl Sagan said, “The fact that complex behavioral patterns can be triggered by a
tiny concentration of molecules, is something worth thinking about when it is time to
judge such matters as free will, individual responsibility, and law and order.”1
2. Ideas begin as in the mind of an individual.

If they are powerful and attractive enough they will then take root in the culture and
begin to grow—beginning with the intellectuals and spreading to the educated and
professional classes. From there, they usually disseminate through the culture by the
prominent media—television, movies, and music.
3. In the past, it has taken a considerable amount of time for ideas to

travel around the and penetrate
.
However, in the twenty-first century, with information technology and an
interconnected world, ideas spread much more rapidly. Ideas can now be sent around
the world with the touch of a button.
An email went around the world several times stating that in an interview with a British
newspaper, author J.K. Rowling had disclosed she was a practicing Satanist. However,
the entire story was fabricated. There never was an article in any British paper because
there never was an interview. The ideas Rowling promotes in her books are certainly
unbiblical, but she is not a practicing Satanist. Yet, several years later, this email is still
making the rounds.
The rapid international spread of computer viruses is an apt metaphor for how ideas
spread in the modern world.
4. The and
propagation of ideas in the twenty-first century places a much greater
burden upon us to understand the biblical worldview. Information is
in every direction, and we must be prepared to
interpret it scripturally.
Our worldview is the filter through which information is examined and understood. The
following illustrates that principle.
While studying towards a graduate degree in archaeology at a university, a student

found out that his wife was pregnant. At the same time, one of his professors also

discovered that he was going to be a father. They even found themselves in the same pre-
natal class. During one session, the pre-natal instructor described in detail the wonders
of how a baby is formed in the mother’s womb. The student, a Christian, left that session
in awe of God’s creation. When the student mentioned his awe of this process, his
professor replied: “Isn’t evolution amazing?” The professor did not see the reality of
God’s handiwork in the development of the child. Instead, he marveled at the process of
evolution. He processed the facts through the filter of his worldview.
What, then, is a Worldview?

James Sire defined a worldview as “a set of presuppositions held consciously or unconsciously
in faith about the basic makeup of the world and how the world works.”2
From this definition, several things can be learned.
1. has a worldview.
2. All worldviews contain a element.
3. A worldview is like a pair of : the color of the

glass determines how the surrounding world is perceived.
D.L. Miller in his book Discipling the Nations recounted this story showing how
someone with a western naturalistic worldview responded differently to an issue than an
individual from an African spiritualist culture. An American volunteer working at a
Mission Hospital in West Africa finished teaching a microbiology course for ten local
nursing students. All of them had worked hard, mastered the information, and
demonstrated knowledge of the viruses, bacteria, and other microscopic organisms that
cause disease. After the final exam, one student raised her hand and said, “Miss, I know
that you taught us about polio, but do you want to know how people really get it?” The
American responded, “How?” “It’s the witches!” her student said. “They are invisible.
They fly around at night and bite people’s backs!” The American volunteer realized that
as far as the African students were concerned, she was misinformed. Their grandmothers
had taught them that witches were real, and that microorganisms were what white
people believed in.3
Discerning a Worldview
1. Every worldview must answer the following four

:

• —where did the human race come from?

The study of origins sometimes comes under the larger heading called ontology.
Ontology is the division of philosophy that studies the nature of being and existence.
• —what can man know and how does he know it?

The study of knowledge is called epistemology. Epistemology is the division of
philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge, its presuppositions, foundations, and
extent.
• —what is truly valuable in the universe?

The study of value is called axiology. Axiology is the division of philosophy that studies
the nature of values and value judgment.
• —where is the human race heading?

The study of destiny is called teleology. Teleology is the division of philosophy that
studies design or purpose in natural phenomena.
2. All the answers to the question of fit in two

broad categories:
•
This category maintains that there is a supernatural power greater than man that
explains his existence. This supernatural power can be personal or impersonal.
An example of an impersonal supernatural power is the Absolute Spirit at the center of

the universe that philosopher Georg Hegel said guided all reality.
Another example of an impersonal supernatural power is the Hindu Brahman, the

ultimate reality from which the world came into being and which sustains it.
Examples of a personal supernatural power are the God of the Bible or the Islamic deity,
Allah.
•
This category maintains that there is a natural power that explains all of existence.
Examples of this are evolution or the Big Bang theory.
3. All the answers to the question of fit in three

categories:

•
Rationalism is the philosophical theory that the exercise of reason is the prime source of
knowledge.
The main proponents of rationalism were the French philosopher René Descartes, the
Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza, and the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz.
•
Epricism is the philosophical doctrine that all knowledge is derived from experience.
The main proponents of empiricism were the English philosopher John Locke, the Irish
philosopher George Berkeley, and the Scottish philosopher David Hume.
•
Revelation is the self-communication of God to human beings.

broad categories:
•
This category maintains that some force higher than man determines what is valuable,
and what is right and wrong.
•
This category maintains that man himself determines what is valuable, and what is right
and wrong.

broad categories:
•
This category maintains that some force higher than man determines his destiny.
For the New Age Movement, that higher force may be a universal energy force striving
to achieve a collective consciousness to usher in an age of peace and cosmic harmony.
•
This category maintains that man himself determines his destiny.

“We are here because a small and tenuous species has managed, so far, to survive
by hook and by crook. We may yearn for a ‘higher’ answer—but none exists. We
must construct these answers for ourselves—from our own wisdom and ethical
sense.”4
Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould
Each person’s worldview is comprised of his or her own answers to these four questions.
Because of their worldviews, people make decisions and act upon them. These decisions
affect every area of life.
Why is it Important to Understand Worldviews?

There are several reasons why it is important to understand worldviews:
1. If we do not our
worldview, then a worldview will be chosen for us through our
upbringing, education, social environment, and culture.
2. Understanding worldviews leads to

.
Once we understand the cultural aspects of society, we can begin to minister to
individuals within that society.
3. Understanding worldviews provides us with a framework for

the truth of new
concepts.
(ENDNOTES)
1 Carl Sagan, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, p. 238
2 James Sire, The Universe Next Door
3 D.L. Miller, Discipling the Nations
4 Stephen J. Gould, Quoted in The Meaning of Life, p. 33

Session One: What is a Worldview?
In all honesty, I have finished studying _________ pages of this session.
Please write a brief summary of this session based on what you have learned and how you
will put it into practice.
(Please do not exceed this page.)

Session Two
The Christian Worldview
“There is no longer a Christian mind.”1

Henry Blamires
The way we think affects the way we live. Ideas have consequences, and thoughts produce
actions. If we hold ideas that are contrary to biblical standards, then we will live contrary to
biblical standards.
We must return to the Bible as the foundation of all our thinking and develop a Christian
worldview based on sound biblical presuppositions. Lasting reformation will come to the
world when we return to a biblical understanding of God, man, and the universe.
“Christians have forgotten that one reason historic Christianity spread was
because of its effect on real people in dealing with real problems in a real world.
Historic Christianity saw life in its totality and not in fragments. It was a total
worldview.”2
John Whitehead
Christianity is Applicable to All of Life

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
1. God created all things, and no facet of life has any

apart from Him.
This is the foundation of the biblical worldview. God desires to be honored in every
area of life.
2. However, over time, various ideas and philosophies have conspired to

the biblical worldview.
Some segments of the Church have embraced ideas contrary to Scripture, usually
without even realizing it. This has impaired the Christian understanding of God,
humanity, and the universe.
In a recent report, market researcher George Barna found that only four percent of
adults in North America have a biblical worldview.

“If Jesus Christ came to this planet as a model of how we ought to live, then our
goal should be to act like Jesus. Sadly, few people consistently demonstrate the
love, obedience, and priorities of Jesus. The primary reason that people do not
act like Jesus is because they do not think like Jesus. Behavior stems from what we
think—our attitudes, beliefs, values, and opinions. Although most people own a
Bible and know some of its content, our research found that most Americans
have little idea how to integrate core biblical principles to form a unified and
meaningful response to the challenges and opportunities of life. We’re often more
concerned with survival amidst chaos than with experiencing truth and
significance.”3
George Barna
3. One false idea that has contaminated the biblical worldview is the
between the and the
.
• The sacred are activities directly associated with church life.
This includes going to church, praying, evangelizing, and studying the Bible. God is
viewed as relevant only to these sacred things.
• The secular are activities associated with

part of life.
The implication is that those areas are man-made and do not relate to the kingdom of
God.
The result of this mindset is that life becomes divided into the sacred (or private) and the
secular (or public) spheres. People then regard anything that happens within the private
sphere as having little impact on the public sphere. This thinking not only pervades the
church, but society as well. For example, a large portion of Americans supported former
President Bill Clinton in spite of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. They saw Clinton’s
relationship with Lewinsky as simply a private aspect of his life, having no bearing on his
public life.
4. There are many to this unbiblical idea.

• The first implication is that if does not rule over the
secular sphere, then the does and the world is
doomed to destruction.
• The second implication is that our

then becomes to prepare for heaven.
(Why should we bother with a world that ultimately belongs to the devil?)

These implications produce an escapist view in which we become apathetic toward

everything, including evangelism. All our hope comes from the anticipation of being
snatched out of a hopeless world.
The Bible does not divide the world into the sacred and secular spheres. It clearly
instructs people how to conduct themselves in every area of life, including areas that are
patently secular. For example, the following passage refers to “non-sacred” agricultural
practices.
24
When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on
breaking up and harrowing the soil? 25When he has leveled the surface, does he not
sow caraway and scatter cumin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its
plot, and spelt in its field? 26His God instructs him and teaches him the right way.
Isaiah 28:24-26
God is interested in what is sown in the field and how it is managed.
In the Christian worldview, life is a unitary whole and not a dichotomy—and God is
Lord over everything.
Historical Foundations of the Biblical Worldview

Among the many Christians who have laid important foundations for understanding the
biblical worldview are three giants:
1. of Hippo (354-430)
He was one of the first Christian thinkers to derive a biblical worldview from the
Scriptures.
His writings Greek and pagan thought and laid the

foundations of Western civilization.
The fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 produced a great vacuum throughout
Western Europe. That vacuum was partly filled by Christians with biblical answers on
how to rebuild society and reshape the world. Many of those biblical answers were from
the writings of Augustine, especially from his magnum opus The City of God.
“Augustine recognized that people’s dominant worldview inevitably shapes the

world they have in view. And he also recognized that the church is the starting
point for the development of that worldview as it fulfils its calling to do justice,
love mercy, and walk humbly with almighty God.”4
George Grant

2. (1483-1546)
He reshaped his doctrine and realigned his worldview using Augustine’s writings.
Luther the religious traditions of his day that were based

on unbiblical presuppositions, and not on the Word of God.
Luther directed people back to the Bible as the source of all truth and challenged them
to live consistent with the Scriptures. The result was the Protestant Reformation and the
transformation of society.
3. (1509-1564)
He also built on the foundations laid by Augustine.
His writings, especially Institutes of the Christian Religion, and his labors in Geneva
became for many the of how to apply the Word of God to
all of life.
“The Calvinist form of Protestantism is widely thought to have had a major impact on
the formation of the modern world.”5
The First Step: Obeying the Great Commission

The first step to thinking and acting biblically is obeying the Great Commission.
19
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations . . . 20and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you. . . .”
Matthew 28:19,20
There are two parts to the Great Commission.
•
This involves winning the lost to Christ and training them to be genuine disciples who
reflect the glory and character of God.
•
This involves transforming nations with the principles from the Word of God so that
they too will reflect the glory and character of God.
As we obey the Great Commission and disciple individuals, the individuals we disciple will
then transform nations. This is the proper order: discipleship first, nation transformation
second.

Four Worldview Questions

Every worldview must answer the four questions of origin, knowledge, value, and destiny.
The following is the Bible’s answer to each of these questions.
1. The Question of
The most important presupposition of the biblical worldview is summed up in the first
words of Scripture, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).
This is the foundation of the biblical worldview.
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things—for all things
originate with Him and come from Him; all things live through Him,
and all things center in and end in Him.
Romans 11:36 (The Amplified Bible)
God spoke the world into existence ex nihilo—out of nothing. God is the source of His
creation, but not in the sense that it emanates from Him or that He is part of it (as
taught by Hinduism and the New Age).
God is both transcendent and immanent. He is transcendent because He is above,

beyond, and separate from the creation He called into being. He is immanent because
He sustains His creation and directs it towards His desired end.
• The biblical worldview begins and ends with .

All things have their origin in God, and all things are for the glorification of God.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord,
“who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8 (NKJV)
• Because God is the of all things, He is

over all things.
. . . “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.”
Hebrews 1:10
God is sovereign over all of life. He rules over everything that exists both in heaven and
on earth. Nothing escapes His rule and nothing is outside His influence. God is limitless;
He is Lord over all.
• The Bible’s answer to the question of origin is that God

and brought all things
into existence by the power of His Word.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that
what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Hebrews 11:3
2. The Question of
The question of knowledge is called epistemology. Epistemology is the branch of
philosophy that studies the foundations, nature, and extent of knowledge. Epistemology
studies what can be known and how it can be known.
6
• There are only two possible sources for knowledge:
and .
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon tried to explain life apart from revelation using only
reason and observation. I have observed (observation) all the things that are done under the
sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind (Ecclesiastes 1:14 [NASB]). I
directed my mind to know (reason), to investigate, and to seek wisdom and an explanation,
and to know the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness (Ecclesiastes 7:25 [NASB]).
As Peter Kreeft said, “Unlike all the other books of the Bible, [Ecclesiastes] has no faith
flashbulb attached to its camera to reveal the hidden meanings of life. It uses only the
available light ‘under the sun’—sense observation and human reason. Ecclesiastes is the
truest picture of the surface that has ever been written. In this book God reveals to us
exactly what life is when God does not reveal to us what life is.”7
That is why the words of Solomon end the way they begin, “Vanity of vanities,” says the
Preacher, “all is vanity!” (Ecclesiastes 12:8 [NASB]) Ecclesiastes reveals the futility of an
epistemology based on reason and observation.
• The Christian view of knowledge is on the premise

that there is a God, and He has revealed Himself to His creation.
Man was created in the image of God, and therefore he yearns for certainty of
knowledge. However, certain knowledge is only possible if we can know everything that
can be known, for there is always the chance that new information will contradict or
change what we thought was certain. With a universe so vast and diverse and with so
many things to be known, complete knowledge is impossible for a human being. And if
complete knowledge is impossible, then certain knowledge is impossible.
Certain knowledge, then, is only possible if the following three things are true: First, we
must know someone who knows everything. Then, that person must be trustworthy.
And finally, that person must be willing to communicate what he knows to us.
Therefore, only Christians can have certain knowledge because we know someone
who knows everything, He is trustworthy, and He wants to communicate what He
knows to us.

• God reveals Himself in two

:
General Revelation: God reveals Himself through creation and the conscience.
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power
and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has
been made, so that men are without excuse.
Romans 1:20
14
(When Gentiles, who do not have the Law, do by nature things required by
the Law, they are a law for themselves, 15since they show that the requirements of the
Law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their
thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)
Romans 2:14,15
Special Revelation: God reveals Himself through the Bible.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
John 1:1
• God’s communication to man in the Bible is true, but it is not

.
The Bible communicates truth—it does not give every detail of all that can be known.
For example, the Bible provides the foundation and essential principles for a proper
understanding of mathematics. However, it does not provide all the mathematical
information we would need to send a rocket to the moon. We cannot use the Bible as a
textbook for Analytical Calculus, but we can find the underlying principles in it to build
a proper foundation for the study of Analytical Calculus.
3. The Question of
• In the biblical worldview, God is the value in the
universe.
16
. . . all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things . . .
18
so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
Colossians 1:16-18
Because God is of absolute value, the value of all other things must be measured in
relation to Him. God has established His criteria for what is valuable and what is not in
His Word.

• God created man in His own image; therefore, man has

value.
However, man turned from the image of God and sought out his own way. But God
redeemed man with the precious blood of His Son.
18
It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were
redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
19
but with the precious blood of Christ . . .
1 Peter 1:18,19
• By paying for our redemption with the infinitely valuable blood of Jesus, God
placed an value on us.
4. The Question of
• God the way of individuals and nations toward the
fulfillment of His eternal purposes.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him
who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.
Ephesians 1:11
. . . “My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.”
Isaiah 46:10 (NASB)
• History has because God is behind it and is

directing it towards the purpose of His eternal plan.
God’s kingdom is advancing through history to its full manifestation when all Christ’s
enemies are made His footstool and all things are gathered together in Christ.
The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord,
and his name the only name.
Zechariah 14:9
(ENDNOTES)
1 Henry Blamires, The Christian Mind / Blamires meant that the Christian worldview was no longer the dominant
view in the West.
2 John Whitehead, The End of Man
3 George Barna, A Biblical Worldview has a Radical Effect on a Person’s Life, p.1
4 Quoted in D.L. Miller, Discipling the Nations, p. 22
5 Britannica 2003 Ultimate Reference Suite
6 Rationalism encompasses both reason and observation.
7 Peter Kreeft, Three Philosophies of Life, p. 19, 23

Session Two: The Christian Worldview

Session Three
Secular Humanism
Introduction
• The central idea of secular humanism is is

the center of everything.
• Secular humanism the dignity and value of

mankind without any reference to God or any supernatural force.
“. . . humans are responsible for what we are or will become. No deity will save
us; we must save ourselves.”1
Humanist Manifesto II
This session will examine the rise of modern secular humanism and the answers it proposes
to the fundamental questions of life.
Renaissance: The Roots of Modern Humanism

The modern secular humanism movement has its historical roots in the Renaissance.
Humanism was a cultural and intellectual movement of the Renaissance that emphasized
secular concerns as a result of the rediscovery and study of the literature, art, and civilization
of ancient Greece and Rome.2
The Renaissance was a series of literary and cultural movements in the fourteenth, fifteenth,
and sixteenth centuries that began in Italy and eventually expanded into Germany, France,
England, and other parts of Europe.3
1. The Renaissance was characterized by a of

the classical spirit with its rationalistic outlook on life.
2. The Renaissance was characterized by the

that man is the measure of all things.

3. The Renaissance was characterized by an on

the natural world over the supernatural world.
The humanistic progress of the Renaissance was temporarily halted by the Protestant
Reformation. However, after the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), it began to gain
momentum again in the intellectual movement called the Enlightenment.
The Era of Enlightenment Rationalism
1. The Enlightenment was a European

that exalted reason and science.
The Enlightenment (sometimes called the Age of Reason) resulted from a general
disillusionment with religion and a renewed confidence in science.
A century of bloody “Wars of Religion” had turned a vast number of thinking

individuals against the Church.
At the same time, the enormous scientific advances of the seventeenth century produced
a new faith in natural law, scientific discovery, and in the inevitability of human progress.
2. The Enlightenment was characterized by an

in man and his unlimited ability to understand
and control (eventually) everything in the natural world.
Enlightenment thinkers viewed man as essentially good; it was religion, ignorance, or
negative social forces that produced evil behavior.
3. The Enlightenment was characterized by a

of all forms of ecclesiastical authority.
Enlightenment thinkers believed that man should distrust and challenge all forms of
authority and tradition in matters of intellectual inquiry—and that included the church.
Truth can be attained by reason, observation, and experimentation—not by revelation.
They believed that Jesus was not the Son of God but an enlightened moral teacher who
gave us fitting precepts to order our lives.

Significant Men of the Enlightenment
1. (1596–1650)
He was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who is often called the
“father of modern philosophy.”
His intellectual quest for certainty began with a commitment to radical skepticism and
ended in an epistemology4 firmly centered on reason and mathematics.
He sought to demonstrate that the basis for all knowledge was human reason. He used
an approach of doubting everything (radical skepticism) to develop a firm basis for
knowledge. He first doubted his senses, realizing that sometimes the senses lie. For
example, a person might see a pile of leaves by the side of the road, and then, as he gets
closer, see that it is actually an old sack. He then doubted whether he was awake or
asleep—all of life might just be one long dream. Descartes could not even be sure that 1
+ 1 = 2. He reasoned that if God existed and was a deceiver, then God might deceive
him into believing that 1 + 1 = 2 when it was really 3. He said, “I am constrained to
admit that there is nothing in what I formerly believed to be true that I cannot somehow
doubt.”5
In his work, Meditations (published 1642), Descartes documented his method of

systematic skepticism called “Cartesian Doubt.” He recounted the wintry day he spent
in front of a stove systematically doubting everything. He said, “Because our senses
sometimes deceive us, I must suppose that nothing is as it appears. How do I know I am
sitting here by the stove? I cannot be certain; I could be dreaming or hallucinating. A
wicked demon might be tricking me. The only thing I cannot doubt is that I think
something. That’s it! I think, therefore, I am (in Latin, Cogito ergo sum)!”6 Descartes said
about his discovery, “Behold the long-sought rock on which the edifice of knowledge
must be built.”
Although Descartes was an orthodox Roman Catholic, he built his entire system of
knowledge on skepticism and the rejection of any authority except human reason.
2. (1632–1704)
He was an English philosopher, scientist, and political theorist. He believed that the
mind was a blank slate (tabula rasa) that the five senses wrote on as they experienced the
world. All knowledge came from experience and observation. Unless the senses could
confirm what truth was, truth could not be known.
This is the epistemological theory called empiricism; it is the cornerstone of modern

science.

Locke was an orthodox Christian, but his writings emphasized reason to such an extent
that many who read and followed him discounted and abandoned revelation.
3. (1642–1727)
He was an English mathematician and physicist. His magnum opus, Principia
Mathematica, presented the universe as a well-oiled and efficient machine. This view of
the universe seemed to confirm the philosophy of deism.
Deism is the belief that an impersonal God created the universe and then abandoned it:
assuming no control over it, and leaving no supernatural revelation. God is not sovereign
over human affairs. Right and wrong are based on the results of reason and observation.
Three other significant men of the Enlightenment were François Voltaire (1694–1778),
French philosopher, author, and opponent of Christianity; David Hume (1711-1776),
Scottish philosopher and historian; and Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), French
philosopher and political theorist. Voltaire was the most illustrious, eloquent, and
influential spokesman for the Enlightenment, and a major proponent of Deism. Hume
was the first well-known European figure to proclaim himself a genuine atheist.7
Rousseau’s ideas led directly to the French Revolution. They also contributed
significantly to the skepticism of the modern world.
The Effects of Enlightenment Rationalism
1. The scientists of the Enlightenment crowned human reason and the

scientific method as the source of
, dividing faith from reason and making them
inherently incompatible.
Either a person was rational and had no faith in God, or a person was irrational and
believed that Jesus was the Savior—there was no middle ground for the Enlightenment
thinkers.
2. The political theorists of the Enlightenment promoted the idea that

social reformation and change could come about by the
.8
Man’s view of civil government changed significantly during the Enlightenment. Many
of the political theorists of the Enlightenment taught that government was not ordained
by God, but was instead “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” God did not
establish civil unions; they were a “social contract” between members of a society.

3. The philosophers of the Enlightenment

biblical law for natural law.
They defined Natural Law as a set of principles, based on the assumed characteristics of
human nature, which served as a standard for evaluating conduct and law.9
By studying society and life, Enlightenment thinkers believed they could derive right
and wrong. The laws of Nature were built into the universe.
4. The social theorists of the Enlightenment believed that “education

was the to social and moral improvement,
and the of the State. The State must
the minds of all.”10
A Biblical Response to the Enlightenment
1. In contrast to the Enlightenment claim that reason is the source of

knowledge, the Bible declares that is the only
basis for certain knowledge.
19
For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the
intelligent I will frustrate.” 20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is
the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1 Corinthians 1:19,20
2. In contrast to the Enlightenment claim that social change comes

primarily through the political process, the Bible declares that change
begins in the through the new birth.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone,

the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17
3. In contrast to the Enlightenment claim that Natural Law is the basis

for right and wrong, the Bible declares that
is the foundation of all morality.

7
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are
trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy
to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
9
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure
and altogether righteous.
Psalm 19:7-9
4. In contrast to the Enlightenment claim that State-based education is

the key to moral reformation, the Bible declares that education is the
of the family and the Church.
“Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to
fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.”
Deuteronomy 4:10 (NASB)
The Secular Humanist Answer to the Four Worldview Questions

During the twentieth century, the humanism sown in the Renaissance and developed in the
Enlightenment grew to become the dominant worldview of the West.
1. The Question of Origin
• Secular humanists are .

They believe that Natural Law is sufficient to explain man’s existence and the existence of
everything in the universe.
“God does not exist, only nature exists; life arose from dead or inorganic nature
by natural means, and evolved through a series of random processes over billions
of years until man finally emerged to become nature’s most formidable animal.”
• God is no more than a religious .
“We believe . . . that traditional dogmatic or authoritarian religions that place

revelation, God, ritual or creed above human needs and experience do a
disservice to the human species . . . As non-theists, we begin with humans not
God, nature not deity.”

Religion is believed to prevent man from reaching his true potential, although much
of religious teaching is seen as good and moral. Jesus Christ is viewed as no more
than a good man and moral teacher.
Secular humanists believe that religion has suppressed freedom, dulled the intellect, and
dehumanized the personality. All forms of religion must be rejected in favor of
individual autonomy. “No deity will save us; we must save ourselves.”
• Naturalism is the of humanist philosophy.

Naturalism is the belief that all phenomena can be explained in terms of natural causes
without attributing moral supernatural significance to them.11
Naturalism is epitomized by this quote from the popular author and scientist Carl Sagan:
“The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or will be.” Sagan’s favorite quotation of
Democritus, “Nothing exists but atoms and the void,” accurately portrays the humanist
theological position that only the physical universe is real. It is possible to explain the
universe “without the god hypothesis.”
2. The Question of Knowledge
Secular humanists are .

They believe that knowledge is obtained solely through observation and reason.
3. The Question of Value

They believe that man is the pinnacle of the evolutionary process and the ultimate value.
Man is the apex of all life on earth. The Humanist Manifesto I states, “Humanism
believes that man is a part of nature and that he has emerged as the result of a
continuous process.” Man is therefore a product of the evolutionary process, but is also
progressing to higher levels by means of evolution.
• Ethics is and .
Man is inherently good, but superstition, poverty, religion, or bad government prevents
man from reaching his full potential.
Scientist Douglas J. Futuyma said, “If there is one moral lesson to be learned from
Evolution, it is that all of nature is mechanical and amoral and that concepts of right and
wrong are entirely limited to the human sphere.”

4. The Question of Destiny

They believe that death is the end of all existence.
“There is no creditable evidence that life survives the death of the body.”
“I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive.”12
• The only logical goal of man then is to human

civilization and the global community.
“The tasks that emerge in human civilization are for each individual and each
society to forge his or her, or its, own destiny. Human life has no meaning
independent of itself. There is no cosmic force or deity to give it meaning or
significance. Such a belief is an illusion. The meaning of life is what we choose to
give it. Meaning grows out of human purposes alone. Nature provides us with an
infinite range of opportunities, but it is only our vision and our actions that select
and realize those that we desire.”13
Paul Kurtz
The Biblical Response

The central tenet of secular humanism is atheism. In contrast, the Bible says: The fool has
said in his heart, “There is no God.” . . . (Psalm 14:1 [NASB]).
The fool is not someone of diminished intellect, but one who determines to live according to
his own standards of morality.
1. The secular humanist is foolish to believe in

.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9
According to the humanist, man’s great scientific discoveries and technological

improvements should have resulted in greater moral progress. In contrast, the twentieth
century has produced the greatest destruction in history.

2. The secular humanist is foolish to

to define good and evil.
5
This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on
flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6He will be like a
bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the
parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.”
Jeremiah 17:5,6
(ENDNOTES)
1 Paul Kurtz, Humanist Manifestos I and II
2 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
3 Microsoft Encarta Reference Library
4 Epistemology is the study of what we can know and how we can be sure that we know it.
5 W. Raeper & L. Smith, Brief Guide to Ideas
6 Quoted in, Richard Osborne, Philosophy For Beginners, p. 72
7 Paul Johnson, The Quest for God, p. 7
8 Paul Johnson, Intellectuals, p. 2
9 Microsoft Encarta Reference Library
10 Paul Johnson, Intellectuals, p. 23
11 American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
12 Bertrand Russell, Why I am not a Christian and other Essays on Religion
13 Paul Kurtz, Where Is the Good Life?

Session Three: Secular Humanism

Session Four
Postmodernism
Introduction
The central idea of postmodernism is the rejection of the modernist concepts of absolute
truth and certain knowledge. In these notes, modernism is synonymous with secular
humanism.
The Roots of Postmodernism
1. Postmodernism is in the apparent failure of

modernism to eradicate war, poverty, crime, and other social ills.
Modernism is characterized by invention, discovery, and a high confidence in mankind.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the progress of science accelerated so rapidly
that it appeared as if it would soon explain everything. Many believed that there were no
limits to the power of human reason.
The promise of modernism was inevitable progress through science and reason. But in
the twentieth century, science and reason led seemingly to two devastating World Wars,
atomic bombs, and state-sanctioned genocide. Modernism appears to have failed.
The confident expectation that everything will get better and that human failings will be
eradicated has all but disappeared in the postmodern world. It has been replaced with
disillusionment, loss of certainty, and cynicism. Sting summarized this general feeling in
his song, If I Ever Lose My Faith In You:
You could say I’ve lost my faith in science and progress

You could say I’ve lost my belief in the Holy Church
You could say I’ve lost my sense of direction
Yes, you could say all of this and worse . . .
Some would say I’m a lost man in a lost world
You could say I lost my faith in the people on TV
You could say I lost my belief in our politicians
They all seem like game show hosts to me . . .

2. Postmodernism is a to the concept of

absolute truth.
Relativism developed as the pervasive belief of the twentieth century from nearly every
academic discipline including philosophy, anthropology, physics, art, music, literature,
law, education, and psychology.
In his book Modern Times, Paul Johnson asserts that the modern world began on May
29, 1919, when photographs of a solar eclipse confirmed the truth of a new theory of
the universe (Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity). He says concerning Einstein’s
theory, “Mistakenly but perhaps inevitably, relativity became confused with relativism.
The public response to relativity was one of the principal formative influences on 20th
century history. It formed a knife to help cut society adrift from its traditional moorings
in the faith and morals of Judeo-Christian culture.”1
Significant Men of Postmodernism
1. (1724–1804)
He was a German philosopher considered by many to be the most influential thinker of
modern times.
He was born in Konigsberg (East Prussia), taught philosophy at the University of

Konigsberg, and died in Konigsberg. He lived an uneventful life. He was a person of
such regular habits that the people of Konigsberg set their clocks by his daily walks.
When he first read Rousseau’s Emile, he was so engrossed in the book that he stayed
indoors for several days and the people all over Konigsberg were late for their
appointments!2
• His philosophy is complex and difficult to understand, but his main contribution to
postmodernism was his detailed analysis of the limits of human knowledge.
He proposed that only objects of experience could be known, whereas things lying
beyond experience are unknowable. The existence of such unknowable things can be
neither confirmed nor denied, nor can they be scientifically demonstrated.
“Nothing that man cannot understand scientifically is relevant in the external

world.”3
Immanuel Kant
Therefore, the great problems of philosophy—the existence of God, moral freedom,

and immortality—are insoluble by scientific thought.
• He shifted the attention away from the rationally objective approach of the
Modernists towards a subjective, interpretative approach to knowledge.4

Postmodernists place a strong emphasis on Kant’s philosophical position. They reject the
objective view as a lie and encourage the belief that the only thing that can be known is
the individual’s interpretation of reality.
2. (1844-1900)
He was a German philosopher and a radical critic of the Western tradition.
“The figure of Nietzsche looms over twentieth century thought.”5

Peter Watson
• Nietzsche believed that Christianity was an outdated religion, useful only to the
ruling class for its exploitation of the labor class.
• Nietzsche advocated a new and superior type of human: the Ubermensch (overman),
who through the “Will to Power” created his own values and made his own morality.
The “Will to Power” is an inner drive to express a vigorous affirmation of all of man’s
powers. For postmodernism, like Nietzsche, there is no ultimate meaning, and each
individual or group of individuals must exercise their will to overcome the oppression of
others.6
• Nietzsche’s overman is a creator of a “master morality” that reflects the strength and
independence of one who is liberated from all values, except those he deems valid.7
Nietzsche’s influence on the twentieth century is summarized by Paul Johnson: “. . . the

Will to Power would produce a new kind of messiah, uninhibited by any religious
sanction whatever, and with an unappeasable appetite for controlling mankind. The end
of the old order, with an unguided world adrift in a relativistic universe, was a summons
for such gangster-statesmen to emerge. They were not slow to make their appearance.”8
Postmodernists embrace Nietzsche’s rejection of absolutes and affirm that it is the

individual who decides what is right and wrong.
3. (1905-1980)
He was a French philosopher and a leading exponent of existentialism.
Existentialism teaches that experience is everything and that truth comes from the
individual.
• He believed that any act of the will was justified—it was the act of choosing that
authenticated the individual regardless of the morality of the choice.

• His views contributed to the postmodern assumption that the individual determines
for himself what truth is.
4. (1930- )
He is a French philosopher and founder of the school of thought known as
deconstructionism.
Deconstructionism is a philosophical movement and theory of literary criticism that

questions traditional assumptions about certainty, identity, and truth, asserts that words
can only refer to other words, and attempts to demonstrate how statements about any
text subvert their own meanings. “In deconstruction, the critic claims there is no
meaning to be found in the actual text, but only in the various, often mutually
irreconcilable, ‘virtual texts’ constructed by readers in their search for meaning.”9
• He argues that there is no inherent meaning to things besides the meaning that an
individual chooses to give to those things. Since no interpretation can claim to be
truer than another, all kinds of interpretations are accepted as equally valid.
• He contends that the traditional way of reading makes a number of false assumptions
about the nature of texts.
A traditional reader believes that language is capable of expressing ideas without

changing them and that the author of a text is the source of its meaning. Derrida’s
deconstructive style of reading subverts these assumptions and challenges the idea that a
text has an unchanging, unified meaning. As a result, the author’s intentions in speaking
cannot be unconditionally accepted. This multiplies the number of legitimate
interpretations of a text.10
Central Tenets of Postmodernism
1.
Postmodernism grew out of disillusionment with the modern rationalistic worldview.
Therefore, it is not surprising that it is characterized by a skeptical, cynical outlook on
life.
Skepticism is the philosophic position that the possibility of knowledge is limited,

because of either the limitations of the mind or the inaccessibility of its object.11
The skeptic does not believe that any kind of certainty can be attained about the world,
reality, truth, morality, or human nature.

2.
Relativism is the belief that there is no absolute right or wrong, and that truth varies
from individual to individual and culture to culture. Anything is right if it is right for the
individual.
“Moral relativism has been the cardinal sin of the twentieth century, the reason
why it has been such a desperately unhappy and destructive epoch in human
history…moral relativism is a great evil because it makes possible so many other
evils.”12
Paul Johnson
Truth is a function of personal preference.
Relativism makes postmodernists intolerant of anyone who believes in absolutes.

Openness is the one true virtue and the preeminent quality of the day.
“There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student
entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative.
Openness—and the relativism that makes it the only plausible stance in the face
of various claims to truth and various ways and [sic] life—is the great insight of
our times. The true believer is the real danger.”13
Allan Bloom
Ruth Benedict (1887-1948), a world-renowned American anthropologist, was an early

supporter of relativism. However, when World War II broke out, Benedict was forced to
reconsider this stance when she could not bring herself to believe that the Nazi culture
was just as valid as any other. This internal conflict led Benedict to her concept of
synergy, which states that: “Any society that is compatible with human advancements is a
good one, but a society that works against basic human goals is antihuman and evil, and
can be judged as such.”
When New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani addressed the United Nations a few days after
the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, he said: “We are right and they are wrong.
It’s as simple as that. The era of moral relativism between those who practice or condone
terrorism and those nations who stand up against it must end. Moral relativism doesn’t
have a place in this discussion and debate. There’s no moral way to sympathize with
grossly immoral actions. And by so doing, and by trying to do that, unfortunately, a
fertile field has been created in which terrorism has grown.”14
3.
Autonomy is independence from the will of others.15

The postmodern worldview sees authority figures as people who attempt to gain more
power for themselves by imposing their own values on others. No external authority
should stifle the individual’s longings for self-expression or his choice of what he feels is
good for him.
The Impact of Postmodernism

1. Postmodern beliefs have influenced .
In the Modernist worldview, science consists of objective, empirical observations coupled
with rational reflection.
But the discovery of the uncertainty principle, quantum physics, and relativity has
increasingly challenged the traditional Western view of science.
“The purpose of this book is to explore the relationships between the concepts of
modern physics and the basic ideas in the philosophical traditions of the Far East.
We shall see how the two foundations of twentieth-century physics—quantum
theory and relativity theory—both force us to view the world very much in the
way a Hindu, Buddhist, or Taoist sees it.”16
Dr. Fritjof Capra
2. Postmodern beliefs have influenced .

Teachers are no longer transmitters of information to children; they are facilitators,
allowing the children to construct their own knowledge.
3. Postmodern beliefs have influenced and

.
Because postmodernism rejects any unifying theme or overarching worldview, there is a
mix of styles thrown together with no overall design.
Postmodernist art may be seen as a reaction to the reductionism and abstraction of

Modernism. Andy Warhol is an early example of postmodern art in action, with his
appropriation of common popular symbols and “ready-made” cultural artifacts, bringing
the previously mundane or trivial onto the previously hallowed ground of “high art.”17
A classic example of postmodernist architecture is the ATT building in New York,

which, like modernist architecture, is a skyscraper relying on steel beams and with lots of
windows—but, unlike modern architecture, it borrows elements from classical Greek
style.

The Postmodern Answer to the Four Worldview Questions
All answers concerning origin are either as equally

ludicrous or as equally valid.
Knowledge is neither nor .

The individual interprets reality and decides what true knowledge is, but this choice
is neither universal nor certain.
Value is given to that which the individual or group chooses to attribute it—there are
no external or absolute which dictate where it should be
placed.
Postmodern thinkers believe that the future is

and therefore .
The present is all that counts. People who assert any meaningful direction in history
are accused of doing so to extend their own hold over others.
A Biblical Response
1. In response to the skepticism of the postmodernist, the biblical

worldview maintains that true and certain knowledge is possible in this
world. This assumption is based on two facts: God’s
of the universe, and
God’s .
The sum of Your word is truth.

Psalm 119:160 (NASB)

2. In response to the relativism of the postmodernist worldview,

the biblical worldview maintains that truth is absolute and unchanging.
This assumption is based on the moral character of God, who
.
“I the Lord do not change . . .”

Malachi 3:6
The biblical truth concerning absolutes is not only challenged by postmodernists, but
also by many professing Christians. For example, George Barna found that while 62% of
all Americans believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings, 70% believe
that there are no absolutes!18
3. In response to the autonomy of the postmodernist, the biblical

worldview maintains that Jesus is and that all
men are to Him.
9
For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord
of both the dead and the living. 10You, then, why do you judge your brother?
Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before
God’s judgment seat. 11It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’”
12
So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Romans 14:9-12
(ENDNOTES)
1 Paul Johnson, Modern Times, p. 5
2 Richard Osbourne, Philosophy for Beginners, p. 101
3 Quoted in, Gary North, Unholy Spirits, p. 36
4 James Sire, The Universe Next Door
5 Peter Watson, The Modern Mind, p. 39
6 D. Martin Fields, Postmodernism, p. 8
7 Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2002
8 Paul Johnson, Modern Times, p. 48
9 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
10 Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2002
11 The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia
12 Paul Johnson, The Quest for God, p. 67
13 Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind, p. 25, 26
14 Congressman Joe Pitts, The Return of Good and Evil
15 Harper Collins Dictionary of Philosophy
16 Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics, p. 18
17 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodern
18 D. Martin Fields, Postmodernism

Session Four: Postmodernism

Session Five
Mysticism
This session will cover two main areas of mysticism: Pantheistic Monism and the New Age
Movement.
Pantheistic Monism
1. Pantheistic Monism is the foundational worldview behind most

.
This include much of Hinduism, Transcendental Meditation, and the Zen tradition of
Buddhism.
Pantheistic Monism is also the foundation of the New Age Movement which will be
discussed in the second part of this session.
• Pantheism is the doctrine that the universe as a whole is god, and this god is the
substance and laws that are manifested in the existing universe.1
Pantheism comes from two Greek words, pan meaning “everything” and theos meaning
“God.” Any system of belief that identifies the universe with God is considered
pantheism.
• Monism is the doctrine that ultimate reality is one substance.

The unifying principle or single substance is variously identified as spirit, mind, energy,
or an all-pervasive deity.2
2. Pantheistic Monism says that in the universe

is part of the same substance—an impersonal oneness—and that oneness
is god.
God is the cosmos. Everything in the cosmos is not distinct and separate but is part of the
same impersonal essence. The god of Pantheistic Monism is an impersonal energy.
“The God of the New Age is no one special. He, or rather, it, is everything; there
is nothing that is not God.”3
Russell Chandler

3. In Pantheistic Monism, each person is a .

While all human beings are embodied by the same impersonal essence, some people are
closer to unity with the One than others. Attaining this greater unity involves
abandoning the complexities of being a self-conscious, self-determining individual and
entering into an undifferentiated, impersonal One. The Enlightened Masters are human
beings who are closest to pure unity with the One. They attain this unity through
various techniques: meditation, chanting a mantra, repetition of prayers. These
techniques help them to move from the illusion of this material world to the reality of
unity with the One.
The state of supreme unity with the One is described as follows:
“Neither outer nor inner consciousness, neither semi-consciousness, nor sleeping-

consciousness, neither consciousness nor unconsciousness. He is the Spirit
himself, that cannot be seen or touched, that is above all distinction, beyond
thought and ineffable. In the union with him is the supreme proof of his reality.
He is the end of evolution and non-duality. He is peace and love.”4
Pantheistic Monism and the Four Worldview Questions
Pantheistic monism teaches that the universe had an

beginning.
Since the beginning of the universe had an impersonal origin, the question of “why” we
are here is avoided. Like naturalism, pantheism says, “We don’t have a good answer to
that question, so we won’t think about it.”5
Pantheistic Monism teaches that knowledge is acquired by

for the purpose of
becoming one with the universe.
Pantheistic Monism teaches that right and wrong, and good and evil, are
of the oneness of the
universe. Therefore, morality is an illusion.

However, Pantheistic Monism also embraces karma, a seemingly contradictory concept.

Karma is the impersonal law of moral cause and effect. A person’s state in this life is the
result of karma from past incarnations and actions in this life will determine a person’s
karma in the next life. Therefore, morality matters.
Pantheistic Monism teaches that time and history are of

. Life and death are just part of the cycle of attaining
unity with the One.
1. If the universe is impersonal, where did ,

, and come from?
“If the universe is impersonal, why would men and women desire love and
communication with one another? Where did these personal attributes come
from? No one has ever thought of a way to derive personality from non-personal
sources.”6
Francis Schaeffer
The pantheist explanation is insufficient to explain the reality of what is seen and
experienced in the universe.
In response to the impersonal universe of Pantheistic Monism, the biblical worldview

maintains that God is a ,
and that He created man in His image.
The doctrine of the Trinity presupposes eternal personality and relationship within the
godhead. God is not only eternally personal, but is also eternally relational.
2. No one can consistently live with the notion of an

.
As one contemporary Indian philosopher said, “Even in India we look both ways before
we cross the street, because we know it is either the bus or us.”7
In response to the illusory universe of Pantheistic Monism, the biblical worldview

maintains that the external
universe for the outworking of His eternal plan.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good . . .
Genesis 1:31
3. Pantheistic Monism is not in history and is

ultimately .
Pantheistic monism is based on ancient parables and individual experiences. The Eastern
scriptures are filled with epigrams, parables, fables, stories, myths, songs, and epics, but
they do not convey historical events that took place in a space-time context.
In response to the unverifiable nature of Pantheistic Monism, the biblical worldview

maintains that truth is rooted in historically
.
3
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third
day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the
Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the
same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:3-6
The New Age Movement
1. New Age mysticism is a of Eastern religions

and various Western influences.
Examples include spiritism, witchcraft, nature worship, and astrology.
2. They many of the essential ideas of Eastern

thought, them with traditional Western goals
like health, wealth, and personal peace.
The New Age Movement is not a coherent organization with defined structures and
rituals. It is an extremely large, loosely structured network bound together by mystical
beliefs and a devotion to a coming age of peace and enlightenment, sometimes called the
“Age of Aquarius.”
3. The New Age Movement is a of ancient

occultism.
It can be traced back to Sumerian, Indian, Egyptian, Chaldean, and Persian religious
practices.8

However, the more recent antecedent to the New Age Movement is the counter culture
of the 1960’s. The counter culture was a turning point in Western culture, a wedge to
introduce Eastern mysticism to the West.
At the beginning of the twentienth century, secular humanism was the prevailing
worldview in the West, and most people believed its promises of a better future.
However, many of the significant events of the twentieth century disproved its claims.
Two world wars, the conflict in Korea, and a war in Vietnam all belied the promise of
unmitigated progress. Vivid television coverage of the war in Vietnam brought death
into the living rooms of many Americans. Students on university campuses were unable
to find solutions in the secular education they were receiving and grew frustrated with
their institutions of learning. The counter culture was born in this matrix of frustration
and despair.
The New Age Movement today shares many of the beliefs of the counter culture
movement: anti-materialism and simple living, attempts to build an alternate
community, an exaltation of nature, a rejection of traditional morality, and a fascination
with the occult.
The spiritual vacuum left by the abandonment of the supernatural in secular humanism
has resulted in the search for an irrational or mystical solution to life.
The Central Tenets of the New Age Movement
1. All is .
The cosmos is pure, undifferentiated, universal energy; everything is one vast
interconnected process.9
“All boundaries and dualities have been transcended and all individuality
dissolves into universal, undifferentiated oneness.”10
Fritjof Capra
2. All is .
All things are part of one divine essence.
3. Man is .

“The goal of spiritual growth is the attainment of Godhead by the conscious

self . . . the individual is to become totally, wholly God.”11
M. Scott Peck
Human beings are gods in disguise. The goal of human beings is to awaken the god who
sleeps within them. This means that humans have all the potential that God has.
“You are God. Honest. I know your driver’s license says differently, but what does
the DMV know?”12
Jack Underhill
4. Man is evolving a cosmic “ ” of enlightenment

and global harmony.
The New Age Movement has taken Darwin’s theory of evolution to a spiritual level.
“Humanity is on the verge of something entirely new, a further revolutionary step

unlike any other: the emergence of the first global civilization.”13
Donald Keys
Evolution is central to the New Age belief. Without faith in evolution, the New Age
Movement would be incapable of maintaining their distinctive optimism. The New Age
equates human development as proof of an accelerating evolution of consciousness. The
evolutionary processes are expected to produce a new kind of person: a person with a
planetary perception; with a different, more inclusive awareness; with a more humane
and integral consciousness, capable of identifying with the entire human species and
with planetary life.
This evolutionary process should lead to one world order. This utopia envisioned by the
New Age Movement will be ruled by a one-world government composed of an elite
group of spiritual masters.
5. All truth is and all paths ultimately lead to

the .
Differences between religions are superficial and external, and though there may be
many paths and methods to higher consciousness, the essentials of every religion are the
same.

The New Age Movement and the Four Worldview Questions
The New Age Movement teaches that man is the of an

impersonal, evolving cosmic consciousness.
The New Age Movement teaches that all truth in the

individual.
Man has unlimited knowledge within his “Higher Self.” However, human beings must
learn to access that knowledge within themselves through various spiritual techniques.
The New Age Movement teaches that the ultimate value is

.
Whatever it takes to get there is valid. Therefore, all lifestyles are legitimate.
The New Age Movement teaches that the individual must strive to reach his ultimate
potential: with the .
“All human goals appear possible, even the elimination of death, not through
Jesus Christ or other divine messengers, but through one’s own human,
independently earned spiritual enlightenment.”
Maxine Negri
All humanity must strive to reach their ultimate potential: the “Age of Aquarius.”
1. The New Age Movement has a flawed understanding of

.
God is not merely —within His creation, but He

is also —above and beyond His creation. God exists
of the universe.

All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the
powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What have you done?”
Daniel 4:35

.
• Man is and totally .
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Psalm 51:5
Total depravity is the corruption of the entire man, affecting every part of his nature,
twisting every faculty of body and soul, and producing an inability to turn to God.
• Man save himself.

The flawed nature of human beings means that they cannot be saved through their own
abilities or self-help programs—they are all in need of the grace of God.
8
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God—9not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8,9

and .
• New Age teachings any individual’s concept of

truth—whether it is rooted in science, witchcraft, philosophy, or occult
experiences.
“Each [New Age] system is equally valid; it must only pass the test of experience,
and experience is private.”14
James Sire
• In contrast, the biblical worldview provides a

for truth and value: the eternal Word of God.

7
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are
trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy
to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
9
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord
are sure and altogether righteous.
Psalm 19:7-9
4. The New Age Movement opens a door to

activity.
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow
deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
1 Timothy 4:1
The New Age acceptance of witchcraft and occult practices has opened a door to
of demonic activity
within society.
. . . for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

2 Corinthians 11:14
(ENDNOTES)
1 Britannica 2003 Ultimate Reference Suite
2 Concise Columbia Encyclopedia
3 Russell Chandler, Understanding the New Age, p. 29
4 James Sire, The Universe Next Door, p.125
5 Sue Bohlin, Answering the Big Questions of Life, http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/bigquest.html
6 Francis Schaeffer, The Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer: A Christian World-view
7 Robert Pardon, An Open Letter to Disciples of Hinduism, www.ChristianAnswers.Net
8 William Martin, The New Age Cult
9 Russell Chandler, Understanding the New Age, p. 28
10 Fritjof Capra, Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Raising Culture
11 M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
12 Jack Underhill, New Age Quiz, Life Times Magazine, no. 3, p. 6
13 Donald Keys, Earth at Omega: Passage to Planetization, p. iii
14 James Sire, The Universe Next Door, p. 169

Session Five: Mysticism

Session Six
The Christian Response
Introduction
This session will examine the following three questions.
• What is the effect of so much sin in the world and how should Christians respond
to it?
• What is the best route to take—revival or reformation?
• What is the best way to serve in the kingdom of God?
The Magnitude of Sin in the World
1. Sin is a of existence.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
All men sin. A fleeting temptation or a white lie might not seem as bad as the so-called
big sins of murder and rape, but in God’s eyes every sin is equally offensive.
2. Sin does not depend on the of a given culture

at a given moment in time.
The evidence of sin is visible all around. It is evident in newspaper articles and on the
evening news.
3. Sin is always and the one who sins is

for his actions.
“The person who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of
the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of
the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked
will be charged against him.”
Ezekiel 18:20

4. Sin has in society.

If a nation legalizes the right to kill unborn children, should Christians tell God it is not
their problem? Should Christians do nothing while moneylenders exploit the poor?
Should Christians sit back while the federal government takes their property through
unbiblical levels of taxation?
Surely failure to act means Christians are guilty of the sin of omission—failing to stand
up and speak.
“Who stands fast? Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his
principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice
all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and exclusive
obedience to God—the responsible man, who tries to make his whole life an
answer to the question and call of God. Where are these responsible people?”1
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Revival or Reformation?
1. What is reformation?
• Reformation is the attempt to all of life according to

biblical principles.
Reformation is the process by which God’s Word changes all aspects of life in a society
(including personal, social, religious, civil, economic, educational, artistic, legal, etc) and
reshapes them according to the biblical pattern.
• Reformation does not begin in policy or social action, but in the person of
.
Just as individuals cannot be saved by good works, so also nations cannot be saved by
good works.
2. What is the difference between reformation and revolution?
Revolution seeks change by the existing order;

Reformation seeks change by it.
The underlying premise of revolution is that a new society will produce new people;
change the external, and the internal will follow.

The underlying premise of reformation is that only new people will produce a new
society; first change the internal, and then the external will follow.
The Bible supplies various examples of this internal to external principle of reformation.
In Luke 3:14, Roman soldiers asked John the Baptist what they should do in response to
his message about the kingdom of God. He replied, Don’t extort money and don’t accuse
people falsely—be content with your pay. He did not reject their profession as soldiers and
tell them to find “more spiritual” work.
In Luke 19:1-10, Zaccheus offered to give half his possessions to the poor and pay back
four times anyone he defrauded. Jesus, seeing the internal change in his heart, did not
require him to leave his profession.
When the gospel advanced from the confines of the Jewish world, people confronted
various Gentile practices that, though antithetical to Scripture, were deeply entrenched
in society. One of those practices was polygamy. The apostles and evangelists did not try
to change the practice of polygamy by external methods, but instead mandated that
overseers must be “the husband of one wife.” They understood that the influence of
monogamous leaders would eventually leaven the culture and transform the external
practice of polygamy.
3. What is revival?
Revival has been defined in
.
“Revival is a visitation or outpouring of the Holy Spirit.”2

Martin Lloyd-Jones
“Revival is divine intervention in the normal course of spiritual things. It is God

revealing Himself to man in awful holiness and irresistible power. It is such a
manifest working of God that human personalities are overshadowed and human
programs abandoned. It is man retiring to the background because God has
taken the field.”3
Arthur Wallis
“Revival is a community saturated with God.”4

Duncan Campbell
Revival is typified by a strong conviction of sin, miracles and healings, fervent prayer, a
strong sense of God’s presence, and an abnormal number of genuine conversions.

The word “revival” is not used in the Bible, but the word “revive” is used twenty-one
times, including nine times in Psalm 119. Revive means to “give life, preserve, quicken,
recover, repair, or restore.”
4. What is the difference between revival and reformation?
• Revival is the phase of God’s work. It renews and

reawakens men to serve God with all their hearts.
• Reformation is the phase of God’s work. It renews

and reawakens men to apply the Word of God to every area of life.
Revival that does not result in reformation is not true revival. A.W. Tozer defined revival
as “. . . that which changes the moral climate of a community.”5
J. Edwin Orr said, “The revived Church is moved to engage in evangelism, teaching,
and social action.”6
Psalm 119:168 (NASB) says, I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, for all my ways are
before You. The psalmist understood that by keeping God’s Word, he was submitting all
of life to God—not just his spiritual or personal life. If God were to revive a group of
people to obey His Word, they would obey it not merely in their spiritual lives and their
personal moral lives, but also in their economic, political, educational, and legal spheres
of life.
• God’s Word addresses

of life.
God’s Word addresses civil government (Deuteronomy 17:14-20).
God’s Word addresses economics (Proverbs 6:1-5).
God’s Word addresses education (Exodus 18:20).
God’s Word addresses law (Exodus 20:1-17).
Service in the Kingdom of God
1. The biblical view of

Work is holy to the Lord and all occupations have value if done unto the Lord.
Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.
Colossians 3:23

Vocational ministry is not the only way (or even the highest way) to serve God. There is
profit in all labor.
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as

Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.
He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause
to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’”7
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“There is always the danger that we may just do the work for the sake of the
work. This is where the respect and the love and the devotion come in—that we
do it to God, to Christ, and that’s why we try to do it as beautifully as possible.”8
Mother Teresa
2. The following are examples of men whose lives were a

to God.
• (1759-1833)
He was an English statesman and reformer, who, along with his associates of the
Clapham Sect, brought substantial social reform to Great Britain.
Wilberforce was born into a family of wealth and social standing. When he was eight
years old his father died and William was sent to live in Wimbledon with his aunt, a
staunch Methodist. In his aunt’s home he came into contact with such men as the great
evangelist George Whitefield and John Newton, the former slave-trader. His mother,
fearing that William might be influenced by “religious enthusiasm,” removed him from
his aunt’s home and sent him to a private school. He gradually forgot the spiritual
influence of his aunt and was caught up in the social whirl of his mother’s lifestyle. Upon
reaching maturity he won a prominent seat in Parliament, becoming a close friend and
advisor to the Prime Minister, William Pitt.9
At twenty-six years of age, Wilberforce read Philip Doddridge’s Rise and Progress of
Religion in the Soul. Wilberforce realized that he was not a Christian because he had
never died to himself. He submitted his life to Christ and immediately began to
evangelize those around him. He wondered if he should not resign his seat in Parliament
for the ministry. John Newton convinced him to stay and use his position for good. He
suggested that Wilberforce might even attempt to abolish slavery.10
Wilberforce was converted in 1785, and three years later he introduced his first
anti-slavery bill in the House of Commons. The motion was defeated. However, he
brought it up again every year for eighteen years until the slave trade was finally
abolished in 1806.

The bill for the abolition of slavery in all British territories passed its crucial vote four
days before his death in 1833. A year later, 800,000 slaves were set free.11
“I apprehend the essential practical characteristic of true Christians to be this:

that relying on the promises to repenting sinners of acceptance through the
Redeemer, they have renounced and abjured all other masters, and have
cordially and unreservedly devoted themselves to God . . . It is now their
determined purpose to yield themselves without reserve to the reasonable service
of the Rightful Sovereign. They are not their own: their bodily and mental
faculties, their natural and acquired endowments, their substance, their
authority, their time, their influence, all these they consider as belonging to
them . . . to be consecrated to the honor of God and employed in his service.”12
William Wilberforce
• The
It was a small, diverse group of people from different occupations who banded together
to make a lasting social and moral change in Great Britain.
The Clapham Sect (named because many of them lived in the southern London suburb
of Clapham) consisted of one banker, two members of Parliament, one business
administrator, one playwright, two ministers, two colonial governors, one scholar, and
one Master of Chancery.
Their efforts spanned a wide spectrum of issues, including slavery, missions, prison
reform, public immorality, and the needs of the poor.
“It is doubtful whether a single small congregation has in the history of

Christendom exercised such a far-flung influence.”13
Marjie Bloy
The Clapham Sect fostered evangelical Christianity, encouraged the Church Missionary
Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society, and helped establish Sierra Leone as a
colony for repatriated slaves.
The Clapham Sect demonstrated what a difference a handful of Christians can make.
They are a case study for effecting social change. The following are some of the keys to
their success. The Clapham Sect:14
- set clear and specific goals.

- researched carefully to produce reliable and irrefutable evidence.
- built a committed support community.
- refused to accept setbacks as final defeats.

- committed to the struggle for the long haul, even if it took decades.
- disallowed their opponents’ vicious attacks to distract them, or provoke a similar
response.
- accepted incremental gains when everything could not be achieved at once.
- cultivated grassroots support when rebuffed by those in power.
- worked through recognized channels without resorting to dirty tactics or
violence.
- proceeded with a sense of mission and conviction that God would providentially
guide if they were truly acting in his service.
• (1888-1869)
He was a Christian businessman and inventor who designed and built 300 different
machines.
Le Tourneau dropped out of school at age fourteen and went to work shovelling sand
and dirt at an iron works factory in Portland, Oregon. In 1904, he was converted
during a crusade in Portland. He moved to California a few years later, experiencing
much failure and hardship, and working almost forty odd jobs. In 1918, after a minister
told him, “God needs businessmen as well as preachers and missionaries,” he dedicated
his life to be “God’s businessman.”15
For many years, he lived on ten percent of his income and gave away ninety percent to
Christian work, especially missionary efforts in Africa and South America.
“The question is not how much of my money I give to God, but rather how
much of God’s money I keep for myself.”
Robert G. Le Tourneau
Le Tourneau introduced into the earthmoving and material handling industry the
rubber tire and the electric wheel. Le Tourneau was granted 299 patents during his life.
These 299 inventions included the bulldozer, scrapers of all sorts, dredgers, portable
cranes, rollers, dump wagons, bridge spans, logging equipment, mobile sea platforms for
oil exploration, the electric wheel and many others.
Le Tourneau built 70% of the heavy earthmoving equipment used by the allies in World
War II. During the height of the war, from 1942 to 1945, his fertile mind pumped out
seventy-eight inventions, many of which were instrumental in helping to win the war.16

Conclusion
The challenge for the Church at the beginning of the twenty-first century is to:
• take the truth of the gospel into the nations of the world, bringing life, restoration,
and hope.
• evangelize the lost, disciple believers, restore the family, reform the marketplace, and
infuse every academic discipline with the biblical worldview.
• be salt and light to the world around us.
This is the Great Commission!
(ENDNOTES)
1 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christmas Letter, December, 1942
2 Martin Lloyd-Jones, Revival. P. 100
3 Arthur Wallis, In The Day Of Thy Power, p. 20
4 Duncan Campbell, Quoted in, Winkie Pratney, Revival: Its Principles And Personalities, p. 17
5 Quoted in, Winkie Pratney, Revival: Its Principles And Personalities, p. 17
6 J. Edwin Orr, The Eager Feet, p. viii
7 Martin Luther King, Jr., Facing the Challenge of a New Age
8 Mother Teresa, Imitation of Christ
9 http://www.britannia.com/bios/wilberforce.html
10 Ken Curtis, Christian History Institute, http://www.gospelcom.net
11 James Keifer, http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/214.html
12 William Wilberforce, A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System Contrasted to Real Christianity, Quoted in,
Ken Curtis, Christian History Institute, http://www.gospelcom.net
13 Marjie Bloy, Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect www.historyhome.co.uk
14 Ken Curtis
15 http://www.intouch.org/myintouch/mighty/portraits/rg_letourneau
16 http://www.letu.edu/about_LU/museum/Museum_Online/

Session Six: The Christian Response

Worldviews Course Reflection
Date Finished: Time:
Application: What is the most significant thing you have learned in this course?
I hereby certify that I have honestly listened to the ENLI Lecture CD and have answered
my ENLI manual to the best of my ability on the stated date and time above, together with
my written reaction paper as proof that I went through the course.
Printed Name and Signature

(Please do not exceed this page and submit this together with all session reports to the ENLI office.)

Glossary of Terms
Autonomy. Independence from the will of others.
Cultural Mandate. This involves transforming nations with the principles from the
Word of God so that they will reflect the glory and character of God.
Discipleship Mandate. This involves winning the lost to Christ and training them to be
genuine disciples who reflect the glory and character of God.
Empiricism. The philosophical doctrine that all knowledge is derived from experience.
Enlightenment. A European intellectual movement that exalted reason and science.
Epistemology. The study of what we can know and how we can be sure that we know it.
General Revelation. God’s revelation of Himself through creation and the conscience.
Humanism. A cultural and intellectual movement of the Renaissance that emphasized

secular concerns as a result of the rediscovery of the literature, art, and civilization of
ancient Greece and Rome.
Modernism. Another name for secular humanism.
Monism. The doctrine that ultimate reality is one substance.
Naturalism. The belief that all phenomena can be explained in terms of natural causes
without attributing moral supernatural significance to them.
New Age Mysticism. A mix of Eastern religions and various Western influences such as
spiritism, witchcraft, nature worship, and astrology.
Pantheism. The doctrine that the universe as a whole is God, and that God is the
substance and laws that are manifested in the existing universe.
Postmodernism. The rejection of the modernist concepts of absolute truth and certain
knowledge.

Rationalism. The philosophical theory that the exercise of reason is the prime source of
knowledge.
Reformation. The attempt to reconstruct all of life according to biblical principles.
Relativism. The belief that there is no absolute right or wrong, but that truth varies
from individual to individual and culture to culture.
Renaissance. A series of literary and cultural movements in the fourteenth, fifteenth,

and sixteenth centuries that began in Italy and eventually expanded into Germany,
France, England, and other parts of Europe.
Revival. A movement typified by a strong conviction of sin, miracles and healings,

fervent prayer, a strong sense of God’s presence, and an abnormal number of genuine
conversions.
Secular Humanism. The worldview that asserts man is the center of everything.
Skepticism. The belief that certainty cannot be attained about the world, reality, truth,
morality, or human nature.
Special Revelation. God’s revelation of Himself through the Bible.
Worldview. A set of presuppositions held consciously or unconsciously in faith about the

basic makeup of the world and how the world works.

Answers
SESSION ONE SESSION TWO SESSION THREE
What is a Worldview? The Christian Worldview Secular Humanism
1. Hardened heart 1. Meaning 1. Man
2. Darkened mind 2. Contaminate 2. Asserts
3. Process 3. Division 3. Rebirth
4. Consequences 4. Sacred 4. Assertion
5. Seeds 5. Secular 5. Emphasis
6. World 6. Church life 6. Intellectual movement
7. Cultures 7. Every other 7. Optimistic faith
8. Free 8. Implications 8. Vigorous distrust
9. Rapid 9. God 9. Rene Descartes
10. Flying 10. Devil 10. John Locke
11. Everyone 11. Sole purpose 11. Isaac Newton
12. Religious 12. Augustine 12. All knowledge
13. Sunglasses 13. Countered 13. Political process
14. Questions 14. Martin Luther 14. Exchanged
15. Origin 15. Challenged 15. Key
16. Knowledge 16. John Calvin 16. Responsibility
17. Value 17. Model 17. Form
18. Destiny 18. Discipleship mandate 18. Revelation
19. Origin 19. Cultural mandate 19. Heart
20. Supernatural 20. Origin 20. God’s Word
21. Natural 21. God 21. Responsibility
22. Knowledge 22. Creator 22. Atheists
23. Rationalism 23. Sovereign 23. Superstition
24. Empiricism 24. Supernaturally 24. Cornerstone
25. Revelation 25. Purposefully 25. Rationalists
26. Value 26. Knowledge 26. Man-centered
27. Supernatural 27. Rationalism 27. Situational
28. Humanistic 28. Revelation 28. Relative
29. Destiny 29. Based 29. Materialists
30. Supernatural 30. Specific ways 30. Advance
31. Natural 31. True 31. Human perfectibility
32. Actively choose 32. Exhaustive 32. Trust himself
33. Cultural awareness 33. Value
34. Properly evaluating 34. Ultimate
35. Ultimate
36. Infinite
37. Destiny
38. Directs
39. Meaning

SESSION FOUR SESSION FIVE SESSION SIX

Postmodernism Mysticism The Christian Response
1. Rooted 1. Eastern religions 1. Fact
2. Reaction 2. Everything 2. Ideas
3. Immanuel Kant 3. God 3. Personal
4. Friedrich Nietzsche 4. Impersonal 4. Responsible
5. Jean-Paul Sartre 5. Personal experience 5. Consequences
6. Jacques Derrida 6. All part 6. Reconstruct
7. Skepticism 7. No value 7. Jesus Christ
8. Relativism 8. Personality 8. Destroying
9. Autonomy 9. Love 9. Renewing
10. Science 10. Communication 10. Many ways
11. Education 11. Personal being 11. First
12. Art 12. Illusory universe 12. Second
13. Architecture 13. God created 13. All areas
14. Rejected 14. Rooted 14. Work
15. Objective 15. Unverifiable 15. Service
16. Absolute 16. Verifiable facts 16. William Wilberforce
17. Standards 17. Mix 17. Clapham Sect
18. Irrelevant 18. Combining 18. Robert Le Tourneau
19. Comprehensive knowledge 19. Revival
20. Absolute integrity 20. One
21. Never changes 21. God
22. Lord 22. God
23. Accountable 23. Consciousness
24. Equal
25. Same place
26. Product
27. Resides
28. Enlightenment
29. Union
30. Divine
31. God
32. Immanent
33. Transcendent
34. Independently
35. Man
36. Fallen
37. Depraved
38. Cannot
39. Truth
40. Values
41. Validate
42. Firm foundation
43. Occult
44. Increasing levels

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Worldviews

TRAINING A NEW GENERATION OF LEADERS

Scripture references are from the Holy Bible WORLDVIEWS

Session 2: The Christian Worldview ............................................. 9

Session 3: Secular Humanism ..................................................... 18

Session 4: Postmodernism .......................................................... 28

Session 5: Mysticism ................................................................... 37

Session 6: The Christian Response ............................................. 47

Worldviews Course Reflection .................................................... 56

Glossary of Terms ...................................................................... 57

The Root Cause

1. The root cause of a wrong worldview is a

Every Nation Leadership Institute Worldviews • 1

2. After turning to Christ, we must then begin the

Every Nation Leadership Institute Worldviews • 2

2. Ideas begin as in the mind of an individual.

3. In the past, it has taken a considerable amount of time for ideas to

While studying towards a graduate degree in archaeology at a university, a student

Every Nation Leadership Institute Worldviews • 3

What, then, is a Worldview?

From this definition, several things can be learned.

2. All worldviews contain a element.

3. A worldview is like a pair of : the color of the

1. Every worldview must answer the following four

Every Nation Leadership Institute Worldviews • 4

• —where did the human race come from?

• —what can man know and how does he know it?

• —what is truly valuable in the universe?

• —where is the human race heading?

2. All the answers to the question of fit in two

An example of an impersonal supernatural power is the Absolute Spirit at the center of

Another example of an impersonal supernatural power is the Hindu Brahman, the

3. All the answers to the question of fit in three

Every Nation Leadership Institute Worldviews • 5

4. All the answers to the question of fit in two

5. All the answers to the question of fit in two

Every Nation Leadership Institute Worldviews • 6

Why is it Important to Understand Worldviews?

2. Understanding worldviews leads to

3. Understanding worldviews provides us with a framework for

Every Nation Leadership Institute Worldviews • 7

Session One: What is a Worldview?

In all honesty, I have finished studying _________ pages of this session.

(Please do not exceed this page.)

Every Nation Leadership Institute Worldviews • 8

The Christian Worldview

“There is no longer a Christian mind.”1

Christianity is Applicable to All of Life

1. God created all things, and no facet of life has any

2. However, over time, various ideas and philosophies have conspired to

Every Nation Leadership Institute Worldviews • 9

• The secular are activities associated with

4. There are many to this unbiblical idea.

• The second implication is that our

Every Nation Leadership Institute Worldviews • 10

These implications produce an escapist view in which we become apathetic toward

God is interested in what is sown in the field and how it is managed.

Historical Foundations of the Biblical Worldview

His writings Greek and pagan thought and laid the

“Augustine recognized that people’s dominant worldview inevitably shapes the

Every Nation Leadership Institute Worldviews • 11

Luther the religious traditions of his day that were based

The First Step: Obeying the Great Commission

There are two parts to the Great Commission.