(“Thought-provoking: Your worldview governs how you live. Analyze it.”, Ronald Nash talks to Peter Hastie, Australian Presbyterian, Feb. 2004, http://tinyurl.com/lssjo)
“Worldview” can act as an agent of change. “Worldview” works in the realm of cognition and feeling — including beliefs, opinions, attitudes, values. It purports to deal with the spiritual, but much of what passes for “worldview” in today’s Christian world is a mixture of philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and psychology.
When the terms “biblical worldview” or “Christian worldview” are used, they could potentially mean:
1. political viewpoints
2. personal opinions
3. attitudes
4. various doctrinal beliefs
5. cultural values
6. economic views
7. religious philosophies
8. education styles
8. social issues
9. personality type
10. group norms or mores
11. lifestyle preferences
12. mindsets
13. presuppositions & assumptions
14. ethnolinguistics
15. demographics
As you can see, each of these items (and this is not an inclusive list) cannot be claimed as Absolute Truth. Rather, these are positions that people take. These are all potentially part of the Transition sequence of Church Transformation. Each one of these items could be used as a springboard to maneuver people into a mode where what they think or feel supercedes God’s Word. It is also employed as a way to implement groupthink — whatever the group thinks or feels can supercede God’s Word.
These 15 points represent a “mixture” with biblical Truth. This mixture brings in truth and error, man’s opinion with God’s Word. As such, it is open to the manipulations and machinations of whatever agenda might be in vogue. Currently in Christendom the dominionist agenda is in full-swing, and it is here that most worldview assessments and curricula can be found operating.
The purveyors of Worldview believe the axiom “All truth is God’s truth.” This justifies bringing in the mixture. In particular, it opens the door for psychological and sociological influences to “shape” and “determine” and “influence” people’s worldviews. Promoters of Worldview seek to examine the internal workings of people by opening up “dialogues.” It attempts to supercede the work of the Holy Spirit by engineering Worldview shifts in people.
Monitoring your Worldview for Results
Worldview training is integrated into leadership training for pastors and church leaders. It is part of the overall “change agent” for Transformation training. It is also part of Christian education programs and various church and mission endeavors. Worldview training is coming in to the Church through many agencies and sources, which will be examined more fully in future Herescope posts. But, first, it is important to understand a key point:
Worldview advocates do not stop at training! Worldview training is outcome-based and results-driven.
This is because Worldview is part of the overall shift to a psycho-social education model, which was known as outcome-based education in the 1990s. Outcome-based education integrated a child’s attitudes, feelings, opinions, beliefs, motives, temperaments and behaviors into the so-called academic assessments. Worldview assessments also measure these attitudinal things (see the list of 15 points above, for example).
Based upon this model, everyone’s Worldview must be measured, assessed and monitored.
Worldview assessments are particularly at the forefront of Church Transformation. These are psychological tests that fall under the category of attitudinal assessments. They purport to measure a person’s “biblical worldview.” In reality they are instruments devised to monitor people on the emerging spiritually-correct (and politically-correct) dominionist Worldview. Those who need remediation can be put through Worldview classes and curricula designed to re-shape their Worldview to the more correct “biblical” one.
Many of the 15 elements listed above are incorporated into Worldview training, assessment and curricula. This fact alone indicates that the “biblical worldview” is not about Scripture.
The Truth:
For a more complete understanding of the significance of Worldview assessment testing and how it fits into the dominionist agenda, see “Peering Into the PEERS” by Lynn and Sarah Leslie at http://www.discernment-ministries.org/PeeringIntoThePeers.pdf . This article provides detailed (and scholarly) evidence that Worldview assessments are psychological in nature. The article also explores the history and beliefs of the dominionist leaders who are utilizing these tests to further their agenda. The contents of a particular Worldview curriculum used by the Nehemiah Institute is also dissected.
In the days to come, these psychological Worldview assessments will routinely be employed to gauge how well Christians in the pews are fitting into the “mindset” of the New World/Church Order. Become familiar with them now, before family and friends become seduced by these world-oriented Worldview assessments and curricula.
“My son, fear thou the Lord and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change.” (Prov. 24:21)
Matthew Poole’s Commentary notes that “meddle not” means, in the Hebrew, “mix not thyself with them, either in their counsels and practices, or in familiar conversation.”
“And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
“That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Tim. 3:15-17)