I recently came across research from Dr. George Barna of The Barna Group that shows “only 6% of all U.S. adults have a biblical worldview. It is barely better among the self-identified Christian population (9%).”
Shocking? Well, consider conversations you have with those in your daily life.
Sometimes the conversations may go something like this:
“We typically pray before our meals, is it ok if we pray before we eat?”
“Surely, I’ve been trying to pray more. I find it calms me down and helps me find my zen, you know?”
Or
“I’ve been seeing some wild comments on social media lately from friends who I thought were Christians.”
“Well, to each his own. I believe in God, but I really think what matters is pursuing your own truth. I’m glad people feel free to speak up and share what their truth is.”
While they may seem harmless, these comments actually point to a, if not the, prevailing worldview in the United States today: syncretism.
While this word has been used for a variety of purposes throughout history, I’ll defer to Barna’s definition:
Syncretism is “the worldview that merges otherwise incompatible philosophies of life into a made-to-order worldview that incorporates enough biblical elements to be minimally Christian in nature.”
Or to put it another way, he says, “The blending of elements from numerous, unbiblical worldviews along with a few biblical views is now embraced as the popular, accepted expression of Christian faith.”
So, what is a biblical worldview? Well, maybe we need to back up even further. What is a worldview?
I’ll attempt to provide some basic definitions here:
Worldview: Most simply, it is how one sees the world and lives based on that perspective. It is a collection of values, experiences, beliefs, philosophies, and actions.
Biblical worldview: Viewing the world based on God’s revealed truth in the Bible and living accordingly.
I’m writing here to those of us who already claim to be followers of Jesus. As the church emerges (has emerged now?) from the pandemic and church attendance is on the decline, it’s worth evaluating our own hearts, minds, and actions to assess our own worldview to see if it is in fact biblical or merely some modern cultural blend of popular ideas.
If we only look at the world and say “Oh, how terrible it is! This is a tragedy! All those people out there are getting it wrong!” yet we don’t pause to examine our own hearts, I don’t see how we have any ground to stand on. Or on the flipside of that, if we see the world as “Of course there are bad things out there, but overall, people are just trying to find what’s right for them,” we are becoming insensitive to the reality of the Gospel.
Jesus – God’s Word in the flesh – points us to Scripture to determine our worldview. He said in John 5:39-40, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
And let’s remember 1 John 1:5-10:
“And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.”
Ok, so how do we test our own worldview to make sure we are not deceiving ourselves? How do we cultivate a biblical worldview?
Here are the basics Barna used, and they are a good starting point for each of us to evaluate how we live and think. Starting from the premise that absolute moral truth is defined by the Bible, here are six views that shape a biblical worldview:
Jesus Christ lived a sinless life.
God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe, and He still rules it today.
Salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned.
Satan is real.
A Christian has a responsibility to share their faith in Christ with other people.
The Bible is accurate in all of its teachings.
Some of you, like me, may immediately read that list and realize that even within those six statements, there is a wide margin for the full doctrine and orthopraxy stemming from each. For the purpose of this blog post, I’m just aiming to stick to the big picture.
Another good place to start would be the Nicene Creed, dating back to the years 325-589 and widely accepted by Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic churches.
We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered and was buried.
The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again with glory
to judge the living and the dead.
His kingdom will never end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life.
He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
He spoke through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,
and to life in the world to come. Amen.
Once you’ve considered these for yourself, what is next?
Well, if Barna is right, the next step is to go get involved with your church. (May I recommend Willowdale Chapel?) He found that churches who were living by a biblical worldview and weaving it into all aspects of church life were the most helpful in individuals developing a biblical worldview. He notes the churches “are not perfect people, but once they catch on to the critical principles found in the Bible and train their minds to incorporate those views into their thinking, their behavior varies noticeably from the norm.”
With only six percent of adults in the U.S. holding a biblical worldview, we certainly will not be the norm.
At least not right now.
I wonder how future generations will move on from syncretism; if the 20% of Americans who attend church once a week took stock of our worldview and followed 1 John, perhaps the next generation would be more likely to walk in the light.
ABOUT OUR BLOGGER
Originally from Georgia, Mary Beth Gombita is a lover of sweet tea, a proud Georgia Bulldog and an avid music fan. She works in public relations, running her own communications consulting business from home. Mary Beth and her husband, Stephen, have two young sons. She is currently the editor of our Willowdale Women blog.