A
favorite boutique outfits its dressing rooms with flattering lights
and what my sister and I laughingly call �skinny mirrors.� Add to the
ambiance a fawning sales staff, and women can�t resist shopping there.
For many, the illusion of looking younger and somewhat trimmer trumps
the reality of �lumps and puffs� indicating otherwise!
The
same rings true when it comes to worldviews that stroke the ego or promise
special privilege. Rather than embrace stark biblical reality of their
sinfulness and personal accountability to a holy God, some concede reality
to the skewed, though self-pleasing reflection of a preferred worldview
to the contrary.
Getting
down to business, Christian apologist Dr. David A, Noebel defines a
worldview as speaking to any ideology, philosophy, theology, movement,
or religion that offers �an overarching approach� to comprehending God,
the world, and man�s relationship to both.
In
21st century America, the four major worldviews at play are Secular-
and/or Cosmic- Humanism, Marxism-Leninism, and traditional Christianity.
Each defines an ultimate point of reference�be it the Imperial Self,
the cosmos, the State, or the one true God. All four talk into every
possible discipline from science to the arts; ethics to law, geo-politics
to economics.
Contemporary
exercise of opposing worldviews has exploded into what James Dobson
and Gary Bauer identify as �nothing short of a great Civil War of Values
throughout North America.� For this reason, it behooves us to become
informed.
Worldview: Secular Humanism (Humanist Manifestos, I and II)
Not
to be confused with �humanitarianism,� humanism dethrones God and, in
His place, exalts man as the measure of all things. Its relativistic
values exalt human worth based on self-determination through reason.
In
the early sixties, two landmark US Supreme Court cases made way for
godless humanism by giving the proverbial boot to traditional faith
(in the form of school prayer and Bible reading). It was then that Secular
Humanism emerged as a non-theistic religion whose organized system of
beliefs is upheld devotedly by some 7.3 million humanists who acknowledge
no supernatural being apart from humanity.
Key
documents (Humanist Manifestos, I and II, 1933 and 1973, respectively)
advance a �science�-based, one-world belief system, coupled with global
economics poised to redistribute wealth. An anticipated new age of trans-national
government exchanges Bible bedrock for naturalistic atheism, Darwinism,
moral relativism, and socialism. Proponents aspire to control their
own evolution by means of social or genetic engineering.
Worldview: Marxism-Leninism (Writings of Marx and Lenin)
German
philosopher Karl Marx argued for transformation of human life and nature,
tacitly claiming for the mass proletariat an egalitarian super status
as reflected in the godless State.
When
Lenin modified traditional Marxist doctrine to suit prevailing conditions
in early 20th-century Russia, Marxism-Leninism was born and then served
as base for communist ideology. Marxism-Leninism demands materialistic
interpretation of world order.
To
demonstrate inevitability of radical change, Marx used George Hegel�s
dialectic in attacking religion and the social order of the European
Industrial Revolution. In Hegel�s process, ends justify means. Not surprisingly,
classic Marxism holds to the Robin Hood philosophy of distributing wealth;
furthermore, the Marxist-Leninist maxim of earning one�s keep on planet
earth is the very heart of the UN guiding principle of sustainable development.
In
the words of the Trilateral Commission�s founding director Zbigniew
Brzezinski, �Marxism represents a further vital and creative stage in
the maturing of man�s universal vision.� Never mind that �non-sustainable,
non-producers� delegated to the low end of humanity�s totem pole include
the elderly, stay-at-home moms, and those incapacitated physically or
mentally. Moreover, in this paradigm, all human rights are granted,
controlled, and/or withdrawn by government consisting of elitists deemed
more highly evolved and acceptably enlightened than the masses.
Worldview: Cosmic Humanism (New Age Literature)
Cosmic
humanists blur the line between physics and metaphysics by claiming
themselves to be �Mother Earth�s consciousness.� Theirs is a pseudo-Christian
patchwork of spirit-ism and avant-garde, �fourth-force� psychology.
For them, all life is energy; composite energy is god; and the promised
expectation is �life beyond the grave� by becoming god. New Agers attain
to cosmic- or group- consciousness�i.e., godhood�by aligning and then
fusing with the universal life-force. As part of her Ph.D. studies at
the University of Queensland's School of Population Health, 51-year-old
Rosemary Aird conducted surveys of 3,705 twenty-one year-olds from Brisbane,
Australia. Herself an agnostic, Aird examined two different belief systems�the
first, traditional belief in God; the second, a-traditional belief in
a higher power other than God.
Findings
demonstrated that, despite claim to spiritual illumination and wholeness,
proponents of Cosmic Humanism are subject to higher rates of anxiety,
disturbed and/or suspicious patterns of thinking, depression, and anti-social
behavior. These, she surmises, arise from inordinate focus on self-transformation,
self-fulfillment and self�enlightenment�in a word, self.
Most
often by means of meditation, achieving an altered state of consciousness
enables the Imperial Self to give way to collectivist spirituality defined
by a coveted state of presumptive �godhood.� On the spiritual climb
upward, evolution from embryo-god to �Christhood� through multiple reincarnations
invites the me-centric process of �earned egoic advancement.�
Worldview: Biblical Christianity (The Holy Bible)
Christianity
is founded, not primarily on universal principles, but rather on the
perfect life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Of the lineage
of King David, Christ was born of a virgin. In what the Bible declares
to be �the fullness of time,� He was fathered by God Himself.
His
remarkable life mission was to �seek and save the lost��be they Jews
or Gentiles. Without a doubt, the Gospel of Jesus Christ conveys supreme
�good news.� You see, Jesus who �knew no sin� Himself became sin and
accepted just retribution on Calvary�s Cross for past, present, and
future sins of mankind. This selfless act bridged the divide of sin
and, thus, enabled unlimited access to the heavenly Father.
Christ�s
matchless ministry of just retribution, forgiveness, reconciliation,
sanctification, empowerment, and ultimate glorification on behalf of
�whosoever will come� delivers total restoration of body, soul and spirit
hitherto tainted by sin. Created in God�s image and ever accountable
to His authority, redeemed humans yield to the Holy Spirit and, over
time, are fashioned into the very likeness of Jesus.
At
His first coming, Jesus was a common step-son of a humble carpenter;
however, His Second Coming will pack a punch like none other. His glorious
appearance will halt the blood bath of Armageddon to usher in a millennial
kingdom in which He will rule and reign in righteousness. Thereafter,
the old will make way for a new heaven and earth. Evil will be defeated
utterly and, at long last, redeemed humanity will experience what eye
has yet to see, ear has yet to hear, and the heart has yet to fancy.
The
Final Bow
Of
today�s competing worldviews, Biblical Christianity takes the final
bow. Indeed, the best of Western culture has the Christian worldview
to thank for its extraordinary contributions in the arts and sciences.
Throughout the decades, its positive impact on politics, education and
popular culture is unparalleled.
In
contrast, contesting views have served only to pollute the arts and
blur the sciences. As we shall demonstrate in subsequent articles, their
negative impact is reflected in anti-social behavior; it is evidenced
in failing public education; and its fate is memorialized in collapse
of the Berlin wall.
Subscribe to the NewsWithViews Daily News Alerts!
True,
the wisdom of our time boasts plenty of �bright ideas� and dupes enough
to be ensnared by them. Rather than search for the fountain of youth,
my purpose instead is pursuit of �a fountain of smart.� Please join
me in this quest. Next week part two. For part two click below.
Daughter of an
Army Colonel, Debra graduated with distinction from the University of
Iowa. She then completed a Master of Education degree from the University
of Washington. These were followed by Bachelor of Theology and Master
of Ministries degrees-both from Pacific School of Theology.
While a teacher
in Kuwait, Debra undertook a three-month journey from the Persian Gulf
to London by means of VW "bug"! One summer, she tutored the daughter of
Kuwait's Head of Parliament while serving as superintendent of Kuwait's
first Vacation Bible School.
Having authored
the ABCs of Globalism and ABCs
of Cultural -Isms, Debra speaks to Christian and secular groups alike.
Her radio spots air globally. Presently, Debra co-hosts WOMANTalk
radio with Sharon Hughes and Friends, and she contributes monthly commentaries
to Changing Worldviews and NewsWithViews.com. Debra calls the Pacific
Northwest home.
Christian
apologist Dr. David A, Noebel defines a worldview as speaking to any ideology,
philosophy, theology, movement, or religion that offers �an overarching
approach� to comprehending God, the world, and man�s relationship to both.
