A Few Thoughts About Worldviews

A worldview is defined as A worldview is the set of beliefs about fundamental aspects of Reality that ground and influence all one's perceiving, thinking, knowing, and doing. (Source).

A list of worldview includes: Buddhistic, Islamic, Jehovah's Witness, Christian Science, Narcissistic, Feminism, Postmodernism, Social justice, Atheism, Agnosticism, Pantheism, Panentheism, Spirit, Simulation, satanic, Secularism, Marxism, New Spirituality, and many others.

According to the Bible there are only two: flesh and spirit.

Flesh

B1 The foundation this worldview is the self. It is evil. Jeremiah 17:9 NLT The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

B2 It is out of our hearts that evil comes. Matthew 15:19 NLT For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.

B3 Original sin is NOT that we are punished for Adams’ sin. That is error!

C1 Ezekiel 18:19-20 NLT "'What?' you ask. 'Doesn't the child pay for the parent's sins?' No! For if the child does what is just and right and keeps my decrees, that child will surely live. The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent's sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child's sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness.

C2 Deuteronomy 24:16 NLT Parents must not be put to death for the sins of their children, nor children for the sins of their parents. Those deserving to die must be put to death for their own crimes.

B4 Original sin is Me First. It is my desires, thoughts, words, and deeds. Me, Me, Me. James 4:3 NLT And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

B5 God is not pleased with the flesh worldview: Ephesians 2:3 NLT All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God's anger, just like everyone else.

B6 Flesh and Spirit contrasted: Romans 8:5-8 NRSV For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. (6) To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (7) For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law—indeed it cannot, (8) and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

B7 This is a worldview enslaved and addicted to sin:

C1 Galatians 3:22 NLT But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God's promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.

C2 Titus 3:3 NLT Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other.

C3 1 Peter 4:3 NLT You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy--their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.

B8 What this worldview leads to (Some do more evil than others): Galatians 5:19-21 NLT When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

B9 This worldview has the desires of power, money, and sex.

B10 The 10 Commandments list the broad classifications of sins with many subsets of sins under each. (See Exodus 20).

Spirit

B1 Christians have been cleansed from, redeemed from, saved from:

C1 Ephesians 2:3 NLT All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God's anger, just like everyone else.

C2 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NLT Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people--none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

B2 We are warned to abandon the flesh worldview: Galatians 5:16-18 NLT So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.

B3 The actions and fruits of the life with the worldview of the Spirit. These words have to be defined as God defines them in Scripture, not popular culture: Galatians 5:22-24 NLT But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

B4 There are ~1,000 rules in the New Testament for Christians to follow. Some examples:

C1 Romans 12.

C2 1 Thessalonians 5:12-27.

C3 James 4.

We have a choice to make. We can live by God’s worldview or the flesh. God’s grace is sufficient.

James 4:4-6 NLT You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy? But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, "God opposes the proud but favors the humble.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 NLT Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.