Worldview and Idolatry

In the book "Naming the Elephant", James Sire defines worldview as "A worldview is a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic makeup of our world."

To make it more simple we can say your worldview is a special pair of glasses through which you see the world.

Whether we realize it or not our worldview directs our life path. Our moral values, our actions and the way interpret reality will be consistent with the way we see the world.

One another important aspect of worldview is the notion that it's not just a set of intellectual/rational ideas but it's a "fundamental orientation of the heart". As one theologian once said, "What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies."

James Sire offers us seven questions to help us discern the core of anyone's worldview:

- What is prime reality – the really real?

- What is the nature of external reality, that is, the world around us?

- What is a human being?

- What happens to a person at death?

- Why is it possible to know anything at all?

- How do we know what is right and wrong?

- What is the meaning of history?

We see in the Bible this constant reminder for us to have our hearts and minds in the right place and shaped by the word of God.

Sometimes, there is a separation between our "religious" and our "secular" life, and one of the reasons is our inconsistent worldview. When our worldview as Christians isn't solid (fully biblical), we are susceptible to embracing false ideas belonging to other worldviews.

And the embracing of these false ideas is just the outflow of new dispositions that are being implanted in our hearts. Idols are being lifted up in our hearts in the place of God and his words. And the consequence will be lives lived in a way that reflects these new affections.

Apostasy and idolatry are much more profound than bowing to other gods or denying Christ with our mouths. These things are just a possible manifestation of something that already happened deep inside.

"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." - Pv 4:23

Nino Marques