The Biblical and Christian Worldview
for the 21st Century

Abraham Kuyper presented two areas of knowledge that expand side by side with only enough overlap that they are able to communicate with each other. On one side are all systems of thought that are not derived from Scripture. Basically, this side is humanism, not just those under the banner of philosophies (such as, humanism, Marxism, and statism), but all non-Christian religions (such as, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Mohammedism), as well. See The Mind of Christ.

On the other side is Kuyper’s “two-fold starting point: palingenesis and Scripture.” Palingenesis is translated literally, “new (palin) beginning (genesis).” The best name for that new birth is regeneration. As seen in John 3, it is a change wrought by the Holy Spirit where “it (He) wishes.” This change occurs in the mind and the will of the person affected. It changes confidence from the person himself to that of the Holy Scriptures and its message of salvation in Jesus Christ. (Regeneration is an important event in the life of the believer.  One about which too few Christians have insight.  On this website, we have a short, but comprehensive explanation of regeneration (born-again or born-from-above).

Because Western Christians are raised in the environment of Christianity (even in its diluted form today), they sometimes overlook the infinite chasm that separates the system of thought that is Biblical Christianity from humanism (all other religions and philosophies). But, the Bible itself makes this infinite chasm apparent with such descriptions, as light and darkness; the world, the flesh, and the devil vs. the Holy Spirit; the evil one vs. the righteousness of God; heaven and hell; principalities and powers of the air vs. the armor of God; and the old man and the new man.

One cannot overestimate the difference in the two systems. Indeed, one is life and the other is death. Picture in your mind the funerals that you have attended. There in the casket is the dead body. Only “dust” returning to dust. By contrast, you remember the living person who inhabited that body: one who brought children into the world and raised them; achieved considerable skills and knowledge in education and vocation; had thousands, if not millions, of conscious thoughts; engaged thousands of others in light and serious conversation, and more, much more. On the one hand, a dead, cold body, only a speck in the lifeless universe. On the other hand, a living, breathing person who created a personal universe with his life.

For many decades, Christians who are pastors and theologians have led Christians astray with the concept that “the Bible is true in all that it affirms relative to salvation and morality.” This limitation of Scripture has led to making God less than He is (omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent); watering down, if not giving away the fullness of a created earth in six days; a severe limitation in the victorious life of Christians; the loss of God working in history; the domination of humanism and Mohammedism in our time; and many, many other mixtures of the life of the Scriptures with the dead bodies of philosophies and religions.

A Biblical worldview must be comprehensive, coherent in the unity of all its parts, and as authoritative as the voice of God from Mount Sinai. The Bible is the very Word of God written, no more and no less, to all areas of knowledge. For over 200 years, archeologists have tried to refute the Bible. They have not been able to do so. For 150 years, scientists have tried to promote godless evolution, but creation scientists have countered with theories and evidences of their own. Sociologists have tried to change personal morals, and we have a divorce rate that is sky-rocketing and an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases. Psychiatrists have tried to eliminate guilt from personal awareness, and we have become nations of drug addicts (legal and illegal)

There is overwhelming evidence that the Bible, as the very Word of God written, goes way beyond “faith and morals” (as important as those are). A truly Biblical worldview will reach and stretch (within a reasonable hermeneutic) to fully apply its truth to all disciplines of life.