A WARNING ABOUT WORLDVIEWS (Advice to New College Students #2)

Hebrews 12:23 says Jesus’ people are “enrolled in heaven.” The apostle Paul teaches us that the faithful’s “names are in the book of life.” In Revelation 3:5, the Lord promises, “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.” In Revelation 13:8 and 17:8, we learn the names of the saved have been written in the Book of Life from before the foundation of the world and that the names of the lost are not written in the book. What Scripture teaches is true: “God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity’” (2 Timothy 2:19 ESV). 

There are two sides in the war for our souls, God’s and Satan’s. You’re on a side whether you realize it or not, and the choices you’ve made as foreknown by God (Rom. 8:29) have and will determine whether your name is written in that all-important book. This is why Peter says, “Be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election... For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:10–11 ESV). In the next few years, you will have vital choices to make. God has always known what you will decide, but it’s still up to you to decide in real-time. You cannot be dual-enrolled in both heaven and the world (James 4:4). 

Understand that the two sides each have their own ways of living, and this life is a series of choices between them. Just like the song, Stairway to Heaven, says, “Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there’s still time to change the road you’re on.” There are two ways, but only one is the right one (“the narrow way” –Matt. 7:13–14) that leads to everlasting life in the Father’s kingdom (John 14:6). You must choose, and it won’t always be easy to do, but the best thing you can do to make future choices easier is to settle the question of loyalty. In the end, where your name is and isn’t written is a matter of loyalty. Decisions flow out of motives, and motives serve loyalties, and we’re loyal to what we believe is best. What we believe depends on what truth claims we accept. You must understand there are no neutral worldview decisions and no neutral moral decisions, because all truth claims serve an agenda, and all agendas can be traced back to a higher power, either God or the Devil (Eph. 6:12).

A “truth claim” is an assertion that something is true. It proposes that a fact, belief, or proposition accurately represents reality or corresponds to actual events, conditions, or states of affairs. All people make truth claims—scientists, philosophers, religious teachers, and everyone else. Here are some examples:

Scientific: “Gravity causes objects to fall towards the Earth.”

Philosophical: “Moral values are objective and universal.”

Religious: “God exists and created the universe.”

Everyday: “It is raining outside.”

To succeed in walking the narrow way through the journey of higher education, you must learn to evaluate truth claims. They’re all claims, but they’re not all true. “Test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thes. 5:21 ESV).

In life, you will have to wrestle with contradictory truth claims, so you certainly will in college if you choose to enroll. But what I’m warning recent high school grads about applies to us all, because we’re all being confronted with these claims, and they’re neither safe nor innocent.

There are far too many unbiblical and, thus, false claims to deal with in one sermon, so I want to just look at two meta-truth claims, which means overarching worldview claims—claims about broad truths that have lots of sub-points under them, and lots of nuanced applications. All the major spiritual deceptions in history have been sub-points under these kinds of overarching ideologies, which are perhaps better-called mythologies. Despite widespread fanatical loyalty to the two ideals I’m talking about now, they are certainly mythologies. You’re going to have to deal with these two errors in almost any college or university in America today. 

Scientific Naturalism

I have nothing against science. I was raised by a scientist. I love science. I’m not a scientist and don’t claim to be one. None of us are experts at everything. We have to specialize if we’re going to achieve excellence. It’s ok to be good at everything, but to be an expert at something (in our short lives) requires a degree of focus on that subject that forces you to sacrifice expertise in other things. It’s possible to have expertise in multiple fields, but not in all fields. My specializations are in the fields of religion (Bible and Ministry specifically), organizational leadership, and, to lesser but still significant degrees, art and philosophy. However, our limitations don’t mean we don’t all still have to deal with truth claims from all fields of study. The claims of Scientific Naturalism serve an agenda that can and will affect your life, both now and eternally, and therefore, whether expert or novice, you must come to a decision about it. And you don’t have to accept the claims of Scientific Naturalism to be an expert scientist.

But what do you do when you’re not an expert? You carefully curate an ever-improving list of experts you trust, and you put your faith in their work unless and until your increasing understanding forces you to replace them. Using critical thinking, even novices can compare the claims of various experts and discern which ones have the ring of truth. As believers, we trust God to guide our choices of experts through prayer, but remember, praying doesn’t excuse any of us from the responsibility of thinking. The Bible warns, “Do not be deceived,” numerous times. The best we can do is pray and think critically, and through grace, it will be enough as long as we remain diligent in our studies and maintain a teachable mindset. 

The concisely stated “truth claim” of Scientific Naturalism is that the natural world is all that exists, and all phenomena can be explained solely through natural causes and scientific laws without recourse to supernatural explanations. In other words, it is a worldview built on an anti-supernatural bias. It must be the worldview of all thoughtful atheists. Be warned that there will be some experts in the sciences who will use their status as experts to try to convince and pressure you to believe that, to be scientific, you must regard religious belief as backward, silly superstition unworthy of intelligent minds. This kind of false claim is an egregious overstep of the boundaries of the scientific way of knowing. 

There are ways of knowing truth that are deeper and more fundamental than science. They fall under the heading of philosophy. Philosophy means “the love of wisdom, and is the mother of science. When pure, it is simply reason observing reality, considering it, and drawing realistic conclusions from it. It is through this kind of reason that the predecessors to modern scientists first recognized that the Universe is an ordered system and that all realities discernible through the five senses function as causes and effects. This realization that for every effect, there is a cause led to the development of disciplines of studying the causes of effects, and this is what became our various sciences. So, philosophy gave birth to science and underlies and supports it when the science is true. There is, however, as Scripture warns, “science falsely so-called” (1 Tim. 6:20 KJV). Science has boundaries. It is based on the Scientific Method, which has the limitation of only being able to draw conclusions from what is visible, audible, tasteable, tangible, or aromal—that is, experienceable, testable, and falsifiable by means of experimentation with our five senses. Some things just can’t be measured that way.

For instance, it is evident to all reasonable people that something cannot come from nothing and that an infinite series of causes is impossible. This means that there absolutely must be an Uncaused Cause. Since science can and has proven the material Universe had a beginning, it is reasonable to conclude that this cause is not natural, but supernatural. In other words, it is perfectly rational to believe in God. Science has no reasonable basis and, thus, no right to contend against this because it isn’t something the scientific method can falsify. It’s a philosophical truth. However, since science was born of philosophy and depends on philosophical thinking for its very existence, it is accurate to say, at least by implication, that even science affirms the existence of the supernatural, and a great many scientists affirm this with all their hearts and minds. I pray you have the pleasure of studying under these kinds of scientists, but even if you don’t, do not be deceived. 

Cultural Relativism

Jesus commands us to love all people, even our enemies (Matt. 5:43–48). Furthermore, through His apostles, He teaches us “to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people” (Titus 3:2 ESV). This means informed Christians are not prejudicial, dismissive, or abusive to any people, whether their cultural ideas correspond to righteousness or not. However, this does not mean all cultural beliefs and practices are equally right or good. A culture built on a biblical foundation or redeemed by biblical teaching is superior to a culture built on any other foundation. It doesn’t matter what color, sex, race, or religion a culture reveres—it’s not personal—if it’s not built on the truth of Scripture, it’s inferior, not because the people who embrace it are in any way inherently inferior, but because its beliefs will be false, and thus, to one degree or another ungodly and unrighteous. 

Cultural Relativism asserts that moral and ethical values are relative to each culture and no one culture's values are universally superior to another's. In other words, according to this worldview, it is wrong to try to convert members of an unchristian culture to Christianity, because that requires asserting that Christian culture is superior to non-Christian culture. I suppose I just need to say it. Christian culture is superior to all non-Christian culture. 

You will encounter Cultural Relativism in social sciences classes of all types, and you’re likely to encounter its ideals threaded through many other kinds of classes. The so-called “Woke” mindset is the popular application of the doctrine of Cultural Relativism which is closely associated with Neo-Marxism, an anti-Christian political ideology. When you run into anti-Western, anti-white, anti-Christian, anti-imperialist, and any other kind of teaching that generally, not just specifically, denigrates the history of the church and Western Civilization as a history of oppression of marginalized people groups, you’re dealing with Cultural Relativism, and you need to be mentally on guard. I said generally, not specifically, denigrates, because it’s entirely reasonable to critique specific sins and failures of Christians and Christian culture in history. No true Christian will disagree. But when you have a college course on American History, like my wife had this year, that exclusively studies the period between the 1880s and current times, exclusively focused on the plight of marginalized groups oppressed by the white Christian majority during those times, and, as far as the course is concerned, that’s American History, you’re being brainwashed. 

Consider the instructions and warnings of Scripture. 

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (Ephesians 6:10–13 ESV)

What form do these schemes take?

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3–5 ESV)

So, being Christians means facing arguments and opinions raised against the knowledge of God and correcting them so that people learn to obey Him. Cultural Relativism cannot accept this, and so Christians cannot accept Cultural Relativism. Jesus commands us to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 20:19), which requires we send out missionaries into all cultures and shine the light of truth into them. That light can, will, and must be allowed to judge all cultures, correct them, and change them. 

And so, in conclusion, as followers of Jesus, we must continue to bravely reject all truth claims that contradict Scripture. We must do so boldly, but respectfully, avoiding quarreling. It’s a matter of loyalty because Jesus is King—everywhere, over every culture. Remember Ephesians 4:10–16:

He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (ESV)

—JLP

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