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A Christian Worldview Faces Off with Tragedy

11/6/2017

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​Why a Christian Worldview Works Even in the Face of Unspeakable Evil
 
On Sunday November 5, at approximately 11:30 am a man walked in to the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, TX and killed or wounded at least 46 people. Many questions arise in the aftermath of tragedy.  In the early hours and days, the questions are often answerable. How many died? Who was the killer? What did the authorities do in response? What was the killer’s motive? However, these questions quickly give way to the deeper questions that seem to be unanswerable. We all wrestle with questions like these about tragedies.
  • If God is good, why did he allow such evil, especially to people who identify as his children?
  • If God is in control of all things, why didn’t he stop this tragedy before it happened?
  • Why didn’t God allow the killer to be caught instead of just killing himself?
Although many of these types of questions are and will remain unanswered in detail, there are answers in the bigger sense. Though we may not understand the specifics of why this tragedy, why these particular people, or why this small church, we can understand from the Bible who God is, why evil exists and how God has victory over it.  Those answers come from what we call a Christian worldview.
We all have some sort of worldview if we realize it or not, and it matters!
A worldview is best described as the glasses through which we see and interpret all that is happening around us in the world. It attempts to tell an overarching story, to explain the universe in both grand and detailed ways. The story attempts to bring clarity and understanding to every part of existence.
A worldview:
  • Tells of origins (Where did the universe come from?)
  • Envisions a future (What is the future of the universe and our lives?)
  • Constructs ideals (What does a perfect world look like for all people?)
  • Provides rules of conduct (What is right and wrong?)
  • Provides a source of authority (Who is in charge?)
  • Gives a sense of life purpose (Why do we exist?)
Without a worldview of some kind, life has no meaning. There is no understanding of what is happening around us. Without meaning, living has no real purpose. Without purpose, there is no hope and reason to live.
We all seek to understand the world around us, especially in the midst of confusion, pain and tragic situations. From scientific questions to questions of good and evil, and why there is suffering we wonder why.  We seek guidance for decisions and meaning to life’s trials. We seek true beauty in art and wonder at the hate we see between human beings. These answers and more can be found through the glasses of our worldview.
God has provided an undistorted worldview through his word, the Bible, by communicating basic truths that are fundamental to every aspect of our life. This worldview brings clarity, purpose, and guidance for all of life.
Although there are many many worldviews that people follow, there are only two basic worldviews, a true one and a false one. The true one has only one definition. The false one takes on many forms. Let’s look at these two worldviews.
Firstly, let’s look at a non-biblical and false worldview summary.  Remember, there are many versions of this, but they all include the same fundamental points.

  • The universe came into existence by random chance or at best by means of an intelligent being or beings that we cannot know, understand or communicate with. There is no ultimate authority other than the most dominate being(s), which currently is humanity.
  • Currently in this grand ever evolving process, man is the center of all things. man has no ultimate purpose except in some organic evolutionary way. He is on his own. The strong survive, the weak are destroyed, and the random, chaotic evolution of all things continues.
  • Man should not be held to an absolute moral code, there is not one. Man should live in a way that is best for himself to enjoy life and survive as long as possible. After death, man will not be held accountable for his actions. Death is simply the end of existence. There is no future after death.
 
Secondly, let’s look at a Christian worldview.  You can watch this short video summary of a Christian worldview and then we’ll give you some reasons why this view works and makes sense even in the face of tragedy to the very people who hold this worldview.
 


So how does this make sense in the face of tragedy even to those who believe this worldview? How does it bring hope to despair and meaning even to hardship?

 
1. In a Christian worldview, God is creator and therefore he is the authority over all his creation. He sets the rules for his creation. He sets both natural law i.e. gravity which cannot be broken, and he sets moral laws which can and have been broken. The reason we even know right and wrong and that murder is evil is because God created life, gave it value and gave us moral law. Non-Christian worldviews cannot adequately account for these facts.
The reason we know what happened in Texas was a tragedy is because precious life was taken and the Evolutionary answers of survival of the fittest doesn’t add up! In the depths of our soul, in our emotions and conscience, we know it was horrific evil because we know what good and evil are thanks to God
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2. In a Christian worldview, God has not left his creation to suffer under evil indefinitely. At great cost to himself, he sent his only son, Jesus, who is God as well, to suffer and die in order to conquer evil and provide salvation from evil. Jesus entered into our suffering. He himself was tragically murdered. However, His death and resurrection from the grave prevents evil from ever conquering good completely.  In a Christian worldview, God always overrules evil with good even though for the moment, as with Jesus’ death, evil may seem to win.

3. In a Christian worldview, there is hope because of salvation in Jesus Christ. He conquered death, rose again from the grave and now provides eternal life and the forgiveness of sins.  Not only is evil like that in Texas overcome, but our own sinful heart can be forgiven and our relationship with God can be restored. We personally can have victory over evil and sin in our own life. We do not have to be captive to our own sinful condition.

4. In a Christian worldview, we have the hope of eternal life. For those who have accepted God’s gift of salvation which is free to us but came at great cost to him, it is not death to die. Yes, that is right, it is not death to die.  When God speaks of death in the Bible, he speaks of eternal death which is separation from God in Hell for those who reject Jesus’ gift and do not believe in him. For those who do accept his gift of salvation such as those at the First Baptist Church, death is not eternal. It is a passage way to eternal life. The Bible says that for those who have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ to be absent from this earthly body is to be instantly present with the Lord in Heaven.

5. In a Christian worldview, evil such as we saw in this situation is punished. Perhaps the killer supposed in his worldview that his ticket to freedom from the carnage he had caused by his evil actions was to kill himself thus ending life and entering a state of non-existence. No jail, no remorse, no guilt, no dread, he felt as many who commit such atrocities do, that killing themselves was the end. However, in a Christian worldview, this man went to Hell. He will stand before God in  the final judgement for his sin as we all will someday and then he will be condemned to eternal death in the Lake of Fire. There is no hope for him, no second chance. His fate is sealed. His worldview was horribly wrong in so many ways and at so many levels. Worldviews do have consequences.
 
What is your worldview? What are it’s consequences for your future? How do you process events such as these terrible tragedies? Do you believe that the universe happened from a “Big Bang?” Do you believe in the evolutionary process, the survival of the fittest, that life is random, futile, and meaningful only for the strong who survive? Do you believe that good and evil are simply cultural norms?  Do you believe there are no moral absolutes based on a moral absolute being who is designer, creator and ultimate authority, GOD? May we ask you to consider the Christian worldview. Use the resources below to learn more and consider God.

For those who have a Christian worldview, do not be discouraged even in the face of hard questions. God is in control. He does overcome evil with good. We are part of his plan in doing so. Share God’s good news contained in the Christian worldview with others. Share God’s love by reaching out to others and loving them. Pray for God’s help and strength for those touched by this and other effects of man’s sin, and look up for the Lord can come at any time.
 
Do you have questions? Would you like to talk about your spiritual life and relationship with God?  Contact us by clicking here or visit us for a service soon.

Click here for other helpful articles that can help answer questions about God, the universe, his relationship to you and more. 

We teach a Christian worldview in our Christian school -You can read more about it here

Check out these other helpful articles below on our website for more information about God.  ​
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An Article from our Christian School on Biblical Worldview

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New Series on Prayer Answering This and Other Questions

9/7/2016

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From Charles H. Spurgon’s sermon on prayer.  “Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not” Jeremiah 33:3, Here are three reasons it is hard to pray and therefore God has to command us to pray.   


You will be surprised to find how many times such words as these are given in Scripture—”Call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you.” “You people, pour out your heart before Him.” “Seek you the Lord while He may be found. Call you upon Him while He is near.” “Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.” “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.” “Pray without ceasing.” “Come boldly unto the Throne of Grace.” “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” “Continue in prayer.”  Why so many commandments to pray?  Why is praying so hard to do?  Here are three reasons from Spurgeon. 

1.      We have hours for the world! Moments for Christ! We do not forget to eat—we do not forget to take the shop shutters down—we do not forget to be diligent in business—we do not forget to go to our beds to rest—but we often forget to wrestle with God in prayer and to spend, as we ought to spend, long periods in consecrated fellowship with our Father and our God. 

2.      In times of heaviness we might give it up! If God commands me, unfit as I may be, I will creep to the footstool of Divine Grace. And since He says, “Pray without ceasing,” though my words fail me and my heart itself will wander, yet I will still stammer out the wishes of my hungering soul and say, “O God, at least teach me to pray and help me to prevail with You.” 

3.      Because of our frequent unbelief. Unbelief whispers, “What profit is there if you should seek the Lord upon such-and-such a matter? Either it is too trivial a matter, or it is too connected with temporals, or else it is a matter in which you have sinned too much, or else it is too high, too hard, too complicated a piece of business—you have no right to take that before God!” So suggests the foul Fiend of Hell. Therefore there stands written as an everyday precept suitable to every case into which a Christian can be cast, “Call unto Me.” “Call unto Me. Are you sick? Would you be healed? Cry unto Me, for I am the Great Physician. Does Providence trouble you? Are you fearful that you shall not provide things honest in the sight of man? Call unto Me! Do your children vex you? Are your griefs little, yet painful, like small points and pricks of thorns? Call unto Me! Is your burden heavy as though it would make your back break beneath its load? Call unto Me! Cast your burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain you! He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” 

You can download a transcript of the whole sermon here.  


Join us on Sunday evenings over the next several weeks as Pastor Franseen speaks on the topic of prayer.  Pastor Franseen will cover topics such as how God answers prayer. Requirements for prayer, how to pray consistently. how to pray desiring God's will while asking for your own requests and more.  Join us for this practical and theological study from the Bible.   Bring a friend. 

Click to learn more...

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    Pastor Bob Franseen, Pastor of Eagle Heights Baptist Church & Others

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