Dear Theophilus: What is the Correct Worldview?

Dear Faculty,

Why do you care about which worldview is the “correct” one?

Sincerely,

Theophilus

Dear Theophilus,

Your question is certainly a “sign of the times!” I say this because our present culture has difficulty with the concept that there can be a “right” or “correct” worldview. It often thinks of worldviews or religious ideas as being subjective or dependent upon a person’s own perspective. As such, there is no “right one,” our culture contends.

I think this is incorrect. There are good reasons to think there is one correct worldview which everyone must accept, no matter who they are. One reason is because I believe in the idea of objective truth—the idea that something is true because it is independent of our perceptions or understandings. Just as 1+1 = 2, the earth revolves around the sun and Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, there exists objective truth about all of reality, including religion and worldviews. Just as I like to know the truth about mathematics and the world around me, I want to know the truth about whether God or gods exist and whether he or they have a particular demand of me.

It also seems to me that the claims Jesus made demand serious attention. Jesus claimed to be God, die for the sins of the world and be the only way to God (John 14:6). If Jesus is truly the Son of God who became the man Jesus, died for my sins, was raised from the dead and he now calls everyone to repentance. As well as be reconciled to God because he desires, as our creator, to have a loving relationship with me, then such claims demand my attention and investigation about whether they are in fact really (objectively) true.

If these claims of Jesus are facts, then wouldn’t it be imperative for me to accept Jesus as my Savior? Such claims have consequences for my life, don’t they? It seems to me that they do. If the claims, however, are not facts, then I can discount them and go on looking for what really is real and true. Jesus would be inconsequential.

I am reminded of what the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates is known for saying: “the unexamined life is not worth living.” I agree. It seems that humans, by nature, want to know what is really real and true. To obtain the meaning of life, to understand who we are as humans and to answer other big questions of life, examination is required. There is only one objectively true answer to these questions. Multiple and differing answers are contradictions and thus they cannot all be “true.”

The great Christian theologian Augustine once stated, “Thou [God] hast made us for thyself and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” I seek the rest of which Augustine spoke of and I have found it in Jesus the Christ just as Augustine. If you seek Jesus, I am convinced that you will find that Christianity is the one correct worldview. More importantly, you will find rest, too!

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