Free Downloadable Biblical Worldview Books (Biblical Blueprints)

Below are several free downloadable biblical worldview books available at Biblical Blueprints. (The info below was originally posted here.)  

A Defence of Liberty Against Tyrants

Also titled “Of the Lawful Power of the Prince over the People and of the People over the Prince”. President John Adams said that this book was one of the most influential books at the time of the War for American Independence. Students of American liberties need to understand the Biblical worldview that shaped the thinking of early Patriots.

(This version is the 1689 Translation by Robert Baldwin)

Click here to download or purchase.

Constitutional Restraints to Government Theft

Is there such a thing as Government theft? How can theft even be defined? If the government is guilty of violating the Constitution, what can be done to stop it? This booklet calls America to return to being a Constitutional Republic, and to take seriously the Biblical Law referenced in the Declaration of Independence and the Common Law referenced in the Constitution.

Click here to download or purchase.

Educating Our Children at Home

For many people the school bus, a room of 30 students, recess, and the school bully are as American as apple pie. But is public education Biblical? Should the civil government be funding the teaching and indoctrination of our kids? This booklet explores common objections to homeschooling and the Biblical basis in favor of it since parents are to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Click here to download or purchase.

Getting Christians Back Into Politics

It is plain for all to see that our civil government and many political leaders do not reflect Christian principles. Rather than shifting blame and pointing the finger, we need to ask why average Christian citizens are not involved in politics. There are many reasons and none can withstand the test of Scripture. The marching orders Christ gave Christians still stand today.

Click here to download or purchase.

In God We Trust: A Constitutional Defense of the National Motto

It is not uncommon to meet political candiddates who have never read the founding documents of the United States of America. Many lawyers are not even required to read the Constitution during law school! They have all read many opinions about the founding documents, but they have not read the originals. This booklet is one of a series of speeches intended to get Americans to think about our Constitution and what the original authors meant in it. With knowledge comes influence. Reading and understanding the original documents will revolutionize the way you think about our country.

Click here to download or purchase.

Is the Death Penalty Just?

The history of the church in the modern era is the story of Christians (laypeople and theologians alike) molding the Bible to the ideas of the times. It is the position of this book that God’s Holy Scriptures alone determine the parameters for the punishment of crimes and those parameters often provide for some flexibility. It is with humility that we apply the Bible to jurisprudence and the punishment of criminals.

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Math and the Bible

Scripture is our Rule for every area of life;not just spiritual life. We are to order our families and governments by it. Indeed, even our scientific studies, including mathematics, are ordered by it.

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ROSES: The Five Points of Christian Reconstruction

Reconstruction is a much needed corrective for the modern church. It is the most consistent and comprehensive form of Christianity. Rightly understood, graciously lived out, and humbly proclaimed, Reconstruction will beautify Christianity and make the world “jealous” of the Gospel (Romans 11:11-15). May it be our goal to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things” (Titus 2:10).

Click here to download or purchase.

Ruins of Athens: The Curse of the Athenian Model of Education

In this study of Acts 17 we see how Scripture, and in this case Paul, confronts worldly systems of education. Let us all feel and act as Paul did to shine the light of the Gospel into this critical area of society.

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Seeing History With New Eyes

Writing providential history is hard because it takes much more than a mere recitation of dates and events. Providential history is an attempt to interpret history within a Biblical Worldview and show the meaning and purpose of historical events.

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The Ethics of Organ Transplants

The ethics of organ transplants is not a simple issue. It raises thorny topics like suicide, abortion, and the definition of death. Whereas the modern medical ethics community provides a shifting sands basis for decisions, the Bible alone provides a timeless and compelling rock-solid foundation we can live (and die) by.

Click here to download or purchase.

The Flaw of Natural Law

Philosophers throughout the ages have sought to develop ethical systems apart from the Bible. Unfortunately, too often Christian theologians have done the same. But the Scripture informs us in the area of ethics and law just as thoroughly as it does for personal salvation.

Click here to download or purchase.

Universal Suffrage: A History and Analysis of Voting in the Church and Society

Universal suffrage (the belief that every member can vote) in a congregation or in a state is a fairly recent phenomenon. It was not until the 1900′s that there was any significant movement in this direction. Is this an improvement? More importantly, is it Biblical? Scripture definitely shines light on one of the most significant developments of the 20th century.

Click here to download or purchase.

    

Covenant Commission gets Site Revamp

The biblical worldview site Covenant Commission has been revamped. See the new look here.

About Covenant Commission:

Covenant Commission is an educational and outreach ministry of Reformed Church of the Holy Trinity.

 

Our objective is the reformation of the Family, Church and Civil Society by calling attention to America's need for regeneration, revival and reformation. We do this by preaching, teaching and applying God's Word to every area of life. If America is ever to be reclaimed, the Church must consist of regenerated sinners who are being conformed to the image of Christ. The foundation of this hope is the preaching of the Word of God. Paul writes, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).

 

Covenant Commission is a public preaching ministry using the printed word, public speaking, audio and video to call sinners to repentance and saints to obedience in Christ. Our message is to parents and children; pastors and congregations; politicians and citizens to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, be baptized in the name of the Triune God and amend their lives in conformity to the whole counsel of God. This is the commission our Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ gave unto His Church in establishing His covenant over all nations.

 

Brian Schwertley Ministry Site gets Upgrade

Reformedonline.com, the site of Covenanted Reformed Presbyterian Church which includes several ministry resources by Brian Schwertley, has been upgraded. The site includes a bookstore, as well as writings, audio, and video on several important topics, including biblical civil government. 

visit site

   

Mid-Atlantic Reformation Society gets Site Revamp

The site for the biblical worldview organization, the Mid-Atlantic Reformation society, recently had a revamp. See the new site here.

About the Mid-Atlantic Reformation Society:

We are a small group of Christians who recognize that God, in His love, mercy, and infinite wisdom has not only provided the means of forgiveness through His Son Jesus Christ, but has also provided, in the Old and New Testaments, all necessary directions and instructions for a just, happy, and productive society.

These instructions apply to all God-ordained spheres of government, namely self-government, family government, church government, and civil government.

Our goal is to promote these principles. We believe that the modern church, for generations, has increasingly failed to apply God’s Word to all of life, having a focus that is self-centered and incapable of affecting the societal institutions that crumble around us.

Our work is dedicated to turning the ship, for the very positive benefit of our families, churches, communities, and nation, to the honor of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ.

We receive no funding from any ecclesiastical or political institutions.

   

Western Conservatory gets Site Revamp

The biblical worldview website Western Conservatory of the Arts and Sciences has been revamped. To see the revamped site, click here.

About Western Conservatory:

Western Conservatory is a Christian organization founded by the seven children of Geoffrey Botkin as a resource for people involved in the business of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20).

We produce and publish books, articles, audio recordings, and video resources, seeking to equip Christians to apply Scripture in all areas of life and culture (individual, family, church, business, culture, and state). We also engage in other discipleship and humanitarian endeavors in the United States and overseas: hosting and speaking at conferences, training leaders, and speaking to the most critical battles of this generation. This verse summarizes our mission: 

"[Christ] we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ." (Colossians 1:28) 

      

The Bible: God's Words to You: A Presuppositional Guide to the Reformed Doctrine of Scripture (Robert E. Fugate)

"The Bible: God’s Words to You is a Reformed, presuppositional treatment of the doctrine of Scripture, including: inspiration, inerrancy, Reformation properties of Scripture, illumination by the Holy Spirit, Old and New Testament canon, apocrypha, and textual criticism.

"One of the unique features of this book is its presentation of the subject of bibliology from the perspective of the Biblical world- and life-view, along with a presuppositional approach to apologetics.

"The book teaches from Scripture itself, while still providing abundant, choice citations from the best Reformed and evangelical literature. The author’s presuppositional presentation of the canon of Scripture and textual criticism are particularly helpful; his analysis of the unbiblical presuppositions underlying much faulty textual criticism is desperately needed.

"The Bible: God’s Words to You includes a glossary, five appendices, and memory verses. One particularly useful appendix surveys the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy throughout church history, offering a litany of carefully-selected, well-referenced citations."

863 pages

Endorsements:

“I have carefully read Dr. Robert Fugate’s The Bible: God’s Words to You, and have found it to be a well-researched, well-documented, and very comprehensive treatment of the doctrine of Scripture. One of the unique features of this book is seen in its presentation of the subject from the perspective of a Christian world and life view, along with a presuppositional approach to apologetics. Herein the Reformed doctrine of the Word of God is taught from Scripture itself. The author’s study on the canon of Scripture and textual criticism are particularly helpful, and his analysis of the unbiblical presuppositions underlying much of faulty textual criticism is sorely needed. I do believe that there is a significant need for The Bible: God’s Words to You.”

Dr. W. Gary Crampton, Ph.D, Th.D.

Research Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology Whitefield Theological Seminary

“There is a great need for a presuppositional approach to the subject of Bibliology, and Dr. Fugate’s work fills a major gap. His most distinctive contribution is in the area of New Testament canon. It is great to have a well-researched treatment of the subject from a presuppositional approach. His presuppositional treatment of Textual Criticism is also outstanding.”

Dr. Phillip G. Kayser, Ph.D.

Pastor, Professor, Missionary

“Dr. Fugate reminds us how important the doctrines of inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy are to maintaining our orthodoxy in Evangelical and Reformed churches. His presuppositional/worldview presentation of the doctrines of canon and textual criticism are valuable and needed. The church is in need of reaffirming our faith in the authority and sufficiency of the Holy Scripture for the Church of Jesus Christ, if we are to survive the 21^st century.”

Dr. Kenneth Gary Talbot, Ph.D., Th.D., Ed.D., J.D.

President, Whitefield Theological Seminary

order book

    

Worldviews in Conflict (Greg Bahnsen)

The Reformation Versus the Enlightenment Being Promoted by the Media

While many in the media praise the Enlightenment, it resulted
in the bloody French Revolution. As Benjamin F. Morris
notes, "its results shocked the civilized world with horror
... their atrocities were committed with a wanton levity and a
brutal merriment; the reign of atheism was avowedly and
expressly the reign of terror."

by Randy Pope

Modest Clothing Distributors

Christian Worldview of History and Culture

The news media has dubbed the Obama era as the “new Enlightenment”. Just Google how many times the Akron Beacon Journal has referred to President Obama's policies as “enlightened”. This moniker is intended to be complimentary toward the president and his policies. A cursory understanding of the original Enlightenment will reveal two things; one, the label fits, and two, if you love God and freedom, there is nothing complimentary about it.

Most media personalities look upon the Enlightenment with favor because they, along with most Americans, have been taught to believe that the American Revolution of 1776 is a result of Enlightenment thinking. In addition the vast majority of media people do not believe in God. Nothing could be further from the truth on both counts.

The Enlightenment, or what should more accurately be called the Endarkenment, was a system of thinking that attempted to understand the world in terms of human reason alone. Because they denied the existence of God, Enlightenment thinkers defined the world and its institutions by replacing the sovereignty of God with the sovereignty of man. The true result of the Enlightenment was the French Revolution. This short excerpt from a description of the French Revolution by Benjamin F. Morris in “The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States”, which was first published in 1876, is enlightening about the Enlightenment; “The atheism of France in 1795 had engulfed that empire in anarchy and blood. It was the first experiment in the history of the world, of the national reign of infidelity, and its results shocked the civilized world with horror, and demonstrated its terrific nature and evils on civil government and society...their atrocities were committed with a wanton levity and a brutal merriment; the reign of atheism was avowedly and expressly the reign of terror...”

Now you understand why it should rightfully be called the Endarkenment. It was this kind of darkened thinking that led to the American Revolution of the 1960's and is indeed risen to prominence in the Obama era.

This Endarkenment thinking brought us the sexual revolution, the acceptance and legalization of the evils such as abortion, homosexuality, and theft (taking from the citizenry to give to other citizens). The women's revolution for modest dress is a response to the degeneracy spawned by the very thinking that the media is lauding. The women's revolution for modest dress is a return to the Biblical principles that reigned during the American Revolution of 1776.

The thinking that inspired the American Revolution of 1776 is the thinking of the Reformers of the 16th century. Because Americans believed and lived by the principles of Biblical Christianity they rejected the influences of the Enlightenment. It is a return to the principles of the reformation that will defeat the Endarkenment that threatens civilization once again. The stakes are too high to ignore the heritage bequeathed not only by the founders of America but by the Reformers. Reject the darkness of humanism and turn to the light of Biblical Christianity.

originally posted at The Examiner.com
    

Sharia Law OK'd for Oklahoma - Worldviews and Law Systems (Kevin Swanson)

Are You A Humanist or a Christian? (Kevin Swanson)

Are You A Humanist or a Christian? from Kevin Swanson on Vimeo.

Logic in Man

"Of course, the Scripture says that
God's thoughts are not our thoughts
and his ways are not our ways. But
is it good exegesis to say that this
means his logic, his arithmetic, his
truth are not ours? If this were so,
what would the consequences be? 

by Gordon H. Clark

[Note: the following is an excerpt from God and Logic by Gordon Clark, published in the November/December 1980 issue ofThe Trinity Review]

With this understanding of God’s mind, the next step is the creation of man in God’s image. The non-rational animals were not created in his image; but God breathed his spirit into the earthly form, and Adam became a type of soul superior to the animals.

To be precise, one should not speak of the image of God in man. Man is not something in which somewhere God’s image can be found along with other things. Man is the image. This, of course, does not refer to man’s body. The body is an instrument or tool man uses. He himself is God’s breath, the spirit God breathed into the clay, the mind, the thinking ego. Therefore, man is rational in the likeness of God’s rationality. His mind is structured as Aristotelian logic described it. That is why we believe that spaniels have teeth. In addition to the well-known verses in chapter one, Genesis 5:1 and 9:6 both repeat the idea. 1 Corinthians 11:7 says, “man ... is the image and glory of God.” See also Colossians 3:10 and James 3:9. Other verses, not so explicit, nonetheless add to our information. Compare Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 2:6-8, and Psalm 8. But the conclusive consideration is that throughout the Bible as a whole the rational God gives man an intelligible message.   

It is strange that anyone who thinks he is a Christian should deprecate logic. Such a person does not of course intend to deprecate the mind of God; but he thinks that logic in man is sinful, even more sinful than other parts of man’s fallen nature. This, however, makes no sense. The law of contradiction cannot be sinful. Quite the contrary, it is our violations of the law of contradiction that are sinful. Yet the strictures which some devotional writers place on “merely human” logic are amazing. Can such pious stupidity really mean that a syllogism that is valid for us is invalid for God? If two plus two is four in our arithmetic, does God have a different arithmetic in which two and two makes three or perhaps five? The fact that the Son of God is God’s reason-for Christ is the wisdom of God as well as the power of God-plus the fact that the image in man is so-called “human reason,” suffices to show that this so-called “human reason” is not so much human as divine.

Of course, the Scripture says that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways. But is it good exegesis to say that this means his logic, his arithmetic, his truth are not ours? If this were so, what would the consequences be? It would mean not only that our additions and subtractions are all wrong, but also that all our thoughts-in history as well as in arithmetic-are all wrong. If for example, we think that David was King of Israel, and God’s thoughts are not ours, then it follows that God does not think David was King of Israel. David in God’s mind was perchance prime minister of Babylon.

To avoid this irrationalism, which of course is a denial of the divine image, we must insist that truth is the same for God and man. Naturally, we may not know the truth about some matters. But if we know anything at all, what we must know must be identical with what God knows. God knows all truth, and unless we know something God knows, our ideas are untrue. It is absolutely essential therefore to insist that there is an area of coincidence between God’s mind and our mind.

"God and Logic"

The Trinity Review, November, December 1980
Copyright © 1998-2011 The Trinity Foundation
Posted by permission from The Trinity Foundation
Post Office 68, Unicoi, Tennessee 37692
Phone: 423.743.0199 Fax: 423.743.2005
Website: http://www.trinityfoundation.org/  

Logic and Scripture

"Even in the single words themselves, as is
most clearly seen in the cases of nouns and
verbs, logic is embedded. If Scripture says,
David was King of Israel, it does not mean
David was President of Babylon; and surely
it does not mean that Churchill was Prime
Minister of China."

by Gordon H. Clark

[Note: the following is an excerpt from God and Logic by Gordon Clark, published in the November/December 1980 issue of The Trinity Review]     

There is a minor misunderstanding that can easily be disposed of before discussing the relation of logic to the Scriptures. Someone with a lively historical sense might wonder why Scripture and revelation are equated, when God’s direct speech to Moses, Samuel, and the prophets is even more clearly revelation. This observation became possible simply because of previous brevity. Of course God’s speech to Moses was revelation, in fact, revelation par excellence, if you wish. But we are not Moses. Therefore, if the problem is to explain how we know in this age, one cannot use the personal experience of Moses. Today we have the Scripture. As the Westminster Confession says, “It pleased the Lord ... to reveal himself... and afterwards ... to commit the same wholly unto writing, which maketh the holy Scripture to be most necessary, those former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.” What God said to Moses is written in the Bible; the words are identical; the revelation is the same.

In this may be anticipated the relation of logic to the Scripture. First of all, Scripture, the written words of the Bible, is the mind of God. What is said in Scripture is God’s thought. In contemporary religious polemics, the Biblical view of the Bible, the historic position of the Reformation, or-what is the same thing-the doctrine of plenary and verbal inspiration is castigated as Bibliolatry. The liberals accuse the Lutherans and Calvinists of worshipping a book instead of worshipping God. Apparently they think that we genuflect to the Bible on the pulpit, and they deride us for kissing the ring of a paper pope.

This caricature stems from their materialistic turn of mind-a materialism that may not be apparent in other discussions-but which comes to the surface when they direct their fire against fundamentalism. They think of the Bible as a material book with paper contents and a leather binding. That the contents are the thoughts of God, expressed in God’s own words, is a position to which they are so invincibly antagonistic that they cannot even admit it to be the position of a fundamentalist.

Nevertheless we maintain that the Bible expresses the mind of God. Conceptually it is the mind of God, or, more accurately, a part of God’s mind. For this reason the Apostle Paul, referring to the revelation given him, and in fact given to the Corinthians through him, is able to say, “We have the mind of Christ.” Also in Philippians 2:5 he exhorts them, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” To the same purpose is his modest claim in 1 Corinthians 7:40, “I think also that I have the Spirit of God.” The Bible, then, is the mind or thought of God. It is not a physical fetish, like a crucifix. And I doubt that there has ever been even one hillbilly fundamentalist ignorant enough to pray to a black book with red edges. Similarly, the charge that the Bible is a paper pope misses the mark for the same reason. The Bible consists of thoughts, not paper; and the thoughts are the thoughts of the omniscient, infallible God, not those of Innocent III.

On this basis-that is, on the basis that Scripture is the mind of God-the relation to logic can easily be made clear. As might be expected, if God has spoken, he has spoken logically. The Scripture therefore should and does exhibit logical organization. For example, Romans 4:2 is an enthymematic hypothetical destructive syllogism. Romans 5:13 is a hypothetical constructive syllogism. 1 Corinthians 15:15-18 is a sorites. Obviously, examples of standard logical forms such as these could be listed at great length.

There is, of course, much in Scripture that is not syllogistic. The historical sections are largely narrative; yet every declarative sentence is a logical unit. These sentences are truths; as such they are objects of knowledge. Each of them has, or perhaps we should say, each of them is a predicate attached to a subject. Only so can they convey meaning.

Even in the single words themselves, as is most clearly seen in the cases of nouns and verbs, logic is embedded. If Scripture says, David was King of Israel, it does not mean that David was President of Babylon; and surely it does not mean that Churchill was Prime Minister of China. That is to say, the words David, King, and Israel have definite meanings. The old libel that Scripture is a wax nose and that interpretation is infinitely elastic is clearly wrong. If there were no limits to interpretation, we might interpret the libel itself as an acceptance of verbal and plenary inspiration. But since the libel cannot be so interpreted, neither can the Virgin Birth be interpreted as a myth nor the Resurrection as a symbol of spring. No doubt there are some things hard to be understood which the unlearned wrest to their own destruction, but the difficulties are no greater than those found in Aristotle or Plotinus, and against these philosophers no such libel is ever directed. Furthermore, only some things are hard. For the rest, Protestants have insisted on the perspicuity of Scripture.

Nor need we waste time repeating Aristotle’s explanation of ambiguous words. The fact that a word must mean one thing and not its contradictory is the evidence of the law of contradiction in all rational language. This exhibition of the logic embedded in Scripture explains why Scripture rather than the law of contradiction is selected as the axiom. Should we assume merely the law of contradiction, we would be no better off than Kant was. His notion that knowledge requires a priori categories deserves great respect. Once for all, in a positive way-the complement of Hume’s negative and unintentional way-Kant demonstrated the necessity of axioms, presuppositions, or a priori equipment. But this sine qua non is not sufficient to produce knowledge. Therefore the law of contradiction as such and by itself is not made the axiom of this argument.

For a similar reason, God as distinct from Scripture is not made the axiom of this argument. Undoubtedly this twist will seem strange to many theologians. It will seem particularly strange after the previous emphasis on the mind of God as the origin of all truth. Must not God be the axiom? For example, the first article of the Augsburg Confession gives the doctrine of God, and the doctrine of the Scripture hardly appears anywhere in the whole document. In the French Confession of 1559, the first article is on God; the Scripture is discussed in the next five. The Belgic Confession has the same order. The Scotch Confession of 1560 begins with God and gets to the Scripture only in article nineteen. The Thirty-Nine Articles begin with the Trinity, and Scripture comes in articles six and following. If God is sovereign, it seems very reasonable to put him first in the system.

But several other creeds, and especially the Westminster Confession, state the doctrine of Scripture at the very start. The explanation is quite simple: our knowledge of God comes from the Bible. We may assert that every proposition is true because God thinks it so, and we may follow Charnock in all his great detail, but the whole is based on Scripture. Suppose this were not so. Then “God” as an axiom, apart from Scripture, is just a name. We must specify which God. The best known system in which “God” was made the axiom is Spinoza’s. For him all theorems are deduced from Deus sive Natura. But it is the Natura that identifies Spinoza’s God. Different gods might be made axioms of other systems. Hence the important thing is not to presuppose God, but to define the mind of the God presupposed. Therefore the Scripture is offered here as the axiom. This gives definiteness and content, without which axioms are useless.

Thus it is that God, Scripture, and logic are tied together. The Pietists should not complain that emphasis on logic is a deification of an abstraction, or of human reason divorced from God. Emphasis on logic is strictly in accord with John’s Prologue and is nothing other than a recognition of the nature of God. Does it not seem peculiar, in this connection, that a theologian can be so greatly attached to the doctrine of the Atonement, or a Pietist to the idea of sanctification, which nonetheless is explained only in some parts of Scripture, and yet be hostile to or suspicious of rationality and logic which every verse of Scripture exhibits?

"God and Logic"

The Trinity Review, November, December 1980
Copyright © 1998-2011 The Trinity Foundation
Posted by permission from The Trinity Foundation
Post Office 68, Unicoi, Tennessee 37692
Phone: 423.743.0199 Fax: 423.743.2005
Website: http://www.trinityfoundation.org/  

  

Why we deleted the article "Why I am not a Van Tilian"

by Steve C. Halbrook

I have decided to delete the article, Why I am not a Van Tilian, from Theonomy Resources, because I am reconsidering what Cornelius Van Til meant when he said that "all teaching of Scripture is apparently contradictory." This statement by itself could easily be interpreted to say that the Bible is an incoherent mess, but perhaps, in light of context, he meant something different. I'm not sure yet.

This is not to say that none of his followers haven't taken Van Til's statements about paradox to dangerous levels (although they themselves may have misunderstood him). In any case, I'm not abandoning Gordon Clark's important contributions, but am seeing the possibility of reconciling Van Til and Clark--at least to some degree. Perhaps more will be said later.

Sufficiency Of Scripture Conference Downloads

Hear lectures from Joe Morecraft, Paul Washer, Geoff Botkin, Voddie Baucham, Kevin Swanson, Bill Einwechter, and more from this audio archive of the Sufficiency of Scripture conference, held by the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches (NCFIC).

view archive on NCFIC's site

view archive on SermonAudio
  

True Believer Podcast (Hosted by Ken Talbot)

True Believer Podcast, hosted by Ken Talbot. A ministry of Whitefield College and Theological Seminary of Lakeland, FL.

Guests in this archive include Dr. Kenneth Gentry, Dr. Phillip G. Kayser, and Jerry Johnson.

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The Intolerant Nature of Worldviews

by Ben Murch

Reformed Inquisitor 

Ah, the wonderful land of worldviews. Such pervasiveness. Such diversity! There are a myriad of worldviews out there. There is also a predominant idea that says whatever your worldview is, it must be tolerant of all other worldviews. Let’s keep it simple and take only two as examples because they are the predominate views in our culture today: Liberal Democrats and Conservative Republicans.

I was listening to certain conservative radio talk-show host who is know to debate “with half his brain tied behind his back, just to make it fair” and he was ranting and raving (sometimes with some good points to make) against the Democrats. He brought up the point: “We are for freedom, while they are not. We believe in the freedom for individuals to be anything they want, even be a liberal” I‘ll give him credit, there was some hesitancy, but perhaps he should use his whole brain from now on because that is absolutely untenable.

Interestingly, the liberals say similar things: they’re for freedom, they are the tolerant ones, the world would be a much better place if they were in power. There is this great struggle between these two worldviews, not only about socio-political matters, but about who is the most tolerant. It seems the idea is if one can prove their view is the all inclusive, all accepting, all loving, and absolutely tolerant view, as opposed to the other, then their view is of necessity, right, and the other wrong.

To state the obvious, however, I would like to note that there wouldn’t be a socio-political struggle between these two factions if they both (or even just one of them) were as tolerant as they say they are. If the liberals were free to be liberals, they would be free to enact every oppressive legislation they wish. We would likely all be running our houses of wind turbines, driving ugly electric cars,  and giving all of our money to the government for “fair” distribution. Because liberalism isn’t just an idea; it‘s an idea coupled with action. Being a liberal cannot be simply abstracted as only being and idea without consequences. All ideas have consequences.

So, what’s the point? The point is not simply to mention how both major worldviews in our day are philosophically delusional. All men have a worldview. All men think in terms of their worldview. All men act according to their worldview. What are your actions? They expose your worldview.

What does a worldview of Scripture alone look like? Does is look like the easygoing, socially irrelevant evangelicalism of today? Or does it look like individuals, families, associations, businesses, civil governments, yes, all of society, living according to the teachings of Scripture?  Because if a man has a Biblical worldview he will think in terms of it and act in terms of it, and because God’s Word is relevant for every aspect of life, his actions will be applied to every aspect of life. His actions will work towards the Christianization of the culture.

Any person, then, who is not applying his Christianity to every aspect of life has opted for an unbiblical worldview. Perhaps one thinks he can bled worldviews, take some republican, “Reagan“ conservatism for social polity, some liberal progressivism for the earth’s sake, and some Jesus for the soul (like a petroleum, spinach, and bio-waste smoothie ). These ideas do not mix. The Christian worldview is comprehensive.  To the degree you adopt another worldview’s policy, you forsake the Christian worldview. Which is the nice way of saying you have forsaken Christ as Lord of that particular area, claiming it is better governed by man. You have chosen man over God, blasphemy over worship.

The ideas of God are replaced for the ideas of man. The policies from God as revealed in His Word are replaced with the policies of man, and because man is depraved, you then have depraved ideas, bringing depraved policies which result in depraved actions and a corrupt society.

As a Christian you cannot tolerate the ideas of other worldviews. The Christian worldview, because it is comprehensive in scope, is exclusive of the opinions of other worldviews. Are we living like this is true? Sola Scriptura is not just an idea; it is a way of life.

This article was originally posted at Reformed Inquisitor