Tag Archives: salvation

Whose worldview?

Published in Nate's Blog on September 28, 2009
Whose worldview?

We’re working through a curriculum called The Truth Project with our senior high kids this year.  Del Tackett is the virtual facilitator and our own Dave and Amy Barber are our on-site coordinators – they’re doing a great job.

Last night’s session discussed, among other things, two worldviews.  (A “worldview” is simply a way of describing how a person looks at life as they know it, and the parameters by which that person tries to make sense of reality.)

A materialistic worldview sees the universe as a box, and inside the box are three things: matter, energy, and man.  There is nothing outside of the box, and everything in life must be viewed and explained in terms of what is inside the box.  A Christian (or perhaps I should just say “theistic” worldview also sees the universe as a box, with this crucial difference – that there is a God who exists outside of the box, and has chosen to come down into the box at various points in history.  This God is concerned about what happens in the box.

It’s interesting stuff that got me thinking, and as we got into last night’s session dealing with the origin and purpose of philosophy and ethics, a variety of questions came to mind…

~Where do we go to answer the “universal” questions of life?  The answer that most Christians would give (obviously, I think?) is that we seek answers in the Bible.  And yet what interests me about this point is the fact that the Bible was written “in the box” – not outside of the box.  And on top of that, it almost always answers question in terms of particulars – not in terms of universals.  Almost all of the books of the Bible, especially in the New Testament, were addressed to a particular people, in a particular place, at a particular time, and in a particular circumstance!  Dr. Tackett says that we ought to go to God for the answer to these questions – and yet the way God has chosen to speak to us has come THROUGH particular philosophies and particular times and places.

What was the worldview of Jesus?  He grew up in a particular culture, a place, a time, a circumstance.  What impact did his time/place/circumstance have on his worldview?  Would we say he had a Jewish worldview? If so, was that OK?  Or did he need to repent of that worldview in order to grasp a more “godly” worldview?

What was the worldview of a good Jew?  What was the worldview of a true Jew, one who would be saved upon his death?

What was the worldview of a good Gentile proselyte, who would be saved upon his death?

Would Dr. Tackett approve of the modern worldview?  Can the gospel work through the modern worldview?

In referring to post-modernism and its philosophical wake, RC Sproul suggested that this might be the most “anti-intellectual” period in the history of the church.  Really?  REALLY???

Is it possible for the gospel (good news) to work through other worldviews?  Can a Christ-follower also be a Marxist?  Communist?  Socialist? Nazi?  Fascist? Postmodern? Modern?

I’m just asking…….  Discuss.

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Of train wrecks and rescues

Published in Nate's Blog on March 2, 2009
Of train wrecks and rescues

Well, it happened yesterday.  Every worship leader’s worst fear.  The nightmare that wakes you up at three in the morning, sweating and shaking in your bed.  The kind of thing that makes you worry for your job.  The kind of thing that makes you forget to take notes when the preacher is speaking.

I’m speaking, of course, of the worship service train wreck.  The worship service where the legendary Murphy sticks his ugly little head out of his hole and says, “just when you think it can’t get any worse, here I come!”  You know, “when everything that can go wrong does go wrong.”  When the drummer is late to the stage and the piano player plays in the wrong key for half of the closing song and the worship leader (that’s me) can’t carry the tune in a refrigerator box, let alone a bucket.  It was bad.  Legendarily bad.  Bad in its entirety.

I’ve beat myself up about this for the last 26 hours.  David Crowder is singing in my headphones, “God of the heavens, take my breath away,” and  I’m thinking to myself that I think yesterday morning we probably took His breath away.  And not in a good way, if you know what I mean.

My preacher is a good and gracious man, and reminded me this morning of what the GM of the Detroit Red Wings told his coach last night on the flight home after they were beaten 8-0.  He said, “Coach, don’t show the team the video of this game.  This was an aberration.  It’s not who we are, really.  We’re going to make it like this never happened, cuz this wasn’t us out there tonight.”

That’s what I feel like – like we weren’t out there yesterday morning.  Our team was there, but they weren’t there, if you know what I mean.  It was a day to take the video and toss it in the trash.  Make it like it never happened.

There’s actually whole days, and even weeks, when I sure would like to toss the video away.  Make it like it never happened.  You know what I mean?  When everything that could possibly go wrong has indeed gone wrong, and I’ve been a part of it, unfortunately.  Right in the thick of it, actually.

God must be like the Red Wings’ GM, I think.  He says, “you know what Nate – that was an ugly day.  It was not good.  You know it, and I know it.  But you know what?  It really wasn’t you out there today.  That was an aberration.  That wasn’t who you really are.  Let’s just take the tape of that one and pitch it, what do you say?”

Psalm 103:12 – As far as east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”   Without train wrecks, would there ever be a need for rescues?

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