Christians, Defend Your Worldview

Christian, Defend your Worldview!

February 3, 2001

Why does it seem that Christians are always having to defend themselves, in our society and always having to answer for being Christians? Why is there so much focus on people who are Christians and on making Christian people defend who they are and why?

I’ve noticed a lot of this of late. We just had an election, here in Canada, where one of the party leaders was openly evangelical Christian. Oh, the amount of press that came from that fact! Remember the statement by another leader that he felt there was no place for religion mixed with politics. Remember the grilling this leader got from the press on such issues as abortion and what he’d do about that if he were elected, and on the idea of taking a day off each week, as is his custom?

In the United States, there is a President who is clearly Christian in his profession, and have you been aware of the amount of negative press he got and continues to get because he is? It seems he has to take heat that those who think otherwise aren’t called to account for and don’t have to take.

If someone finds out that you are Christian, you know that it will raise some eyebrows, and it will lead to either an embarrassed silence or some questions that might be adversarial. Why is this the case?

In our world, people live with many different views of the world they live in. There are many different world-views. Some live as if this is all there is. They live a very self-centred life, that is very much rooted in the here and now and in living it up now, because there is nothing beyond. Some live with a sense of something spiritual that is out there, but they’re not sure about it, but they don’t believe they are entirely alone. So, they might seek to be in contact with this spiritual in various ways. And some, practicing Christians, for instance, believe that there is a very definite spiritual world that has great influence in this world we live in, and that we are to live here and now with constant attention to the reality of the spiritual world, including God, Jesus, and the Spirit. Other people often think of those with this Christian view of the world as being quite arrogant for putting forward that there is only one correct view of the world and that no other view has much merit.

We can see people, living within their various worldviews, looking for meaning to their lives. This is quite a quest for many. All people, in one way or another, seem to be seeking for two things. First of all, they are seeking for revelation. How many people do you know who are really looking for some revelation about what their lives are all about?

Many are calling astrologers and wanting to know what the future holds for them. We can hear this on talk shows or see it on TV quite often. In Quebec, we have Jo-Jo, the astrologer, and people call her and pay a lot of money to try to get revelation about their lives. They might be told something, but a week later, as something ‘seems’ to occur, they might be back on the phone looking for more or for further confirmation of what they thought was predicted for the past week. If you’re aware of it, all that seeking for revelation costs a lot of money- big bucks. Even to go to the local palm reader costs- we had one in the coffee shop in the little mall close to our home- I don’t know the cost, but I know it’s not a free service, along with coffee and cake!

You can see young people- perhaps more in the bigger cities, but I know here, too, who are really looking for revelation about what their lives are all about. Look at their haircuts and styles- at all the colors. And the piercing, too. All this shows something about a quest for meaning and a quest for revelation about what life is for- in general and in specific in their lives. This is a quest we had when we were teens, too, we recognize, but it’s there today, nonetheless, and it’s a bit more difficult today because there is a recognized greater level of discouragement and hopelessness among youth than when many of us were youth.

You can see this quest for revelation in even the single Mom who collapses on the sofa at the end of the day. When the children are finally asleep and she’s worked outside her home all day and then made meals, cleaned up, done laundry and all- and she calls out, “What’s this all about?” she is crying for revelation and for meaning to her life.