Think Like Jesus:
Make the Right Decision Every Time
Part 1: Perspectives on the State of Worldviews
Chapter 2: The American State of Mind
POSSESSING A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
Among born again adults (in America):
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Six out of ten follow a set of principles or standards they believe in that serve as behavioral guidelines.
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Two out of ten born-again adults do whatever feels right or comfortable in a given situation.
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One out of ten born-again individuals do whatever they believe will make the most people happy or will create the least amount of conflict with others.
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About one out of ten believers make their moral choices on the basis of whatever they think will produce the most personally beneficial outcome, whatever they believe their family or friends would expect them to do, or whatever they think other people would do in the same situation. (Pg. 20)
These statistics are the result of two decades of surveys of “born-again” adults. What does this say about the state of the “biblical worldview” in American Christianity?
Moral Absolutes
Three out of four born-again Christians overlook the Bible as their shaping worldview influence. (Pg. 21)
Among those who say they rely on biblical standards and principles as their compass for moral decision making (25%), only half believe that all moral truth is absolute. The rest either believe that moral decisions must be made on the basis of the individual’s perceptions and the specific situation, or they haven’t really thought about whether truth is relative or absolute.
That means the bottom line is that only 14 percent of born-again-adults—in other words, about one out of every seven born-again adults—rely on the Bible as their moral compass and believe that moral truth is absolute. While these perspectives are not, in themselves, the totality of a Bible-based worldview, they form the foundation on which such a life lens is based. Very few born-again Christians have the foundation in place. (Pg. 21)
If only one in seven born again Christians base their decisions on the bible and believe that moral truth is absolute, what will be the pervasive teaching in Americas churches over the next several decades?
Information on pages 21-22 tell us that only 6 percent of American adults possess a solid foundation on which to build a biblical worldview!
Spiritual Beliefs
Barna examines core beliefs through these six beliefs: 1) God is the all-knowing, all powerful Creator of the universe who rules that universe today; 2) When Jesus Christ was on earth He lived a sinless life; 3) Satan is not just a symbol of evil but is a real, living entity; 4) A person cannot earn his or her salvation by being good or doing good things for other people—that salvation is the free gift of God; 5) Every person who believes in Jesus Christ has a personal responsibility to share his or her faith in Him with other people who believe differently; 6) the Bible is totally accurate in all it teaches.
Based on those six characteristics and the previous statements on moral absolutes 85% of born-again adults in America do not have the basic foundation on which to build a biblical worldview.
“If your heart did not just drop to the floor, you don’t understand the implications of these chilling facts. When people wonder why the Christian Church is losing influence in American society—which seven out of ten American adults currently contend—the reason is that so very few think like Jesus.” (Pps. 22-23)
How do you respond to Barna’s assessment of the implications of so few born-again Christians having the foundation to live a biblical worldview?
Perspective: in 2003, 210 million adults in America. 175 million claim to be Christians.
7 million have a biblical worldview. That’s 1 in 30 adults in this nation!
ARE THOSE WHO THINK LIKE JESUS DIFFERENT?
The survey data showed some remarkable distinctions when we compared three different types of measures—daily activity, religious activity, and religious beliefs—among three segments of people: those who have a biblical worldview, those who are born again but do not have a biblical worldview, and individuals who are not born again.
Daily Activity
Examples:
- Christians with a biblical worldview are 9 x more like than all other people to avoid internet pornography.
- 4 x more likely than others to boycott objectionable companies/products
- nearly 4 x as likely as non-believers and 2 x as likely as other believers to pray for the president during the week, and to intentionally not view movie or video because of objectionable content;
- 2 x as likely to volunteer time to help needy people.
- 3 x less likely to use tobacco products. (Pg. 24)
Observations?
Religious Activity
Examples:
- 2 x more likely to read the Bible than other believers
- more likely to attend church service, Sunday school class, volunteer at church.
- slightly more likely to pray to God and slightly less likely to be involved in a small group.
Differences between them and those who are not born again are like night and day. (Pg. 25)
Observations?
Religious Beliefs
Examples:
- 2 x more likely than non-born again believers to evangelize.
- 5 x more likely to believe people are born with a sin nature.
- 3 x more likely to reject the idea that the Bible, Koran and Book of Mormon contain the same basic truths.
- 3 x more likely to reject praying to saints as means of positively effecting life.
- 2 x more likely to believe spiritual forces such as demons can influence one’s life and to contend that the Bible specifically rejects homosexuality. (Pg. 26)
Observations?
What the Data Indicates
What conclusions can we draw about the influence on a person’s life of thinking like Jesus? An abundance of evidence suggests that having a biblical worldview has a dramatic effect on your behavior, perceptions, and beliefs. Once you see the world through God’s eyes, your mind and heart become so transformed that you “automatically” respond to every situation differently. (Pps 25-26)
Why do you suppose that Barna placed the word “automatically” in quotes in the above paragraph?
A second realization is that having a biblical worldview makes a more dramatic difference in your life than does simply embracing Jesus Christ as your savior. That’s a controversial statement unless you take a moment to understand what I mean. I’m not saying that people’s lives are unaffected when they accept Christ as their Savior or that such a decision is of secondary importance. If the decision to commit your life to Christ is genuine, then your eternal fate has been radically altered. That decision to trust Jesus Christ alone for salvation is the single most important choice a person will make in this life, and is the starting point of a true relationship with the living God. … But the data shown in the following tables, along with the tracking research we have been conducting for the past two decades, goes even further. It seems that millions of people who accept Jesus as their Savior, never really accept Him as their Lord—that is, they gladly accept His offer of eternal salvation and confess their sins and profess Him to be their Savior in order to gain God’s acceptance and escape the wrath of His judgment for our sins. But their spiritual development does not go much beyond the acceptance of the offer of salvation: They do not continually invest in life transformation to become a more viable reflection of who Jesus is as He lives in their heart and seeks to influence who they become and how they manifest their commitment to God….The consequence is that millions of—the data even suggests most—born-again Christians have not surrendered their life fully, and thus they keep one foot firmly planted in the world and one foot gingerly lodged in the next. That causes many people who call Jesus their Savior to live in ways that are not distinguishable from the ways of people who do not name Jesus as their Savior … CONTINUE READING REST OF this section 2/3 of way through page 27. (Page 26-27)
This is where the “rubber hits the road.” Overwhelming evidence indicates that the vast majority of folks in America who call ourselves Christians are not thinking (and living) like Jesus. How do you respond to Barna’s contention here? Why?
THE IMPACT OF THINKING LIKE JESUS
Pages 27-30 contain charts indicating differences in three Christian groups. We will look at them together. (Please review them before class!!!! Thanks.)
IF NOT A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW, THEN WHAT?
Since everyone has a worldview, if that perspective is not Bible-based, it must draw from some other sources of knowledge and perspective. In fact, philosophers and theologians have identified more than a dozen competing worldviews that Americans have embraced. Most born-again Christians have unwittingly adopted one or a combination of those alternative worldviews.
Even believers who generally follow the guidelines of the Bible have some elements of one or several alternative life lenses buried in their minds. It is the presence of these competing worldviews that confuses believers and causes the disruption of their faith and their lifestyle. (Pps. 30-31)
Read the remainder of his introduction carefully and see whether you have fallen into the same pitfalls as Barna.
Deism: The Absent God
Deists believe that God exists and created the universe, but that He has since abandoned the world to run its course. God is not in relationship with people, nor does He exert power and authority over the human condition and experience….No moral absolutes, no sin, no evil, Bible is helpful, but not ultimate truth. …personal experience, intellect, and choices [are] the window through which life is understood. (Pps. 31-32)
Naturalism: What You See Is What You Get
This viewpoint comes in two popular flavors, secular humanism and Marxism. While each has its own distinctives, both agree on most of the central points related to the spiritual and worldly discussions.
Naturalists contend that God does not exist. Our perceptions of a divine presence are simply a projection of our own experience. There was no Creator of the cosmos, and there are no interventions such as miracles or divine direction: Matter and the universe have just always existed. Everything is essentially a unified machine, with people as elements in that machine that evolved from the existing matter. History and human life have no purpose. All experience is based on chance… Ethics are situational and inconsistent since there is no ultimate foundation for moral and ethical standards. …. Whatever value exists in the world is thus a human invention. Death is not something to be feared or even pondered, since it is merely the transition of human matter into another form. There is no life after death…Heaven or Hell (Pps. 32-33)
Nihilism: Denial of Existence
Nothing, including God, actually exists. There is no knowledge, no meaning and no value. Life as we think we experience it actually has no meaning because it is not as we think we experience it! This is the “anti-world worldview,” contending that there is no world that requires an explanation.
In some ways, nihilism is the ultimate extension of the foundations of naturalism: Matter is all that exists, everything happens by chance, and there is no divine power that intervenes form outside the system…. Life is complete emptiness; truth is the absolute denial of everything. There is no spiritual warfare, because there are no spiritual beings, good or evil.
This is undoubtedly one of the most depressing and hopeless worldviews existent. That, in itself, does not mean that it is erroneous. It does, however, explain, why so many of its proponents literally become insane, suicidal, or lost in fantasy…[the nature of nihilism is there is no salvation, therefore life is suffering.] (Pps 33-34)
Existentialism: Meaningless Reality
Also an extension of naturalism. It contends that life has no ultimate meaning; each person must determine the meaning that he or she wishes to assign to life and then gain fulfillment through that pursuit. This view of life proclaims that life is absurd, partly because we have freedom and ability but operate in a context of chaos and meaninglessness.
To avoid a nihilistic view, then, we make the most of existence by creating our own world of value, because our actions reflect our choices, they are right by definition. [We get along basically because what I what is usually what most people want] Goodness is living in ways that make life comfortable and interrelated. There is no God because such a deity would not create such a meaningless and hopeless existence, with senseless suffering and daily chaos and randomness.
The distinction between existentialism and nihilism is passion: The nihilist sees a world that is strictly objective in its randomness, while the existentialist believes that people may have passion and compassion in their wrestling match with the continual uselessness of life. (Pps 34-35).
Postmodernism: Hyper-Individualism
This recent adaptation of existentialism and traces of naturalism is difficult to describe because it exists to defy description and categorization. Even proposing postmodernism as a worldview is awkward because it contends that there is no “metanarrative,” or grand story, that explains life and reality—and that very denial of a traditional worldview is, in essence, the heart of the postmodernist view. Spawned by behavior rather than concept—that is, developed on the basis of sociology rather than philosophy or theology—postmodernism challenges much but answers little.
Consequently a postmodernist may choose to believe in God if he wants to do so but cannot compel anyone else to do so. If it is right for that person, then it becomes part of his unique life story, but he may not impose that unique view on anyone else unless that person freely chooses to incorporate….. a foundational tenet of this worldview is that absolute moral truths do not exist—or, if they do, we cannot know them.
Lacking any absolutes…postmodern adherents are particularly sensitive to authority structures and hierarchies of any type. Theirs is a worldview that promotes hyper-tolerance as one of the highest virtues. The natural and inevitable result of this emphasis on tolerance is fragmentation, decadence…chaos, and radical choice….. Feeling replace reason, experience replaces logic, and contradictions replace consistency. Relationships and connectedness are critical to postmodern existence…. Postmoderns find meaning solely through group experience. Connection to a group is what enables a person to achieve identity.
Consider this: Postmodernism is the prevailing worldview held by Busters and Mosaics, the two youngest generations of Americans. It is widely taught in public schools, colleges and universities throughout the nation. Textbooks have adopted a postmodern skew, and contemporary music fuels postmodern fires. (Pps 35-37)
Pantheism: Impersonal Divinity
[Pantheism has no discernible connection to a biblical worldview as it is drawn largely form Eastern religions.] Pantheism asserts that everyone is god. However, in this view, god is an abstract, impersonal concept, god is a unity of the universe rather than a spiritual being who is holy, powerful, loving and creative. A pantheist lives to reach this oneness with the universe, recognizing that everything around him is also part of that oneness, and thus every element in creation has some dimension of god within it. If this seems vague and ambiguous, it is because the pantheist recognizes that language is a human construct that is incapable of capturing the bigness, essence and uniqueness of such thought.
[Matter is eternal. Therefore, creation is not part of the worldview. Reincarnation is the vehicle through which a “soul” eventually becomes fully divine and merges with the universe.]
Pantheism is more concerned with process than product; technique triumphs doctrine, resulting in an emphasis on how you evolve rather than what you do and believe. From a Western viewpoint, the object of pantheism is mental numbness…If biblical Christianity is about doing what you believe, pantheism is about not doing anything, just being (Pps. 37-38)
New Age: Philosophical Syncretism
New Age is a smorgasbord worldview. Like pantheism, it is based largely on Eastern mysticism but also encompasses other traditions. In fact, it draws elements from all of the aforementioned worldviews and others not touched on here.
In New age thinking, there is no transcendent god and no evil power to oppose a divine power or humanity. The individual is held up as the ultimate authority and is viewed as being already divine. As beings who can transcend the limitations of time, space, morality and immortality people constantly evolve to a higher level of consciousness through a series of personal mystical experiences. En route we may have contact with ancient beings as well as any number of other spiritual beings of varied power, personality and purpose. The New age view is quite animistic in nature. On a daily basis life is worth living because we enjoy a multiplicity of experiences, all of which are private and thus cannot be shared, but any of which may be personally revealing and exhilarating and cannot be denigrated or denied by others… Morality and truth are always relative…Humans are the center point of all reality. (Pps. 38-39)
WHY THINKING LIKE THE WORLD IS PROBLEMATIC
These brief overviews are merely meant to convey a sense of what the competing worldviews would lead people to believe about God, creation, humanity, spiritual authority, morality and redemption.
Knowing that the common communication vehicles of our culture constantly expose us to these competing views may at least encourage you to pause and consider what you embrace as a worldview, and how—or if—you protect your mind and heart from the invasion of these misleading and untenable philospophies. (Pg.40)
Barn contends that the competing worldviews are “untenable”. If that is the case why do you suppose there are so many adherents of each?
I Think, Therefore I Act
Some people may wonder why being sensitive to these worldviews is such a big deal. The reason is that you become what you believe.
American Christianity has largely failed since the middle of the twentieth century because Jesus’ modern-day disciples do not act like Jesus. They fail to represent Him well not because they are incapable of Christlike behavior or out of an absence of good intentions, but because they do not think like Him. You and I may profess to be followers, but remember, the most significance evidence of our loyalty is not what we say but what we do. (Pg. 40)
What do you think of Barna’s statement that we become what we believe?
How do you suppose that American Christians have been responsible for “producing” an authentic Christianity as missionaries in many other lands, while at the same time the “native” Christianity has made so little impact on our own country?
On Pages 40-41 Barna raises the question of whether he, a married man, may have sexual relations with a beautiful woman who is married to another man, and then offers the response of EACH of the worldviews considered.
How does this illustration impact you?
Worldview Significance
So back to the original question: What difference does your worldview make?
Developing a strong Bible-based foundation from which to think and act is the only reliable safeguard against the complete demise of our culture, the loss of meaning and purpose in life, and the rejection of all that God holds dear and significant…..The failure to grasp and live out a biblical worldview can only result in a lifestyle that contradicts God’s perfect and eternal moral and spiritual code that was designed to foster our relationship with Him, each other and the world He entrusted to us.
Is Barna’s conclusion reasonable, based on the evidence?
IS IT TOO LATE TO FIX?
No matter how young or old you may be, regardless of your religious upbringing, and despite your past behavior and beliefs, it is never too late to commit yourself to knowing, loving and serving God more completely….
FOR NEXT WEEK: Read Chapter 3, pages 45-53 in Think Like Jesus
Back to the study guide for Barna's Think Like Jesus.