Teach It! (part 1)
TEACH IT! -- INITIAL THOUGHTS ON TEACHING WORLDVIEWS TO PEOPLE IN THIS CULTURE (Part 1)
Here are some tips on how to teach worldviews, the most important idea in Blah, Blah, Blah.
When I say "teach worldviews," I mean getting people to know the basic worldviews, to quickly identify them by their characteristics, and to know how the Biblical worldview is amazingly attractive compared to the other major worldviews.
DIFFICULTIES
Immediately this poses a problem. Many people in churches think of teaching the other major worldviews as unnecessary, irrelevant, irreverent and impractical. Okay, worldview teacher, think of yourself as a camel. How are you going to get your nose inside this kind of tent?
Everybody's so dang busy!
Our culture is super-rushed. People feel like there's no meaning to their lives unless they're multitasking and leveraging every free minute of time to the max. Our classes and jobs are the bare minimum; we also need our sports, music lessons, exercise classes, job enrichment seminars, moonlighting jobs and entertainment. Good though these things may be, they often end up competing with the life of the spirit. We find ourselves on continual mental overload, bombarded by messages from our culture that we're just not measuring up, that we're just not doing enough. It's hard to find the space in our heads, or the time, to slow down enough to actually think through anything, meditate on God's Word or listen attentively for God's still, small voice.
The eyes-glazing-over effect
Mention "worldview," "philosophy," "religion" or other big technical terms and watch people's eyes glaze over. People often stop listening because all they can hear is, "You're stupid and now I'm going to tell you in so many ways how stupid you are." If you've ever had the experience of hearing a "philosopher" or Ph.D. of some kind speak down to you as if you are deficient for not knowing all the ins and outs of that particular person's field of expertise, you can relate. The eyes-glazing-over effect is actually an effective way of checking out of no-win conversations.
The premarital counseling effect
Teaching worldviews is kind of like premarital counseling. Hardly any couple in love thinks they need it. They think, "We're in love! That should take care of all potential problems. Maybe in a million years it might, barely, apply to us, but we can worry about it then. Why waste precious time now on something that is basically for other people?"
The all-you-need-is-faith attitude
A lot of people go around thinking that they can just shut themselves off from the world of ideas -- "the intellectual world" -- because all they really need is the Bible, or all they really need is faith. Faith and the Bible are crucial, I agree, but the attitude here is one almost of putting down intellectual pursuits, as if the only really spiritual course is to withdraw from the systems and thinking of people who don't think like you or your church.
Not wanting to risk exposure to false teachings
Have you ever heard this story? Banks teach tellers to tell the difference between real money and counterfeit bills by having them spend all their time in the beginning handling and studying genuine money. Tellers properly trained this way can easily spot counterfeits. Preachers will use this illustration to urge Christians to focus on the Bible (the real thing) and to leave the study of other philosophies, religions and worldviews to the experts. Why trouble yourself with blasphemous thoughts? they might say.
Other priorities
Pastors and teachers of youth and adults in this culture are scrambling just to bring people up to a low level of basic discipleship. Many have the feeling that just getting people to read their Bibles, pray a little, resist obvious sexual temptation, avoid drugs, and come somewhat regularly to church is a major accomplishment. It's difficult enough to find time in busy schedules for the basics, let alone time to delve into advanced and remote intellectual exercises like learning about worldviews.
"We already have apologetics"
There is a field of Christian study called apologetics. It comes from the Greek word that means "to make a defense." Normally apologetics means to use reason to find a common rational ground with unbelievers for building a foundation for truth, then building a whole framework of truth based upon supposedly irrefutable logic. Many Christians are tied into this mentality and think that their system of apologetics is all they need to defend their understanding of Christian faith. However, with pluralism and postmodernism, the ground rules have changed. Traditional apologetics may still be helpful to some, but for many others it doesn't really touch their big questions. Unfortunately, too many Christians are stuck using traditional apologetics while the culture has moved on.
The intent of my book Blah, Blah, Blah is to engage people at the level of these newer questions. Hopefully I've done it in such a way that it will overcome the many objections above. We'll see.
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Thus concludes part 1.
I'd love to learn from your experiences of teaching worldviews and the Biblical worldview.
If you have anything you'd like to share, comment on or to add, please let me know at bayard@bayardtayloronline.com.
This would include jokes, cartoons, literature and film illustrations, whatever God has given you in bringing these truths home.
