Brad Alles

All worldviews have a vision of the future. That’s what my book, Starting at the End, explores.  Many believe that history is moving in a straight line toward an exact goal. This is called a linear view of history. Everyone wonders what that future goal will bring.

In a naturalistic worldview, devoid of the supernatural realm (since the starting assumption is that God doesn’t exist), the vision of the future can be optimistic. Man is basically good, so the ethical stance is one of moral relativism, with individuals choosing what is morally good. Since humans have evolved on their own over millions of years, life has gotten progressively better. Mankind will continue to evolve, making better and better choices, until humans make a world full of peace and tranquility.

A Christian view of the future is quite different. The starting assumption is that God does exist, and therefore the world has both natural and supernatural dimensions to it. Absolute moral standards are needed since humans are basically sinful. And just as Adam and Eve rebelled against God at the beginning of creation, so all of their descendants will do so until the bitter end. In the Bible, the world doesn’t get progressively better; it gets progressively worse. It gets so bad that Christ comes to put an end to it, much like God did to the world before Noah’s day. So which is it? Will the future get better or worse? Does man reach perfection on his own, or does God come back for Judgment Day?

While there are many influential worldviews in America today, with each addressing the future, Starting at the End focuses on five: Secular Humanism, Marxism, New Age, Islam, and Christianity. Each of these touches our life—sometimes subtly, sometimes not. Because there’s no escaping them, it’s imperative to know what their view of the future is, since their adherents work today to make their vision a reality tomorrow. If we know what their future endgame is, we can better understand why they live the way they do today—as well as why they want others to emulate them.

But beyond that, we can witness to the reality of Jesus Christ and the biblical worldview as the map that makes sense of the world both now and in the future. Because when the shattered dreams of a perfected future lie in ruins due to the sinfulness of humans, we can expose these worldviews for being false. We can then offer the Truth—Jesus Christ and the ultimate map, the Bible.