Brad Alles

You can see that to understand the times and witness effectively, we must understand worldviews.  But it is also imperative that we answer the ultimate question, “Is Christianity the right religion?”  That’s the key to testing any worldview: answering the query, “Is this true?”

People can believe whatever they want, but that doesn’t make it true.  The issue is not whether a belief is religious or scientific—the question is whether it is true or not.  Using the correspondence theory of truth—a philosophical belief that a statement is true if it corresponds to the facts of reality—let’s set up some tests for worldviews.

The first test of a worldview is this: does it fit the facts, or is there any evidence to support it?  Using the American Heritage Dictionary, truth is defined as “conformity to knowledge, fact, actuality, or logic.”  When Christianity claims to be true, the proper question is, “Are there any facts to back up the claims of the Christian religion?”  The answer is “yes”—archaeologically, geographically, historically, and so on.  The truth fits the facts, so a worldview has to fit the facts as well, since it claims to explain the world, as any map would show the facts of an area.

A second test for a worldview is that it doesn’t have contradictions.  If something is logically inconsistent, it cannot be true.  Refer to the dictionary definition cited previously: truth is “conformity to knowledge, fact, actuality, or logic.”  For example, you can’t be a married bachelor.  Or take Secular Humanism’s stance on ethics, which is moral relativism.  Moral relativism says there are no absolutes.  Notice the contradiction?  To state that there are no absolutes is an absolute statement!  If you have contradictions throughout your worldview, it is like a map that tells you with either one turn to the left or right you will reach your house.  Which one is it?  This leads to a third test.

A third test for a worldview is whether it is useful or relevant in life.  Recall that Dr. William Provine stated that there were no gods, no life after death, no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life, and no free will.  Since these implications stem from evolution—that the universe came about all by itself, without design or purpose—what is the benefit of following this worldview?  Some may argue, since there’s no God, we can live as we please.  However, in reality, we can’t all just live as we please.  How do we decide right and wrong?  If each person decides, what happens when one wants to steal and another says that is wrong?  And if society decides what is right and wrong, what happens when one society disagrees?  Would there be any moral justification for stopping another Adolf Hitler?

Exposing the disconnection between what people believe and what is actually true, or displaying the contradictions in beliefs, or revealing the irrelevance of worldviews can lead to witnessing windows.  At that instance, your sharing of the Christian faith will be strongest when you show how it actually does fit the factual record, doesn’t have contradictions, and is relevant in a person’s everyday life, contrasted with the opposing worldview.  That’s the key to teaching God’s Word today: understanding the various worldviews around us and pointing out how Christianity is true—it fits the facts, doesn’t have contradictions, and is relevant for life now and eternally.