Blog

by Charlie Wolcott

I have written about worldviews quite a bit through my time with Worldview Warriors. I teach five key questions: Origins, Purpose, Identity, Destination, and Authority. How we answer these questions determines how we view and see things. The big push I make is that we need to align our worldview with God’s worldview because unless we do that, we do not see reality as it is. Answers in Genesis uses “eyeglasses” or a “magnifying glass” to showcase the difference between how we see the same evidence but come to different interpretations. It’s accurate, but there’s more to it. Ken Ham often compares man’s opinions to God’s Word, and he’s correct in saying that. But I think we’ve come short of saying what it really is.

I am proud to announce that I will have a new book coming out with Worldview Warriors, slated for an August release date. It’s currently titled The God of the Psalms, and it’s a study on the attributes and character of God I’ve found in the book of Psalms. In one of the chapters I was reviewing the beauty of God, and I emphasized on how beauty is in the eye of the beholder and what we view as beautiful is determined by how we see things. Then I discovered this statement that I wrote at least 3 years ago: “Sin changes the appearance of everything and masks it in a false image.” Reading that today, several years later, it took a whole new meaning and sparked this blog post.

Why can we all look at the same thing and all come to different conclusions? It’s not really because we are merely coming from different perspectives. It’s because of SIN. Why does the universe look old? It’s because of sin. Why does it seem like God isn’t doing anything about wicked people? Sin. Why does God seem so harsh when He does? Sin. Sin corrupts everything. I mean everything. Paul said we all look through a glass darkly. It’s not merely because we are finite people trying to see the eternal perspective, but because we still have sin in our lives.

Sin is an intentional defiance and rebellion against God. God said, “I created everything in six days.” Man in his sin says, “No, it happened over billions of years.” God said, “Repent and believe the Gospel.” Man in his sin says, “No, I’ll do things my way.” God said, “There is no other name by which man might be saved.” Man in his sin says, “Surely, there must be another option.” It does not matter the topic. Salvation related or not. God says one thing; man intentionally goes the other direction. There is NOT ONE who is without sin. There is not one who seeks after God.

Man, apart from Christ, does not think after God. A group of men is called a society. All societies together are called the world. The world’s system, the way the world thinks, is run by the prince of the power of the air. That’s Satan, the great deceiver. Because sinful man is in total rebellion against God, Satan seeks any lie he can produce to get sinful man to believe him. And where he is most clever is when the lie gives the appearance of sounding Biblical and religious. There are many models that give an appearance of truth but are flat out lies. I’ve addressed many of them before. Old Earth Creation, Prosperity Gospel, and Progressive Christianity are three of the main false teachings we deal with. Each much be addressed. But what do they all have in common? A false worldview. A false view of God. A false view of Scripture. It’s been corrupted by sin. It’s not how God sees things. It’s not how God defines things.

Another book I’m working on is on Proverbs 3:5: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” I can’t emphasize enough how much we lean on our own understanding. Again, we are SINFUL people. Even those of us who have been redeemed and regenerated, born-again, still have sin in our lives that corrupts our vision. How did we get saved to begin with? It wasn’t because we saw something we needed; it was because God showed us that we were in need. And part of the process is a continual dying to self daily and being cleansed of sin. What comes with that? A purifying of our vision.

I know all kinds of things. Some good, some not good. Some valuable, some not. But I’ve learned this: the only things of any real value that I’ve learned have come from either my own studies of Scripture or from others who are studying Scripture. Everything else can be nice but is ultimately of no value. I have much to learn about Proverbs 3:5 and putting it into practice. But I have mastered one thing: “If God says it, He means it.” I have NOT mastered, “If God said it, believe it then obey it.” I never will master that one on this side of the veil. But how I can obey what I don’t believe? Scripture says we are to live by faith, not by sight. Do we trust God? Do we actually believe His word? Not our interpretations of His word. Not our understanding of how things should be. Do we believe HIM? God is the only one who has a 100% correct worldview. Frankly, that’s the one I go with. Do I get things wrong? Absolutely. But when do I get them wrong? When I lean on me and when I rely on my own understanding. When I rely on what God says, I cannot be wrong because God cannot be wrong.

We must ditch our sinful worldview that refuses to see as God sees and embrace His worldview to see reality as it is. We won’t see the whole thing, but we will see what God shows us, and He won’t lie. We need to stop being “theologians” and “educated people” thinking we can figure it out. We need to be Christians who are continually yielding ourselves to Christ Jesus in full faith in Him. Paul longed to be freed from the body of death. What a wretch! So am I. I long to be free from this body of sin myself. Thanks be to God that He has saved me, is continually saving me, and will one day separate me from the very presence of sin and completely clear my vision so I can see God as He truly is. As I await that day, I will continue to trust and place my hope in Christ and see what He says about my situation so I can respond correctly to it.

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