WORLDVIEW
Worldview is defined as a perspective derived from a collection of knowledge, information, facts and ideas gained about life and the universe that are held by an individual or a group.
How is a worldview acquired?
Good knowledge, information, facts and ideas come from God.
Evil knowledge, information, facts and ideas come from Satan.
God has set up two pipelines from heaven to earth for the purpose of moving information from God to man.
1. One of the pipelines he has called the tree of life.
2. The other pipeline he refers to as the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
These were actual trees in the Garden of Eden but they also represent a means by which God can transfer information from himself to the mind of man.
The Tree of Life pipeline is under close scrutiny and control by God. It is closed to the general public. It is open only to the family of God. God's family are not free to pick fruit from the tree of life, the fruit can only be received by them as a gift from God.
The tree of knowledge of good and evil is a pipeline that all people can use. God supplies the information to it at his discretion, and people are free to pick knowledge to his hearts content. God is in control of the supply, people have the control of receiving the information and using it for their own benefit. The weakness of this pipeline is in the fact that Satan has the option of contaminating the information with evil. Satan keeps himself busy doing just that.
Using the tree of knowledge of good and evil we all have built a wide variety of worldviews. The three main worldviews that have determined the thinking in the Western civilization might be referred to as the worldview from—Rome, Athens, or Jerusalem.
The Worldview of Rome
The worldview of Rome is characterized by MIGHT. Rome conquered the known world with might. They motivated their own people with celebration of their might. As we study activities of the Romans we see that they constantly were displaying their might with celebration and jubilee. Many people today follow their example by being “party people.” Everybody likes a good party. The Romans set the stage for the rest of the world.
The Worldview of Athens
Athens can be characterized by its intellect. Athens enjoyed “POWER.” Athens worshiped the power of their intellect, the power of mathematics, of science, of philosophy, of their feeble democracy and of sports. They were famous workaholics. They dedicated the power of their brain to developing the power of their mind. Athens has passed its worldview along to many members of western culture today.
The Worldview of Jerusalem
Jerusalem is the only worldview source, whose information originates within Monotheism. God alone is the source of all information and he therefore gets it right. God is the God of absolute truth, and he alone provides real truth.
God’s truth about worldview is "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 4:6
In one simple statement of fact God makes it clear that Rome does not have the answer in using might. Athens does not have the answer by using power of the intellect. God then provides the answer, which is, fashion your worldview by connecting your spirit to my Holy Spirit.
What God is really saying here is. You cannot build a worthy worldview by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. To build a worldview like Jesus did you must eat from the tree of life. Jesus had created this worldview for himself when he was only 12 years old.