What does it mean to have a biblical worldview?
Tim Moore: We are privileged to be joined by Del Tackett, one of my heroes of the faith, because he produced a teaching called The Truth Project which teaches people about the Christian and biblical worldviews. So, Del, please tell us exactly what a worldview is.
Del Tackett: A worldview is basically how we think about the world around us. In other words, we ask ourselves “What do we think is true about the world in which we live?”
Now, a biblical worldview concerns the truth claims that God has revealed to us in His Word, through Christ, and through what He has made. This view encompasses all 360 degrees of a believer’s life. God speaks to us about the truth of philosophy and science and history. He speaks to us concerning the truth about social order. And, boy, do we need that today! The truth about how God has designed social institutions has been lost.
Our personal worldview is often different from the true biblical worldview because our personal worldview is often tainted by the “truth” claims that we get from the world, the flesh, and the Enemy. We are constantly bombarded with and are influenced by those lies. So, as believers, we are constantly trying to conform our personal worldview to the biblical worldview.
Nathan Jones: Dr. Tackett, I came to know about you not through “The Truth Project” but through your Is Genesis History? documentary on the book of Genesis. You started the video right off the bat by establishing the biblical worldview from Genesis. Really, if we don’t know Genesis, then we really don’t have a biblical worldview, do we?
Del Tackett: I certainly do believe so. Genesis is in the Word of God, and what God has made around us also reveals to us the truth about God. So, when we produced the Genesis film we were attempting to help people understand that God is the one who told us where we all came from. God created the heavens and the earth and everything around us. And so, we want to base our understanding of who we are and the world upon that truth. In fact, I’m excited that we are just about to finish filming the follow-up to my Genesis film!
Tim Moore: When it comes to answering what is the truth, Del, you gave me an epiphany when you challenged me to consider why Jesus came to this earth. As Christians, we believe Jesus came to die and be resurrected, but Jesus testified in John 18:37 when Pilate when Him, “Are you a king?” and Jesus responded: “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate’s response in verse 38 was to scoff just like the world does today when he asked, “What is truth?” Jesus had declared that He had come to testify to the truth, but when Pilate asked, “What is truth?” he didn’t consider the fact that he was talking to the Truth with a capital “T”.
Del Tackett: Exactly right! The Apostle Paul pointed back to that moment specifically when he said that Jesus made the good confession before Pontius Pilate. Jesus came to testify to the truth, for He is the truth. Jesus had already said in John 14:6 that: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” And, as you rightly pointed out, the world around us scoffs at the notion of absolute truth. They ask the same question that Pilate did, “What is truth?”
Three Tests Plus One
Nathan Jones: Dr. Tackett, in 2 Peter 3:1-9, there is a prophecy made about the end times. Peter says, “Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?'” So, they will scoff about Jesus ever returning.
Then, picking up in verse 4: “‘For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.”
Meaning, in the end times people will deny Christ’s return, they will deny the Creation, and they will deny that the Flood ever happened. We even see Christians in churches today who deny all three! Can we then truly possess a biblical worldview yet still deny Jesus’ return, that He created the universe, and that there was a global flood?
Del Tackett: No, and here’s why. Second Peter 3 is an important passage because it confirms that God had destroyed the earth with a flood. Peter in verse 7 then points to the fact that God will again destroy the earth, but this time with fire. “But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” Therefore, if you don’t believe that God destroyed the earth with a flood, and there’s ample evidence of that, Peter is saying that you are ignoring what is plainly seen. The evidence of the Flood stands as evidence for God’s judgment pointing to the fact that He will yet again judge the world, though this time with fire. So, they also deny a fourth fact — future judgment. These four tests remain necessary for one to have a biblical worldview.
It is critical then that we understand that Genesis was written as a historical narrative. If you start turning it into myth or claim it’s some sort of poetry or analogy, then you are going to miss the very foundation of God’s biblical worldview.
The Secularist Worldview
Tim Moore: Worldview is so very important. Both we as Christians and secularists look at the same evidence but come to dramatically different conclusions. Why? Because the lost filter the evidence through their ungodly, secularistic, materialistic worldview. Christians come at the evidence from a Christian and biblical worldview, yielding to the conclusion that the evidence points to God Himself.
I’m reminded of Job. Job held to a biblical worldview even living eons ago. Job in Job 13:15 testified in the midst of His suffering: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.” Then again, in 19:25-27, Job exclaims his dramatic confession of his hope in a Redeemer who will come to take his place in this world. Even in his own flesh, Job would get to see Him. Job believed in the resurrection. Therefore, Job held to a biblical worldview.
Del Tackett: He did. Job clearly understood that there would be a Messiah who would come. He clearly understood that there would be a resurrection from the dead. Now, just how clearly exactly he understood these things, quite frankly, we just don’t know, because we believe that God was the one who was speaking through Job. So, sometimes the writers of the Scriptures wrote without a full understanding. Paul even talks about how the prophets of old didn’t have a full understanding of their future prophecies. But, certainly, Job had enough of an understanding for him to say that he knew that even though he would die, even after his flesh had decayed, he would live again. He would stand in the presence of his Redeemer.
Tim Moore: Likewise, Daniel sometimes recorded visions that he didn’t even understand. The angel replied to Daniel for him to go his way for these prophecies were to be understood at a later time.
Del Tackett: For those who would like to better understand what’s involved in having a biblical worldview, I recommend going to my website at deltackett.com. Join a Truth Project group or a new Engagement Project group. The site will also have announcements about the sequel to “Is Genesis History?”