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When we interact with people who have placed their faith in gods other than the Christian God, it can become so easy to accuse them of being wrong, or bad. But these statemetns lead us away from teh most important question we can ask: Is it true?

So is Jesus Chrsit the only way to God? Is it arrogant for Christianity to make this claim? Even in light of it how are you to decide which religion is the true one to committ your life to? Maybe the thoughts featured in the below links can help.

You can listen here and you can read the manuscript here.

A sexy worldview

Mark Sayers, a leading voice on Young Adult culture, and a flippin' legend, just wrote a very interesting blog on 'The real reason Christian young adults are having sex outside of marriage.' He doesn't travel the traditional path, that others have, looking at the stats, the values and cultural trends, instead he pulls it back to our understanding of the world and God's action in it. All the kinds of things we've been delving into of late. It won't take long to read but for anyone who chooses it will be highliy insightful and graciously challenging. You can find it here.

Ruth Chapter 2

The book of Ruth is this amazing story of grace, love and opportunity. Have a listen in to this talk to see how the Kinsman redeemer, comes into save the day and encourage ruth into the abundance of his kingdom, much like Jesus Christ does for us!

You can listen here and you can read the manuscript here.

Worldviews 2: A fresh look at engaging with other faiths.

When we interact with people who have placed their faith in gods other than the Christian God, it can become so easy to accuse them of being wrong, or bad. But these statemetns lead us away from teh most important question we can ask: Is it true?

Jesus Christ was the only religious leader who didn't just claim what he was on about was true, but in fact claimed to be the truth. He claimed that we can know what God is like, by examining his life. An outrageous claim both then and now, but one that deserves our attention.

You can listen here and you can read the manuscript here.

Does your worldview reconcile your anxieties?

Blaise Pascall wrote of our need for truth, expressed in three central anxieties that reside within the human spirit that we each need to face and reconcile before we die:

Condemnation: that is by nature of our human existence we do things for which we feel we need forgiveness, which raises the questions: who or what becomes the giver of that forgiveness? Who or what alleviates our guilt?

Meaninglessness: that is we all want our lives to count for something more than it presently does, to have an affect on others that reaches beyond our present circumstance. Which raises the questions: who or what becomes the giver of that purpose? How and in what way are to we to discover and then fulfill what our purpose is?

Nothingness: that is within every human spirit there is a fear of one day not existing. Which raises the question: what happens after my physical life on earth ceases to exist? In what or whom do I want to entrust my eternity to?

How does your worldview reconcile these anxieties?

Some helpful questions when investigating world religions

Here are some helpful questions when wanting to investigate and weigh up the world religions:

How did they originate?

What is the influence, lifestyle, teaching and character of that religious leader?

What does that religion think God is like?

What is that religion actually offering?

What is that religion actually requiring?

Which religion best understands the human condition?

What purpose does that religion claim you are able to fulfill through them?

Worldview Summary

I was emailed this week a really helpful and fascinating link on Worldviews which I felt should share here. It's from http://visualunit.me/ and provides a very brief but comprehensive view on everything from agnostic, to theism, to existentialism, to humanism and so on. If you're wanting a richer perspective on worldviews, take a look!

How to identify your worldview...

Chuck Colson says "A worldview is the sum total of the world, the ‘big picture’ that directs our daily decisions and actions... Our major task in life is to discover what is true and live in step with that truth... The basis for a Christian worldview is God’s revelation in Scripture."

To develop a worldview the following four questions need to be answered. The answers to these questions will reveal to you what your worldview is. There are a variety of questions here, and answering them all is optional, but they are there in order to help you wrap your minds around the four central ideas.

Origin: Who created life? Where did I come from? Whose am I? Do I owe anything to that creator and if so what?

Meaning: What is the meaning of my life? What is it that I hope to accomplish on an existential scale as well as a specific scale? What is my motivation to live life? Why do I want to achieve anything? What is the purpose of my existence?

Morality: How do I know what is wrong or right? What authority am I willing to answer to when I am wrong? Why do I want to do good?

Destiny: Where is my life going to go? Who or what permits this? What is the reward that awaits me for living my life the way I am? What does life after death look like? How can I receive it? What do I need to do in order to maintain that?

Once you have answered these questions and have began to grasp what your worldview is beginning to look like, it is important to test it, to ensure that it is a workable, useful and holistic worldview. *Important: No one test alone can comprehensibly address the four questions of origin, meaning, morality and destiny.

1. Logical Consistency (Rational thinking) – does it make sense in a logical manner?
2. Empirical Adequacy (Empiricism) – does it align with what you have observed of this world and your place in it?
3. Experiential Relevance (Experience) – does it align accurately with your behavior and expereince?

And finally Ravi Zacharius instructs us to bring to bear six elements to the four initial questions:

1. The worldview must have a strong basis in correspondance that is factual. (It has to be fact rather than fiction)
2. There needs to be a high degree of coherance. (It cannot be contradictory of itself) 
3. The worldview should have explanatory power. (It should be able to be proven as real)
4. The worldview should avoid two extremes, will not be too simplistic (ie. atheism) or too complicated (ie. pantheism.)
5. The wordview should have more than one line of evidence. (It should be able to be proven by more than one line of reasoning or one source of evidence)
6. You need to be able to refute contrary worldviews.

These thoughts have been developed from a variety of sources including:

• http://www.gregcaughill.com/theology-wiki/christian-apologetics/10-how-to-come-up-with-a-worldview.html
• http://www.rzim.org/
• http://www.amazon.com/How-Now-Shall-We-Live/dp/084235588X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334588155&sr=8-1

Worldviews 1: A fresh look at engaging with other faiths.

When we interact with people who have placed their faith in god's other than the Christian God, it can become so easy to label them under the banner they have ascribed to: Hindu, Buddhist, Jehovah Witness, Mormon, Muslim, etc. But when we do this we create an uneccessary distance and divide between them and us.

Instead we need to look at their worldview and in light of that, not how we might defend ours, but instead build a bridge with which we can relate, echange thoughts and then reveal and invite others to come and know Jesus. The audio and pdf below flesh these ideas out some more concerning how we might engage with people of other faiths and develop and mature our own worldview.

You can listen here and you can read the manuscript here.

 

 

Easter Sunday Testimonies and Message

This Easter we baptised 22 people at Currumbin Creek, and saw the evidence of so many lives radically transformed by the power of Christ! You can listen to five of their testimonies here.

I also spoke on the power of baptism and how it should set for us a standard from which we should never retreat. Instead our baptism should be the fuel by which we live by faith and not by sight!

You can download the audio here: Easter 12two Message