Blogotional has three worthwhile pieces on the faith; I'd like to like to link to one of the three.
The post is You and Your Worldview, and is in response to a worthy read at Michael Spencer's iMonk ... a recommended site ... as is Blogotional. Michael's post is truly worth the visit if you deal at all with the subject of worldviews, especially Christian worldviews.
John, head blogger and fellow Alliance blogger, offers his views on the subject as well. You can go there and read it yourself, it is brief and to the point.
CONCEPTUAL CONSTRUCT
The post is You and Your Worldview, and is in response to a worthy read at Michael Spencer's iMonk ... a recommended site ... as is Blogotional. Michael's post is truly worth the visit if you deal at all with the subject of worldviews, especially Christian worldviews.
John, head blogger and fellow Alliance blogger, offers his views on the subject as well. You can go there and read it yourself, it is brief and to the point.
CONCEPTUAL CONSTRUCT
The Ball in the Room (adapted)
I'd like to offer my own conceptual construct as a framework for understanding worldviews. My construct is an amalgam of life-lessons, bad luck, good luck; 20.5 years of secular education, topped off with 3..5 years at Talbot Theological Seminary, two masters degrees; bookcases full of reading on everything imaginable, an inquisitive mind; and an Organizational Theory prof at Pepperdine's graduate business school who actually taught me some things which have helped me ever since.
One Industrial Psych prof taught me about JoHari's Window, while the Org. Theory prof eposed me to a simple ball in the room construct. Johari's Window offers insight into how knowledge and ignorance combine to enhance or degrade relationships. I'll do a post on it another day; suffice it to say - understanding another's knowledge and/or ignorance multiplies the the usefulness of worldviews.
One Industrial Psych prof taught me about JoHari's Window, while the Org. Theory prof eposed me to a simple ball in the room construct. Johari's Window offers insight into how knowledge and ignorance combine to enhance or degrade relationships. I'll do a post on it another day; suffice it to say - understanding another's knowledge and/or ignorance multiplies the the usefulness of worldviews.
The Setup
Imagine a circular room with an infinite number of doors through which you enter the interior. In the center of the room is a thin fixed pole, about five and a half feet tall. On the top of the post is a beach ball about one foot in diameter. Half of the ball is black, the other half is white.
The ball represents any subject known to man, the doors represent the extant human race, and the colors represent polar opposites for any given issue ... not right or wrong, not good or evil, and certainly not ying or yang!
The ball represents any subject known to man, the doors represent the extant human race, and the colors represent polar opposites for any given issue ... not right or wrong, not good or evil, and certainly not ying or yang!
Illustration #1
Two people are discussing a certain subject (let's say God), but they have reached an impasse in their discussions. Life's Moderator shuffles the doors according to the vectors of disagreement and sends the two to their respective doors. If the two had diametrically opposite views one would see a wholely white ball the other a wholely black ball upon entry. They are each directly opposite one another.
Illustration #2
Two others likewise hit an impasse on the subject of abortion; one is a Catholic and the other is an enlightened Scientologist. Same actions are performed by the Moderator and the two enter: the former sees a ball mostly white, with a slight black crescent to her right; the latter sees a ball mostly black, with a slight white crescent to his right. Even with somewhat moderated views, they are directly opposite one another just like the two in illustration #1.
Illustration #3
The two in illustration #2 become close friends and Sally has had an opportunity to explain her pro-life views to Jeff over an extended period of time. The Moderator drops in with the room and tells them to go to their doors. Upon entry Sally is surprised to see Jeff just a few doors to her right. Her view of the ball is unchanged; Jeff's view is now mostly white with a modest black crescent to his left.
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
Change the subject/issue and go to the room and you will see where each other is on that issue. Select marriage (something Zelweiger and Chesney should have done), or war, or drugs, or anything. Combine a few and enter your respective doors.
The key is to visualize your friend's worldview as a combination of his or her views on a plethora of issues. Knowing the relative difference between the two of you ought to gain you an advantage in attempting to draw your friends and neighbors closer to your Christian worldview and thus to Christ.
The key is to visualize your friend's worldview as a combination of his or her views on a plethora of issues. Knowing the relative difference between the two of you ought to gain you an advantage in attempting to draw your friends and neighbors closer to your Christian worldview and thus to Christ.
Nothing is more dangerous than a dogmatic worldview - nothing more constraining, more blinding to innovation, more destructive of openness to novelty.
I say,
Nothing is more beneficial to our witness than a properly understood worldview - nothing more freeing, more innovating, more constructive of openness to winning people to Christ (except perhaps Christ and His word).
Christian worldviews; conceptual constructs
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