Friday, February 10, 2012

Not All Biblical Worldview Education is Created Equal


I have noticed that not all that is labeled Biblical worldview education is Biblical or is as thorough as it could be. Some define having a Biblical worldview mostly as having a prolife position on abortion or an Austrian view of economics or young earth view of creation.  Others look at social justice and ecumenicalism as a Biblical worldview.

The most comprehensive statement of a Biblical worldview every written, to summarize the Bible, was the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1646.  If any of you are like me, this would have been the last place that I would have considered looking for more information on a Biblical worldview. After all, aren't confessions of faith just old, dead, academic ponderings of man?  Don't we live by the Bible alone?

To make a long story short, the Westminster Confession of Faith is an awesome, inspiring, comprehensive summary of the Christian faith. It was written in a way to both be practical and helpful to those would are downtrodden, while also standing firm and exposing every heresy that has and continues to exist.

In fact, the talk of Biblical worldview implies the application of the Bible to every aspect of life and this has been best summaried in the Westminster Confession of Faith.  When people tell me that they don't want to read that old dusty Confession of Faith or Catechisms, then I ask them how they would summarize the Bible in their own words to teach it to their children?  Would their version be better than the one which 150 pastors worked on it for several years? 

In our postmodern age, we can easily think from a relativistic point of view and conclude that "your truth is good for you, I have my own truth."  Westminster is the gold standard for confessions of faith, has stood the test of time and was written under oath, which was taken every Monday morning by the pastors who worked seven days a week for several years on the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. Their oath required that their result be "most agreeable to the word of God."

Here is a Sermon Audio by Pastor Joespeh Morecraft which will inspire you to read the Westminster documents: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=3270411329

Here are a few links to the Westminster original documents.  Notice that the additional documents are also very inspiring. You might like to also read a few paragraphs from its Directory on Family Worship, which explains how to have a quiet time with God and much more.

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) w. Scripture Proofs
You can download this MS Word.rtf (zipped) file for personal use on your word processor. It is the original 1646, and is complete with full scripture proof texts. Also available in Word [doc], PDF, and HTML (all zipped).
The Westminster Confession of Faith's Additional Documents
To The Christian Reader, Especially Heads of FamiliesMr. Thomas Manton's Epistle to the Reader (A must read) The Sum of Saving Knowledge The Confession of Faith of the Kirk of Scotland: Or, The National Covenant The Solemn League and Covenant The Directory for the Publick Worship of God The Directory for Family Worship The Form of Presbyterial Church Government

If you are wondering if you have a Biblical worldview, then take the miniPEERS test as a starting place.  I'll provide a copy of that to you via your teacher or directly by email.  If you or your school wants to take the full test, which I recommend, that can be purchased at http://nehemiahinstitute.com

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Open Blog Quiz: Read the blog, take notes on Pastor Morecraft’s sermon and turn in your notes to Heather. Take the miniPEERS test provided via Dr Bartlett via Heather and work with Heather or Dr Bartlett on grading them. Read a few pages or more of the original Westminster documents and write a paragraph or more to summarize what you learned, showing at least how one scripture was used by the Writers of the Westminster documents.

Comments (18)

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Caleb Demeter's avatar

Caleb Demeter · 686 weeks ago

Those statistics were quite interesting. Traditional Christian schools and public schools are at almost the same point in secular humanist world view. Home schools and schools like Legacy were the highest. The worldview of classical schools depend on the curriculum. Omnibus is great. legacy would excel in that rating. Home schools depend on the teacher. If the teacher (usually the mother) has a Biblical worldview, that will be infused in the kids. If the mom doesn't, then the kids theology will be moderate at best. I have great confidence in my mom and am thankful for my years in home school.
3 replies · active 685 weeks ago
I agree completely! I'm glad I'm out of public school. I wish other Christian schools could match up to legacy.
Bailey Hand's avatar

Bailey Hand · 686 weeks ago

Im also super glad I'm out of public school! Coming to Legacy has changed a ton of my views and made me more open minded to other peaple's views of what the bible has to say.
Caleb Demeter's avatar

Caleb Demeter · 685 weeks ago

At Legacy we learn how to leave a good legacy from Legacy High. Legacy makes us think about our legacy and other things so we can leave a good legacy. Thanks Legacy for our legacy!
Kitanasky's avatar

Kitanasky · 686 weeks ago

thats very interesting i never would have thought of that.i bet that makes people think hard about the different views in schools alone.
Bailey Hand's avatar

Bailey Hand · 686 weeks ago

I've really never thought of how much I think biblically. Its nice to know, now that Im at Legacy, i'm being taught to ''filter'' everything that goes thru my head. Its interesting to see that even kids who go to ordinary christian schools think worldly. That makes total sense to me having friends that go to those kind of schools and still act and think like worldly kids. Honestly going from this christian school to the public high shcool wasn't all that different. Bible class was about the only thing that was different. Going the a christian school didn't make me think deeper, thru the bible in everything. Now going to Legacy, I feel so much more prepared for whatever this world dishes out. Of course Im not where I should be, but always a little closer.
3 replies · active 683 weeks ago
Thanks for your comment Bailey.  I had wondered for a long time why Christians seems so similar to the non-Christians.  These worldview issues really explain the reasons and I am so thankful for learning this and being able to pass it on!

Dr Bartlett
Bailey Hand's avatar

Bailey Hand · 685 weeks ago

Me too. Being here has really helped me learn how to live intentionally and control what i do and say.
Heather Bailey's avatar

Heather Bailey · 683 weeks ago

I totally agree with you!!!
Alli Martin's avatar

Alli Martin · 685 weeks ago

I think for me this makes totally sense! Even coming for a christian school to a classic school has changed a lot for me. I always thought christian schools were always at the very top on test ranking stuff,but now that im at Legacy i have learned so much more than i think ive could even learned if I went to a christian school through 8th grade! ive learned that christian schools arent really all that people say they are, and this chart proves it! thats why we go to Legacy :)
2 replies · active 683 weeks ago
I agree Alli. I am glad that legacy was started and now we have something even higher than a christian school.
Heather Bailey's avatar

Heather Bailey · 683 weeks ago

I'm with you Alli. When we were in school together they always told us we were so much ahead of the other public school kids. I mean I had a good education and im glad that i had the option of going to the school i went to and not the public school. Now being in Legacy and looking back what we learned wasn't much different other than the fact we could pray and had Bible class which was great but not as good as classical education. All of our class is thinking very different than pretty much everyone else even in traditional christian schools. So now a can clearly see the difference in these two schooling methods and am very thankful I am experiencing classical education.
This is really sad that Christian schools are almost as low on this test as the public school. We really need to watch out and try to help our Christian brothers from falling this low. We need to all go to the classical side.
1 reply · active 682 weeks ago
Caleb Demeter's avatar

Caleb Demeter · 682 weeks ago

I definately agree with you on this Tucker. It's weird how the public and Christian schools follow the same downward path.
This is really sad that Christian schools are almost as low on this test as the public schools. We really need to watch out and try to help our Christian brothers from falling this low. We need to all go to the classical side.
1 reply · active 682 weeks ago
Caleb Demeter's avatar

Caleb Demeter · 682 weeks ago

I definately agree with you on this Tucker. It's weird how the public and Christian schools follow the same downward path.
Ok so when we were in Idaho we got to see the classical schools up there which is the green line and you can totally tell the difference. We need to rise above this and stand out rather then blend in.
Heather Bailey's avatar

Heather Bailey · 683 weeks ago

I grew up in traditional christian schools ever since 4th grade and i was always told how we ranked so much higher than public school and even homeschool kids but i don't really think thats accurate after being in Legacy. When i was growing up and going to school there were some kids that didn't change at all from being in a Christian school they didnt stand out from the world at all in how they thought or acted. Being in a classical school and seeing the Idaho schools you can totally see a difference in how kids dress,think, and their attitudes. And thats very important for christians to grow up seeing the difference and not blending in with society. Thats probably one reason so many kids are walking away from God.

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