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).
- 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. |
