Oprah and your worldview . . . Romans 10

What is your worldview?  We’ve all got one . . . a worldview.  Simply, it is the way we see the world . . . our philosophy of life.  Whether or not we have articulated it, we live by it every day.  Our worldview is shaped by many things—upbringing, education, what we read and watch, (Oprah), opinions of friends and family, and the culture in which we live.

The question I put before you today is this:

              Is your worldview a godly one?

                     Is it one that has been molded by God’s principles

                            or man’s designs?

                                   Does that matter to you?

Every worldview, Christian or non-Christian, deals with three questions, at the very least: 1) Where did we come from? Or why are we here?

              2) What is wrong with the world?

              3) How do we fix it?

If you are a parent, you are influencing your children through your worldview.  If you are a teacher, your students; a businessman, your employees and clients; if you are a coach, you are influencing your players . . . ‘get the idea?

Quite clearly, whether or not you believe you were born with a purpose is quite significant to your entire predisposition toward life.  Whether or not you see God as Creator, and the Source of all life, versus mankind being here through some random acts of nature makes a lot of difference too, I am sure you would agree.

Let’s just consider the ‘fix-it portion’ of one’s worldview, which would inevitably point us toward a need for our redemption.  For the Christian, our salvation comes from one source alone: Jesus Christ.  We get that, and we take Jesus’ words to heart,  “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me,” and we stand on them.1

But remember the conversation I had with my attorney ‘friend’ that I recounted to you the other day?  He took me to task, saying, “You Christians are all alike.  You’re so arrogant saying Jesus is the only way to God.”  He was right—the way is narrow, but it is available to all.  Here’s the thing—when we believe that there are various or many ways to God, we believe in religious pluralism.  (which believes that every religion provides an adequate means to God and so therefore is true)

In truth, the worldview of one who does not claim Jesus as Lord, and Jesus as the only way to God, devalues everything about Christianity and its unique distinctives.  This mindset has confused tolerance with being non-judgmental.  It has exchanged open-mindedness for pluralism.  Most Americans are not likely to say that there are many gods, as that would be a Hindu belief; however, many Americans are wont to say there is more than one way to God.  ‘See the difference?  In practicality, how different are the two thoughts?

‘Why does that matter?’ you ask.  ‘Isn’t it intolerant to say that Jesus is the only way?’  Only if you view God as one very cruel entity.  Simply, if Jesus is not the only way, then his father let him die a tortured death, and turned his back on him in the process, when he became our sin on the cross.  If there are or were other ways, then God would be defined as cruel. 

Enter stage right -> Oprah.  Her fans number in the tens of millions.  Is she a Christian?  For years, people have debated the matter.  Let’s hear from her: “I am a Christian who believes that there are certainly many more paths to God other than Christianity.”  Hmmm . . . pluralism, eh? 

Why bring this up?  First, as we finish Romans chapter 10, I see how the first-century believers could almost have thought there was more than one God, or more than one path to God for sure—one for the Jews, another for the Gentiles.  Not so.  There is not one God to the Jews, more kind, and another to the Gentiles, who is less kind; the Lord is a Father to all men. The promise is the same to all, who call on the name of the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, as God manifest in the flesh.2

Though Christ came for all, not all believed—not in the first century when Jesus was born, and not now—no, not all believe.  Paul writes:

“But they have not all obeyed the gospel . . . So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
  But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth,
 and their words to the ends of the world.”
 Romans 10.

Christianity in the first century did not boast of more than one God, or more than one way to relationship with him . . . nor does it today.  We will dig a little deeper tomorrow on this subject, including Oprah’s influence on this subject matter.

Christine

podcast:

1) John 14.6

2) Matthew Henry

other sources: Gotquestions.org, flashpointfiles