Worldview #1: The world is our enemy. Satan is hiding out for us behind every bush. Secular humanists are conspiring to influence our children and take over our country, and everything we believe in and hold dear is being threatened by the culture around us.
Worldview #2: This is our Father’s world. Every bush is ablaze with the glory of God. The Holy Spirit is behind the past and current events of history, and no force on earth, heaven or under the earth can do anything outside of the will and knowledge of God Almighty who lives in us.
To be sure, the Bible does warn us of Satan’s wiles, but not for the purpose of keeping us in fear. The actual passage is 1 Peter 5:8, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Peter’s admonition to us in this regard is to resist him and stand firm (vs.9), and we do this by being self-controlled and alert (vs.8). And the admonition immediately prior to this warning is 1 Peter 5:6-7, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety [that would be fear] on him because he cares for you.”
No looking behind any bushes here. And no putting us in positions of power, either. “Humble yourselves…”
Worldview #1 has served the Christian community for far too long. It has funded Christian ministries, mobilized boycotts and marches, even put people in the White House. It is a worldview that has turned Christians into a social force to be reckoned with. But for what purpose? We’re here for the gospel. Remember? What’s the gospel? No one in the world would know because we haven’t told them. We’ve been too busy trying to gain power.
With a presidential election around the corner, WV#1 is enjoying new life as political opportunists incite hate and fear daily around the Internet. Nothing like a good dose of fear to motivate and mobilize people to a desired end.
It’s time to stop it. NO MORE FEAR. It’s time for a different worldview. It’s time to do what we should have been doing all along: spreading the good news of God’s love.
And as I finish writing this, believe it or not, Alison Krause is doing just that over the speakers in this Starbucks where I write, which would mean it is most likely playing in Starbucks all over the world. Thank you, Alison.
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good ol’ way
And who shall wear the starry crown?
Good Lord show me the way
O sinners, let’s go down
Let’s go down, come on down
O sinners, let’s go down
Down in the river to pray
I’m on my way. Meet you there, everybody. Drop your fear, throw down your placard, and come on down. And bring some folks along with you as you come.
John Fischer The Catch 
Amen, brotha!
I was literally JUST listening to that song! Also, preach it, Brother! Too many these days seem to think, “GOP” stands for, “God’s Own Party”. It does not. It’s gone on long enough. Amen!
Great article, John.
I think we like to see the world as us and them. If we’re not conservative, then we must be liberal. If the devil is not the god of this world (which the Bible says he is), then God is the God of this world. If God is not behind the bad things that happen, then the devil must be.
But what I see in Scripture is a lot of duality: we have free will AND God is sovereign. God is one AND God is three persons. We are in the world AND we are not part of the world.
But that doesn’t satisfy our competitive nature. We have to have red states and blue states, red jerseys and blue jerseys, the red coats and the blue coats. But that’s not God.
I believe God is both conservative AND liberal, that the devil is the god of this world AND God owns everything, that God is behind everything that happens both good and bad AND the devil is God’s instrument that He uses for bad.
Otherwise, you’re going to have to cut out half the Bible. We’re uncomfortable with apparent contradictions, with paradoxes. Well, welcome to the Bible! Welcome to God! That’s exactly what you get when you become a Christian! You now have sinful flesh AND you have a sinless spirit. How you gonna handle that?
The way most of us handle it is the way we handle everything else: by choosing sides. And so denominations form, lines get drawn, people get divided. When all along, God is saying, “Hey, everybody, I’m on both sides.” We can’t handle that: a God that is both for the Democrats AND for the Republicans. That cannot be.
Well, it is. That’s how big God is. AND He’s big enough to use the devil and still be in control of him. AND He’s big enough to cause good things to happen and bad things, and to let us share in the responsibility. He’s not a puppet-master. He still uses people, angels and devils for His purposes, and doesn’t violate free will in the process.
That’s our God. He’s bigger than we can explain.
Couldn’t agree with you more. Well said! You can’t love truth if you can’t stand paradox.
I really like the way you think.
“NO MORE FEAR.” Amen to that, brother.
But let’s not leave it there. The problem with Worldview #1 is that it leaves out Worldview #2. The problem with Worldview #2 is that it leaves out Worldview #1. I suspect that the proper place to begin is with Worldview #2 — but without the naivete that completely ignores the truths that inspired Worldview #1. In other words, it’s a form of both/and. (Which is part of Waitsel’s point, I think.)
(Aside: While people who hold to Worldview #1 may engage in hate, it isn’t because of Worldview #1. It’s FEAR that an overdose of Worldview #1 brings. While it is no doubt true that political opportunists sometimes promote hatred, that’s not the end of the story. Too often, people fail to recognize that folks who fear __________ (fill in the blank) are not proved to be guilty of hatred, just because they vehemently disagree, and even fear the consequences of, what their opposition stands for. But that’s just an aside. Concentrate on the both/and, on embracing the one, without ignoring the other.)
As we were all baptized with water, let us be continually baptized with prayer, and with the Lord’s frequent admonition, “Be not afraid.” Indeed, the Lord is near!
Great post today, but I want to put out a prayer request:
Well, just got a letter from my employer stating I have been let go since I haven’t been able to get the car back on the road as of yet. It’s a real shame because I was 5 days from being able to return to work.
I have responded to the letter with my regrets and wishing the best for them and the company I was contracted to.
It is all in God’s hands, and I will be looking for alternative employment even harder now. All I know is I will keep working for God regardless of what happens next in my life.
Good attitude. Keep on keeping on!
In my comment to another Catch recently, I noted that we tend to put folks into boxes based on our perceptions of them, that they did the same with us, and nobody seemed to be crazy about the boxes in which they were pigeonholed. So, why is it that every 4 years, we WILLINGLY hop into either a “conservative” or “liberal” box, even when neither space feels exactly right ? I’m thinking the only things that need to be in a boxes are our checkmarks on Election Day.
Kevin, you are in our prayers. Something will work out.
John, thanks for the reminders. I remember a book called something like “Is God a Republican?” Of course He would be neither. As far as the devil goes, just keeping us divided and arguing with each other is a gain for him.
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. – Ephesians We can’t ignore this side of the equation. It doesn’t mean we live out of fear. That we preach or promote fear. In fact, we preach the Gospel. But we cannot run from reality. 27 million people world-wide are victims of human trafficking. As many as 300,000 children every year are bought and sold by sex traffickers in this country. And “rented” for sex by the men of this country. One in six girls sexually abused as children. Poverty. Hunger. Unborn babies sacrificed. Waitsel said some very wise things – so I won’t go on and repeat him. I will say, John, that if you could have left off the cheap and easy reference to the secular humanists debate as a way of describing WV1, it would have been maybe a better story. By coloring WV1 that way, you gave in to the temptation to generalize in such a way to make that camp extremists. And it really is not fair or representative of WV1 to paint them in that way. You painted them as some kind of cartoon figure. And instead of fear, maybe you used a bit of ridicule on that camp? Jus’ sayin’.
My Amish guys don’t get caught up in politics much, at least not at church.
This all started with the Moral Majority and Christians everywhere following Jerry Falwell anywhere. We as Christians seemed to think that being a “Christian Nation” (which we’re not, we’re pluralistic) meant forcing everyone everywhere to follow one version of Christianity. If you didn’t agree you were not really a Christian, or at the least walking on thin ice.
Jesus Christ was living in a society of political unrest, both in the Church and out. He confronted the church.
Jesus would have to be described as an Egalitarian. Share what you have with others.
When Jesus told the rich man to sell what he had and give it to the poor, I’m told now that Jesus didn’t really mean it and is is about our heart.
When a progressive says the wealthiest among us are responsible give a portion to the poor, they hide their money in the Cayman Islands.
WV#1 ~ fear was the basis for the moral majority, and on that fear millions were raised. And I found nothing in it that reminded me of Christ or his teaching. Talking heads are about power for themselves and money from you.
By the way, if you want to support the spreading of the gospel take a look the Fischer’s and what they are doing and send them some money. Their appeal is based on love, not fear. He hasn’t promised I’d be rich if I send him money, did he forget that part?
Sailaway – i would suggest that maybe you are leaning too strongly on generalizations. And maybe offering some ideas that are as much opinion as fact. America was founded as a Christian nation. That is fact, even though it may be leaning now toward pluralism. Even so, we are still largely a Christian nation. Having said that, it would probably be necessary to qualify what it means to say we are a Christian nation. I wouldn’t say it is fair to say that anything started with the Moral Majority. There was a groundswell of dissatisfaction with where the culture was heading that resulted in the MM as one of several off-shoots. But, guess what, our culture has declined in a multitude of ways. So, were they entirely wrong – or just wrong in the manner that they chose to act and react?
Jesus was certainly all about loving our fellow man and caring for the needy. But not as a government program. And not for the sake of being an egalitarian. But for the sake of love. I’m not sure that the dig at Mitt Romney was necessary – or constructive. And I don’t think you know him well enough to know whether he is generous with his money. Putting some in the Caman Islands doesn’t automatically make him the spawn of Satan. And, if talking heads want power and money for themselves, the same is true of a lot of people. People who judge the rich and lay claim to their wealth – or judge them as being immoral for having money – are doing their own power grab. And I would say that attitdue is far from a Christian attitude. Maybe easier to identify as being unloving vs. whether the rich man is loving or not.
“Talking heads” was in reference to Falwell and the like.
We were established as a pluralistic society.
You don’t have to be rich to have the attitude of the rich young ruler.
And yes, they (MM) were wrong.
Spawn of Satan? I’m just saying we don’t like to give to the poor.
Thanks for the encouragement!
I really needed this today as to seek to lose a huge amount of weight that has affect me my whole life. It’s as real an addiction as alcohol or drugs, and I know I can’t do it alone. Thanks you for today’s words. I count on them daily.
I’m so glad!