Outline For Building-up And Equipping The Body Of Christ

This Biblical Christianity website encourages people to know and to live, God’s Word; thus enabling us to live now as God intended for us to live, and preparing us for eternal life in God’s kingdom.

Site Navigation:This left-column outline contains links to website pages and sources pertaining to helping the Body of Christ gain the potential for which God designed it. The menu below pages down to the individual sections of this outline from which you can navigate to other web pages. There is a fourth level to some of the third level or decimal elements of this outline that is hidden, to view this level click on the (c) symbol in the outline; to hide the fourth level, double-click upon it (I found out, the last time I checked, that Mozilla's Firefox browser doesn't support this fourth level expansion feature, sorry).

Introduction To A Biblical Worldview

ROMANS 12:1-3.... I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. For by the grace (unmerited favor of God) given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to rate his ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him.

Never before, in the history of mankind, have there been so many and varied themes and schemes for distracting and conforming or shaping the minds of men. We will be looking at some of these influences, and how they affect the world in which we live and thus the lives of us all. It is in obedience to the above Scripture to not be conformed to this world, but rather to be transformed by the renewing of our minds that we are attempting to develop a true and accurate Biblical Worldview.

Dr. Steven C. Riser gave the following description of the term worldview: "It is the mental framework by which we perceive reality, make sense out of our life and the world around us. It's both prescriptive (what should be) and descriptive (what is). It is a conceptual scheme into which we consciously or unconsciously place or fit everything we believe and by which we interpret and evaluate reality. Many disagreements among individuals and groups can be traced to competing worldviews. One of the reasons that some people reject the Gospel is that they have an anti-Christian conceptual scheme in some form or fashion."

There are many different ways that people view the world and react to it and in it, and there have always been conflicts because some of these views cannot peacefully coexist for any length of time. This has especially been true of the views of the god of this world, Satan, and the God of the Bible. Since God created the universe and all that is within it, it should be apparent that He knows best how everything should function. But it wasn’t long after God created this world that Satan deceived Eve into questioning God’s good intentions and trying something on her own, and that’s when our troubles began. To prevent our being deceived by Satan is the main reason that we are encouraging people to build or develop a Biblical Worldview, a worldview designed by God to eliminate all the spiritual, not necessarily physical, anguish or problems that result from any clash between worldview participants. No one can avoid physical problems and difficulties in this world, but we can avoid inner spiritual turmoil and have peace with God if we will obediently and faithfully develop God’s Biblical Worldview (BW).

Faith and trust in God is a required ingredient for those who wish to develop a BW. "Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. For by [faith--trust and holy fervor born of faith] the men of old had divine testimony borne to them and obtained a good report. By faith we understand that the worlds [during the successive ages] were framed (fashioned, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose) by the word of God, so that what we see was not made out of things which are visible. [Prompted, actuated] by faith Abel brought God a better and more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, because of which it was testified of him that he was righteous [that he was upright and in right standing with God], and God bore witness by accepting and acknowledging his gifts. And though he died, yet [through the incident] he is still speaking. [Gen. 4:3-10.] Because of faith Enoch was caught up and transferred to heaven, so that he did not have a glimpse of death; and he was not found, because God had translated him. For even before he was taken to heaven, he received testimony [still on record] that he had pleased and been satisfactory to God. [Gen. 5:21-24.] But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]" (Heb 11:1-6.

A correct BW will look at and consider all of life from a Biblical perspective, therefore, we need to become increasingly familiar with the whole of God’s Word and obediently and faithfully live by it. As we do this, we will surely find ourselves in conflict with others who do not share our BW, and will need to find God’s solution to the problem.

Man in conflict with God:

1 CORINTHIANS 1:18-20.... For the story and message of the cross is sheer absurdity and folly to those who are perishing and on their way to perdition, but to us who are being saved it is the [manifestation of] the power of God. For it is written, I will baffle and render useless and destroy the learning of the learned and the philosophy of the philosophers and the cleverness of the clever and the discernment of the discerning; I will frustrate and nullify [them] and bring [them] to nothing. [Isa 29:14.] Where is the wise man (the philosopher)? Where is the scribe (the scholar)? Where is the investigator (the logician, the debater) of this present time and age? Has not God shown up the nonsense and the folly of this world's wisdom?

As we align our thinking with God’s Word and develop our BW, we become increasingly aware of and able to recognize the foolishness of this world’s wisdom, and are enabled to ward off or nullify the adverse results and show them to be nonsense (no sense). This battle between the wisdom and knowledge of God and of men developed in the following way: "For God's [holy] wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness repress and hinder the truth and make it inoperative. For that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God [Himself] has shown it to them. For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification], [Ps. 19:1-4.] because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves]. . . . And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome, . . ." (Rom. 1:18-28).

What an astonishing display of arrogance toward God; first, they refused to acknowledge, approve or consider God worth knowing; second, in previous verses we read that this rebellion amounted to an effort to destroy the truth of God and thus make ineffective all the good that God intended for it to produce. So we can see that God had nothing to do with all the evil that is in this world, it is the direct result of men under the control of Satan – they took something extremely beautiful and turned it into something horribly ugly.

When we consider the above verses, as well as the rest of Scripture, it seems almost unbelievable that mankind could be so utterly foolish as to turn aside or reject the infinite wisdom and knowledge of our creator God to pursue a course of their own; it goes way beyond the height of foolishness to total stupidity, as these verses clearly illustrate man has digressed into. As we examine the complexity and diversity, and at the same time the unity of God’s creation, as we will attempt to do in this series, the greatness of our God should become increasingly clearer as well as the foolishness of man.

Don’t be intimidated by the degrees or titles and positions that men hold:

God is not against a good education, but when that education leads one to reject or oppose the wisdom and knowledge of God their degree or position becomes one of foolishness; therefore, we shouldn’t have any regard for their opinion when it differs with what God has declared in the Bible, and recognize that there is a critical flaw in their reasoning.

The Word of God says, "The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning and the principal and choice part of knowledge [its starting point and its essence]; but fools despise skillful and godly Wisdom, instruction, and discipline" (Prov. 1:7; Ps. 111:10). So, those who haven’t bowed and submitted themselves to the Living God haven’t even started down the road to true wisdom and knowledge, and are merely groping around in the vain reasonings of man; therefore, they shouldn’t be regarded as an authority wherever they speak in opposition of God and His Word.

Since this is the condition of man in rebellion with God, it would be extremely foolish to allow ourselves to be deceived into believing whatever he has to say that is in variance with God’s Word, no matter how educated or intelligent he may be. One of the things we should keep in mind is that there are equally educated and intelligent people who have found that the Bible’s explanation about all of life, fits all the facts gathered over time as we know it far better than any other worldview. Therefore, "See to it that no one carries you off as spoil or makes you yourselves captive by his so-called philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain nonsense), following human tradition (men's ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world), just crude notions following the rudimentary and elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding [the teachings of] Christ (the Messiah)" (Col. 2:8).

Nothing in this world, either individually or collectively, makes more sense than what God has revealed to us in His Word, and when it is understood and applied right it will prove to be far superior in every way – just as we read above and is proved below.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:21-31.... For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy, God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching [salvation, procured by Christ and to be had through Him], to save those who believed (who clung to and trusted in and relied on Him). For while Jews [demandingly] ask for signs and miracles and Greeks pursue philosophy and wisdom, we preach Christ (the Messiah) crucified, [preaching which] to the Jews is a scandal and an offensive stumbling block [that springs a snare or trap], and to the Gentiles it is absurd and utterly unphilosophical nonsense. But to those who are called, whether Jew or Greek (Gentile), Christ [is] the Power of God and the Wisdom of God. [This is] because the foolish thing [that has its source in] God is wiser than men, and the weak thing [that springs] from God is stronger than men.

²⁶For [simply] consider your own call, brethren; not many [of you were considered to be] wise according to human estimates and standards, not many influential and powerful, not many of high and noble birth. [No] for God selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame, and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame. And God also selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is lowborn and insignificant and branded and treated with contempt, even the things that are nothing, that He might depose and bring to nothing the things that are, so that no mortal man should [have pretense for glorying and] boast in the presence of God.

³⁰But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, [revealed to us a knowledge of the divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as] our Righteousness [thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God], and our Consecration [making us pure and holy], and our Redemption [providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin]. So then, as it is written, Let him who boasts and proudly rejoices and glories, boast and proudly rejoice and glory in the Lord. [Jer. 9:24.]

In order to better understand and cope with the destructive influences of this humanistic world system we must investigate and become familiar with those elements that adversely effect us the most, and then pass along this information so that others may escape from or avoid their harmful effects. Therefore, the following articles in this series will investigate and examine some of these destructive influences that have contributed to the many worldviews that conflict with a BW that in turn causes the problems we encounter in the world in which we live.

Our page entitled The Bible, History And Western Development will give a brief history of some of the major influences upon our Western society showing that the wisdom of man or humanism that began its development in the fourteenth century has had many stages of progress, but the one most interesting and relevant to our study is the process from basic humanism to evolutionism to psychotherapy to transpersonal psychology to parapsychology and eventually the Occult. This progression, if throughly examined, would make it clear that Satan has used these beliefs and practices to bring this world under his control, which is the reason that Christians shouldn’t have anything at all to do with them and should expose them for their evil and harmful potential.