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Biblical Worldview vs. Chance Theology
Posted by Michael Bunker “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians A worldview stands or falls, strangely enough on its view of the world. And by “world” I mean the whole creation, the cosmos and all that exists therein. A proper, functioning worldview takes in every bit of available information, and seamlessly integrates it into a proper view of creation. A fragmented (or “dysfunctional”) worldview rejects important facts, blindly operates on poor or inadequate information and, in effect, it ignores any realities that would necessitate major or uncomfortable changes. PURPOSE, MEANS, ENDS When we examine the universe, we see extraordinary order. There is order in all of creation, from the seeming endlessness of the cosmos, to the complexity of the human eye. The beauty of God’s order astounds us, and causes us to seek the God who “is”. When we see order, we must recognize personality. Where we see creation, we must admit a Creator. Our uniquely Christian worldview proposes rational answers to evident questions. Christianity did not enter into the world in a vacuum. Some people propose that Christianity appeared on the scene in a questionless world, but it was precisely the fact that Christianity appeared in a questioning world with specific and personal answers, that true Christianity has consistently crushed all attempts to humanize it. When we look up into the heavens, we behold order. Strange, beautiful, mysterious order. If I looked into a gravel pit and saw rocks and stones revolving around one another with clockwork precision, certain questions would naturally spring into my mind. The fact that I used the term “clockwork” bears witness to my point. A clock is merely a human attempt to match the evident “timeliness” and order of what already exists in the heavenlies. A clock does not create time, it is merely a human attempt to explain and measure something that exists perfectly in the creation. Order pre-supposes personality. I would never dare to assume that the rocks themselves had conspired with each other to create this beautiful gravel pit dance. So I am left asking… WHO? Who has done this marvelous, mysterious thing? Early men asked themselves this simple question. If there is personality in creation, then who is the person behind it? If I see MEANS being worked towards obvious ENDS, then who is it that means these ends? If I am honest with myself, I cannot rest in a universe with gravel dancing about in gravel pits in a mysterious way; or even planets, moons and stars hovering overhead in a causeless, meaningless symphony, with no evident purpose in sight. Christianity entered into this world of questions with answers so profoundly simple that most Christians have yet to embrace them. We say that where there is purpose, there is a “purposer”, and where there is means obviously leading to well choreographed ends, the purpose must precede the means, and the “purposer” must precede the purpose. The human mind tends to make connections where there are none, and to deny connections where they are patently obvious. A man drinks a glass of pure water, unconsciously presupposing “facts” that the very same man denies in his theology. He drinks water, not because it tastes good, but because his body requires it. Drinking water presupposes the need for water, and the man assumes that pure water will satisfy that need. But is it necessary that his presuppositions be true? Why does he need water? And what makes him think that water will satisfy the need? Because it has always worked before? This needn’t be true in a chaotic universe. If a man did not presuppose order, then why would not motor oil or hand lotion satisfy the need today? Or gasoline tomorrow? When the man lifts the glass to his lips, he does so out of PURPOSE. He purposed to satisfy his body’s need for hydration. The means to satisfy the need involved the work of locating pure water, filling the glass, and lifting up to the mouth. Why did the man not presuppose that his body’s need for water could be satiated by taking a bath in it? The man gambles on order, when he truly has no right to. If a man is not willing to accept the obvious creative order in the universe (which means PURPOSE, MEANS, ENDS) then that man has no right to assume anything at all. In fact, if he were intellectually consistent, he would lie down and die, because any other action would be based on pre-ssuppositions with which he is not willing to live. Modern man rushes along, presupposing that which he has no right to assume, and in doing so he ultimately ends up with a fragmented and inconsistent worldview, one that inevitably creates more questions without the benefit of having ever truly answered any. If we accept the fact that means are used to bring about satisfactory ends (even in the heathen man who drinks water to satisfy the needs of his body) then we must accept the preceding necessity of purpose, and therefore we must accept an intelligent “purposer”. To accept order is to accept purpose, and to accept purpose is to accept providence. We see power in God’s purposes and plan. He “intends”, therefore He claims the power to bring about that which He decrees. He IS and He has spoken, and the word that He has spoken bears witness to His omnipotence. He has all power: “The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand… This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations” (Isaiah God has all power (omnipotence) and He also has all the information (omniscience). His purpose is not based on new information. In fact the idea of “new” information would be foreign to the God of Creation. He knows everything, and has purposed that which comes to pass. This is a prominent feature of a truly Biblical worldview… we deny that God reacts to His creation. To have a god that reacts to creation is to have a god that cannot be omniscient. To “react” is to change course after receiving new information. An all powerful God, who is in possession of ALL information, cannot truly be said to react to His creation. All-powerful purpose presupposes providence. In this, we see the answer of man’s question. Here we see the prerogative of God. God is the actor, because God has all the information. True Christianity has always provided this answer to the problem of man. Before this, when primitive man saw personality in the universe, he created impersonal gods in hopes of explaining his conundrum. When impersonal created idols failed to answer any questions for him, he found other impersonal deities to worship. Man fell down at the feet of trees and groves, cats and cows, the wind or the sun. Still, no true answer to the problem of man could be found. So man then created mystical and even invisible gods who he imbued with imaginary personality of his own creation. He worshipped men or magical mists, Caesars and dead ancestors, but no answers were forthcoming. All of his gods, and therefore all of his answers, crumbled in time, fell from their pedestals and disappeared into the dusts of memory. It was on to this world stage, in due time, that Jesus Christ - the Son of Man and the Son of God appeared. He was a personal Creator/God who was not only completely 100% God, but He was completely man, in that He humbled Himself to be born of a woman. He was “made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death” (Heb. 2:9). In our study on the Trinity, we came to understand the explanation of the communion and communication He has had with Himself from all of eternity. Now we see His personal love for that which He created and His personal involvement (in 3D time) in the created order. John made the beautiful announcement to the world: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1-4) So now there was an answer for the question of man. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Cor. “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God” (Eph. History had a flow and a purpose. History was going some place. All of the insufficient and unsatisfactory answers could be put aside, because the God who IS had not only created, but He had communicated True Truth to His creature. His purpose was made known, and therefore His providence was inescapable. In addition to all this, now our personality and communication had a root, and every True Truth had an order brought about by a personal purpose. Law and Doctrine were now no longer meaningless human concepts, but they had a distinct place in the purposeful flow of History. Although it remained impossible for the finite mind to know God exhaustively, the Biblical concepts of providence and ultimate purpose gave worship true meaning. My finiteness could now be placed (and subordinated) into the infinite plan of a purposeful Creator. I was free to NOT be the center of the universe. I could put my head into God’s creation, instead of forever attempting to put the entire creation into my head. God and his purpose became the reason and the first cause of everything, so I did not have to start searching inside myself for ultimate reason. Where there is purpose and power, where there is providence and omniscience, there must therefore be ABSOLUTENESS. God must be unchangeable, and His infinite unchangeableness is the ultimate foundation for peace. Fear can now be exchanged for spiritual peace. The desire for self in all of its forms: Self-protection, self-satisfaction, self-improvement, self-gratification, self-advancement, even self-survival could be destroyed through the ultimate understanding of God’s infinite purpose for ME. Only a proper Biblical worldview could ever allow me to throw down the idols of my mind, to embrace that which the carnal flesh naturally hates. I can rejoice in poverty, persecution, evident failure and self-denial, because ultimately God IS and He has spoken, and His word is truth. This life is temporal and fleeting, and to base decisions on the data gathered by my five finite/fallen senses alone is to operate with a fragmented and superficial fount of information. Only true Christianity could ask a man to walk by the Spirit and not by sight. By the “spirit” it was not meant that we should walk by emotion, or by vain imagination, but that the unseen is more real than the seen, and the eternal is more solid than the temporal. So that Paul could say to the Romans that “…hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?”, and Jesus could say “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”. But the chain of evidence is made secure, and the reality of the proof is made solid through the working of God’s spirit, which bears witness with our spirit that God IS and that He has spoken, and that He is to be heeded and obeyed in all things. CHANCE THEOLOGY Having examined the basis for the true Christian worldview, we can now contrast it with the modernist “Christian” worldview and we can see our own sinful failures by shining the bright light of truth upon the situation of those who have completely believed in a lie. A cursory look at our world today proves that the modernist wordview is based primarily on the worship of chance. According to the world today, chance created everything, in that they believe that Chance + Time = Everything. All evolution begins with the element of chance. It was by chance that the first atom (molecule, cell, dot, or whatever the particular evolutionists believes was first), in which was everything, exploded, expanded, divided or reproduced. Everything proceeded from Chance, they argue, as if to say, “In the beginning was Chance, and Chance was with god, and Chance was god”. Strangely enough, most modern nominal “Christians” claim that they disagree with this Chance theory, although their worldview absolutely requires it. They argue that GOD was in the beginning, and that GOD created all things, but when we examine their theology, we arrive back at the same place and we come to the clear conclusion that, according to them, Chance rules all things and, in effect, Chance is their god. For clarity, we will call their theology Chance Theology. We will develop our proofs in more depth as we proceed. When a true Christian discusses providence, he means by this the working out of all things according to the perfect, holy purpose of God. Webster’s 1828 dictionary describes this providence thusly: “…the care and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures. He that acknowledges a creation and denies a providence, involves himself in a palpable contradiction; for the same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue its existence. Some persons admit a general providence, but deny a particular providence, not considering that a general providence consists of particulars. A belief in divine providence, is a source of great consolation to good men.” Chance Theology utilizes the word “providence”, but, in its mechanics it denies God’s active hand altogether. By “providence” they mean CHANCE. They may hint at God’s “leading” his “nudges” or his gentle cajoling of men and events, but they cannot ever confess God’s active power in absolutely bringing to pass His eternal decrees. They can never admit God’s sovereignty in the events and workings of this present world. So they are left calling their god (whose real name is Chance) by the name of GOD or JESUS. Where the true Christian considers God’s agency in all things, the pseudo-Christian only gives lip-service to God. They are forever looping back (without admitting it), towards the worship of Chance. So the Chance Theologian must say that “In the beginning, by Chance, Free-Will exploded and made everthing.” They are left with the theological equation: Chance+Freewill+Time = Everything. Chance Theology is left with a god that reacts, that cannot be omniscient, and one who is always changing plans and actions based on new information. While True Christianity has a God whose eye is upon the whole earth, beholding the glory of His works and His purpose being played out in the physical realm, Anti-christian Chance Theology has a god whose eye is also upon the whole earth, gathering information with which he can reformulate his plan and react to the workings of the creation. FOR EXAMPLE, CONTRAST OUR VIEWS ON FOREKNOWLEDGE In discussions with people about the Sovereignty of God, I constantly hear people admit to election, while claiming that God’s election is based on foreknowledge (and by this they mean foreseen faith). I constantly press them on this issue, explaining that the Bible does not utilize the word “foreknowledge” to mean mere prescience or pre-cognizance, but that it uses the term to mean “pre-affection” or a pre-existing love for the subject. This they cannot accept. It denies them all works of the flesh. They say, “God foresaw that I would believe, and because of this, He elected me to salvation.” But how can that be? Belief is a gift of God (Phil. A fragmented worldview results from a denial of God’s sovereignty. Chance theology leads to fragmentation. If I ask a modernist “Christian” a simple question, “Why do you believe, while your neighbor does not?” they must find an answer from within themselves. “Because I had faith”, they will reply. But this does not solve the problem for them. They have not showed me biblically where I might find the fountainhead of faith. “Why, then, did you have saving faith, while your neighbor did not?” Once again, the answer must bypass God, and find its solution in the creation. They will say, “Because he refused to have faith. He did not ‘will’ to believe.” “But why”, I ask, “did he not ‘will’ that which is to his ultimate good?” I can keep asking the questions, working backwards, but we will always end up with Chance as the answer. I might as well have asked them why some cats have 6 toes on each paw, while others do not. Their ultimate answer must circle back to Chance. To the modernist “Christian”, being a Christian is no different than being a six-toed cat. True Christianity has an absolute and satisfactory answer for the question. I believe because of God’s providence. I believe because of God’s purpose. I have faith because of God’s gift. There is nothing to separate me from the heathen next door except the absolute purpose of the infinite Creator-God. God does as He pleases with that which belongs to Him. I do not give His glory to CHANCE, I give all honor and glory and praise to God alone, who works all things according to His good pleasure. The divine prerogative of God is based on the divine ownership of the cosmos. To deny God His prerogative is to deny Him ownership of all that He alone created. This is the seat of all rebellion. So let us examine the results of this rebellion on the worldview, and therefore the lives of those who, by their theology, deny His sovereignty. You might convince me that God has no position or opinion one way or another on the topic of 6-toed cats, but you cannot convince me that He is not intimately interested in who His Son is marrying, or who ultimately is punished without the benefit of having received the benefits of His glorious work on the behalf of His beloved. The Bible proves that cause and effect are merely visible (but inconsistent) functions of God’s sovereignty. There need be no cause/effect relationship. God is able to create ex nihilo (out of nothing), and is able to bring about that which was not “caused” in the natural. It is just as easy for God to create a fully grown man, as it is for him to allow man to be born of a woman. God created man from the dust, but He created dust from NOTHING. So when pseudo-Christians deny the sovereignty of God by their false theology, they also, naturally and inevitably, begin to worship cause and effect. They expect things to proceed naturally as they always have, saying “all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Pet. 3:4). They say, “I need to have things, so I must get a ‘job’ (notice I did not say ‘work’, I said ‘get a job’) which will pay me a certain salary. In order to get to and from the job I will need a vehicle, which will necessitate more income to cover expenses, insurance, fuel, etc. I want my children to have things too, so I will turn them over to the state to have them educated, so that employers will believe that they are good citizens with certain minimum skills. That way they can get a ‘job’ and purchase things. I cannot lose my ‘job’, because I would not be able to have things, so I must act according to the dictates of the world in order to maintain my viability in the system. Anyway, God wants me to be a good citizen and to act ‘christian’, so I shouldn’t ever offend anyone anyway. Besides, everyone at our ‘church’ does all these things, and we all love and worship ‘god’.” The false god named “Chance” has convinced people that compromise with the world (on any level) allows them to maintain their viability. This is the ultimate in Christ-denying. Can they cause their heart to beat? Can they guarantee their next breath? The Prophets and the Apostles looked to the providence of God for all things. This does not mean that they did not work. They did work. But they did not work in order to stay in the system, or even to feed themselves, because those who were of faith understood that God ultimately feeds His children. He can feed them through work (such as tent-making) or He can feed them through the ravens, just as He did Elijah. God can spare His children from the wrath of the world (Psalm 97:10), or He can turn the hearts of the world to hate His people (Psalm 105:25). The sovereignty of God cannot be compromised without it being denied. To deny the sovereignty of God is to worship the god CHANCE. The only product of this false worship is a fragmented worldview, and a fragmented worldview leads to a worldly, fleshly “church”, and to religious atheists who bow the knee to themselves and to Chance, but never to the True God who IS, and who has spoken True Truth to His people. RESULTS False Christianity starts with results, and utilizes reason to bring about what the soul dictates, that is to say, ‘the ends justify the means’. They say, “it is alright to do that which the Bible forbids in order to do that which the Bible commands.” For example, under this view it is acceptable to take oaths and to work in an antichrist job so long as I am doing it to feed my family. They will claim that it is acceptable to pay for a government that pays for murdering babies, because the Bible commands that I obey government. In the end they say, “It is acceptable to accept the Mark of the Beast, because if I do not do so, I will not be able to buy or sell”. True Christianity is not results oriented, in that it denies that results are at all in the power of the creation. As True Christians, we say “Results are God’s. Obedience is mine.” There is no moral distinction in how God disburses His gifts, in that we believe (as did the Hebrew children) that God CAN save us from the fire, but whether He does or not, we will not bow to the idols of this world. God is good in whatever way he decides our case, but ultimately His purpose will be made evident in the doing of it. God might feed me from the work of my hands, or He might feed me by means of the ravens, or He might bring the enemy to destroy my body (although they cannot kill the real ME). All of these things are alike in that they are options available to the sovereign God of the universe. All of these are morally equal in the eyes of God regarding His handling of my case. So when men say unto me, “I know that God would have me do thus and such, but I cannot. My circumstances do not allow it”, then I must include that a) they have not heard God at all on the matter, but have assumed that they have, or b) they have a fragmented worldview, and have not truly believed fully in the God of heaven and His sovereignty. In either case, they are in rebellion against God, because He commands us to both HEAR Him, and OBEY Him. I have said it before, but it bears repeating… “Your circumstances have not created you! God has created you!” Circumstances are carnal constructs. In most cases they are mirages of our own making. God’s sovereignty is not stopped or hindered one bit by your circumstances. The god of Chance is the god of circumstance. To live according to circumstances is to bow to the god of this world, and to live by sight and not by the Spirit of God. MORE INTERESTING RESULTS There is an interesting irony in how these disparate beliefs bring about results. The worldly religionist refuses to do that which he should do, in order to bring about that which he thinks will please God. Let’s look at the modern “Christian” culture. A man called me the other day to tell me of a divorced female family member (who claims to be a Christian) who was participating in an adulterous relationship with the husband of another woman. All of this was explained away under the idea that, according to them, God wanted them each to be happily married to a “true” believer. So in order to bring about the result of a happy marriage relationship between to people who claim to be believers, it was necessary for them to commit fornication and adultery. Look at the “church” today. I was actually sitting with a mainstream denominational pastor when we heard the news that a husband and wife had pulled guns on one another and shot one another while in a counseling session at a mainstream “church”. The pastor shook his head and replied, “Uhhh. How wicked is this world becoming!” But if we look closely, the wickedness is based on the faulty doctrines and the anti-christian worldview of the church. Divorce, adultery, infanticide, theft… these things are as rampant INSIDE the professing Christian church as they are outside of it. But look at the truly Christian worldview and how it looks at the commandments of God: I love my neighbor because he is made in the image of God. I do not murder him because God holds all things in His hands. I love the brethren because they are co-heirs with me in Christ Jesus. I worship God alone because it would be folly to bow to that which is less than the true God that IS. I do not covet my neighbors goods (or his wife) because to do so would be to call God a liar, who alone has taught me that whatever my lot, it is well, it is well with my soul. I dare not grumble or complain, because God has decided my case and He works all things to my eternal benefit. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD The Sovereignty of God is the very gospel itself. Any other gospel is an idol. We declare plainly that God loved us in such a way, that He did not consult us as to how He would handle our case unto His own glory. God loved us in such a way that He personally humbled Himself to the point where He allowed religious atheists to murder him on our account. God so loved us that He took upon Himself all the results of our rebellion, He placed our circumstances upon Himself for our ultimate good. God so loved us that He paid the full price and received in His flesh the full penalty that we were due. God so loved us that He spoke to us in these last days through His Holy Word, and He commended us unto His Father by way of the Holy Spirit of God. God so loved us that He works all things to our ultimate good, so that what we see is NOT the truth, what we experience is not the truth, but what the Holy Spirit teaches us is ALL truth. God so loved us that He did not leave us to our fallen “free-will”. He did not trust us to ourselves. He did not hinge our eternity on the works of the flesh. God so loved us that He freed us from the fear of men and devils. He freed us from the tyranny of the obvious. He freed us from the dominance of our circumstances. God so loved us that He abases the proud and brings to nothing the vain imaginations of the willful. God so loved us that He rejects the wisdom of the worldly wise, and raises up the fool to His own glory. God so loved us that He sent us the Comforter, that being blind we might see, being deaf we might here, and being dead we might be quickened. God so loved us that He did not trust us to save ourselves. He did not “make a way”, He BECAME the way. May the Truth be so real in us, that the world can only look upon us in wonder. May we not only be called “Christians”, but may we BE “Christians”. I remain your servant in Christ Jesus, Michael Bunker DISAGREE? Discuss or Debate this: Forum Read more like this: Bunker Mentality Archives Proceed back to the Homepage...
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