Yesterday I read through Philip Graham Ryken’s little 100-page book, Christian Worldview: A Student’s Guide. It’s one in a series of books for students in the “Reclaiming The Christian Intellectual Tradition” series. This is crucial stuff that’s not only essential to know, ponder and enlist into the way we live in God’s world, but it’s very important to pass on to our kids as they grow into their understanding of what it means to live in God’s world. As far as Christian education and nurture go, developing an understanding of and embracing a Christian worldview is a non-negotiable that is too often forgotten.
I thought I’d pass on a sampling of quotes from Ryken’s Christian Worldview in an attempt to whet your appetite for more! . . .
“Everybody has a worldview. Whether we know it or not, we all have a fundamental perspective on the world that shapes the way we live.”
“Ideas have consequences. Even ordinary interactions reflect our commitments and convictions about the basic issues of art and science, work and play, family and society, life and death. Whenever we bump into our world, our worldview has a way of spilling out. It comes out in what we think and love, say and do, praise and choose.”
“A worldview is the structure of understanding that we use to make sense of our world.”
“All truth is God’s truth. That is to say, whatever things are true are things that God knows to be true, wherever we find them.”
“Whatever we are doing – whether we are playing baseball, shoveling snow, or choosing artwork to hang on the wall – we ought to be able to say (and know why we say it), ‘This is for you, Lord. It is all for your glory.'”
“Everyone finds someone or something to worship. But the only object of worship that brings true satisfaction to the soul is the one true God.”
“Longing for relationship, we hope that friends, lovers, and family members can give us something that it turns out only God himself can provide. Our desire for relationships is good, but we demand too much, and soon our disappointment with other people turns to conflict.”
“If Christ is preeminent, ruling over all things for the glory of God, then we are called to acknowledge his supreme lordship in all of life, every aspect of which is sacred to God. We are not called simply to trust in Jesus for our salvation but also to live for him in everything we do.”
“God’s redemptive grace is working in us and through us to restore all the things that were given in creation but lost in the fall. . . This high calling to repair the ruins of the fall works itself out in all of the areas of life that are damaged and distorted by sin.”
Thank you. I’m glad to know about it. It looks good and I look forward to reading it with my daughter.