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I have been highlighting the issue of authority and submission to authority in several of my recent blogs.  I am giving so much attention to this subject because I believe it is so essential to Christians living a life that is pleasing to God.  After all, every person is under some authority and everyone exercises some authority over someone else in some way or another.

When trying to understand authority, it is important to define the term accurately.  I have used a couple of definitions to help me understand this all-important area of life.

Authority is the right or power to command and exact obedience and/or an accepted source of expert information.

Once authority is defined accurately, it is then important to put one’s authority in the proper perspective.  When I consider authority, I see it as a stewardship responsibility from God.  Again, it is important that we have a clear understanding of what stewardship is.  Stewardship is defined in the dictionary as:

The careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.

In order for something to be entrusted in to one’s care, someone else must first own that something.  That person must have the power to give what he/she owns to another person’s care.  When I considered the many aspects of stewardship found in Scripture, I defined stewardship this way.

It is the use and/or management of something that an owner gives to me in order for the owner to receive gain or profit.  

Another way of putting this is what someone posted online.  The person made this statement.

Stewardship is the maximizing God’s blessings for His glory!

This is clearly the concept that one finds when reading the parable of the talents in the gospels.  The owner gave certain amounts of his talents to three servants.  The servants who managed the owner’s talents and produced a profit for him were praised and rewarded.  However, the one servant who did nothing with the owner’s property and simply returned what he had been given back to the owner was criticized and lost everything.

Based on these definitions, I believe that authority, when properly understood, becomes a stewardship responsibility.  Christians believe that God is the creator of the universe and is sovereign over all things.  God is literally the owner of everything that exists in both heaven and earth.  This means that He has ultimate authority over everything.  He, alone, has the right and power to command and exact obedience from the entire created universe.  He not only has the authority over all people but also over all of creation.  This is seen when Jesus told the wind and the waves to be still and they obeyed.  It can be said that God is authority!

No matter how much authority I might attain, I must always realize that I am not in charge.  God is the only One who is sovereign and has all authority.  Jesus made this clear when He stated,

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Matthew 28:18

Who has given Jesus all authority?  It is God the Father who has done this.  The Father can do this because He is the supreme ruler of all things.  Consider these verses.

[God] brings princes to nothing, and makes rulers of the earth as emptiness.  Isaiah 40:23

O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven?  You rule over all the kingdom of the nations.  In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.  2 Chronicles 20:6

The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.  Psalm 103:19

Scripture also makes it clear that God gives a portion of His ultimate authority to man.  Consider the following verses.

Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth…Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Genesis 1:26-27

The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord‘s: but the earth hath He given to the children of men. Psalm 115:16

Since God “owns” or “is” authority, any authority I might possess has to have been given to me by God.  In line with all the other stewardship responsibilities that God has given me, I must use, manage, and/or invest my authority in such a way that it will bring Him gain or profit.  This is in essence what it means to glorify God.  The stewardship of my authority as a parent, teacher, administrator, church member, etc. must be exercised in such a way that it brings Him glory.

Here are some question that come to my mind when I think about the authority that God has given me.  How would you answer them?  Better yet, how would those whom you have authority over answer these questions?

1. Have you looked at any authority you might have as being given to you by God?
2. Since any authority you have has been given to you by God, what are some of the ways that you should exercise that authority so that God will be glorified?
3. In what ways have you been a poor steward of the authority God has given you in some area(s) of life?
4. What are some things you will do in the future as you steward the authority that God has given you?

I always appreciate your comments that you can leave below.  Next week I am going to share a model of authority that has helped me be a better steward of any and all authority God has given to me.

Over the past couple of weeks I have attempted to address the issue of authority and subjection from a biblical perspective.  So far, we have seen how authority is set in place for the purpose of function not importance.  Anyone who finds himself in a position of authority is not to think more highly of himself than those he is leading.

We also looked at how submission to authority is not a negative thing but something that is good.  This is because even Jesus lived a life of full submission to His Father.  In fact, the degree to which I submit to the authority God places over me determines how Christlike I am becoming.

Since God establishes authority which, in turn, requires submission to authority, why is there such a problem with all of this throughout civilization?  All one has to do is look at what is going on in governments around the world or in everyday life to see that there is constant resistance, rejection and even rebellion to any and all forms of authority.  The answer to this dilemma is two-fold.

First, we must understand that because of the Fall, the flesh never wants to submit to any authority.  The flesh wants to be completely autonomous.  This is what led to sin in the first place.  Adam rejected God’s authority in his life and chose to do what he thought to be best.  Sinful man’s condition can be summed up in the phrase that is found throughout the book of Judges.

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.        Judges 17:6

No one wants a king in his life.  I believe that is why people will continue to believe in evolution when everything in the universe shouts of a creator.  If man admits that there is a supernatural being who created everything, then man must also admit that he is accountable to Him.

The second reason why I believe that just about all institutions of authority are being rejected has to do with how people exercise their authority.  This is true in the family, church, education, government and society in general.  The Bible speaks a great deal of how important it is for people to submit to authority.  However, many Christians don’t give much heed to what the Bible says about how one is to exercise his/her authority.

Over the past few years, I have given a great deal of thought into a very familiar passage of Scripture.  I have found this verse to have significant meaning on just about every aspect of my life.  I am sure you probably have memorized this verse and quoted it at one time or another.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. Galatians 6:7

Too often, we apply this to what happens when we commit sin.  If we sow to the flesh, we will reap corruption.  However, I have been convicted lately about the fact that this verse applies to every aspect of my life.  Being a teacher and a coach, I always wanted my students to pay attention to what I was presenting in a lesson or trying to execute in a practice.  I would get frustrated and sometimes angry if students weren’t paying attention or not putting forth the expected effort.

Then I was confronted with how I was paying attention or putting forth effort when listening to the preaching of God’s Word in a church service or sitting in a lecture or some staff development training in my job.  I had to admit that many times I didn’t pay attention the way I should have.  This was especially true when I found myself thinking that what someone else was saying wasn’t what I thought was all that important.  The thought hit me that when my students didn’t pay attention to me was I simply reaping what I had sown when I was in the role of being a student?

So it is with the exercise of one’s authority.  I will reap the consequences of what I sown in how I exercise any authority that God gives me.  If I “lord it over” those I am to lead, then I will reap anger and resistance from them.  If I am always “threatening” others, I will reap a challenging spirit from those I am trying to lead.

God taught me a very valuable lesson related to how He expects us to exercise authority that He gives us.  I was teaching a Bible ethics class at a Christian school.  We were studying a series of biblical principles that were to guide us in making decisions.  Everything was going fine until we got to the principles of authority and submission/obedience.  As soon as I announced the topic the students reacted negatively.  Their mindset was that is all they ever hear — obey, obey, obey!

I knew that they needed to understand authority and submission/obedience if they were going to go out and live successful lives.  I took them to two passages of Scripture and asked them a question related to each verse.  These two verses were:

…ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Colossians 3:21

Here are the two questions that I asked them.

1. What does your authority [parents] do that causes wrath in your life?
2. What does your authority [parents] do that brings discouragement in your life?

Their answers were convicting.  They told me that when someone in authority is dictatorial or authoritarian in how he/she exercises their authority, it created anger and wrath in their lives.  The attitude that says I am the boss, do what I say, because I say so resulted in angry reactions from these students.

Then they told me that what caused discouragement in their lives was when people in authority were too lenient.  This answer was surprising so I asked them to explain it.  Students explained when people in authority were not willing to set clear boundaries and hold them accountable to staying within those boundaries, they believed that their authority didn’t care about them.  They got the sense that their authority, many times their parents, wanted to be “liked” by them and were more interested in their own comfort rather than the good of the child.

Both of their responses dealt with “how” one exercises his/her authority — not with the fact that they “had” authority over them.  There are several passages of Scripture that gives us guidance in how we are to exercise authority over those we are to lead.  It would be good if we studied these passages and lived them out in our daily interactions with others.  I have listed some of the passages I have found helpful.

• Matthew 5:3-11 – the Beatitudes which I see as “the attitudes it takes to be something in God’s kingdom.”
• Ephesians 6:9
• 1 Peter 5:1-3
• Mark 10:36-45
• Colossians 4:1

What do these verses tell you about how you are to exercise your authority?  What other verses have you found helpful in being a servant leader?  Leave your comments below.

I don’t ever remember when American culture was more divided.  It seems that when topics such as government, public spending, regulations, social welfare, individual rights, and race or gender are discussed, there are two polarizing sides each claiming to be right.  Even more disconcerting is the fact that each side claims that the other side is endangering our freedom and liberty.  The two sides even claim that they are trying their best to “defend the US Constitution”.

There are the “conservatives” who argue that the Constitution doesn’t change and must be interpreted by the original meaning of the writers of the document.  Then, there are the “progressives” who contend that the Constitution is a “living document” that must be interpreted in light of modern day circumstances and a more knowledgeable populace.

So the two sides face off.  One opposes all gun control efforts as threatening the 2nd Amendment that they say is foundational to our freedom and liberty.  The other side is marching in the streets demanding “reasonable” gun control laws so that our freedom and liberty can be protected.  How can one document be used to support two opposing arguments related to not only this debate but every other issue in life?  The reality is both sides are making their arguments from the wrong starting point.  They are starting with the Constitution being the foundation stone for freedom and liberty.

The reality is that the US Constitution is only the product that was drafted and ratified because of the Founders’ belief in two major foundation stones that guarantee individual and corporate liberty.  Just going back to the Constitution does not allow us to know what is right when it comes to the protection of one’s liberty.

If we are ever going to understand the truth that should guide us in all areas of our life, we must go back to the very foundation of the country and the Constitution.  Without doing that, the battle will simply increase and society will be completely polarized.  It is then when the winner will simply be the most powerful and true liberty will disappear.  What was at the foundation of the country and resulted in the ratification of the US Constitution?  To find this out we need to look at some of the writings of the very people who came to the New World.

In the name of God, Amen.  We whose names are underwritten…having undertaken, for the glorie of God, and advancement of the Christian faith… a voyage to plant the first colony.  Mayflower Compact 1620

Some of the very first settlers in the New World were driven by a desire to glorify God and advance the Christian faith.  If we proceed to when the country’s leaders were formulating the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, we would find the foundation stones necessary for true liberty and freedom.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to  political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.  George Washington

Statesmen…may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.  John Adams

The only foundation for…a republic is to be laid in Religion.  Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.  Benjamin Rush

Here we find two foundation stones upon which the Founders believed all true liberty must stand — Religion and Morality.  Some say that it would be wrong to say that the Founders of the country were all Christians and, therefore, they weren’t necessarily referring to Christianity.  However, we need only go on and read further what these men believed.  They didn’t want to be misinterpreted or misunderstood.  They were very clear on what they believed had to be at the foundation of a nation that would guarantee freedom and liberty (emphasis mine),

…no truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian Religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.  Noah Webster

The only foundation for…a republic is to be laid in Religion…Christianity is the only true and perfect religion; and that in proportion as mankind adopt its principles and obey its precepts they will be wise and happy.  Benjamin Rush

Without morals, a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion…are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.  Charles Carroll

…the moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures  ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws…All the mysteries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression,salvery, and war, proceed from the despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.  Noah Webster.

Daniel Webster seemed to put all of these thoughts into a succinct understanding of the foundation for freedom and liberty when he wrote,

To preserve the government we must also preserve morals.   Morality rests on religion; if you destroy the foundation, the superstructure must fall.  When the public mind becomes vitiated and corrupt, laws are a nullity and constitutions are waste paper.

The reality is that there must be morality in order to have liberty.  However, morality must be based on a standard.  The only right standard for morality that will guarantee liberty is religion.  It cannot be any religion because we have clearly seen that there is no liberty in many countries who were or are run on the teachings of false religions.  The only “religion” that sets an absolute standard for morality is Christianity.  The standard for morality found in Christianity is given to man in God’s Word — the Bible.  Here is what this would look like in a model.

Unfortunately, these two cornerstones of liberty have been purged from our educational institutions today, from preschool through graduate school.  Of course, this had to happen when Americans said that education must be secular and there had to be separation of church and state at all levels of public life, especially schooling.  In last week’s blog, I showed how secular education may not directly attack God and/or the Bible.  Instead, secular education simply says it is removing any “religious” bias or reasoning from learning.  That is because secularists believe that religious/spiritual things are personal and subjective.  There is no place for them in the public arena that is concerned only with “neutral” facts and knowledge.

So, we are left with fighting for what each side believes to be key to us sustaining our liberty by trying to justify their position on their interpretation of the Constitution.  Neither side can win the debate because the only true interpretation of this magnificent document can be found when looking at it through the lens of a biblical worldview.  We must give our children and youth a biblical worldview education — our liberty is hanging in the balance!  What are your thoughts?

I asked some questions in this week’s email blast.  If you are reading this, you probably tried to answer these questions and want to know how you did.  The three questions (along with the answers) I asked in my email were:

1. On what two cities were the first atomic bombs dropped?  Answer:  Hiroshima and Nagasaki
2. Which city was not the primary target?  Answer: Nagasaki
3. What was the primary target for the second atomic bomb?  Answer: Kokura — specifically the arms factory in Kokura

How did you do?  If you got the right answer for all three questions, you seem to know your history.  Let me ask some other questions.  Why didn’t the US drop the second atomic bomb on the primary target?  This question is probably more difficult to answer.  To understand the answer consider the following first-hand report about the dropping of the second atomic bomb.

The American bomber was a B-29 named Bock’s Car, and it was supposed to drop the world’s first plutonium bomb on Kokura.  Three times, Bock’s Car passed over Kokura, bomb bays open, a hum in the cockpit signaling that the bomb was ready for release, the crew wearing the special goggles that were supposed to protect them from the flash of the atomic explosion.

But although the radar scope was locked on to Kokura, the orders were to drop the bomb only on visual identification of the huge arms factory that was the target.

A young man named Kermit Beahan peered through the rubber eyepiece of the bombsight, and he could see some of the buildings of Kokura and the river that ran by the arms factory.  But the complex itself was blocked by a cloud.  So Bock’s Car gave up on Kokura and went on to its secondary target, Nagasaki.  Clouds also partly obscured Nagasaki, but not quite enough of it. 

Wow, one cloud over an arms factory caused the crew to bypass the primary target and move on to the secondary target of Nagasaki.  One reporter wrote, the cloud that blocked Mr. Yoshio’s view that morning was the best thing that ever happened to the city of Kokura — and the worst that ever happened to nearby Nagasaki.

Okay, let me ask you some more questions about another battle at another time in history and see if you know the answers. This battle was the Egyptians’ effort to overtake and recapture the Israelites.

1. Why did Israel go around the land of the Philistines and on to the Red Sea?  Hint: Exodus 13:17-18
2. How did Israel know where and when to go?  Hint: Exodus 13:21-22
3. Why didn’t the Egyptian army overtake Israel when they were so close?  Hint: Exodus 14:19-20
4. What caused the waters of the Red Sea to divide and how long did this take?  Hint: Exodus 14:21
5. What happened to the Egyptian chariots when they entered the Red Sea in pursuit of the Israelites?  Hint: Exodus 14:24-25
6. What caused the waters of the Red Sea to return to its normal state?  Hint: Exodus 14:26-28

I hope you knew the answers to these questions or followed the “hints” to find the answers.  Here are the correct answers.

1. God led the Israelites around the land of the Philistines because He did not want them to get discouraged and turn back if they faced war.
2. The Lord led them by a pillar of cloud during the day and by a pillar of fire at night.
3. God moved the pillar of cloud in between the Egyptian army and the Israelites so the army could not come near them.
4. The Lord caused the the waters to go back by sending a strong east wind.  It took all night for the waters to divide.
5. God caused the Egyptian chariots wheels to be uncontrollable and the army couldn’t maneuver them.
6. God directed Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea and He caused the waters to return to their normal state.

Well, how did you do on this quiz?  So, what is the point I am trying to make by asking you questions about these two battles that took place in history?  To understand my intention behind this exercise, I have to ask you one more question.  What is the major difference in the sets of answers to the two series of questions?

I hope everyone got this question right.  After all, it is the most important question asked in this blog post.  The correct answer to this question is God was left out of all the answers to the questions related to the dropping of the atomic bombs but He WAS the ANSWER to each of the questions in the second battle.

By asking you questions related to these two battles, I have attempted to illustrate how most Christians operate from a dualistic worldview.  The answers and explanation given about the dropping of the atomic bombs during World War II are completely secular responses.  It is true that the answers and the explanations were “factually correct” but they weren’t “truthful”.  Consider the following statements by Albert Mohler and John Piper.

…an educational system based upon non-Christian or much less anti-Christian presupposition cannot know true truth.  It may know facts, but it can never know truth.  It may know a great deal of statistics and it may conduct studies and release its findings, but it cannot know those fundamental and the most important, most preeminent truths of all human existence and all transcendent reality.  Albert Mohler

Modern people suppose that if they have the facts about a given thing, person, or event, they have the truth.  They forget that facts are not meaningless or value free, and that if we do not associate the meaning of the fact, we do not have the truth.  John Piper

Some Christians falsely believe that studying history as presented in the WW II example above is neutral.  However, the reality of so-called “neutral” education is that it is probably the most dangerous form of education.  It is far from being spiritually neutral because it teaches that God is irrelevant to history (or any other subject where He is ignored).  The result from this type of dualistic thinking and teaching is that young people end up believing that Christianity does not provide answers to life’s big questions.  Ken Ham in his book, Already Gone, discovered this dilemma when he talked with young adults who left the church soon after high school graduation.  These young adults said,

We went to church for Bible STORIES; we went to school for FACTS! (emphasis mine)

I wonder how many of you thought that the questions related to dropping of the atomic bombs explained “history” while the second event was merely a “Bible story”.  Secular education must be avoided at all cost!  What do you think?  Leave a comment below.

I recently read an article that reported on George Barna’s speech to an Ohio pro-life organization. The report caused me great alarm as it revealed the state of Americans in relation to their worldview. Barna told the pro-life advocates that their movement faces some major challenges in the days ahead. These challenges are a result of society’s move away from biblical principles guiding their decisions.

One of the things that Barna noted is something that all of us are probably aware of ourselves. It seems like everybody is TOO busy today! I am convinced the enemy is content with Christians simply being too busy to be able to fight against the secularization of society. We find ourselves rushing here and there for church and/or school activities when we are not busy at work.

In addition to the busyness that consumes us, we are also inundated with large amounts of information. Much of the information that bombards us daily really has no impact on our lives. We hear or read about accidents that occur halfway around the world as if it just took place outside our homes. Then there is social media! The constant ding or buzz from our “smart” devices tells us there is another text message, Facebook or Instagram post, or some other notification that is calling for our attention and the need to check it out right away. Most of what we take time to look at is of little importance to real life.

The busyness of everyday life and the constant bombardment of knowledge is proof that we are very self-involved. In the end we don’t know how or don’t want to bother to know how to discern truth and how it should guide our lives. I remember reading a quote in Jeff Meyer’s book, Handoff, several years ago. It read,

Young people spend between 27 and 33 hours per week using communication technology.  They are overwhelmed with information.  Information overload is destroying their capacity for  discernment.  They are finding it increasingly more difficult to determine what is really important (emphasis mine).

This isn’t something new to our society.  It has been a plague on our families and society for the past several decades but it has increased in its intensity in recent years.  In fact, Meyer’s book was written in 2008.  We are now reaping the consequences of not addressing these issues for many years.  This brings me to the crisis facing today’s parents and the education of their children.  The article I was reading stated that Americans [parents] right now are so busy that they really don’t invest very much in trying to understand everything that’s going on around them…in fact, they don’t invest much at all in trying to discern truth.  Pay careful attention to what Barna actually said.

The focus in America right now is on experiencing happiness rather than identifying and living in accordance with truth.  So there’s a completely different plan that we’re pursuing than what God intended for us.

Since people are more interested in experience and personal connections, they are not desiring to pursue justice and righteousness.  The research shows that Americans are biblically illiterate and are not that interested in gaining a biblical perspective on life.  This is especially true for younger generations.  Barna talked specifically about the characteristics of the Millennial generation.  This is the generation of young adults that were born between 1981 and 1996.  It is important to note that Millennials range in age from 22 to 37 years old today.

Barna’s studies show that a biblical worldview is disappearing from the American landscape.  He reported that only 10% of Americans actually possess a biblical worldview.  This is despite the fact that 7 out of 10 Americans still identify themselves as Christian.  The percentage of adults who possess a biblical worldview is on the decline when looked at from one generation to another.  It is estimated that only one out of every 25 Millennials have a biblical worldview. These statistics are important because one does what one believes!

How does all of this bode for future generations across the land?  It does not bode well for future generations because Millennials are America’s primary parenting generation today according to Barna.  If our hope is to see our children and youth develop a biblical worldview and change the direction we are going in, we have to ask ourselves the question, Where will they get a biblical worldview from?  If only 4% of the primary parenting generation has a biblical worldview, their children have little chance of developing one on their own.  Barna put it this way.

You can’t give what you don’t have, and most of them [Millennials] don’t have that kind of worldview to give.

This truth was also emphasized by Dr. Tony Evans in his series on growing Kingdom Kids.  Evans stated,

Parents are to transfer a theo-centric, God-centered worldview; that’s why He said raise them in the Lord.  Let the glasses that they wear, we call that a worldview, a lens through which you view life, be constructed by the parents as they have gotten it from the Lord.  But if parents haven’t gotten anything, they can’t give anything.  we are to transfer to them what we have gotten from the Lord. (emphasis mine)

I would add to this that this same warning is true for administrators, teachers and coaches in a Christian school.  If these people don’t have a biblical worldview, then they cannot give it to their students.  Millennials are not just the primary parenting generation today but they are, or soon will be, the primary teaching generation in Christian schools.  There is no question about it.  We are facing a parent and a teacher crisis.  We must act quickly if we have any hope of turning the ship around.

This is why I have spent the last two years developing a wide variety of resources to help train today’s parents, church leaders and educators on developing a biblical worldview and a biblical philosophy of education.  These resources are now available through a subscription-based website.  It is my prayer that many schools and churches will become a KEM Prime Member and equip their staffs and board members with a biblical worldview.  Parents can also subscribe as an individual and access the same resources that are available to churches and schools.  For more information, email me at [email protected] or click here and scroll down to get a better look at the benefits of becoming a KEM Prime Member.  We must act quickly.

I was on a flight to the Answers in Genesis’ Creation Museum to speak at a worldview conference.  Since this was my first flight in March, I picked up the current issue of Sky Magazine to see if there was anything interesting in it.  As I glanced at the cover, my attention was drawn to a headline.  On the cover of this issue of of the magazine was a picture of Oprah Winfrey. Next to her picture in bold letters I read these words, Living Her Truth. Of course, I was intrigued and quickly turned to this lead article. When I arrived at the article, the title page captured my full attention.  The entire page was a strong shade of red.  There was a large O with the words of the article’s title inside the O.  The title read The Wisest Woman in the World.

Wow, I didn’t realize that ,of all the women in the world, Oprah was the wisest. I assumed that is why she is living her truth. I am not taking anything away from what she has accomplished in her life. Rising from the ashes of poverty, Oprah has built a multi-billion dollar enterprise and has started some very worthy endeavors.  However, why did the article’s author think Oprah was the wisest woman in the world and what was meant by the words Living Her Truth? Had Oprah discovered some truth that no one else knows? Has she the source of some new truth that everyone else needs to know?

The article is actually an interview that the writer conducted with Oprah. One of the questions asked Oprah was:

You often talk about listening to your inner voice and “finding your truth.” But how does someone actually do that?

Oprah’s answer provides us with great insight into her belief system or worldview. She explained:

Every human being is born with his or her own internal GPS system. If you get quiet enough and stop your head from spinning, ask yourself: What. Should. I. Do? Just take a deep breath, because everything is in the breath. It’s your life force. Or ask yourself the question, What do I really want? What do I need? Then just get really still and listen…These are the most powerful questions because most people have not yet answered them for themselves. They have their mother’s answer. They know what friends want but most people don’t have it figured out on their own. What will it take to make me truly happy? What gives me joy? What fills me up? When am I most myself? Most people have not asked those questions. (Emphasis mine)

I couldn’t help being amazed by this woman’s advice to other people.  It provides us with the core belief of all man-centered worldviews.  In a man-centered worldview, God does not exist or God is defined by the individual.  In Oprah’s case, the concept of God is in one’ breath — for one’s breath is one’s life force.  

This type of belief system sees man as being totally autonomous.  This means you must determine what is right for you and then do it, regardless of the consequences your actions may have on others.  After all, man was not created by a sovereign God.  Man is merely a mechanistic animal that has evolved to his current state of being.  Therefore, one must listen to his/her inner voice to find out what he/she wants or needs to do.  Of course, it is all about being what makes you happy.

When I read this, I immediately thought of today’s popular slogan Just Do You! This phrase is defined as, Be yourself and stop worrying about others. There is even a song titled Just Be You.  Here are the lyrics to this song by India Arie (it sounds a lot like what Oprah says we should all do).

If you create the game then you create the rules
And if you just be you
There’s no way you can lose

There’s a story waiting for you to write it
There’s a treasure waiting for you to find it
There’s a picture waiting for you to paint it
There’s a dollar waiting for you to make it

So what’chu waiting on
Who you waiting for
If you don’t take a chance you’ll never know whats in store

If you create the game then you create the rules
And if you just be you
There’s no way you can lose

There is a voice inside each of us.  The Bible refers to it as one’s heart.  Another way of saying just do you is follow your heart.  The problem
with this type of thinking is my heart, according to God’s Word, is desperately wicked.  It will definitely tell me what I want to hear and what I want in life — but if I get what my heart wants, it will only bring heartache to me and to others.

This series is taking the metaphor of a tree and relating it to raising the next generation to think and act from a biblical worldview.  We have identified several keys to growing healthy trees.  These include:

• Understanding that the soil in which we plant a tree (our children) is extremely important.
• Recognizing that the soil represents the prevailing worldview of the home, church, school and/or community.
• The two types of soil (worldviews) that we can choose from are:
  • a secular, man-centered worldview
  • a biblical, God-centered worldview
• A secular worldview soil is filled with lies or Satan’s truth claims while a biblical worldview contains absolute truth.
• A secular education is grounded in a secular worldview.
• When a child is planted in a secular education soil, he/she will absorb the lies that are contained in the soil.
• Since knowing truth sets people free, then knowing lies enslave people.

As we identified these keys to growing trees, we learned that it was important to be able to identify the major lies that are embedded in a secular worldview.  Some of the lies that were identified are listed below.

• Man’s happiness is the most important goal in life.
• The government is to provide for all of its citizen’s needs.
• Gender is a personal choice.
• Tolerance is the ultimate value that humans are to exhibit.
• Man is a mere mechanistic creature of nature of equal value to all other forms of life.
• Making money is the primary goal of work and one works to be able to consume.
• Popularity is important in determining one’s identity.
• Creation Evolution is presented as a scientific fact. Young earth is presented as a child’s story.
• I cannot be fulfilled unless I have ____________________
• The government is responsible to provide all of one’s needs.

Readers were asked to choose one of these lies and answer a few key questions as to the where the lie originated and some of the history behind it. The analogy was made between the development of beliefs of a person to the development of a root system of a tree.  The roots of a tree will grow and expand in searching for more nutrients for the tree.  In the same way, the beliefs of a child will grow and seek for more of the nutrients (lies or truth) that are in the soil in which they are planted.

Today, I want us to consider what else takes place in growing a tree by looking at the trunk of the tree.  As the roots absorb nutrients from the soil, these nutrients are transported through the tree’s trunk in order that the rest of the tree receives food and water.  The trunk is merely a conduit and takes whatever the roots of the tree absorbs and delivers it to the branches and leaves of the tree.

Based on this concept in our metaphor of a tree representing a child’s life, we can say that the trunk represents the values that the child will develop.  These values provide the means through which the beliefs of the child are transported to the rest of the child’s life.  I want to once again turn our attention to how this works when a child is planted in secular education soil.

We learned in previous  posts that secular education soil is filled with falsehoods.  These falsehoods are absorbed by the child’s roots and form his/her beliefs.  Whatever beliefs are developed in the root system, they are then transported through the child’s values or the trunk of his/her life to all parts of the child’s life.  This leads us to consider several very important questions when it comes to how one’s beliefs end up impacting all of one’s life.  As you have identified a major lie that is enslaving today’s culture, you also identified some of the dangerous beliefs that are a result of feeding no that lie.  Based on the beliefs that you have identified, answer the following questions (this can be done in a group setting).

1. How is the lie communicated?
2. How is it passed on from one generation to another?
3. What avenues are used to communicate this lie such as media, education, use of words/language, the arts, entertainment, laws, and or stories/jokes?

It is important that Christians understand how lies become beliefs and, then, how beliefs are communicated so that they impact all of life.  If you have been going through this process, share what you are learning by leaving a comment below.  Even though this step is very important, next week I will show why we are witnessing certain behaviors in our homes, churches, schools and communities today.

We have been looking at what it takes to grow healthy trees.  Growing healthy trees is a metaphor for raising young people to be disciples of Jesus who can engage today’s postmodern culture by thinking and acting from a biblical worldview.  In last week’s blog I asked the readers to identify some of the lies that are foundational to a secular worldview.  These lies are what keeps people and societies in bondage.  If we don’t identify them, we will not be able to break the chains that they have on our individual lives, families, churches and communities.  Here is the list of lies that I posted last week.  I have added  some additional lies that various readers shared  with me last week.

• Man’s happiness is the most important goal in life.
• The government is to provide for all of its citizen’s needs.
• Gender is a personal choice.
• Tolerance is the ultimate value that humans are to exhibit.
• Man is a mere mechanistic creature of nature of equal value to all other forms of life.
• Making money is the primary goal of work and one works to be able to consume.
• Popularity is important in determining one’s identity.
• Creation Evolution is presented as a scientific fact. Young earth is presented as a child’s story.
• I cannot be fulfilled unless I have ____________________
• The government is responsible to provide all of one’s needs.

However, it is not enough just to simply identify a long list of lies that are enslaving us.  We must go beyond merely knowing what they are to understanding how they actually impact our lives.

This leads us to another step that we must take if we are going to educate our children to think and act from a biblical worldview.  It is important to know how these lies that in a secular worldview soil get into our lives.  Let’s go back to the illustration of a tree planted in the ground.  I shared with you how I learned from the work of the Disciple the Nations that the soil represents the prevailing worldview of the culture.  The roots of the tree then represent the beliefs of the individual or group.

When a tree is planted in the soil, its roots immediately start trying to find nutrients in the soil.  Those nutrients are absorbed by the roots.  When we plant our children in soil that is based on a secular, man-centered worldview, our children will immediately begin absorbing the lies from that worldview soil into their roots.

As this takes place, the falsehoods from the prevailing worldview form the beliefs of the person absorbing them.  The roots or beliefs will continue to grow and seek out more of the lies that are found in the secular worldview that is feeding them.  In turn, they develop more and deeper held beliefs based on the worldview from which they are feeding.

When you look at the list of lies that a secular worldview feeds a person, family, church, or a community, what would you say is the most devastating lie in the list.  Again, you can do this on your own or get together with some other Christians and discuss it together.  Once you identify the lie you want to focus on, try to identify the beliefs that this lie produces.  Here are some questions you need to answer.

1. What are some of the beliefs that are formed by individuals or groups that come from this lie?
2. Where did this lie come from?
3. Can you trace the historical roots of this lie?

In doing this exercise, it is important to distinguish between beliefs and actions.  Actions always follow beliefs because we live what we really belief.  We need to recognize and understand that false beliefs are a result of feeding off of lies from a secular, man-centered worldview.  I look forward to seeing what lie you choose to study and what beliefs you see coming from this lie.  Next week we will study how the false beliefs of a root system formed by the lies of a secular worldview shapes the lives of individuals.