World View and Eschatology

December 20, 2010

World View

Greetings!

Greetings in the Name of King of Kings--Jesus--Yeshua. Recently I have talked to some leaders about the end times and their eschatological perspective. Many of them have said to me, "I don't have one because I have never really studied the end times or that subject." That did not set well with me. As I probed them some more with questions it was very obvious they have one and were legitimately confused about it or subtly deceptive about wanting to answer me about it. Of course I choose to think they are confused. But that is no excuse and it is not really true. I have dialogued with other leaders and students of the Word regarding some of these issues and want to put them forth here. I welcome feedback and insight along the way as we have not passed this way before.

Shalom, Clint

Donate With Pay Pal

WORLDVIEW

World View-everyone has one! It is your perspective of the world and life. This is the foundational perspective in every person's life. It changes as we grow and accumulate information and experience. Every religion has a world view, an atheist has a world view, agnostics have a world view, humanists have a world view, Zionists have a world view, Communists have a world view, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus have a world view, Roman Catholics have a world view, denominational Christianity has a world view, Evangelical Christianity has a world view, Protestants have a world view, Charismatics and Pentecostals have a world view. Everyone one of these groups mentioned has a totally different worldview.

HERMENEUTICS

Hermeneutics-everyone has one! Hermeneutics are the laws of interpretation of the Bible. (In this writing we are using it specifically in reference to the Holy Scriptures.) It is the rules and principles, whether spoken or unspoken, whether thought out or never thought out, that a person and a group uses to attempt to "rightly divide Scripture." Or we could say it this ways the values or standards that you use to decide what the Bible means. An Atheist could have a hermeneutic that says the Bible is irrelevant and has no meaning because God does not exist. A Muslim could say that the Bible is a good book but not inspired like the Holy Koran. (The Koran actually mentions the Bible as "the Book".) Every person you meet has a hermeneutic even if they have never thought about it. They have a predisposition to what they believe about the Bible.

ESCHATOLOGY

Eschatology-everyone has one! Eschatology is the religious doctrines concerning the human soul and its relation to death, judgment, heaven and hell. It can also be the study of the end times or last days. Every person has thoughts or ideas on what will happen when they die or the end of the world. They may be formed by their religious beliefs, movies, culture, or their own personal ideas.

ECCLESIOLOGY

Ecclesiology-everyone has one! Specifically I am talking about the Christian Church. It is the way we DO church. How we gather, why we gather, where we gather, who runs the show etc. etc. An atheist or humanist may just dismiss it as irrelevant but they have thoughts regarding this.

*Note: It is possible that there are some people or people groups that have never heard of the Bible, Jesus Christ or Christians. They would still have a worldview, laws of hermeneutics they apply to life, death and end time eschatological thoughts and an ecclesiology or social gathering pattern in their particular tribe or group.

HOW THESE 4 AREAS AFFECT EVERY INDIVIDUAL ON THE PLANET-INCLUDING YOU!

Your worldview determines the decisions you make in your life. It determines your morality, your philosophy, your religion or non-religion, your social networks etc. Your world view is made up of all of your experiences and information and how you process your life resulting in the course of direction that you are going at this moment.

#1. Your worldview shapes your hermeneutic! Your life experiences and information determines how you approach or reject the Bible! Not just generally but for those who read the Scriptures it will specifically determine your interpretation of them resulting in what YOU believe the Bible says and whether it is relevant or irrelevant to your worldview.

#2. Your hermeneutic shapes your eschatology! Your rules of interpretation (whether known or unknown) shape your eschatology. Everyone has some sort of an idea (whether right or wrong) about what happens when you die, heaven, hell, eternity, end times, end of the world, afterlife, etc. (If you don't believe me just start asking random people and see!)

#3. Your eschatology shapes your ecclesiology! What you believe about what is going to happen (end of your life, heaven, hell, eternity, end times, end of the world, afterlife, etc) will determine the way you DO church or the type of church you go to or the people that you hang out with "religiously".

#4. Your ecclesiology shapes your worldview!

Worldview Diagram

Your WORLDVIEW shapes your hermeneutics and your

hermeneutics shapes your eschatology and your

eschatology shapes your ecclesiology and your

ecclesiology shapes your worldview.

HOWEVER THEY ARE ALL INTER-RELATED AS WELL!

As a person's worldview changes it will affect all of the others and each of the others will affect the person's worldview.

Example #1

The world view of an atheist might be-God does not exist-He did not write the Bible-it is only made up by men-I don't believe any of it. (This would be his hermeneutic.) There are some good things that it says like don't murder or lie. But that same atheist in his worldview would also believe something about death. Like I just go back to being a piece of dust in the cosmos. (This would be his eschatology.) Because of what he believes he would "tend" to hang out (This would be his ecclesiology.) with people of similar beliefs or at least "relate" to people of similar beliefs who would "reinforce" his worldview.

Example #2

The worldview of a fundamentalist evangelical Christian might be-I believe the Bible is inerrant and it is to be literally interpreted. (This would be his hermeneutic.) I believe there is a real heaven and hell and all men will be in one place or the other for eternity. I believe that Jesus is coming back to rule and reign on this Earth for 1000 years in my lifetime. (This would be his eschatology.) This person would go to a Bible believing church that carries the same hermeneutic or at least get together with people who hold the same values and eschatology. (This would be his ecclesiology.) This would continue to shape and reinforce his worldview-Jesus is coming back soon.

Every person on the planet could be understood by us understanding his: 1. Worldview, 2. Hermeneutic, 3. Eschatology, 4. Ecclesiology.

LIES OF THE DEVIL

I don't have a worldview.

I don't have a hermeneutic.

I don't have eschatology.

I don't have an ecclesiology.

I don't have these because: I never studied it, I never thought about it, I never heard that word before, I don't care, it is irrelevant to my life and on and on. They are all LIES! The Devil may deceive people in thinking they don't have an idea about these areas but it is a lie. It is the spirit of the world, it is anti-christ, it is lawlessness, it is the spirit of the age, it is the way that seems right to man but ends in death. It is the wisdom from below that is earthly, natural and demonic.

Everyone has an idea, a doctrine or an opinion on each one of these 4 areas whether they know it or not. By asking a few questions you can determine where they are.

The satanic, demonic spirits want to keep people in darkness. We are called to bring light to the people who we see in our life.

We are to help people see our "worldview" that is based on the Holy Scriptures. We also need to continually allow our worldview to be conformed by the Holy Scriptures.