# describing worldviews



## Scott (Feb 27, 2006)

Anyone have any good illustrations or analogies for describing the role or importance of worldviews? I need things on a very simple level - junior high / high school.

I have heard things like putting on colored glasses (Van Til), the way different people interpret the JFK assassination events (Bahnsen), etc. 

Anyone have any other favorites?


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## Don (Feb 27, 2006)

creation/evolution 

[Edited on 2-27-2006 by Don]


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## RamistThomist (Feb 27, 2006)

You are walking home from college one night, packing your .357. A bad guy comes up to you and says, "Ya money or ya loif!" He is carryign a switchblade. You tremble. You know you are packing and say, "Sir, I am carrying a .357 and I will use lethal force if you come at me."
Bad Guy: Ha! I am a member of the American Knife Throwers Association. We don't believe in the existence of guns."
You: What do I do? He doesn't believe in the eixistence of guns. (By this time you are run through."
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Same scenario, take two
Bad Guy: Ya money or ya loif!"
You: Sir, I have a .357 and will use it.
Bad Guy: I don't believe in guns. I am a member of the AKA.
You: SIr, I have scientific reports and historical evidences that 99.9% of people who get shot through the heart do indeed die. (By this time you are run through).
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Same scenario, take three
Bad Guy: Ya money or ya loif!
You: Sir, I am carrying a .357. I will unload on you if you advance.
Bad Guy: I don't believe in guns. I am a member of the AKA
(_at this point you pull the trigger and make a believer out of him_
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This scenario is how most Christians defend the faith--badly. They try to be neutral with regard to apologetics, law, or morality. And the unbeliever, seeing that the Christian is now operating on non-Christian premises, has a field day. In Christ are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Do not be robbed of your wisdom by seeking a false neutrality with Satan.

Proverbs says not to answer a fool according to his folly, lest yoube like unto him. It immediately follows with, Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

In other words, do not seek to meet the fool on neutral grounds, for then you will be exactly like him. But, for the sake of argument, assume his position and reduce it to absurdity. 

On one side of the Christian's sword is written "The Word of God.' On the other side of the sword is written: _reductio_


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## RamistThomist (Feb 27, 2006)

*Spiderwebs*
I think of worldviews in terms of a network of beliefs (like a spiderweb). It is a system of thought that interprets all of reality for oneself. 
The worldview is a spiderweb
Presuppositions are the little strands to it.

I am trying to simplify it. Most people don't use the term "systems" "Categories" "presuppositions," etc. 

Think of presuppositions like people's rear ends. They are behind everything you do, most people don't want to talk about them, and quite often, in the case of non-christians, nobody wants to bring them up!


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## rmwilliamsjr (Feb 27, 2006)

there is an metaphor from _hermeneutical spiral_ of a grid held up in place in front of our faces. i like it better than the usual rose-colored glasses for a grid on a map is used to locate and place items, to make sense of size and see how things are arranged in patterns.

worldviews are a lot like maps, they represent a greater place, are symbolic, defined and built by communities etc. using a grid as a metaphor reminds me of the larger image of a map.

anyhow, i find it useful.


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## RamistThomist (Feb 27, 2006)

> _Originally posted by rmwilliamsjr_
> there is an metaphor from _hermeneutical spiral_ of a grid held up in place in front of our faces. i like it better than the usual rose-colored glasses for a grid on a map is used to locate and place items, to make sense of size and see how things are arranged in patterns.
> 
> worldviews are a lot like maps, they represent a greater place, are symbolic, defined and built by communities etc. using a grid as a metaphor reminds me of the larger image of a map.
> ...



That's good. Generally, there can be a number of right ways to present this.


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## Civbert (Mar 8, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Scott_
> Anyone have any good illustrations or analogies for describing the role or importance of worldviews? I need things on a very simple level - junior high / high school.
> 
> I have heard things like putting on colored glasses (Van Til), the way different people interpret the JFK assassination events (Bahnsen), etc.
> ...



I like the Operating System analogy. The programs are what we see, know, believe, etc. And the OS dictates how the programs run. We try to figure out which OS is running based on the programs we see. 

We know only one OS can be running the programs, so we want to figure out which OS it is that is running. Different OSs might seem to run the same (or similar) programs (different worldviews may explain our observations and our relationships to the world), but only one OS can be running the programs (only one worldview is the truth). 

And the OS actually dictates how the programs operate - like how a worldview effects how we interpret our observations our explain our relationships to the world and God.

You don't want to over-extend the analogy. For instance, we can say there are multiple computers, and you can't switch operating systems. The OS is an analogy of the real world, you can not change reality. The programs do not change either, but how we think they run will depend on which OS we believe is correct.

So tell the kids the worldview is like the OS you believe is true. People have different theories about what the true OS is based on the programs that are running, and some OS theories seem to work and other's fail. But the OS you think is running, effects how you think the program functions. A program may look similar under different OSs, but they are usually different programs, with different coding. That's why Excel for Windows is a different program than Excel for Mac.


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