Recently, one of my posts kicked off a discussion of worldviews. In my last post, I began by explaining what worldviews are, but this didn’t really answer the question I was asked, so today I want to recap the question and then get to the meat of it. Here’s the question:

I was reading your blog post about Google searches and I’m curious. How do you explain a “world view” to your kids?

From my point of view the Bible and organised religion of any kind is a “world view”. Some world views have more validity than others.

It would seem to me that if the world view of the Bible is not discussed in the context of the existence of multitudes of available worldviews and providing reasons why your family chooses one world view over another, then a fully formed picture of the world is not occurring.

As we saw in my last post, each of us has a worldview, whether we’re participants in organized religion or not. Sometimes we are aware of our worldview, and sometimes not, but we all have one.

So let’s take the first part of that question:

How do you explain a “world view” to your kids?

We explain what I wrote in the last post – that our worldview is the foundation of how we look at the world, and how we answer questions about what life is about, what matters, what is right and wrong, etc. We also point out that everyone has a worldview, and not all worldviews agree. This actually helps them make sense of their interactions with other people, because they recognize from a fairly early age that some people have dramatically different views than we do, and they begin to wonder why. Knowing about worldviews can help them understand why two people can know all the same facts/information yet arrive at dramatically different beliefs.

We also believe it’s important to make sure our kids know about worldviews from a young age, and begin to ask what worldview, or what beliefs, are behind the media they consume – books, TV, movies, or whatever. Media doesn’t just tell a story, it teaches a worldview or a picture of reality. For example, while I enjoy many Disney movies, many of them also paint a picture of parents as bumbling and misguided authoritarians who need to step back and let their children follow their hearts so the children can be happy and free. While some parents are this way, I don’t think it’s true of most parents, and I don’t think the solution is to encourage our children to follow their desires no matter where they lead. In some areas, yes, but not universally. But I digress. We try to help our kids have an awareness of worldviews and beliefs early, so they can not just enjoy good stories but ask what those stories are teaching and evaluate whether they agree with the teaching, not just whether they enjoy the story. We do this in part by talking through key stories, asking about what the stories are teaching, and helping them think through the underlying worldview and beliefs.

Now, on to the core of my correspondent’s question:

It would seem to me that if the world view of the Bible is not discussed in the context of the existence of multitudes of available worldviews and providing reasons why your family chooses one world view over another, then a fully formed picture of the world is not occurring.

Yes, I fully agree with this. As I’ve noted above, there are many worldviews out there, and we want our kids to be aware of this reality from an early age. However, we also want them to know, and thoroughly understand, our Biblical worldview from an early age. We explain why we believe it, and why we think it makes more sense than other worldviews. Our hope, and our prayer, is that they someday will accept this worldview as their own and trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation. However, each of our children will ultimately have to make their own choice. No one becomes a Christian by virtue of their parents’ faith; it requires personal conviction.

I’ve made a couple key points there, and I want to pull them out and make them very clear:

  1. We teach them there are many worldviews
  2. We also teach our worldview (and the Bible as its basis), and why we believe it and that we hope they will believe it, too
  3. We know that no amount of teaching on our part will bring them to accept our worldview as their own; ultimately, they have to make a choice

In this, we reject a couple of approaches I think are popular in the present day. First, we reject the approach I’d summarize as “Don’t teach your children a worldview so that they can pick their own without any outside influences.” That’s impossible. Our children are being taught all the time, everywhere they go – in school, on sports teams, from friends, from music and movies and books. Outside influences abound. Everyone has a worldview, and even their lives display it. So even if we don’t teach children our worldview, someone else will be teaching them. If we want them to know our worldview, we need to present it to them. Failing to do so just means we’re giving someone else the primary teaching responsibilities.

We also reject an approach that says, “Don’t present your views too strongly, because they need to follow their hearts and choose their own beliefs to be happy.” Yes, they ultimately need to choose for themselves, but as my correspondent notes, we want them to know why we believe what we do. Also, we hope that they will choose a Biblical worldview – so we want them to know the best arguments for that view so that when they choose they will be thoroughly informed. Finally, we believe that “follow your heart” has led many to great harm; “follow the truth” is a far better motto.

So, yes, we want our children to ultimately develop a fully formed picture of the world as they head into adulthood. But when they are young, this begins with us teaching them what we believe and why, then teaching them about other worldviews and how to recognize them. As time goes on we teach them more about those other worldviews to help them develop a full and well-informed picture. We hope and pray that they will trust in Christ for salvation, give their lives to him, and adopt a Biblical worldview.

[Update: The date is listed incorrectly as Jan. 30 for this post; it was written Feb. 1.]