Funsized Truth: "I Lost My Faith at an Evangelical College"
All the chewy goodness of one of the best books on worldview assessment; now in new fun-sized bites!
Part One: “I Lost My Faith at an Evangelical College”
Dr. Nancy Pearcey begins her excellent book—Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes—by expressing her conviction “that Christians need to take questions seriously.”[1] If we do not, we will find it tremendously difficult to help folks that might be persuaded that Christianity is false. Pearcey notes the age-old axiom that “We all create idols to take the place of God,” and, thus, develops a strategy to deal with the fundamental false idols at the base of differing worldviews. She derives her strategy specifically from Paul in Romans 1.
Principle #1: Identify the Idol.
According to Pearcey, “Humans have a tendency to look to some power or principle or person to make sense of life and give it meaning. And that constitutes their de facto religion…”[2]
Principle #2: Identify the Idol’s Reductionism.
In other words, if a worldview exchanges the true God for an idol (i.e. something created), then it will also “exchange a high view of humans made in God’s image for a lower view of humans made in the image of something in creation.”[3]
Principle #3: Test the Idol: Does it Contradict What We Know about the World?
In Romans 1 Paul teaches that we all possess truths given to us by general revelation. “It follows that any truth claim must match up with general revelation.”[4]
Principle #4: Test the Idol: Does It Contradict Itself?
In philosophy propositions are tested for (amongst other things) validity, coherence, and whether they are self-defeating (i.e. contradict themselves). This step is crucial for any kind of worldview analysis.
Principle #5: Replace the Idol: Make the Case for Christianity.
This final step involves proposing a Scriptural alternative to secular and pagan worldviews but one that is relevant and compelling for those we engage.
Pearcey spends the rest of the book unpacking each principle with great clarity and insightful examples.
*Dr. Nancy Pearcey is a professor of Christian Worldview and Apologetics at Houston Baptist University, a fellow at the Discovery Institute, and editor of The Pearcey Report. Please do yourself a favor and buy her excellent book here!Check back next week for Principle #1: Twilight of the Gods
