Editor’s Note: As students and parents continue to prepare for a new school year, there are several key issues that every family should consider with their children. Regardless of school choice preferences (public, private, homeschool), every parent should not just consider key issues but should discuss certain concepts with their child before embarking on another school year. This blog miniseries will address several of those issues. In this article, we look at Back to School – World View. (Part one – Purpose of Life, Part two – Worldview, Part three – Temptation, Part Four – Christ, Part Five – Loving Others, Part Six – Living Consistent)
Back to School – Worldview
Your Child’s Worldview
Every day as we engage the world, we do so through our worldview. The most basic definition of worldview is the lens through which we view our world. It is the system of thinking and beliefs through which we interpret the world around us. Our worldview impacts everything we see, engage, and consider.
As your child begins a new school year, as a parent you need to help your child grasp the idea of worldview. Worldview impacts your child from multiple key areas: his or her own, that of friends, the teacher’s, and the curriculum’s. Therefore, this is a key area of concern to remind our children as school begins.
An Illustration for Worldview
A great way to think of worldview is to think of a lens. If you wear glasses or contacts, then you understand the importance of the lens. For instance, some people can’t see anything clear without glasses. As soon as they get up in the morning, they must put on glasses in order to see good enough to function. It takes the world from a fuzzy mess to a functional, clear picture. Others of course need glasses to varying degrees. If a person does not need glasses and puts them on, then everything seems blurry and can quickly cause dizziness.
Why? Because the lens of the glasses changes the perspective of what is seen. Good glasses make life easier. I once had a bad lens prescription (long story for a different day). My glasses did not help things get much better. They helped a little; however, things were still fuzzy. I received a new pair and everything cleared up. What once was fuzzy – because of the lens through which I looked – is now clear.
Worldview is similar. Your worldview (and your child’s) is the belief system or lens through which they see the world. We each are influenced by our worldview whether we realize it or not. It operates in the background as we interact with the world.We each are influenced by our worldview whether we realize it or not. It operates in the background as we interact with the world. Click To Tweet
A Summer Evening on the Lake
Worldview mattered one evening on the lake many years ago. I was a new dad. This was the first time my wife and baby were riding with me on Kentucky Lake. It had gotten dark and we were ready to head back to our campsite. We had been fishing in a protected cove away from the wind. None of us realized how hard the wind had been blowing. As we pulled out of the cove, the waves were large and dangerous – especially for night driving.
Kevin’s worldview: I understood the dangerous situation. Having grown up on lakes, I understood how dangerous this situation was. We had one mile to drive back to the campsite in swells several feet tall. All I had to see was the light from the moon. My grandad, wife, and young son all depended upon my ability to navigate the waves over that stretch of water. This was not going to be easy. In other words, my experience and knowledge impacted how I viewed the situation.
Kelly’s worldview: Kelly’s experience was much different. She had not spent her life on a lake and did not understand the dangerous situation. From her inexperience, she assumed that lakes were like this all the time. She sat beside me holding our nine-month-old son completely calm. She understood the lake was rough but had no sense of it being dangerous. As we made it back to the campsite, she was completely calm. Her experience (hardly none on the water) and her knowledge (my husband has done this all his life) impacted how she viewed the situation as well.
Thankfully we made it back safely. Our experiences of that boat ride demonstrate the impact of worldview. She was calm and thought the ride was crazy, full of waves and water splashing. I was tense and thought the ride was crazy, full of danger and potential harm. Our worldview impacted our interpretation of the events.
Key Bible Passages to Help
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:8-10).
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).
“That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—” (Ephesians 4:14-15).
Worldview impacts your child’s education.
For the Christian, how your child views the world around him or her matters. The teacher, curriculum, and other children around your child all have a perspective or lens through which they view the world. That perspective matters as does your own child’s.
What are questions that help reveal the impact of what your child hears, considers, and learns?
1) Where did we come from? Why are we here? (origin and purpose of life)
2) What is wrong with the world? What is sin? How does sin impact one’s thinking?
3) How can we fix it? Is Jesus necessary to help? What role does the Bible play?
4) What is truth? What is absolute truth?
5) What happens when one dies? Where are we going?
6) What should we do in life? What should be our values?
7) What are our goals? Why would we seek to attain those goals?
Teaching Opportunities for Parents
- Have your child memorize (or better yet, have the entire family memorize) one or two of the key verses above. Be sure you explain them clearly for your child to understand what they mean. All three verses imply that for a Christian, it is necessary to understand that the world’s philosophy is inherently bad for the Christian. They exhort and warn us of the influence of worldview.
- Take time to pray with your children to ask God to grant them the wisdom to discern the worldviews in which they interact.
- Encourage your child to write down questions he or she has during the day to discuss at night. If a teacher or another student says something that does not seem right, have them make a note of it to discuss later. If there are things in the curriculum that does not seem right, have the child bring that home and discuss it.
- Illustrate the idea of worldview for your child. Illustration one: if someone there has glasses, smear something on one lens and leave the other lens clear. Talk about what it would be like to try to use the glasses. One eye will interpret the world one way; the other eye will interpret the world in a different way.
- Illustration two: You can also use cups of water in clear glasses. Use drops of food coloring to change the color of each glass (minimum 3 or 4). Hold a piece of paper of some kind or another behind the glass and let the child see how the color of the water impacts what you can see through the glass. If it is a magazine page or something similar, demonstrate how the color of the water actually impacts the colors and details you can see on the page. The color represents the worldview and impacts what can be seen and experienced.
- Make a list of specific scenarios and review some of those in conversation with your child. Here’s an example: “If your friend says it is not important to obey your parents, how do you interpret that statement?” or “The textbook says that we evolved over millions of years. What do you think when you read that? Why?”
For further review, check out the following web resources. They have similar names but all of them have incredible content that may help you in your understanding of worldview, the impact it makes, or in other ways to explain it.
What is a Christian Worldview?
What’s a Christian’s Worldview?
Christian Worldview
The Christian Worldview
Christian Worldview
KevinCarson.com | Wisdom for Life in Christ Together
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