Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. - Colossians 3:18-21 (ESV)
The Christian Broadcasting Network has long been a forerunner of NAR dominionist theology. Founded by Pat Robertson, CBN continues to eradicate the lines between politics and faith until you can no longer tell them apart. Yet we are not called to have faith in political parties. We are not called to believe in legislation. The bible promises no great end times revival; just an end times apostasy and CBN leads the way on that front. The above linked article is more NAR hysteria propaganda designed to scare Christian parents into accepting their carnal worldview. Make no mistake about it beloved. The "biblical worldview" you hear so much about is not biblical at all. It embraces the carnality of one political party over another, conferring righteousness where it does not belong and assigning judgment without authority to do so. So, let us reason together through this article remembering the life and ministry of Jesus, the most apolitical figure in world history. His kingdom remains not of this world. The gospel only requires your faith and obedience. Not your vote and worldview. Be not confused.
"Millennial moms and dads aren't passing a biblical worldview on to their children, according to research conducted by Dr. George Barna at Arizona Christian University's Cultural Research Center. "Most of the parents of young children in America, if they were to die today, probably would not wind up in heaven," said Dr. Barna. It's a bold statement stemming from his study that suggests American parents are experiencing a worldview dilemma. It says the overwhelming majority of American parents today lack a biblical worldview and a robust faith that they can pass on to their children, which could dramatically hamper the spiritual development of the next generation." - Brody Carter
There is a reason why we are not to speculate upon the eternal destination of the souls of men. Because then you end up with men like George Barna consigning people to hell because he doesn't like their answers on a survey. And why? Because they did not pass on his idea of a biblical worldview? How insultingly absurd. The worldview dilemma today is that the apostate church is able to sell this distorted version of what the world should look like. Nowhere does the bible command us to change our view of the world. Nowhere does it suggest we should create theocracies. Nowhere does it suggest passing legislation, conquering cultural mountains, or any other NAR nonsense. When Jesus walked the earth He had a real reason to get involved politically. His people were occupied, abused and oppressed by the secular empire of Rome. His disciples had always hoped He would deliver them from Rome. The gospel cares about so much more though. It deals with our true oppressor, the devil. It frees us from sin, not the shackles of man. Notice how Barna ties a lack of this ungodly worldview to a lack of faith! How disgusting. Christian parents can raise completely faithful children by adhering to the bible and not the wiles of men like George Barna and Brody Carter.
'"Most people die with the same worldview in essence that they had at the age of 13," Dr. Barna said. Which is why Dr. Barna is concerned and stressing the importance of sharing a Christian worldview with children. The study found while 67% of American parents with preteens identify as Christian, only 2% possess a biblical worldview. "One of the most important things we learned about parents with preteens is that they don't believe the Bible is reliable or true, or relevant to their lives," said Dr. Barna. "They don't have the same view of God as given to us in the Bible. Five out of six of them are not born-again Christians, meaning they believe when they die and go to heaven " but only because they confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior."' - Brody Carter
Can we just admit the utter silliness of proclaiming that anyone who is a full-grown adult has the same worldview they had when they were 13? Obviously, that is not the point even Barna was trying to make. He is again trying to marginalize people who can think for themselves and do not reflexively assume anything about any one person or political party is inherently righteous. It is interesting now that Barna gets to the meat of what might be going on. He is finding 67% of parents who identify as Christian don't believe the bible is reliable, true, or relevant and their view of God does not align with the God of the bible. Now where can we lay blame for this? Is it because they do not have a biblical worldview? Of course not and that is quite frankly stupid. Believing Donald Trump was the second coming of King Cyrus is not going to make you suddenly accept the bible as true and reliable. No beloved. This phenomenon is a direct result of the departure from sound theology over the past few decades through the Purpose Driven Church movement, seeker friendly theories of church growth and the heresies of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), one of which is the dominionism Barna and Carter traffic in. When the church is so obsessed with the politics of this world it is little wonder that they do not focus on the kingdom of God.
'The numbers also show only 1% of this parent group in Catholic, mainline Protestant and black Protestant churches have a biblical worldview, compared to just 9% in Evangelical, Charismatic and nondenominational churches. Dr. Barna says this trend has been on the decline for about 25 years now and it's getting down into the very low single digits with each succeeding adult generation. As millennial parents become the majority, Barna worries those numbers could get worse as they're seen as least likely to have and share a Christian lens. "It's very sobering from a Christian perspective and Christian worldview, but I'm not surprised," said Dr. Danny Huerta, vice president of Parenting and Youth at Focus on the Family. "Really, culture has done a great job of messaging the fact that, 'Hey, let's just live free and limitless.' We've created ultimately a consumer-focused culture."' - Brody Carter
There is a song lyric that laments how can you stand next to the truth and not see it? The "culture" Barna and Carter are whining about is church culture. The message of the purpose driven church is not one that aligns with the gospel. There is no discussion of sin and repentance or the blood of Christ. Listen to a Joel Osteen sermon and try to not see that his underlying message is live free and limitless! He even wrote a book called Your Best Life Now! Joseph Prince wrote one called Destined to Reign! Do these sound like screeds on the work of the cross? No. The modern America church is the consumer-focused culture. That is what Rick Warren taught in the Purpose Driven Church. It is why he changed the role of the pastor to the role of a CEO. It is why they have allowed secular music, in some cases vile secular music, into the worship of Almighty God. It is why sermons and church service themes often seem like a game of can you top this crazy? A biblical worldview will not solve this. A biblical church will.
"The study points to several reasons for this result, including no-fault divorce as well as the secularization of news, art and entertainment. It adds that public schools and governmental laws foster a culture where wisdom and biblical truth have little room to grow. "This is an opportunity, a wake-up call to the church, to make sure we're teaching the truth in scripture and going back to the principles and believing that everything the word of God says is true," said Dr. Huerta. For parents who feel they're falling short in this area, Huerta recommends intentionally entering faith-based conversations with your kids, learning what biblical boundaries look like, and implementing them. He adds it's going to take practice. "I wrote a book called 7 Traits of Effective Parenting that's based off of research on what a parent can focus on rather than control a child or take ownership for their child's behaviors - it's about influence and that begins with you," he said. Despite the grim numbers and seemingly uphill battle parents face to implement and pass down a biblical worldview, Dr. Barna says he has hope it can be accomplished." - Brody Carter
This is so myopically ignorant and self-absorbed. The American culture allows all the room any religion may want to grow and flourish. What they do not allow is the forced takeover of government by any religion. The dominionists like Barna and Carter decry not that America is somehow unfriendly but rather that they will not allow them to establish a theocracy. Wanting the secular government to teach biblical truth in school is not education. It is indoctrination. Imagine with me if 50 years from now Islam becomes the dominant religion in America and they start wanting schools to stop each day so all students can pray to Mecca. The only thing stopping them will be the same laws that stop Christians from forcing all children to pray together, even if they do not know God or believe. Effective Christian parenting is well addressed in the bible. The key verses are only one example. Let's be honest, however. We do not have submissive wives but rather a church body that excuses women in pastoral roles God already said they were not to have. We do not have loving husbands but rather an accepted policy of infidelity. Why would children be obedient within this paradigm? Is it any wonder we have generations of discouraged children, raised in apostate churches on pizza parties and veggie tales while their private home life resembles nothing of what they might hear in church? Then they go off to college and as Andy Stanley lamented, they come back atheists with their faith destroyed. Stanley's response was to stop teaching the sufficiency and infallibility of scripture! Way to nail the problem Andy. The problem of course is that Andy Stanley does not preach the gospel, so these kids were sent to secular college without any saving faith and the world just filled the gap the church left in each of them. Yet people like Barna and Carter think the problem is their parents do not vote a straight Republican Party line. Sad.
'"Does that mean that Christianity is going to go away in American culture?" asked Dr. Barna. "And to make that argument, you would have to believe that God has given up on America. And yet the reality is we have a remnant of about 15 million adults across the country who possess a biblical worldview, and that's a huge remnant, so God could certainly use them to turn around this culture."' - Brody Carter
God is not going to use 15 million apostates who chase the carnal politics of this world instead of the biblical teachings of God. Note the NAR dominionist underpinning here. To these folks everything is about God not giving up on America because they wrongly believe America is or once was under covenant with God but it never was. America will be judged as all nations. We cannot save nations however, only people. The object of the gospel is to save people out from the culture that is sending them to hell. Not try and fix that culture. So, with no apologies, let me say again that it is not a biblical worldview that we so desperately need. It remains a biblical church that we need.
