The Dawn Treader

Mr. Dawntreader had a wonderful time meeting and interacting with The Trinity Fellows in Charlottesville, VA this past Thursday.

I had the privilege of presenting a session entitled Classical Apologetics.  We covered the basics of the classical approach, discussed strengths and weaknesses, looked at one approach used by RC Sproul, and then had a time of Q+A.   The fellows asked thoughtful questions and showed that they are sharp thinkers and winsome ambassadors for King Jesus.  I can't wait to see how God will use each of them to push back the darkness and change the world for the cause of Christ and the glory of God.

Time for a shout out to a couple of good smack downs on the sacred/secular split.   One from Ryan Bolger and another from  Jill Carattini.

What is the sacred / secular split?  It is phrase given to describe the divided thinking that characterizes so many Christians today.  They attempt to keep their faith private and cordoned off from the rest of their lives.  They try to have two minds: a Christian mind and a secular mind.

The internet monk has written a thought provoking essay called "Worldview: Pros and Cons".  If you are "into worldviews", as we Centurions certainly are, his essay is a worthy read.

It was "city-county."  The big swim meet.  The meet we worked toward all year.  Every swim team in the county competed.  Our team was in second place leading into the meet.  The points for this final meet are tripled.  Could we catch our rivals?

My kids prepared hard.  Two practices a day in the final week.  Would they swim personal bests?  Would they win lots of points?  Would they get ribbons and medals like they did last year.  Then came the meet.

In What Eminent People Have Thought About Success, I looked at some of the prevailing philosophies in our culture about the nature of success (and how it is attained).

What is the biblical worldview of success?  What does God consider a succesful person?

Charles Colson offers his thoughts in a short essay entitled How Should I Measure Success In Life. 

In What Is Success? I opened a thread on the definition of success.

It is most common, I believe, to equate success with wealth and standing.  If someone says to you, "Joe is quite successful", you assume  certain things about Joe.  Joe has money.  Joe is important.  Joe is influential.

But is that really what it means to be successful?  When we tell our kids, we want them to succeed in life, what are they hearing?

I thought I would do a little research to see what eminent people say about success.  My research is not rigorous or scientific -- it basically consisted of some google searches.  Take a look.

What is success?  Is Lance successful?  Is Bernie Ebbers (Worldcom) successful?  Is JK Rowling (Harry Potter) successful?   Is Martha Stewart successful?   Is Chuck Colson successful?  Are you successful?

Is success measured by wealth?  By fame?  By achievement?  By influence?

How you define success is shaped by your worldview.  We all want to be successful and want our kids to be successful ... but what exactly does that mean?

In Have We Over Complicated Worldview? I examine the problem of the over intellectualization of the study of worldviews.  I am concerned that people hear the term worldview and shut down.  Why?  Because they assume it is a stuffy, philosophy term that has little application in the real world.

I raised this concern with my fellow Centurions, all of whom are trained to go forth and teach worldview.  Here are some of the responses I received.

Joel of Dumbsheep fame asked me in a comment,

"If worldview is (almost) solely related to the intellect (ie; the way you rationally make sense of the world around you), as I think you're saying, then it seems to be more of an "ivory tower"/"for the intellectually gifted" exercise. What about the people at my work who were actually surprised that I thought about stuff when I worked...and say that their mind basically goes blank for three hours. Is worldview for them? Can someone's worldview be considered real if it is unarticulated?"

Joel's question is brilliant.

It struck a chord with me.  It is my contention that worldview thinking has become so intellectualized that it is in danger of being thrown in the discard pile, along with other interesting but not terribly useful concepts.

I am taking a video based course on defending the life of the unborn produced by Stand To Reason.  It is called "Making Abortion Unthinkable".  I have heard great things about this training.  After watching the first segment, I see why.  I am watching the videos and discussing the issues with my teenage nephew and his friend.

The first segment was about restoring meaning to the word abortion -- through the use of graphic visual aids.  We were given plenty of warning -- but part of the video included watching a 7 minute segment which showed aborted babies.  It was graphic.  It got the point across.  The word "abortion" once again had meaning.