What is a World View?

A World view is the overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world. It is a collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group. By defining our world view we can unite our approach to life and living into an understandable plan as opposed to being swept along by the temporary, fragmented, knowledge of the moment.

The Fideles Christian World View
We deliberately seek to understand spiritual things, ourselves, and all of creation, as though we were looking through the eyes and understanding of God our FATHER. We believe that He is the only true reference point and interpretation of what is right, true, good, real, profitable, beautiful, honorable, and worthy. Therefore, it is the object and endeavor of our education to “think God’s thoughts after Him,” to see His creation with its history and future through His eyes, and to understand ourselves and all the achievements of humankind in terms of our relationship to Him as our Creator and Father. He is the ultimate “Person” in this universe and the trustworthy example of what it means to grow in our “personhood” as we are educated.

Because of this we seek to understand all our subjects in these terms:

Communication:
Language (reading, writing, grammar, English, logic), Foreign language, and the Arts (Drama, Music, Visual Arts, Internet) are all forms of communication and expression.

God has given to man the gift of communication, in the likeness of His own image to use in his ordained role as God’s manager over His creation. Without the sharing of information (communication), the completion of tasks involving more than one person is impossible. Civilization depends and thrives on the reliable conveyance and accumulation of information. The story of the Tower of Babel is more than an interesting story about the origin various language groups, it reveals that cities, civilizations, even building projects cannot go forward without reliable communication. As the human body depends on blood and the circulatory system to carry oxygen and nutrients to the various parts of the body, civilization depends on communication to survive and thrive. So it is important for us to become proficient in reading, writing, grammar, English, foreign language and the arts so we can carry out our Creator’s purposes in our individual lives and so we can be effective contributors to the culture around us.

Humanity and Society:
History/Social Studies, Cultural Geography, Government/ Economics, Church History.

God created man to rule, multiply, fill and subdue the earth. The history of the world is the record of man’s efforts (conscious or not, successful or not) to carry out God’s purpose for him through the civilizations, governments, and economies that he has built. However, the stage upon which this drama is set is the irrepressible purpose of God’s love and redemption for a fallen race relentlessly manifesting His goodness in civilizations and moving toward a positive end for His people in a New World. Therefore we study History/Social Studies, Cultural Geography, Government/ Economics, and Church History in order to discover the hand of our Father in the Providence of time, and to see His Image on men and women throughout history. Our goal is to better understand and carry out the purpose for which we were created.

The Physical World:
Earth Science, Physical Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Anatomy.

God gave man the responsibility of cultivating and keeping the earth by exercising the creative abilities he received in the image of his Father. Inherent in that responsibility is the assumption that in order to do this man would have to understand the earth in its fabric, mechanisms, and systems. This understanding comes through the process of discovery and experimentation, the accumulation of knowledge, and the development of tools. So knowledge of the physical world through the introductory courses of Earth Science, Physical Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Anatomy are means by which we begin to learn to exercise that role.

The Engineered World:
Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Calculus

The Mathematical Sciences including Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus, are tools that man developed and refined to use in the discovery, measuring, quantifying, and arranging of the world as we carry out our managerial role as God’s ruler/managers of His creation. They originate from the perception of truth/reality in our minds (a priori) and map the external truths/realities (a posteriori) in the world. The reasons this is possible and clearly works relies on at least two fundamental assumptions involving a Christian Worldview.

Coherence: that the world “makes sense” or that it “hangs together.” Reality does not continually change. What happens is not completely random and without sense. Man’s mind, logic, and external reality cohere. There is discoverable order in this world. Man is able to discover this order, and understand and use what he knows about the order he discovers. The capabilities of man’s created nature, and his potential for mathematical insight, really correspond to what is “out there.” This is because man is in the image of the One who ordained what is “out there.” The Scriptures attribute the coherence of the world to the creative and sustaining activity of God, who has created man with a capacity for understanding the world, and who governs the world in an orderly way (for example, Ps. 104:20-23 speaks of the orderliness of day and night). Specifically, all things cohere in Christ (Col. 1:17). That is why it is possible to count, to remember, to communicate by language, to know truth. God bears witness to himself (Rom. 1:18).The only way that 2+2 = 4 has real meaning, is if that meaning is related in manifold ways to the creation of God and to the other truths that he ordains.

Time: that it has direction, progress, and does not repeat. This involves believing that time is not circular. (Otherwise, adding the last two apples might be the very same event as adding the first two apples.) It also involves assumptions about the identifiability, stability, and constancy of apples in time. So if we are involved in any kind of mathematical or even physical reasoning, we have to cope with an explanation or interpretation of logic based on time. The Scriptures tell us that God is the creator, sustainer, and perfector of time and that we can depend on its reality, reliability, and progress because of Him.

Ecclesiastes 3:11
He has made everything appropriate in its time.

Ecclesiastes 3:1
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven…