JANUARY 21, 2007

For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible... everything got started – were created -- by Him and finds its purpose in Him. ( Col. 1:16, (NIV, Msg )

I. There's theism represented by the religions of the world. Religion is the collection of worldviews that believes there are gods or some god. There are many different kinds of theism:

   A) There's polytheism, the belief in many gods.

    1) Nature idols:

   2) Supernatural idols, like Greek and Roman gods -- part human and part divine.

     3) The supernatural polytheistic gods of primary world religions today--

     a) Taoism :

    b) Buddhism :

    c) Hinduism :

Each of these beliefs involves improvement of your condition based upon your works , whether its karma, obedience to horoscopes, gurus, the tactics of meditation, purgatory, or something else. It is salvation based on legalism or self-salvation.

  B) There's monotheism – the belief there's one God:

     1) Judaism: salvation based on legalism .

   2) Islam: salvation based on legalism .

3) Sadly, much Christianity is salvation based on legalism , and is no different in terms of attaining salvation -- a person earns their salvation.

4) True Christianity: salvation based on grace .

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves,

it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast (Eph 2, NIV) .

The problem is is that they all these beliefs contradict each other in very essential ways. Only one of them can be truth by the very nature of truth itself, or you deny the very nature of truth. Only one philosophy or religion can be true truth.

II. The pervasive belief in American education and culture today is postmodernism , a type of humanism. Postmodernism is often combined with any of the other secular philosophies. There are two common myths found in postmodernism:

•  The sincerity myth:

•  The situational myth:

III. All these secular and religious worldviews are in competition with each other, and they're all competing for your mind and time. These competing worldviews are creating stress.

A. Can I know what is true? The Bible says, Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts (Proverbs 4:23, TEV).

•  The Bible says you were created in the image of God.

A wise person is hungry for truth while the fool feeds on trash ( Proverbs 15:14, NLT).

Why is all this that important?

    Because if you base your life on a faulty worldview, the results are disastrous

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