BJU Press Blog

Fall

Storytelling and Worldview

by

three beach balls in the blue sky

At times the challenge of developing a biblical worldview in my three little girls, five and under, overwhelms me. How can I equip these young minds with something as complex as a worldview? The writings of Paul David Tripp encourage me. In particular, Paul’s simple explanations and illustrations demonstrate that I can develop my daughters’ worldview.

I love Paul’s story about his three-year-old son, who after falling down the stairs exclaimed, “Thank you!” When Paul asked his son who he was talking to, the boy responded, “The angels. And I know how they did it.”

“Who did what?”

“The angels! One stands on this side, and the other stands on that side. They both hold beach balls. When you start to fall, they put the beach ball out to keep you safe.”

Tripp observes that even three-year-olds interpret what’s happening. In this case, the conclusion was immature, and it confused Sunday school lessons with family vacations. But even very young children are capable of understanding stories, synthesizing them, and using them to explain daily occurrences.

Thankfully, our heavenly Father has given us His perspective in terms of a story. It’s a story that even toddlers and preschoolers can learn and use to interpret everyday life. It’s a true story with a beginning, middle, and end. It’s a story that dramatically affects the way we interpret the learning that makes up education. It’s the story of Creation, Fall, and Redemption.

Creation

The story begins with “God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). But when the story reaches Genesis 1:26–28, we learn that we’re special. God creates man and woman in His own image. God tells them to fill the world with little image-bearers and to take care of the world. Then He gives the first man a home (Eden), a wife (Eve), and a job (to name the animals and to work the garden).

Fall

Then Adam rebels and everything breaks. Death, sadness, and fighting come because of Adam’s wrong choice. His sin means that our hearts have been broken and our minds have been polluted. Adam and Eve make clothes out of fig leaves and then hide from God. Adam blames his wife for the sin, and Eve blames the serpent (Genesis 3:7–12).

Redemption

Next, we see that God immediately sets in motion His plan to redeem His fallen creation (Genesis 3:15). He promises that there will be conflict between the anointed one and the serpent. He promises that the anointed one will win and redeem God’s creation. This redemption plan is fulfilled in Christ’s death on the cross, His burial, and His resurrection from the dead.

The story applied to . . . math?

I share this story, not because it’s new or insightful, but because it’s simple and familiar. This is a story I share with my girls during family devotions. It’s a story they hear in Sunday school, and it affects the way they interpret learning, even math!

  1. Math is a powerful tool to help us take care of the world (Genesis 1:28)
  2. Because of the fall, some people use math to deny God (Romans 1:21–23)
  3. The people of God can live in light of redemption by using math to love their neighbors (Luke 10:27–28)

The Creation-Fall-Redemption story doesn’t make worldview shaping easy, but it does make it attainable for my precious little ones. Using this story to interpret learning is critical for providing my children a thoroughly Christian education.

Structuring a Biblical Worldview Approach

by

How can you help your children or students understand and then apply the Bible to all of life? How can you teach them to think and operate according to a biblical worldview?

The purpose of Christian education is rooted in a conviction that children must understand and apply the Bible in every sphere of life. That’s why parents and churches combine their resources to expand the understanding and application of the Bible to all of the particulars within a field of study that the pastor has no time or expertise to address in the Sunday sermon. The purpose of Christian education is not only to provide spiritual and ethical reinforcement but also to provide biblical worldview training for understanding academic disciplines in a way that is consistent with biblical thinking.

Structuring Your Approach

Since expanding the understanding and application of the Bible to all of life is the primary motivation and task of the Christian educator, knowing how to do it well is vital. Choosing a curriculum that provides a solid foundation to build on is the first step. But that’s only a starting point, a guide. It offers help by providing suggestions to point you in the right direction. But the teacher is still key.

The teacher structures and develops the meat of the lesson. What mindset should guide you as you seek to help students understand and apply the Bible in a particular field of study? One helpful approach is to look at your subject matter through the lens of Creation, Fall, Redemption. Evaluate students’ understanding by asking them to explain the subject matter—how it ought to be done or viewed according to God’s creational norms/laws. Evaluate students’ critical thinking by asking them to analyze and evaluate fallen humanity’s twisting of that subject matter. Evaluate their application skills and creativity by challenging them to think through a biblical approach to the subject matter even within a fallen world awaiting God’s full restoration.

One Example: Cultural Geography

Secular textbooks are filled with the subtle assumptions or evangelistic zeal of multicultural pluralism—the idea that all cultures are equally good or neutral and thus equally acceptable. This is consistent with secularist goals and values such as “truth and values are relative” or “tolerance will solve the conflicts of humanity.” However, if cultural geography is taught from the biblical model of Creation, Fall, Redemption, students will learn that all cultures reflect the ideas and behaviors of people groups that are both created in God’s image and fallen. Thus, all cultures combine both creational goodness and human fallenness. Some cultures are more conformed to God’s law than others due to God’s common grace and the influence and contributions of the redeemed in that culture. Students must learn  not only to appreciate cultures distinct from their own but also to critically evaluate all cultures, including their own, by the ultimate standard of God’s Word.

Using Creation, Fall, and Redemption in your thinking will help you shape a biblical worldview in the minds of your students. May God give you help to that end.

How do you help your students maintain a biblical worldview in their studies?