It has been quite a few years since I stumbled across the book “Discipling Nations” by Darrow Miller. In this book he opened my eyes to the existence of a new world, that of World view.
Wikipedia, our semi-omniscient friend, defines world view as:”the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing natural philosophy; fundamental existential and normative postulates; or themes, values, emotions, and ethics.”
What a relief now that we know the definition! Or perhaps not! (We will get back to defining world view a bit later.)
Your world view determines how you see the world. How you interpret what you see.
An illustration: A visitor to Israel (some years ago) noticed that in some areas trees were being planted and the country developed. While in other areas nothing was happening. On asking around he found out that the areas that were being developed belonged to Israelis who saw it as “the land of milk and honey.” The other areas were settled by/ belonged to Palestinians who believed that the country was cursed by God. (My facts might be a little bit wrong, since it has been a while since I read this story.But it is fundamentally correct.)
Another illustration: Recently I told my gardener to remove a growing termite mound from a wooden door here in my house. He hesitated and wanted to know if it was really necessary. I told him that it was because they are destroying the door!
He told me that it would be better to leave the termites alone, because it is a sign of good luck if they build their mound inside a door.
Here we have two completely opposing ideas. One from a western world, ruled by science and facts and the other from a animistic world where invisible forces and powers rule earth.
If you, as a Westener hears some of the stories about “magic and whitch craft” that are commonly accepted as the truth here in Madagascar, you would just shake your head in disbelief and wonder: “What is wrong with those people?”
If a Malagasy person hears what you think about the existence of spirits etc. he/she would just shake his/her head in disbelief and wonder: “What is wrong with those people?”
By now, you should begin to see the point I am trying to make. Each person is brought up to think in a specific way. These “lessons” are not part of a curriculum or some such thing, but they form the basis of who you are!
Max Weber, author of “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” apparently said: “Ideas have consequences.” That means, the way you think determines the way you live and how you world will look like.
He was however not the originator of this thoughts. In Proverbs 4:23 we read “Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true life.” (CEV) (Compare different translations.)
James Sire, Christian thinker and author of “The Universe Next door” defines World view as
1. “a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart,
2. that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true, or entirely false)
3. which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently)
4. about the basic construction of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being.”
To simplify I often use this comparison.
* Culture tells us how to do something. How should one get married? How should one treat a child or an elder? How do you respect god/the gods? How does one become an adult? etc.
* Worldview, on the other hand is about why! Why should one get married, as ooposed to just living together? Why are children and elders treated differently? Why are elders respected. etc.
Both Christians and Muslims agrees that marriage is a sacred institution, and that co-habitation is forbidden. However if one where to examine the moitivation(s) for these apparently similar thoughts, you will find completely (?) different motivations!
Jesus says “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Jn 8:32, CEV). The whole concept of World view does not dispute this.
Understanding the world view of another enables you to communicate the truth to him in a way (I am not talking primarily about language, but more about concepts, ideas etc.) that he understands!
And this is the great challenge we are currently facing in our outreaches to Malgasy churches. Many of these men and women have accepted the church, much fewer have actually accepted Christ and entered into a living relationship with him.
We are now looking for ways to communicate the ultimate Truth via understanding the Malagasy Worldview in a way that makes sense in Madagascar!
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Filed under: Bush Pastor, Musings, Uncategorized
