A spiritual worldview

We talked about miracles last night in our Bible Study on Spiritual gifts and heard some wonderful stories about how God has performed a miracle in the lives of those present.

Great stuff.

One of the principles I brought out is that we tend to experience and view the miraculous from our basic worldview.

Let me define "worldview". James Sire writes that a worldview is a "set of presuppositions (or assumptions) which we hold consciously or unconsciously about the basic makeup of our world."

Our "worldview" is made up of what area of the world that we live in, how we have been brought up, what kind of exposure we have had toward things such as religion and philosophy, and our own personal experiences in the past.

People in Tehran, Iran, have a different "worldview" than those in Peoria, Illinois.

Many times we hear of missionaries stating that they see and experience the miraculous and the supernatural in other countries in a way that we do not here in America. I would suggest to you that a lot of that has to do with the word "worldview". How we look at things.

So many of us are caught up in a materialistic view of life - where the ultimate reality is material or physical. We are naturally inclined to only rely on our five senses of taste, touch, sight, hearing and smell. If we can't "see" it, we don't believe it.

There are five basic tenets to this worldview.

1. The universe is a cosmic accident that has no ultimate purpose.
2. Human life is a biological accident that has no ultimate significance.
3. Life ends forever at death for each individual life form.
4. Mind has no separate existence or survival apart from brain.
5. Humanity's intuitive, historic belief in a ultimate mind, spirit, or God behind, within, and outside of the physical universe is a form of self deception. Thus, humanity's corresponding belief in human uniqueness, dignity, purpose, and survival beyond death is a non-real view of reality.

Is it any wonder that life is so empty to the atheist? What does an atheist believe in? The Cosmos? That won't last. Themselves? They will die.

And is it any wonder that the atheist or the person who only looks at things through the lens of the natural cannot relate to God?

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16:

6We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9However, as it is written:

"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"[b]— 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.[c] 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:

16"For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?"[d] But we have the mind of Christ."

I again return to the point that isn't it more logical to believe in a God of the universe? Why not open up your heart to allow God to connect with you?

Now then, let's challenge each other as believers. We as believers must not quarantine ourselves to a simplistic naturalistic view of the world. We has believers must continually come back to the spiritualistic view that God has called us to.

Let's not shy away from the miraculous because of some of the "goofiness" that is going on in the name of the supernatural. We can be "naturally supernatural."

I leave you with this story:

On February 23, 1996, three to four months into a pregnancy, Mary Clarke (name changed) of Downers Grove, Illinois, remembers, "I was not feeling very well. I was having a hard time breathing and was very dizzy."

Her doctor said she should come in for an examination. As the nurse started to examine Mary, she said, "We'll be able to hear the baby's heartbeat." The nurse tried to pick up that heartbeat for a while but was unable to locate it.

When the doctor came into the examining room, the nurse asked him to try to locate the baby's heartbeat. The doctor tried for 10 or 15 minutes without success. He then decided to move Mary to an ultrasound room.

In the ultrasound room, the doctor located the baby and tried again to hear the heartbeat. He couldn't, so he asked the nurse to call another doctor. The second doctor tried to locate the heartbeat—for 15 minutes or more—but could not.

At this point, the doctor told Mary and her husband, Ron, "I'm sorry, but the baby has died. I can't tell you why, but these things happen. I'm very sorry, but you will have to be induced."

Mary says, "Ron's heart and my heart were broken. We had lost our precious baby."

The nurse took Mary and Ron to the birth center and explained what would happen when they induced labor. The doctor also requested testing to find out why Mary was having difficulty breathing.

"As I was lying in bed," Mary says, "I prayed that God would watch over our child until we could meet him or her in heaven. My heart was broken, but I was filled with the hope that I would one day see my child."

Meanwhile, Ron called Mary's sister, who called a woman at their church, Pat Bailey, to ask her to pray. When Pat got the call, she said something startling: "That baby's not dead. Tell them to double-check, to get a second opinion."

Ron and Mary talked about it and decided they would talk to the doctor one more time before anything was done, just to confirm the decision. To appease the couple, the doctor ordered another ultrasound.

Back in the ultrasound room, a new nurse, who did not know why this couple was there, started the ultrasound. In a moment she said, matter-of-factly, "And there's the heartbeat."

Mary asked her, "Are you sure the baby is okay?"

The nurse told her, "The baby's heartbeat is perfect, no problems."

Mary turned and looked at the nurse from the birth center: "Her jaw dropped, and her eyes were as round as saucers." The nurse called the doctor to come look at the monitor. "I can't believe it," he finally said. "If I had not seen this, I would not have believed it. This is not the same baby I saw on the other ultrasound."

As a precaution, Mary was admitted to Good Samaritan Hospital for observation. The doctor came to her room later. "I would like to give you an explanation for what happened," he managed, "but I have none. A diagnosis like this is always verified by a second doctor. But," he went on, "there are times when medical science cannot explain everything. Sometimes the only explanation is that God intervened."

Mary says, "I did not need an explanation. I knew that God had performed a miracle, and that was all I needed to know."

On August 22, 1996, Jamie Andrew Clarke (name changed) was born—a healthy, beautiful boy. The doctor who delivered him was the same doctor who had seen the lifeless baby on the ultrasound. He said to Mary and Ron, "This baby is special."