2008 Woodie Awards
Postmodernism, pornography topics at conference
Issue date: 11/2/05 Section: News
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Staff Writer
A new meaning to the term "Christian Worldview" was added to the minds of many people while attending the Christian Worldview Conference held at North Greenville University this weekend.
"It was truly a learning experience. I was totally unaware of all the implications of postmodernism and how the world has adopted it and promotes it," said Ashley Faulkner, sophomore mass communications.
Nancy Pearcey, author of Total Truth and a scholar at the World Journalism Institute, gave a presentation of postmodern culture and every Christian's call to redeem it through a factual and Biblical Christian Worldview. She hooked up her Power Point presentation and spoke on more than one occasion throughout the conference that lasted from Friday night to Saturday afternoon.
"To a large extent Christians have tended to think of their own religion as a realm that belongs in Sunday school and not in politics. They basically made a trade off--as long as they were allowed to have their church services and Sunday school; they abandoned the rest of the culture to the secular world," said Pearcey.
Dr. Richard Land, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, also spoke regarding Christian Worldview and the American culture. He fired away at pornography, abortion and euthanasia and their far reaching effects upon society and the family. He showed students how to truly live the Christian Worldview with more than words.
"The conference went very well and I was very pleased with it. I thought several times that I wish they would have had conferences like this when I was an undergraduate. This was my second visit to North Greenville University and both times I have come away very impressed with the fact that they are striving very hard to be a Christian worldview university, and I have been impressed with the spiritual fervor and the intellectual rigor of the students," said Land.
For a Christian Worldview to prevail in this conflict between Christianity and Secularism "we have to recognize that God's truth applies to all areas of life and culture. Christians must understand that there is no separation of mind and heart, which is crucial for having the joy, power and focus that God intends for us. God's word needs to apply to all areas of life," said Pearcey.
"Christians are the light of the world, a city upon a hill shining brightly for all to see," said Land during one of his messages.
"The core of it is to love the Lord your God with all your mind, your heart and your strength. Serving the Lord is more multileveled than some Christians think, we are to be a Christian in all areas," said Pearcey. "I seek to give people the tools of what it means to serve God in their professional life and all across the board."
"What the students should take away from Nancy Pearcey and my presentations that there is a Christian Worldview that is intellectually superior to other worldviews; and that we have an obligation to be the salt and light of the world and with God's help we can turn this world around," said Land.
The conference was expected to be the first step for students to take in learning what a Biblical Christian Worldview truly is and how to apply it to everyday life and how to defend it to a secular culture.
"It's crucial to teach Christian Worldview and it's very rare in Christian colleges. Most teach from a sacred-secular split where Christianity is more of an add-on; meaning that it's added on in Chapel but the content of the courses is what you get at a secular university," said Pearcey.
"But here at NGU people are truly aware of the weaknesses of the add-on approach. They are really seeking to equip students with a larger, richer understanding of Christian truth that will really enable them to engage with an increasing secular society that is hostile to faith," said Pearcey.
"I was very pleased with the contrast between Nancy Pearcey and Dr. Land. Nancy was the teacher and presented a strong case on an information level while Dr. Land was inspirational. He gave us the motivation to go out and put into practice the things that Nancy talked about," said Dr. Tony Beam, director of Christian Worldview Center.
Pearcey now has a study guide for her book Total Truth to help students more completely understand Christian Worldview. She can be contacted at nancypearcy,com.