An Easy Way to Discuss Worldviews at the Dinner Table

Does the challenge of teaching a “Christian Worldview” to your children, leave you feeling a little intimidated? If so, you’re not alone. I think most of us trying to parent from a biblical perspective feel the pressure of an increasingly vocal culture. I recently had occasion to talk to some students about the subject and part of it included a simple object lesson you may want to try at home.

Step 1: Take a clear glass and pour a random amount of water in it.
Step 2: Ask everyone to guess how many ounces of water are in the glass.
Step 3: After answers are given, talk about the value of opinions (and how even though some of the group may be older and more experienced in life, it’s still a guess)
Step 4: Ask, “How can we truly determine the amount of water in the glass?” (Answer: Have a measuring cup ready to pour the water into)
Step 5: After measuring and determining the actual amount, the guesses will prove to be close, right, or way off.

Application: As a Christian, we must measure various opinions daily against a standard; not our own, but the Bible. Consider this quote from Dr. D. James Kennedy,

“When a person makes up his own ethical code,

he always makes up an ethical system which he thinks he has kept.”

We must remember that “right” and “wrong” is defined by God. Simply put, what matches His character (as revealed in the Bible) is “right” and what doesn’t is “wrong”. That may sound trite, but we can unintentionally pick only those things in the Bible “we’ve kept” to add into our ethical code while skipping over what we haven’t. And just to be clear, it’s not an exercise in legalism, but one to illustrate God as the sole Person to define morality and acceptable behavior. Even in this enlightened age, He’s not lowered His standard, but graciously offers us a way to reach it…in Christ.

“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him…” – Colossians 2:9-10a