Through God S Eyes

“Through God’s Eyes”

WorldViewEyes Presentation at Christ in Youth 2004

A WorldViewEyes Presentation

Produced/Written by Dr. Rich Knopp

Background Research and Significant Contributions by:

Todd Henry, Adam Johnson, Billy Barton, Becky Hart, Robby Hart

Program Presenters:

Billy Barton, Adam Johnson, Rich Knopp, Todd Henry, Tracy Thomas, Rondel Ramsey

[NOTE: The following material is the basic speaker script along with miniature slides for the WorldViewEyes multimedia presentation that was given at 21 Christ in Youth Conferences in the summer of 2004. Speakers used their own styles and emphasized different material in a variety of ways. The original presentation included animated PowerPoint and video clips. If you use any of this material, please provide proper credit to the WorldViewEyes program. Questions may be directed to Dr. Rich Knopp at the email address provided above.]

/ Good morning/afternoon. My name is _____ from _____. We are trying to help Christians see the world with WorldviewEyes. I am here on behalf of the WorldviewEyes Youth Program to help you see your world through God's eyes.
[share a little personal information about yourself to make connections.]
/ As I said, my name is ______. I am one of the presenters for WorldviewEyes at the CIY conferences this summer. All of us are convinced that what we have to say can be of extreme value to you and your faith. It's my privilege to help you think a little deeper and help your eyes see a little farther.
/ The WorldviewEyes program and was created just about four years ago to help Christian teens understand themselves, their faith, and their world of multimedia and other worldviews. We've had the opportunity to share our presentations with over 50,000 people since the program began.
/ The WorldviewEyes program provides multimedia presentations for conventions, conferences, and churches; it has a valuable and interesting website that we'd like to invite you to visit; it offers an Internet class on worldviews that you can take for college credit or an achievement certificate; it is writing a unique multimedia curriculum on worldviews called "Worldview Inoculation: Get A Shot Where It Counts"; and the program hosts four advanced summer youth seminars with different emphases.
/ We have a week-long seminar on Worldviews and Pop Culture held at Lincoln Christian College; a seminar on the worldviews and Urban Discipleship in Chicago; and outdoorsman seminar on Creation and Psychology in Colorado; and a seminar on church planting in New Hampshire. These are remarkable opportunities for Christian teenagers, and there may even be room left to attend this summer.
/ You should have received a sign up card when you came in to the session. We want to encourage you to register with WorldviewEyes so we can keep you informed about the program and how it can help you grow as a Christian.
/ We are giving away a free WorldViewEyes T-shirt to one person in each of our sessions.
/ To provide even more incentive for you to register, WorldviewEyes will be giving away a worldview “eye-pod” at the end of the summer. The winner will be drawn from the cards that are submitted this summer, and the winner will be announced on the website on Friday, August 13th.
/ Please make sure you fill out a WVE contact card so you'll be eligible to win.
/ WorldviewEyes wants to challenge you to use “Worldview Eyes” when you get back home. To help you do this, we are giving away stickers for your remote control at home. Every time you touch that remote, we hope you will remember to watch that show or that movie, or listen to that music with Worldview Eyes.
Make sure you pick up a WorldviewEyes remote control sticker. It will help you remember some of what we talked about today.
/ This week, you going to have some great experiences at CIY conference –with worship, D-groups, spending time in God's word and with one another. But one of the most important things that could happen for you this week is for you to understand what it means to see your world "Through God's eyes" and commit yourself to doing that when you get home and for the rest of your life. Today, our important task is to think about what it means to see "Through God's eyes."
We want to help you see with WorldviewEyes. We want to challenge you to think about everything in your culture with a Christian mind. And we want to give you something that will help to remind you to do that when you get back home.
/ What does it mean to look at your world with WorldviewEyes?
Let's remind ourselves of some of what we encounter in our culture.
/ VIDEO MANTAGE ON WV STUFF
/ BLACK SLIDE FOR WV VIDEO MANTAGE.
/ My guess is that when you looked at those clips, not all of you saw exactly the same thing. In fact, hardly anybody sees exactly the same thing as someone else.
How many of you are wearing glasses or contacts? [ get audible responses] it makes a lot of difference when you're wearing, doesn't it?
How many of you think you have really bad eyes? ... Well, no matter what your eyes are like, we don't all see the same thing even when we look at the same thing.
/ For example, take a look at this circle. What number do you see?
This is an isochromatic color chart that's used to identify people with color blindness. Even people who are colorblind can generally see the number 25 inside this circle.
/ However, what about this picture? [ shout out the number you see. ]
What about this one? [ the number is 5 ]
What about this one? [ the number is 42 ]
What about this picture in the lower right? [ the number is 56 ]
You see, we don't all see the same thing, even when we look at the same thing. In fact, sometimes people just can't see it.
/ Many of you have seen this picture before. How many of you can see something in this picture? [get audible responses. shout out what you see.]
When people look at this and picture, some of them see Jesus and other people don't. If you can't see Jesus here, it's a good thing you are at a CIY conference. Maybe you'll get converted!
/ Have you ever thought much about what other things see with their eyes? For example of you ever wondered what a honey bee sees?
If you look at this picture, you would see six black spokes that look like this. However if you were a honeybee flying by, that picture would look more like this.
/ As a human, if you look at this picture, you see a target with several black circles. However, if you were a honey, bee this is what you would see.
/ If you were looking at a map of much of the world, this is what you might see.
However, if you were a little honey bee flying around the room, hovering over this map lying on the table, you would actually see something like this.
/ How many of you think you know what you see here? [ Give brief time for response.]
You couldn't see this with your eyes, that an instrument doing a CAT scan would be able to see the lungs inside a chest cavity
/ But can you see here? If you've gone through an airport in recent years, you probably know what this is. Our human eyes can't see what it is from the outside, but the X-ray machine shows us a pair of shoes and some other objects inside this suitcase.
/ And Eagle can see a rabbit from a thousand feet. (Sometimes,Ican'tseemyowntwo feet!)
/ When we think about it, they're all kinds of different eyes and ways of seeing the world.
/ How do you think God sees the world? Does God see the world like a honey bee, an X-ray machine, a CAT scan, or an eagle?
I suppose God can see in all of these ways and a whole lot more that we can't even imagine. He sees all the bigness of the universe and he sees the smallest subatomic particles.
A / When God looks at the universe, does it look like this?
A / Or this?
A / Or this?
A / Or this?
A / How about this?
/ When God looks through space, what does he see? How does he see?
/ Does he have some ghostly looking eyes?
We know that God does not have a literal body. And yet we know that God sees the world and everything in it. The question is: what would it mean to see the "Through God's eyes"?
/ I mean, if God had some special Divine glasses or contact lenses that you could wear, what would you see if you put them on? If you watched the video clips that we saw a moment ago with God's eyes, what would you see then?
When it be neat if we could get some special lenses from God, put them on, and wear them constantly? We would probably see the world a whole lot differently from the way we see it now.
In fact the WorldviewEyes program has been working diligently to produce some special lenses to help you do just that. See what I'm talking about.
/ WVE LENS COMMERCIAL
/ BLACK SLIDE FOR WVE LENS COMMERCIAL VIDEO
/ OK, maybe that kind of lens won’t work very well, but WorldViewEyes is hoping to improve them.
It's not really magical or instantaneous, but God really does call us to see the world in a special way--to see the world "Through His Eyes." and even though we cannot see the world nearly like God can, God wants us to learn how to see the world, as much as possible, like He does.
I want to suggest that what God wants is for us to have worldview lenses —to see everything in our culture "Through his eyes."
If we had Worldview eyes, what would they do?
/ If you had WorldviewEyes, you would visualize the big questions of life. You would be led to dwell on questions that you don't often think about or don't often think about very long.
/ What are the big questions? There are a lot of important questions we ask everyday. What we having for supper? Where are you doing this weekend? Will you going to college? These are important questions, but they're not the real big questions.
/ Let me suggest that WorldviewEyes would help you organize your thoughts about the big questions of life. One easy way to help you do this is to think about six letters and too small words: The first word is G U M-- gum.
/ The second word is T E.D. – Ted
Gum – Ted. these two little words can remind you of the big questions that you need to think about. They can also help you talk to your friends and lead them to consider the real important issues.
How many of you would like to be more effective as a witness to your non-Christian friends? I believe one of the best ways to do this is to create opportunities to talk about Gum-Ted. What do these letters stand for?
It's not really that hard.
/ G stands for God. Is there a God, and if so, what is that God like?
U stands for universe. Is the universe all there is? Hasn't always been here? Was it created? These are some of the really big questions.
M stands for man. Who are we? When did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going?
/ [TRY TO SUMMARIZE THIS PRETTY QUICKLY.]
T stands for truth. In our day, many people say that there is no such thing as truth. But even when they talk that way, they still have an idea about truth. Is there real truth or not? How do we know truth? If there is a God, does he give us any truth?
E stands for ethics? Ethics asks questions about what is right and wrong. Is it right for me to lie in this situation? Is it OK to cheat on the next exam? Is it alright to get an abortion if I have repented from my sexual activity? Who determines what's right and wrong?
The letter “D” stands for death. It's not something we like to think about, but it's something that we will probably all experience. Unless the universe ends, you are going to die. In fact, if the universe ends, you are going to die. What happens then?
We get all kinds of answers to these questions. They’re important questions. They’re the really big questions. If we have WorldviewEyes, these are the questions that we will constantly be asking. If you think about G U M and T E D, you will be thinking about the big questions and you will began using WorldviewEyes.
Fortunately, our culture gives us quite a bit of help in raising these questions.
/ VIDEO: MATRIX (ABOUT THE DREAM WORLD)
/ BLACK SLIDE FOR MATRIX VIDEO
/ Thematrixraisessomeveryinterestingand BIG questions. Howdoyouknowyouarenotdreamingrightnow?(Iknow,someofyoumaybedreamingrightnow. Or, youthinkthisisanightmare.)
/ Movieslikethe matrix giveusaremarkableopportunityto raise these questions with those around us.
/ Our world seems all mixed up. Things don't seem in order. Some of your friends are terribly confused.
Howcanwebegintomakesenseofallthisconfusion?
/ Ifweunderstandwhatitmeanstohaveworldvieweyes,wewill begin viewsavaluablemaptounderstandourworld. A map that makes sense out of what you experience. Amapthatwillhelpyoucategorizemanyofthesebeliefs.
/ The main question we always one to ask is: how does God see the world? What does it mean to see the world "Through his eyes"?
Foronething, if you have WorldviewEyes, you will visualize the big questions.
/ There's another thing that Worldview eyes will do: WorldviewEyes will help you appropriately categorize different beliefs.
We know that people believe different things. But we don't often consciously think about those differences, and how those differences compare to the Christian faith.
/ In our media world, we have instant access to other cultures and other religions. Most of you encounter all kinds of different beliefs every day when you go to school.
/ How many of you could name five different religions? [real quick: turn to somebody close to you and list five different religions.] According to the Center for the study of global Christianity, in mid-2004 there are 10,600 distinct organized religions and over 37,000 "Christian" denominations in the world. That's a lot of different beliefs! And that doesn't even include the philosophies that don't accept any kind of God.
/ As you probably know, almost all of these beliefs are called some kind of "ISM." Here's a list of seven of the major ism's in our world.
And your response to these ism's is probably very similar to a response given in a movie that is widely watched by teens.
/ FERRIS BUELLER VIDEO
/ BLACK SLIDE FOR FERRIS BUELLER VIDEO
/ You may feel a lot of Ferris Bueller! All these ISM’S sound way too confusing to worry about. But one problem with this idea is that if you say you don't like ism's, and you don't want to accept an ism, you are still committing yourself to an ism! You can’t really avoid some kind of ISM in your life.
/ Another way to talk about these ism's is to say that they are different worldviews.
A worldview is simply your basic beliefs about the big questions. A worldview is a lens that help you interpret the world around you.
It is especially important, I believe, for Christians to be concerned about different ISM’S or different worldviews ...
/ ... because we are warned not to be taken captive by Philosophy or any kind of empty deception. God has called not only to accept the truth, but to live the truth.
/ Though a list of ISM’S like this may seem very confusing, I want to show you that this can be understood pretty simply and by almost everybody. In fact, what I want to show you is that many of the major ISM’S can be basically understood by using very simple symbols and some common objects that you’re well acquainted with.
/ Here'sabriefoverviewofallofthesymbolswewilllookat. Noticethat we’re justusingsomecircles,sometriangles,andsomecurvedlines. Itwillbeasdifficultasyouthinktounderstandthesedifferentbeliefs.
Afterwedoabrieflookatthese ISM’S, we will take a quick quiz to show you how much you can learn about something that seems so difficult.
/ Let'sbeginwithChristian theism. “Theism” referstobeliefinaGodofsomesort. Christiantheism is the belief that God created the universe, and then God entered the universe by revealing himself and by coming in the form of his son Jesus. Weassociate two basicobjectswiththisbelief:theBibleandtheCross.
/ Deism accepts that God is creator of the universe, but the universe is now totally closed off to God. It's like the universe is in a box by itself. youcanrememberdeismbythinkingaboutaclock.It'slikeGodcreatedtheuniverse,wounduptheclockoftheuniverse,andthenwentawayfortheuniversetorunbyitself.
/ Secular Humanism gives up on God entirely. There is no God, but they believe that humans are great. And because of that humans with the God, can accomplish whatever they want. It's a very optimistic view; they are very happy with their potential and their accomplishments.
WhenyouthinkofSecularHumanism,youcouldthinkofaconstructionset.Secularhumanists believethatwecanconstructprettymuchwhateverwewant.Wehave all of the necessary pieces inourownbox;wejustneedsometimetodoit.