How Do I Talk with Someone Whose Worldview Opposes My Own?

This week on Thursday is for Thinkers, Dr. Toby Jennings explores the biblical ways to talk with someone with an opposing worldview. 

Everyone has a worldview with either more or less ingrained foundational principles. Twentieth century theologian Carl F. H. Henry asserted that "Divine revelation [is] the basic epistemological axiom." That is, if God does not provide knowledge (and even the mind and ability to assimilate that knowledge), we can have no certainty about anything. Humanity's Creator has spoken to it what is good and right; sinners simply suppress that truth (Rom 1.18-32).

Before evaluating any issue, therefore, the question is: Is one's worldview—one's reasoning of everything—grounded in divine revelation, or in self-preservation and self-interest?

Simply telling someone who doesn't follow Jesus Christ that he or she is wrong and you disagree with his or her conclusions will usually only spark an unresolvable debate (not because the issue is unresolvable, but because the darkened anti-God, self-preserving mind will always ultimately reject holiness [Rom 8.7-8; Titus 1.15-16]). Keep reading