Category Archives: Worldview

HOLLYWOOD WORLDVIEWS AND POSTMILLENNIALISM

Culture, Worldview August 26, 2015 Leave a comment

Godawa backup 2PMT 2015-102 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Millennial views represent an important feature of a Christian worldview. How the world is developing and how it will end necessarily impact one’s worldview thinking. In our day secular humanism is the dominant worldview, crushing out all opposition. But secular humanism is built on air — literally on a chance explosion 13.7 billion years ago. Or perhaps 13.8 billion years ago, depending on who you read.

Postmillennialism is a key component of a truly biblical, and ultimately optimistic worldview. My commitment to postmillennialism is not a side venture in my thinking. It is key to what I believe to be the truth of Scripture. Unfortunately, too many evangelicals are unaware of worldviews and worldview thinking. Because of that “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4:6). And if Christians are not self-consciously aware of the biblical worldview, they will un-self-consciously pick up on a secular worldview by osmosis from our culture. Continue reading →

CULTURE, MOVIES, AND POSTMILLENNIALISM

Culture, Worldview August 17, 2015 Comments: 6

Hollywood worldviewsPMT 2015-099 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Postmillennialism believes in cultural engagement. In fact, it necessarily does so, and it does so as a transformationist approach to culture. That is, we believe that fallen culture must not only be challenged by the gospel and God’s word, but must be transformed by the power of God working through his people.

Modern American culture is greatly impacted by Hollywood movies and therefore by the Hollywood worldviews. Since movies are very much on people’s minds today, we as postmillennialists must recognize the power of story, the power of movies to affect our culture. And to do so, we must be able to discern, critique, and rebut the fallen worldviews presented in most movies today.

Perhaps the premiere analyst of Hollywood’s worldviews is Reformed, postmillennial, Christian apologist, screen writer, and author, Brian Godawa. His book Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Movies with Wisdom and Discernment is a must-have book for the alert Christian today. Continue reading →

POSTMILLENNIAL FAILURE TO ENGAGE CULTURE?

Culture, Optimism, Worldview August 12, 2015 Comments: 2

Christian educationPMT 2015-087 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

A PostmillennialismToday reader is concerned that he sees postmillennialists withdrawing from culture rather than engaging it. Here is his question:

J.W. writes:

“I appreciate and have enjoyed much of your work. In fact, it was largely due to Edwards, you, and a few others that I saw postmillennialism as the midst rationally biblical option. That actually drove me into one of the most liberal cities in the US, but I find many PMers to be fleeing cultural engagement and implantation as much if not more than others. Why do you suppose that is a characteristic of many PMers but that I seem to be understanding it differently?” Continue reading →

ESCHATOLOGY IN THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY (2)

History, Theology, Worldview April 8, 2015 Leave a comment

Philosophy History 2PMT 2015-043 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Postmillennialism involves the whole system of biblical doctrine. In the basic Christian philosophy of history, eschatology is a key plank. In my last blog article I began a brief overview of the basic elements of the Christian view of history. In that article I focused on the basic doctrine of God. I will now complete my overview by considering the remaining elements.

Creation

All of reality derives from a personal, moral, sovereign being. The Christian’s creational viewpoint puts man under God and over nature (Ge 1:26–27; Ps 8). It imparts transcendent meaning to temporal history and sets before man a high calling. Continue reading →

ESCHATOLOGY IN THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY (1)

History, Worldview April 6, 2015 1 Comment

Philosophy History 1PMT 2015-042 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Eschatology is a greatly abused feature of systematic theology. The modern evangelical world is filled with Rapture-theorists, Armageddon-fearers, and Antichrist-identifiers. The integrity of the Christian faith has taken a powerful hit due to the naivete of so many publications by “prophecy experts.”

Yet, eschatology is an important element within a full-orbed systematic theology. Despite its abuse by televangelists and novelists, we must be careful not to avoid it as an embarrassment to our holy faith. Indeed, we need to reclaim it as a fundamental feature of a Christian philosophy of history.

In this two-part study, I will outline some key elements of a biblical, Christian philosophy of history. At the end of this brief overview we will see how eschatology is one of those key elements that help define the faith. Continue reading →

POSTMILLENNIALISM AND PLANETARY EXPLORATION?

Worldview December 1, 2014 Comments: 4

MarsPMT 2014-144 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

I want to start a practice of asking Facebook friends and PostmillennialismToday readers for some questions about eschatology that they might have. This is my first effort at that. Be aware: I usually upload blog articles several weeks in advance. So your question might come slowly, rather than what you might expect: “the time is near.” Send your questions to me at: KennethGentry@cs.com

Daniel Jansky asks: “Colossians 1 says Christ is redeeming all of earth and the heavens to Himself. Is it possible that we will colonize other planets before the Lord comes back?” Continue reading →

Homosexuality and National Immorality

Worldview February 24, 2014 1 Comment

PMT 2014-024b by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

In our current environment we are facing a number of moral issues that are politically-charged. Some of these are issues directly affecting our everyday lives here in America; others involve issues appearing in other cultures and nations of our world which can indirectly affect our political situation. Continue reading →