By Jason Hiles, Assistant Professor of Christian Studies Louisiana College
[img_assist|nid=6011|title=Jason Hiles Professor of Christian Studies Louisiana College|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=78|height=100]The narrative of Daniel begins in the third year of Jehoiakim king of Judah, which is the year that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, captured Jerusalem and carried many of its inhabitants into exile.
Among the captives were a number of young men who had no obvious faults, were handsome, and had obtained a measure of wisdom that apparently drew the Babylonians’ attention (Daniel 1:4a). In short, the victorious king took for himself the cream of the crop from among Judah’s youth, robbing an entire generation of its future leaders and wise men.
Once chosen, the young men were taken into the king’s palace where they were educated in the literature and language of their captors (Daniel 1:4b).
Babylonian literature, as archaeology makes clear, was in no way religiously neutral.
The mythology of Babylon was saturated with references to the gods Bel, Nebo, and Marduk, to name a few. The king’s servants even required that the young captives study these writings in the Babylonian tongue so that they would not miss the details and subtle nuances of the literature.
In this way the Babylonians intended to supplant the wisdom of Judah’s youth with the “wisdom” of Babylon.
This three-year process amounted to indoctrination as much as education.
During this time the beliefs of God’s people were challenged by alternative understandings of the earth’s origin, human nature, and the manner of the gods.
While Daniel may appear to be little more than an interesting story from history, a careful examination of contemporary culture reveals that the present environment bears frightening similarities to the situation in Daniel’s day.
Clearly no foreign king has literally invaded our nation or taken our children away to a foreign land. Nonetheless, worldviews that are foreign to the Christian faith and contrary to the witness of Scripture are continually pressed upon the young of our nation as well as the old.
In essence, a worldview is a foundational set of assumptions grounded in a series of faith commitments of some sort.
This set of assumptions includes understandings concerning the existence and nature of God, the nature of the universe and human beings, and the purpose and significance of human life.
Upon the aforementioned foundational understandings we build our entire lives, and that foundation shapes all that is built upon it. Most people are not aware that they hold a set of faith-based assumptions until their understandings are challenged by someone whose assumptions differ from their own.
Worldview assumptions may be challenged in a variety of ways. Often we encounter different ways of understanding the world within social contexts and in casual conversation with others.
When we recognize that someone is speaking from a faith basis that differs significantly from our own, we must make a choice.
We may accept another’s understandings, thereby altering our own worldview, or else we may reject the other’s understandings and perhaps attempt to influence his or her beliefs by our own.
Many situations, however, do not allow significant opportunity to challenge competing worldviews. However, this does not obligate us to adopt false beliefs for ourselves.
For instance, worldview commitments are communicated through each and every television program and movie that is ever made.
Whenever one watches a movie, such as The Lion King or The Chronicles of Narnia, he or she is being confronted with the beliefs and values of those who made the movie.
Movies convey worldview convictions primarily through imagery, dialogue, and music, and they do so at moments when many individuals and their families have let their guard down – expecting entertainment, not indoctrination.
When we enter imaginatively into fictional worlds that Hollywood presents, we are encouraged to consider life from another’s point of view.
As a result we may find ourselves laughing at jokes that we would be too embarrassed to repeat in Sunday school, or empathizing with immoral behavior when love seems sincere, or perhaps pondering whether violence is an appropriate way of solving some problems.
Cinema and television would have little effect on Christ-followers if movies and network programming directly challenged the core beliefs of the Christian faith. But they rarely take that approach.
Typically, the entertainment industry presents alternative worldviews to its audiences without drawing unnecessary attention to the belief systems underlying its productions.
Such was the danger of literature in Daniel’s day.
As impressionable youth were trained in the king’s palace they studied book after book that was brimming with literary imagery and dialogue, which painted a picture of the world that was altogether different from the picture presented by the God of the Bible.
If any of the youths wondered whether a worldview was superior to theirs, the Babylonians could have simply pointed out that, according to the literature, their gods had proven mightier than all other gods.
Furthermore, these strange gods had granted their worshippers glory, power, and riches much like that enjoyed by movie stars in today’s world.
Movies and television are by no means the only media through which rival worldviews are disseminated.
The nightly news, internet blogs, advertising, educational systems, and virtually all other modes of human communication provide forums in which worldviews are presented and in which they vie for our affection and allegiance.
In the face of false alternatives to the true God, Daniel and his friends were not impressed because they recognized that they were being confronted with an utterly corrupt view of reality.
We too must engage the world fully aware that our fallen culture perpetuates many lies that masquerade as truth.
Rather than entertaining secret desires to enjoy the riches of “Babylon,” we must expose the lies where possible and resist their allure at all times.
The same great God who delivered Daniel and the other young men from the temptations of Babylon is faithful in our day and able to preserve His children from stumbling and to present them blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy (Jude 24-25).