The word lays out the worldview, the world provides the contrast.
What is a worldview?
Proclaiming the gospel into godless worldviews
Let's think about another example. A person might respond to the Christian doctrine of Hell and ask how this can be. After all, they know Muslims and Buddhists with stronger faith than many Christians. Why then would the Muslims and Buddhists go to Hell?
On the surface, the accusation is that the Bible presents a double standard—an unfair matrix of judgment. And in fact it does, if you are evaluating it by a post-modern worldview. But the scriptures do not live inside such a worldview! What is the worldview assumption behind the question? It is that the potency of one's faith should determine their destination after death. The assumption is that the strength of belief is of utmost importance. But it is not! Rather, the Bible presents the object of our faith as primary.
And we can dig even deeper. The one bringing this objection also seems to assume the non-existence of God, even as he speaks of him! What do I mean? Well, the same person would never live according to his religious creed in the “real world.” That is, he would not just get on any bus and tell himself the important part is his strong belief that it will get him to where he needs to go. Also, when someone alerts him to the fact that he is on the wrong bus, he does not consider such a person to be judgmental; he thanks him and rechecks the route! In the real world, this person knows that the strength of his belief does not determine reality. On the other hand, strength of belief is important with a placebo. Though it is an empty pill, one's belief to the contrary can have beneficial effects. To this person, God is a mere placebo—he is not real.
The question for us as teachers is whether we will be courageous enough to explain this to people that think this way. For it always cuts deeper when we cut into a person's worldview.
When Christian worldviews are not Christian
But much of our teaching will of course be aimed at believers. That fact makes this point no less relevant. For one, we must guard people from being conformed to the world, and we do so by clearly teaching them the difference. We also need to rescue Christians out of false worldviews which already have a foothold in their lives, and even in our churches.
For example, there are many big problems with the “prosperity gospel” that we could address. Biblical arguments against such teaching are plentiful. But another way to shine a light upon the bankruptcy of such theology is to note the worldview at its roots. What is that worldview? The prosperity gospel seeks to motivate us by the promise of more stuff and ease in the here and now, which happens to be the exact same motivation inherent in most advertising. In both cases, the worldview is materialism, not the Bible.
Jesus himself shows us how godless worldviews can infect biblical living in the way he introduces several point in the Sermon on the Mount.
You have heard that it was said... But I say to you... (six times in Matthew 5)
But that which was said is God's word! The problem was, however, that it had been infected with the worldviews of self-righteousness and minimalism. The quotes are indeed from the Bible, but in the mouths of hypocrites, the meaning is no longer pure.
If you want to learn the art of destroying unbiblical worldviews, go no further than Jesus. Watch how he responds to people. He is always pulling the lies out by their roots.