Yoda, Pocahontas, and the Only Two Worldviews

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). Those words, which mark the beginning of our Bibles, are far more significant than perhaps many of us realize. In some ways, they set Christianity apart from almost every other worldview. Genesis 1:1 tells us we can put everything that exists into one of two categories: the Creator or the creation. Christian Pastor and author Peter Jones says there’s only two basic worldviews: One-ism and Two-ism.

Understanding the Two Worldviews

You can visualize it with circles. In one-ism there’s one circle because at deep down everything is part of the same thing. In two-ism, there are two circles, one representing the Creator, and the other representing creation. Two-ism affirms an irreducible distinction between creation and Creator.

The Nature of Two-ism

Two-ism says there are two kinds of existence. God exists eternally and everything else has a beginning. Christianity is a twoism because it recognizes there is a Creator God who exists outside of the universe. God is transcendent; He is exalted, above us, beyond us, other than us. This is clearly taught throughout the Scriptures. In fact, when the Bible calls God “holy” it is not first and foremost talking about His morality. The Hebrew word קוֹדֶש [ka-dowsh] means “consecrated,” “set apart,” “different,” or “other.” He is the holy Other, the Transcendent One. In the gospel, Christians are united to Christ, pointing to the greater reality of God, his creation, and his plan of redemption.

The Nature of One-ism

One-ism, on the other hand, teaches that there is only one kind of existence. The world is either self-creating or infinite. Everything is made up of the same stuff (matter, spirit, or some combination). One-ism asserts that everything is essentially one. In its secular forms, One-ism teaches that there is no spiritual realm. Everything that exists is just a different form of matter. This is the worldview of atheists and most agnostics. In its spiritual forms, One-ism teaches that god is everything or that everything is in god. This includes nearly every religion known to humanity: Buddhism, Hinduism, paganism, gnosticism, Greek mythology, Native American religions, Wiccans, and more.

One-ism in Popular Culture

You may think you're never going to encounter this stuff, but consider just a few examples:

• Pocahontas: In the Disney cartoon, the film’s heroine sings, "The rainstorm and the river are my brothers... And we are all connected to each other / In a circle, in a hoop that never ends." That’s a clear example of one-ism.
• Yoda: In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda says, "My ally is the Force... Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter."

For both Pocahontas and Yoda, everything that exists is part of the same stuff. There is no distinction between different creatures because there is no distinction between the Creator and the creation. Even death itself transforms from an enemy to just another part of the great circle of one-ness. Or, as Yoda tells Anakin, "Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice, for those around you who transform into the force."

The Implications for Sexuality and Society

These two fundamentally opposed worldviews lead to different sexual views and practices. Romans 1 shows that there are really only two religions in the world. Oneists worship the creation instead of the Creator, and inevitably in some way creation becomes God. Rejection of God leads to embracing sexual sin. The underlying idolatry of all homosexual sin is the rejection of the creator/creature distinction of Christianity. Homosexuality at its root is loving the same thing that you are when we are designed to love that which is different than us. Homosexuality denies the explicit twoness of human sexuality. Men and women are different, and these differences are complementary. What we worship determines how we live. God has created human sexuality to reflect the complementary nature of creation, its twoness. True marriage, one man and one woman for life, reflects the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Homosexuality rejects all of this and denies the twoism reality of the universe.

Comparison of Worldviews

• Two-ism: Recognizes a Creator God outside the universe; worships the Creator; maintains the distinction between God and creation.
• One-ism: Asserts everything is one; worships the creation; sees no irreducible distinction between matter and spirit.

Christians must realize that the moral problems we have today run far deeper than most of us realize. It starts not with sexual orientation, but our disposition toward God. It is only by understanding that God exists, and that he is outside of Creation as its Lord, that we can renew our society. Christians must proclaim and live by this truth—this is God’s world and we are called to worship him alone.