What in the World is a World View? And where can I get one? © John Stevenson, 2008.

What in the World is What in the World is a World View?a World View?

And where can I get one?

© John Stevenson, 2008

What is a World View?What is a World View?

A window to the world

The glasses through which we seeThe glasses through which we see

What did you see?What did you see?

What is a Worldview?What is a Worldview?

A worldview is a set of presuppositions which we hold about the basic makeup of our world.

James Sire

Take Every Thought CaptiveTake Every Thought Captive

“We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Be Ready to Make a Be Ready to Make a DefenseDefense

“Always being ready to make a defense

to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).

Romans 12:1-2Romans 12:1-2Therefore I urge you, brethren,

by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Stated NegativelyDo not be

conformed to this world

Stated PositivelyBe transformed by

the renewing of your mind

Course ObjectivesCourse Objectives

• Discover and understand what is a world view

• Define your own personal world view

• Understand what are the essential elements of a biblical Christian world view

• Reflect on what it means to think Christianly

Course ObjectivesCourse Objectives

• Integrate the biblical Christian world view into all areas of life

• Discern world views in circumstances of life, especially in popular culture and the media

• Live the Christian faith

Four Basic QuestionsFour Basic Questions

• What is real?– What is the nature of

ultimate reality?– Is this universe all

there is?– Is this physical

universe an illusion?– Who or what is God?

Timothy Phillips&

Sennis Okholm

Page 27

Four Basic QuestionsFour Basic Questions

• What is real?

• Who am I?– What does it mean to

be human?– What is the purpose of

human existence?– What are we doing

here?Timothy Phillips&

Sennis Okholm

Page 27

Four Basic QuestionsFour Basic Questions

• What is real?

• Who am I?

• What is wrong?– What is the origin of

suffering and evil?– Why do we die?– What keeps humans

from utopia?Timothy Phillips&

Sennis Okholm

Page 27

Four Basic QuestionsFour Basic Questions

• What is real?

• Who am I?

• What is wrong?

• What is the solution?– How does one remedy

this problem?– How does one attain

“salvation”?Timothy Phillips&

Sennis Okholm

Page 27

Most of your World View lies

under the surface and is

not immediately obvious

What a World View Does

• Understood

• Accepted

• Acted upon

One’s worldview determines how the events and circumstances of life will be…

Questions that inform all world views

• Definition: What is it?

• Purpose: Why is it here?

• Direction: Where is it going?

• Application: What should we do about it?

NaturalismNaturalismSubtitle: The silence of finite space

• Secular Humanism• God is removed; the

universe was self-activating

• Human personality is only an interrelation of chemical properties

• Values are man-made

““The cosmos The cosmos is all that is is all that is and all that and all that was and all was and all

that ever will that ever will be.”be.”

― Carl Sagan

C.S. Lewis in C.S. Lewis in his book his book

MiraclesMiracles……

Naturalism is self-refuting because it

is inconsistent with the validity of

reasoning.

NihilismNihilismSire’s subtitle: Zero point

• Extreme pessimism / skepticism

• Nothing has meaning, value, significance, dignity or worth

• Human beings are conscious machines with no ability to effect their destiny

• Human animal only invents values

B.F. Skinner

ExistentialismExistentialismSubtitle: Beyond Nihilism

• Humanity is central: people make themselves who they are

• Knowledge is subjective• No absolute moral values• History is uncertain and

even unimportant• Supernatural is brushed

aside

Jean-PaulSartre

Atheistic Theistic

Existentialism

ExistentialismExistentialismSubtitle: Beyond Nihilism

Even the theistic version says that the Bible, though “religiously true,” is historically untrustworthy.

Paul Tillich

Eastern PantheismEastern Pantheism

• Many (if not all) roads lead to the One

• Ideas are not really important

• Time is unreal• History is cyclical• Desire to enter the

undifferentiated One; in one sense, each person is God

New AgeNew AgeSire’s subtitle: A separate universe

• “Core” experience is cosmic consciousness

• No personal God; only a mysterious Force; no Lord of the Universe unless it be us

• Borrows heavily from animism

““May the May the force be with force be with

you”you”

― Yoda

The Circle of LifeThe Circle of Life

PostmodernismPostmodernismSire’s subtitle: The vanished horizon

• All stories equally valid• Focus changes from being to

knowing• Paradoxically, reality is forever

hidden• Any story but my own is

oppressive• Social good = whatever

society takes it to be at the moment

PostmodernismPostmodernismSire’s subtitle: The vanished horizon

• The postmodernist stares blankly at any claims to truth and shrugs: “Okay if it works for you.”

• “There are many kinds of truths and consequently, there is no truth” – Nietzsche

• Instead of “the truth shall make you free,” postmodernism claims that “freedom shall make you true.”

Wayne Stayskal, Tampa Tribune

Postmodernists and TruthPostmodernists and Truth

• “Truth is what one’s peers let one get away with” -- Richard Rorty

• “Postmodern ethics inevitably slides in the direction of nihilism, holding that since nothing is really true, nothing is necessarily good” -- Gerard Reed

“Reality is that which, when you

stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” - Philip Dick (1928-

1982)

DeismDeismSire’s subtitle: The clockwork universe

• God– Is Distant

• an intellect to be recognized• not a person to be worshipped

– Is an architect, not a lover or a judge

• The Cosmos is not fallen or abnormal

Voltaire

The Cosmos in DeismThe Cosmos in Deism

• A closed, linear, cause and effect system

• A clockwork universe that God allowed to run on its own

• God, as the first cause, never intervenes

• Miracles do not happenVoltaire

Christian TheismChristian TheismSire’s subtitle: A world charged with the

grandeur of God

Knowledge, death, reality, ethics, history, and the

realness of human beings are all focused on God.

Matthew 6:24Matthew 6:24No one can serve two masters;

for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

How is one’s world view impacted if he attempts to

serve two masters?

What is the What is the impact of impact of taking a taking a

“double vision” “double vision” approach to approach to

life?life?