Cwv 101 topic 1 day 3 worldview 2

Topic 1 • Day 3 • Wed, Sep. 15, 2021
CWV-101 • Christian Worldview

Culture is Visible
Worldview invisible

Behaviors

Traditions

Religious Practices
Values

Political Beliefs

Religious Beliefs
Worldview
Visible
Invisible

Today’s Lesson
A. De
fi
nition of a worldview

B. Analogies of a worldview

C. Components of a worldview

D. Types of worldviews

E. Tests of a worldview
(Hiles & Faith, 2020, Chapter 2)

A. Definition of Worldview
Worldview is a foundational set of assumptions to which
one commits that serves as a framework for understanding
and interpreting reality and deeply shapes one’s behavior.

(Waddel & Jibben, 2021, “What in the World is Worldview?”)

B. Analogies a Worldview
Ways to describe a worldview
1. Set of Assumptions

2. Set of Commitments

3. Framework to understand the world

4. Meta-Narrative (Overarching story)
(Waddel & Jibben, 2021, “What in the World is Worldview?”)

Worldview is described as a story
Meta-Narrative

C. Components of a Worldview
1. Nature of Ultimate Reality

2. Nature of the Universe

3. Nature of Humans

4. Nature of Knowledge (Truth)

5. Nature of Right Behavior (Ethics)

6. Purpose of Life

1. Ultimate Reality
De
fi
nition:

The absolute, supreme, and
fi
nal person,
power, principle or substance underlying
the universe.
(Hiles & Smith. (2020). “Ultimate Reality”)

Ultimate
Reality
What you plainly see
Plain meaning of what see
Deeper meaning below surface
Ultimate reality

1. Ultimate Reality
a. God of the Bible exists

b. Personal divine being exists

c. Impersonal living force exists

d. Impersonal set of mathematical principles

1. What are the implications?
Impersonal force throughout the universe

1. What are the implications?
Personal God of the Bible who is aware of us

1. What are the implications of personal god?
• Personal God exists

• Is that God just?

• Does this God hold evil people accountable?

1. What are the implications of personal god?
• Is there a personal God?

• Is that God just?

• Will a just God hold evil people accountable?

• Will a just God hold us accountable for our actions?

Yom ha Din (Day of Judgement)
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was
seated on it. From his presence earth and sky
fl
ed away,
and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead,
great and small, standing before the throne, and books
were opened. Then another book was opened, which is
the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was
written in the books, according to what they had done.

(Revelation 20:11–12 ESV)

1. What are the implications of a personal god?
• If a personal God exists, and

• If that personal God is just, then

• That God will hold evil people accountable,

• That God may hold us accountable for our actions

2. Universe
a. Closed System (only a physical world)

b. Open System (an invisible spiritual world)
(Hiles & Smith. (2020). “Nature of the Universe”)

2. Universe
• How do you explain the inexplicable?

2. Universe

• Is there an invisible, supernatural world?

2. Universe

• Is there an invisible, supernatural world?

• Do miracles exist, or are all phenomena explained
by natural physical laws?

Humans
Visible
Physical World
Nothing
Nothing
CLOSED SYSTEM

Humans
Visible
Physical World
Nothing
Nothing
All phenomena explained by physical laws

Humans
God or
Divine Being
Spirits
Family
Members
Visible
Physical World
Invisible
Spiritual World
Invisible
Spiritual World
OPEN SYSTEM

Humans
Spirits
Family
Members
Visible
Physical World
Invisible
Spiritual World
Invisible
Spiritual World
Inexplicable phenomena may be explained spiritually

Is there evidence for an invisible
spiritual world?

David Hume
1711 - 1776

• Father of Naturalism

• There is only physical universe

• There are only physical laws

David Hume
1711 - 1776

• No Evidence for supernatural world

• Miracles cannot be reproduced

• Therefore they cannot be validated

• Therefore they cannot prove anything

Beyond our physical world

Postmodern Age: Return from Pure Rationalism
Modern

Naturalism
Postmodern

Supernaturalism

Millennials
(All)
Millennials
(Non-religious)
GenX, Boomers
(Non-religious)
Life after Death 74% 54% 45%
Heaven 74% 46% 39%
Miracles 80% 58% 50%
Angels & Demons 68% 42% 40%
Pew Research Center. (2010). Religion Among the Millennials. Washington DC

Craig Keener
NT Scholar, Asbury Seminary

Set out to validate “miracles”

Craig Keener
Credibility of Miracles in the N.T. (2011)

Craig Keener
Miracles Today

Coming out in October, 2021

Craig Keener, Theology On Tap, Houston Baptist University

3. Human Nature
• Only Physical (we cease to exist at death)

• Spiritual (Part of us lives on after death)

• Divine (We are part of the creator or are creators)

• Equal (Are all men & women equal)

• Above animals (are we di
ff
erent from other animals)
(Hiles & Smith. (2020). “Human Nature”)

3. Nature of Humans
a. Did humans evolve from lower forms of life?

b. Are all humans equal? Or are they “racially” unequal?

c. Are men & women equal?

d. Do men & women cease to exist at the point of death?

a. Are Humans just a higher form of animal life?

b. Did humans evolve through natural selection?

c. Then can we “breed” a racially superior human being?

Sir Francis Galton
1822 - 1911

Father of Eugenics

Galton was convinced that social and mental
traits, like talent and intelligence, were inherited.
He published his thoughts in…Macmillan’s
Magazine and conducted extensive research to
try to establish that personality, work ethic, and
other traits were hereditary and therefore racial.
https://eugenicsarchive.ca

Galton coined the word “eugenics” in 1883…
He…described it as “a brief word to express
the science of improving stock, [including]
judicious mating…and all the in
fl
uences that
can produce more suitable races or and
superior humans.
https://eugenicsarchive.ca

What does this science logically lead?

Are human beings
really chemicals and
electric sparks?

So God created [human beings] in his own image, in the image of
God he created [them]; male and female he created them.

(Gen 1:27 ESV)

God made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the
face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the
boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and
perhaps feel their way toward him and
fi
nd him.

(Acts 17:26–27 ESV)

Is there scienti
fi
c
evidence of life
after death?

4. Knowledge
a. What is truth?

b. What are the sources of truth?

c. What roles do senses play in determining truth?

d. Are faith & reason compatible?

e. Can anyone know absolute truth?
(Hiles & Smith. (2020). “Knowledge)

4. Nature of Knowledge
De
fi
nition of Knowledge
Understanding of or information about a subject that you
get by experience or study, either known by one person or
by people generally (Cambridge Dictionary).
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/knowledge

4. How do you gain knowledge?
Epistemology
The study of how we know things.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/epistemology

Types of Epistemologies
The lenses we use to gain knowledge
•Constructivist Lense

•Critical Social lense

•Postivist Lense

Constructivist Lense
The lived experience of individuals
• Knowledge is constructed through human experience

• Humans give make meaning of their experience

Social Critical Lense
Exposing repression and power structures
• Marxism - Exposing political/economic repression

• Feminist lense - Exposing repression of women

• Postcolonialism - Exposing repression of non-
western cultures

Positivist Lense
Absolute truth exists and is a reference point
• All knowledge has an objective reference point

• Absolute truth exists

4. How do you validate knowledge?
Plausability Structure:
A mental framework that functions like a
fi
lter by determining
what one counts as genuine knowledge and what should be
disregarded
(Hiles & Smith. (2020). “Knowledge)

Plausability Structures are Filters

Plausability Structure
Determine how you explain what you see.

What plausibility structures explain UAP?
a. Explain them as extra-terrestrials

b. Try to explain them naturally

c. Dismiss them altogether

5. Ethics
De
fi
nition:
They systematic study of moral principles that is concerned
with beliefs and judgements regarding right and wrong for
the purpose of guiding human behavior.
(Hiles & Smith. (2020). “Ethics)

5. Ethics
a. Are ethics determined by society?

b. Are ethics determined scienti
fi
cally (ex. Preservation of species)?

c. Are ethics determined by attempt to be in harmony?

d. Are ethics determined by a divine law-giver?

a. Ethics are determined strictly by a society
A society or a culture may determine for themselves ethical principles:

• Then slavery is okay?

• Then Human sacri
fi
ce is okay?

• Then abuse of earth’s resources are okay?

b. Ethics are determined by science alone.
Ethics are determined by preservation of and improvement of human species

• Is scienti
fi
c racism okay (Eugenics)?

• Is a purse, Marxist society, as Karl Marx originally envisioned ideal?

• Should we eradicate genetic diseases by eliminating those who carry genes?

c. Ethics determined by Divine Law-Giver
Do ethics transcend the laws of states, science, and cultures?

• There should be a body of International Human Rights

• All societies are accountable for these rights

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The United Nations General Assembly adopted of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948…
The Declaration…spells out basic civil, political, economic,
social and cultural rights that all human beings should enjoy. It
has over time been widely accepted as the fundamental norms
of human rights that everyone should respect and protect…
International human rights law lays down obligations which
States are obligated to respect
https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/internationallaw.aspx

When the nations, who do not have [divine] law, by
nature do what that law requires, they are a law to
themselves, even though they do not have the [divine]
law. They show that the [divine] law was written on
their hearts, and their conscience bears witness to
that.

(Rom 2:14–15 ESV)

6. Purpose
De
fi
nition:

Purpose refers to the underlying reason for which something
was created and the ends for which it currently exists.
(Hiles & Smith. (2020). “Purpose)

6. Purpose of Life
a. Why am I hear on earth?

b. What should I do with my life?

c. How do I make meaning of tragedy & disappointment?

Components of a Worldview
1. Nature of Ultimate Reality

2. Nature of the Universe

3. Nature of Humans

4. Nature of Knoweledge (Truth)

5. Nature of Right Behavior (Ethics)

6. Purpose of Life

D. Types of Worldviews
1. Atheism

2. Pantheism

3. Theism

1. Atheism
De
fi
nition

Disbelief in the existence of god or gods, therefore
entails an understanding of reality that makes no
reference to anything or any being beyond the physical
universe.
(Hiles & Faith, 2020, “Atheism”)

1. Types of Atheism
a. Agnosticism

b. Secular Humanism

c. Naturalism

1. Types of Atheism
a. Agnosticism — Cannot validate existence of a divine being

b. Secular Humanism — Ethics derived from science,
philosophy, and human experience

c. Naturalism

1. Types of Atheism
a. Agnosticism — Cannot validate exists of a divine being

b. Secular Humanism — Ethics derived from science,
philosophy, and human experience

c. Naturalism— belief that everything arises from natural
properties and natural causes.

3. Types of Atheism
“Atheism” as a term has become pejorative and
is perceived today as dogmatic

2. Panthieism
De
fi
nition

Pantheism equates god with the universe and the
universe with god by conseiving of both as identical
and entirely consistent with one another.
(Hiles & Faith, 2020, “Pantheism”)

2. Types of Pantheisms
• Animism in Folk Religions (ex. Native American)

• Eastern Religions (ex. Buddhism)

• Western New Age Spirituality (ex. Wikka, Gaia)
(Hiles & Faith, 2020, “Pantheism”)

3. Theism
De
fi
nition

A worldview that entails belief in the existence of at
least one personal and intelligent divine being.
(Hiles & Faith, 2020, “Theism”)

3. Types of Theism
a. Polytheism

3. Types of Theism
b. Monotheism

(Deism—clockwork God)

3. Types of Theism
c. Monotheism

(Personal God)

E. Tests of a Worldview
1. Coherence Test

2. Corresondence Test

3. Practical Test
(Hiles & Faith, 2020, “Testing Worldviews”)

1. Coherence Test

A worldview test that examines the internal
consistency and rational coherence of the
worldview commitments.
(Hiles & Faith, 2020, “Coherence”)

2. Correspondence Test

Examines a worldview’s ability to provide
a satisfactory explanation of reality.
(Hiles & Faith, 2020, “Correspondence”)

3. Practical Test

Examines a worldview’s workability and
practical value in the most important areas of
life and experience
(Hiles & Faith, 2020, “Practical Test”)

Cwv 101 topic 1 day 3 worldview 2

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