Holding a World View

1. Holding a World View
Establishing a strong Foundation

2. A search for meaning and truth
The general beliefs and attitudes of an individual or group

3. A search for meaning and truth
The general beliefs and attitudes of an individual or group

4. Holding a Worldview
“A commitment, a fundamental orientation of
the heart, that can be expressed as a story or a
set of presuppositions.. That we hold… about the
basic constitution of reality, and that provides
the foundation on which we live and have our
being.” ~ Sire

5. Holding a Worldview
 Organizes or arranges idea’s and beliefs
 Acts as a map to decision making process
 Puts in order your values and priorities
 Functions like Eyeglasses
 Right prescription enables you to see
reality clearly
 Wrong prescription puts everything out
of focus

6. Holding a Worldview
Must answer 4 questions:
• Meaning – Is there an objective purpose and value to human existence?
• Morality – What accounts for the human condition?
• Destiny – Is there a better life or a salvation from our present state?
• Origin – What explains existence? Is there a God?
 Reality – Material or Immaterial?
 Knowledge – What can we know?
 Absolutes, Ethics, Good & Evil

7. Holding a Worldview
• Test of Reason – Logically consistent
- Law of Non Contradiction
Three tests of Worldview:
• Test of Experience – consistent with what we know
about life inside ourselves and outside ourselves
• Test of Practice – What good is a worldview if you
cannot live it?

8. Holding a Worldview
Foundation and Building Blocks
The Idea of God
Reality Knowledge Morality Humanity
Material/Immaterial Reason/Experience Absolutes Good/Evil
Laws Determined Free Will Heaven/Hell

9. Holding a Worldview
Foundation and Building Blocks
The Idea of God
Reality Knowledge Morality Humanity
Material/Immaterial Reason/Experience Absolutes Good/Evil
Laws Determined Free Will Heaven/Hell
The Idea of Man

10. Holding a Worldview
• Noetic Structure– the sum of what we know (noose)
• Worldview beliefs are a subset of noetic structure
• Presuppositions – what we know but do not or cannot
prove. What we accept by faith
• Non Theoretical Foundations of Theoretical Thought
• Belief Forming Mechanisms
Epistemology – How we know what we know

11. Holding a Worldview
Law of Non-Contradiction
Aristotle’s principle of non-contradiction
occurs in Metaphysics IV (Gamma) 3–6
“It is impossible for the same thing to belong and not to belong at the
same time to the same thing and in the same respect”
• B cannot both be B and Non B at the same time, in the
same place, and in the same essence.
• For example, it is not possible for someone to be a pitcher
and not a pitcher where “pitcher” in the first instance refers
to a baseball player and in the second to a jug that can hold
Water.

12. Holding a Worldview
Law of Non-Contradiction

13. Holding a Worldview
CreatorClass of Being and Existence
Created

14. Holding a Worldview
CreatorClass of Being and Existence
There are seven major levels of classification: Kingdom,
Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. The two
main kingdoms we think about are plants and animals.
Scientists also list four other kingdoms including bacteria,
archaebacteria, fungi, and protozoa.
Created

15. Holding a Worldview
CreatorClass of Being and Existence
Living things can be classified into five major kingdoms:
Kingdom Animalia.
Kingdom Plantae.
Kingdom Fungi.
Kingdom Protista.
Kingdom Monera (Bacteria)
Created

16. Holding a Worldview
CreatorClass of Being and Existence
Classification for Humans
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Homo
Species: Homo sapiens
Created

17. Holding a Worldview
• Naturalism (Atheism)
3 Main Worldviews:
• Pantheism
• Theism
• I rule - Must be coherent in its answers;
one cannot contradict another

18. Holding a Worldview
Naturalism
All that exists
Is caused by something within the
circle of life

19. Holding a Worldview
Naturalism
All that exists
Is caused by something within the
circle of life

20. Holding a Worldview
Pantheism
The view that the world is either identical to
God, or an expression of God's nature. It comes
from 'pan' meaning all, and 'theism,' which
means belief in God. So according to pantheism,
“God is everything and everything is God.”

21. Holding a Worldview
Theism
All that exists is created
Is caused by something outside
the circle of life
Creator

22. Created
All that exists is created by
something greater than itself
Is caused by something outside
the circle of life
CreatorRational
Being
Holding a Worldview
And Designed
A First Cause or Necessary Being

23. Created And Designed
What would it take for
you to believe a lie?
Holding a Worldview