This session was conducted at the PROFIT conference in Bangalore on the 5th Nov 2011. If you are a Christian professional, then PROFIT is for you. To know more about PROFIT visit www.profitconnect.net or write to profit@gemsbihar.org PROFIT or PROfessionals Fellowship of International Talents is a mission initiative of GEMS - Gospel Echoing Missionary Society, for professionals. PROFIT is a network of Christians who intentionally and actively use their professional identity to do-the-ACT of passing THE TRUTH in the workplace.

2. Amar, Akbar, Anthony
Bimla, Banu, Beulah
Understanding Religious Worldviews
By Mariyosh J, GEMS Bihar

3. Listen to the Audio
• Who is he?
• Write down the words that he uses to
describe God
• What is/are the basis of his beliefs?

5. • Who is he?
• Write down the words that he uses to
describe God
• What is/are the basis of his beliefs?

6. Components of Gandhi’s speech
• mysterious power
• unseen power
• It transcends the senses
• I do not realize the presence of God - the King of
Kings
• Sir J. C. Bose proved that even matter is life
• Law and the law-giver are one
• a living power that is changeless, that holds all
together, that creates, dissolves and recreates

7. “in the midst of death life persists, in the
midst of untruth truth persists, in the midst of
darkness light persists. Hence I gather that
God is life, truth, light. He is love. He is the
supreme Good. But He is no God who merely
satisfies the intellect, if He ever does. God to
be God must rule the heart and transform it.”

8. Listen to the Audio
• Who is he?
• What is it that he claims?
• What is the word that he frequently uses?
• What is/are the basis of his beliefs?

10. • Who is he?
• What is it that he claims?
• What is the word that he frequently
uses?
• What is/are the basis of his beliefs?

11. Components of King’s speech
• All men are created equal
• Table of brotherhood
• Freedom and justice
• Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address by saying "Five score years
ago..."
• "It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their
captivity.” Psalm 30:5
• "No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until
justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty
stream.” Amos 5:24.
• "I have a dream that every valley shall be exalted...” Isaiah 40:4-5
• opening lines of Shakespeare's "Richard III”, "this sweltering
summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until
there is an invigorating autumn..."

14. • Abandoned by parents
• Left to be adopted
• Working at apple farm
• Selling used Coco-Cola bottles
• Ate meals provided by “ISKCON”
(Hare Krishnas)
• Usage of Psychedelic drugs
• Trip to India
• Conversion to Zen Buddhism
• Fan of Beatles

15. • ISKCON – Vegetarianism – PFA –
TM (emptying the mind)
• Christian – Non vegetarianism –
Meditating the Bible
• Vivekananda defines education
as ‘the manifestation of the
perfection already in man.’
• CS Lewis – Education without
values, as useful as it is, seems
rather to make man a more
clever devil.

16. What is it that influences their
thoughts & decisions?

17. Their
“Worldviews”

18. What is a Worldview?
A worldview is "an interpretive framework”-
much like a pair of glasses-through which you
view everything.
Everyone bases his or her decisions and
actions on a worldview.
A worldview is a set of beliefs that underlie
and shape all human thought and action.

19. “Worldview”
The term “Worldview” was first used by
Immanuel Kant in the 18th century; he used a
German term “Weltanschauung” which
means “a way of looking at the world.”

20. Our worldview determines our
–Decisions
–Our life goals
–What we think will make us happy
–How we spend our money
–How we treat others
Adapted from Colson & Warren’s Wide Angle: Framing Your Worldview

21. Hidden Worldviews
• All around us:
– Canon: “Image is everything.”
• Image is more important than substance
– Sprite: “Thirst is everything. Obey your thirst”
• Follow after your desires.
– Volkswagen: “Jaded is overrated. Dare to be
happy.”
• Material possessions can bring happiness

22. • All Worldviews are not equal
There are:
– Good Worldview vs. Bad Worldview
– Accurate Worldview vs. Inaccurate
Worldview

23. “I am absolutely convinced that the gas
chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and
Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in
some ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at
the desks and in lecture halls of nihilistic
scientists and philosophers.”
[Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live without God?, p.25]

24. The questions that form a worldview
• Where did I come from? (Origin)
• How do I separate good from bad? (Morality)
• What is my life’s meaning? (Purpose)
• What’s going to happen to me when I die?
(Destiny)
Christianity satisfactorily answers all 4 of the
“Big” questions of life!

25. Many Worldviews
• Atheism • Pantheism
• Existentialism • Polytheism
• Hedonism • Postmodernism
• Humanism • Pragmatism
• Materialism • Socialism
• Nihilism • Theism

26. All worldviews might seem to say the same
thing
Christianity
'All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to
them.'
JESUS, Matthew 7:12
Baha'i
'Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself.'
BAHA'ULLAH, Tablets of Baha'ullah, 71
Buddhism
'Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.'
UDANA-VARGA, 5:18
Confucianism
'Do unto other what you would have them do unto you.'
Analects 15:23

27. Hinduism
'This is the sum of duty: do naught unto others which
would cause you pain if done to you.'
Mahabharata 5:1517
Islam
'No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother
that which he desires for himself.'
SUNNAH
Jainism
'In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should
regard all creatures as we regard our own self.'
LORD MAHAVIRA, 24th Tirthankara

28. Judaism
'What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowman. That is the
law: all the rest is commentary.'
Talmud, Shabbat 31a
Native American
'Respect for all life is the foundation.'
The Great Law of Peace
Sikhism
'Don't create enmity with anyone as God is within everyone.'
Guru Arjan Devji 259, Guru Granth Sahib
Zoroastrianism
'That nature only is good when it shall not do unto another
whatever is not good for its own self.'
Dadistan-i-Dinik, 94:5

29. Worldview of major religions
• Islam - the five pillars
• Buddhism - the four noble truths
• Atheism - all that is, is natural and nothing
supernatural
• Christianity - is built on the existence of the
Triune God who has created us and from
whom all our imperatives of belief and
practice emerge.

30. Religious Views of Jesus
Resurrection
God or Man? Who Jesus Was Jesus' Purpose Happened?
Traditional (Nicene) Second person of the Trinity, incarnation
Both: "fully God and fully man." Die for the sins of humanity. Yes
Christianity of God, Son of God, Savior.
A divine being, but created by God and
Arianism A created divine being.
inferior to Father. Son of God. Savior.
To save humanity from sin. Yes
A "manifestation of God" and prophet.
To reveal God's will as part of progressive
Baha'i Faith Man Since superseded by Muhammad and
revelation to humanity.
Only spiritually.
Baha'u'llah.
Wise and enlightened man who taught To teach humanity wisdom and the way to
Buddhism Man
similar things to the Buddha. enlightenment.
Not addressed
Wise man especially attuned to the divine To teach humanity, heal, and overcome
Christian Science Man
Christ. death.
Yes
Son of God but human, because mother
To show God's love for humanity and
Christadelphians Man (or half-man, half-God). was human Mary. Lived a sinless life and
redeem humanity from sin.
Yes
died sacrificial death.
Most Gnostics reject that Christ died at
To rescue humanity from the material
Gnosticism God Divine being sent from the supreme God.
world by revealing true knowledge.
all. The human Jesus was ordinary and
did not resurrect.
Incarnation of God akin to Krishna, or
Hinduism Views vary
wise man.
Not addressed Not addressed
True prophet sent by God, but To reveal God's will in a progressive
Islam Man
superseded by Muhammad. revelation that ended with Muhammad.
No
Son of God, Word of God, God's first Teach about God, provide a model for
Jehovah's Witnesses An archangel
creation, Archangel Michael. right living, die sacrificially for human sin.
Yes
Son of God, Savior, originally one of the
To teach about God, provide a model for
Mormonism (LDS) Man spirit beings that all humans used to be.
living, die sacrificially for sin.
Yes
Has a physical body.
Theosophy Man Great teacher. No
Great teacher, faith-healer, "incarnation of To demonstrate God's love for humanity No official teaching; most do not believe
Unitarian Universalism Man
God's love." and teach about justice and compassion. physical resurrection.

31. Why to know a person’s worldview?
Acts 17:16-28
“.... I see/perceive that in all things you are
very religious.....” – I see what it is that you
actually believe
“one of your poets…..”
The goal for us in understanding the other
person’s worldview is to get the other person
to the Triune God. To communicate the Truth.

38. What stops people from becoming
Christians?
1. Intellectual Barriers to Faith
2. The historical associations of Christianity
3. The problem of Relevance
4. Misunderstanding the nature of Christianity
5. The hunger for absolute certainty
6. Prior commitment to another belief system
7. The problem of personal integrity
8. A sense of guilt or inadequacy
- “Bridge Building” by Alister McGrath

39. Hindu Worldview
• Hinduism is diverse; no single doctrine (or set
of beliefs)
• Spirit is understood within two main
categories
– the individual self, or soul (the atman)
– the Supreme Self, or God (the paramatman).
• Three main truths which form the basis for
theological discussion – matter, soul, God

40. • Almost all Hindus believe that the real self
(atman) is distinct from the temporary body
made of matter (prakriti)
• The eternal soul identifies with matter and is
entrapped by maya (illusion)
• Impelled by lust, greed, anger, etc., he
undergoes samsara (the cycle of repeated birth
and death)
• Each soul creates its unique destiny according to
the law of karma (the universal law of action and
reaction)

41. • Under the influence of eternal time and the
three gunas (material qualities) he moves
throughout the creation, sometimes going to
higher planets, sometimes moving in human
society, and at other times entering the lower
species.
• The goal of most Hindus is moksha, liberation
from this perpetual cycle, through re-
identification with the
eternal brahman (Supreme)

42. • Hinduism accepts different paths towards this
common goal (union with God).
• It stresses strict adherence to universal
principles through the practice of
one's dharma (ordained duty) as revealed
through authorised holy books and usually
received through the guru (spiritual mentor).

43. Speaking Tree: This morning (5th Nov 2011)

45. Key Concept Key Questions
1. The Atman (the Soul) Who are we? What is the real self?
2. Reincarnation and Samsara What happens after death, before birth?
3.The Law of Karma Why is there suffering?
4. Prakriti (Matter) and Guna How does the world work?
5. Maya (Illusion) Why do we get into difficulty in this world?
6. moksha (Liberation) What is the goal of life?
7. God (Brahman/Ishvara) Is there a God? If so, what is He/She like?
8. Dharma (religious duties) Which is the right way to act?
9. One Goal, Different Paths How can we explain Hindu diversity?
10. Scripture and Guru (Authority) How are the teachings preserved?
11 .Time When did it all start and when will it finish?
12. Creation How and why was this world made?

46. Witnessing to Hindus
• Treat Hindus with respect by asking and
patiently listening as they explain their religion
• Care for them
• Have a humble spirit
• Use stories to explain Jesus' forgiveness
• Keep the personhood of God in mind
• Carefully emphasize the exclusivity of Jesus
• Be patient, Be prayerful

47. Paul’s style of evangelism @
workplace among Hindus
Upanishad Prayer Based on Gayatri Mantra
Asatho Maa Sad Gamaya
Thamaso Maa Jyothir Gamaya
Mrithyor Maa Amritham Gamaya
Lead me from untruth to truth;
Lead me from darkness to light;
Lead me from death to immortality.

48. The Muslim Worldview
The Quran and the Sunnah - Islamic guidance. The Sunnah records the
sayings and doings of Muhammad. The seven fundamental beliefs of
every Muslim in the world:
1. God - Muslims lay great stress on the unity of God. “He is singular –
without anything like him: Separate – having no equal.”
2. Angels (and other spiritual beings – Jinn and Demons)
3. Holy Books (Revealed books of God) - There are hundreds of these –
“the Books of the Prophets”. The four major Holy Books are The Torah –
the books of Moses; The Zabur – the Psalms of David; The Injil – given
to Jesus; and The Quran – given to Muhammad .
4. Prophets - 25 are mentioned in the Quran. There are six Major
Prophets: Adam, Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad.
5. The resurrection and the last day - The resurrection of the body
followed by judgement based on the concept of balance of good versus
bad deeds.
6. They believe in life after death
7. They believe in predestination i.e. divine measurement & control of
human affairs

49. Witnessing to Muslims - Some practical tips
• Depend on God's Word and God's Spirit
• Use Your Mind and Heart to know them
I. Their book. Become familiar with the Quran.
II. Their culture. Study their way of life and try to
understand it.
III. Their religion. Acquaint yourself with Islam.
IV. Their history. They boast in their history. It is a
part of them.

50. Witnessing to Muslims - Some practical tips
• Be a Credible Messenger
• Never belittle Muhammad or the Quran
• Use familiar forms of worship
• Speak their language. To help Muslims hear the
gospel and understand it, we must speak their
language. This language is Allah for ‘God’, Isa for
‘Jesus’, AlMasih for ‘Christ’, masjed for ‘place of
worship’, subhan Allah for ‘praise be to
God’, bismellah for ‘in the name of God’, and
other similar expressions.

51. Witnessing to Muslims - Some practical tips
• Give your personal testimony
• Talk about the “forgiveness” of sins
• Jesus coming as the final judge
• Encourage them to study the Bible (Quran: bits &
pieces)
• Play the role of a supporting friend & give a supportive
community
I–I
S – Should
L – Love
A – All
M – Muslims

52. Communicating the Truth
• Identification —How can you identify with
your listener?
• Translation —How can you translate your
message into their idiom?
• Persuasion —What about your story is
persuasive?
• Justification —Why do you believe what you
believe?

55. Why do people still reject the gospel?
The human problem is not finiteness or
smallness, but fallenness and sinfulness
Sin involves an evasion of the truth
Sin has ultimately contributed to intellectual
confusion and moral evil
- Ravi Zacharias, Establishing a worldview

56. Understanding – Effect
• 1 Peter 3:15
Read – P.R.O.F.I.T-Mantra for Workplace Evangelism
www.facebook.com/gemsprofit
• Revelation 3:14-18
• Deonicious Areopagatos
If you understand the worldview of the person
you are speaking to, you will have an effect.