Worldviews in Trouble:
Answering the Eight Most
Meaningful Questions
Dean Hardy
Charlotte Christian School
www.YouthApologetics.com
"This is the covenant I will make with the
house of Israel after that time," declares
the LORD. "I will put my law in their
minds and write it on their hearts. I will
be their God, and they will be my
people.” Jer. 31:33
“O righteous God, who searches minds
and hearts, bring to an end the
violence of the wicked and make the
righteous secure.” Psalm 7:9
What is a worldview?
“Your worldview is simply a web of
beliefs that allows certain information
to flow through as “truth” and other
statements to be rejected as false.”
-Dean
“…a set of presuppositions which we
hold (consciously or subconsciously)
about the basic makeup of our
world.”- James Sire
Confusion about worldviews
“Americans’ willingness to embrace beliefs
that are logically contradictory and their
preference for blending different faith views
together create unorthodox religious
viewpoints.”
Born Again Christians
10% believe that people are reincarnated
after death
29% claim it is possible to
communicate with the dead, and
50% contend that a person can earn
salvation based upon good works.
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Bar
naUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=150
More confusion: it’s not just Christians!
Christians are not the only ones confused
about what happens after death. Many of
those who describe themselves as either
atheistic or agnostic also harbor
contradictions in their thinking.
50% all atheists and agnostics say that every
person has a soul
50% say that Heaven and Hell exist, and that
there is life after death.
One out of every eight atheists and
agnostics even believe that accepting
Jesus Christ as savior probably makes life
after death possible.
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?P
age=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=150
Here are the 8 questions:
1) What is real? Is reality real? (Metaphysics)
2) What is truth? Can I know it? (Epistemology)
3) Is there a God or any supernatural being? (Theology)
4) What is the state of man? Is he good or sinful? Does
he have a soul? Is he merely an animal or more than
that? (Anthropology)
5) What are the origins of man and the universe?
(Cosmogony)
6) What is my meaning and purpose in life? (Teleology)
7) How do I know what is right and wrong? (Ethics,
Axiology and Morality)
8) What is my destiny after death? (Eschatology and
Immortality)
1. What is real? Is reality real? (Metaphysics)
SPACE
TIME
&
MATTER
THE FACTOID OF THE DAY
(Your view of reality will influence your actions.)
1. What is real? Is reality real? (Metaphysics)
Did you know that many people answer “no!”?
Maya (Sanskrit: "illusion") is a fundamental
concept in Hindu philosophy. Maya
denotes the power of wizardry with which
a God can make human beings believe in
what turns out to be an illusion; it later
came to mean the powerful force that
creates the cosmic illusion that the
world is real.
2. What is truth? Can I know it? (Epistemology)
o Truth is what “corresponds to
reality”
o It’s NOT relative to each
individual person (relativism)
o It’s objective- it doesn’t matter
what we think! Truth is true!
o Correspondence is the theory of
truth used in court systems
"We are not to suppose that any truth concerning the
natural world can be an enemy to religion, for Truth cannot
be an enemy to Truth, God is not divided against himself."
-- Thomas Burnet, The Sacred Theory of the Earth (1726)
3. Is there a God or any supernatural
being? (Theology)
Something
Spiritual?
SPACE
TIME
&
MATTER
If immaterial beings are possible, then
souls are possible (and vice versa!).
#3 is the major division:
Supernaturalism
Naturalism
oSomething spiritual (#3)
oSouls possible (#4)
oMan was made in the
image of God(now fallen)
(#4)
oSouls make afterlife
possible (#8)
oJudgment (#8)
oMorals based on God (#7)
oNothing Spiritual
oSouls not possible
oMan is merely an evolved
animal.
oNo soul- no afterlife
oGod created world (#5)
oWorld is eternal or “popped”
into existence
oMan has a purpose given
by God (#6)
oMan makes his own purpose
oNo judgment
oMorals made by man
(relativism/cultural)
We need to be able to look in our
world…and our culture…and
distinguish if something is not
merely “good or bad,” but
rather, “Does this fit into the
Christian worldview?”
Take these movies for instance:
Does this have a Biblical Worldview?
Does this have a Biblical Worldview?
Does this have a Biblical Worldview?
4. Who or what is Man?
o Man is a merely material
substance, with no soul, that has
evolved out of nature. (From goo
to you - via the zoo)
o Man is a soul/body unity, made
in the image of God. (Having
some of the attributes of the
divine being.)
5. The origins of man
There are only three options concerning
the “cause” of the universe:
The cosmos has
always existed
The cosmos
“popped” into being
An infinite being
created it
"the actual point of creation lies outside the scope of
presently known laws of physics," Stephen Hawking
6. What is my meaning and
purpose in life? (Teleology)
o Purpose is defined as “something set
up as an object or end to be
attained”
o How can something “set itself up”- or
create it’s own purpose?
o Can a tool create it’s own purpose?
o Naturalists confuse purpose and
passion.
o As Christians, what is our purpose?
Serve the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his…(Psalm
100:2-3)
“The drive for meaning can be a
physicochemical process. The focus on
ultimate meaning is a story told to us as we
develop that ultimate meaning is more
important than proximate meaning...I feel
fine not having any need for ultimate
explanations. It might be the key to my
happiness in fact.”
- Greg Graffin, lead singer of punk band
Bad Religion, who has a ph.d. in zoology
from Cornell.
Quote taken from Preston Jones’ “Is Belief in
God Good, Bad or Irrelevant?: A Professor
And a Punk Rocker Discuss Science,
Religion, Naturalism & Christianity”
Secular scientists’ answer to the
question of purpose:
7. Ethics and morality
Your worldview effects your view of right and wrong!
Biblical
Secular
Worldview
Worldview
drunkenness
36%
2%
Homosexuality
31%
2%
profanity
37%
3%
Abortion
46%
.05%
adultery
44%
4%
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&B
Modern view of God’s Laws
“It can be demonstrated that conscience is
natural-not taught , not learned, but there
from the start- then it is reasonable to treat it
as we would treat any biological trait, like
hemoglobin, and it is reasonable to assume
that it is an evolutionary adaptation in some
way to social life.”
- Greg Graffin, lead singer of punk band
Bad Religion, who has a ph.d. in zoology
from Cornell.
Quote taken from Preston Jones’ “Is Belief in
God Good, Bad or Irrelevant?: A Professor
And a Punk Rocker Discuss Science,
Religion, Naturalism & Christianity”
7. Ethics and morality continued
IF there is no higher power and no
absolute moral law, then how
can “right and wrong” be
determined?
Either by individual or by society.
This is relativism… and it leads to
narcissism and eventually
anarchy. (If there are no
absolute “rights or wrongs” then
there is no concept of justice!)
Morality MUST be cross-cultural!
8. What is my destiny after death?
Questions/Comments/Resources
Visit me at
www.YouthApologetics.com
My book Stand your Ground is
available at my table.
Youth Apologetics Conference
th
th
July 12 -16 in Charlotte.