WORLDVIEW
How Now Shall We Live?
By Chuck Colson
Truth… What is Truth?
• Clip from the Matrix
• The story of Pilate and Jesus
• Clip from the Passion of the Christ
What is a Worldview?
• The sum total of our beliefs about the world,
the “big picture” that directs our daily decisions
and actions.
• Our major task in life is to discover what is true
and live in step with that truth
• Every worldview can be measured by the way it
answers three fundamental questions…
The Questions…
• Where did we come?
• Who are we?
• Why are we here?
What is Truth?
• “Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance
with that which is, or has been, or shall be…”
• Truth is Reality
• Insanity is losing touch with reality
• Believing the lie is real
Truth:
Objective vs. Subjective
• Objective
– Truths that never change
inspite of one’s feelings.
– From a Source outside of
one’s self
• Subjective
– One constructs their own
opinion of what is right
or wrong
– Subjectivists are those
who deny objective truths
– See handout
What is Philosophy?
• “A search for the underlying causes and
principles of reality.”
• The discovery of reality.
• Many different competing philosophies out
there.
• One example is naturalistic philosophy
Naturalistic Philosophy
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No gods or purposive forces
No ultimate foundation for ethics
No free will.
No life after death
No ultimate meaning in life
There are many other competing philosophies
today. We will look at those in the next days.
• Assign pg. 31-33, questions on bottom of p. 33.
Contemporary Philosophies
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Secular humanism
Materialism
Atheism
Individualism
Capitalism
Communism/socialism
Hedonism
Nihilism
Existentialism
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Moral relativism
Religious indifferentism
Agnosticism
Utilitarianism
Secular Humanism
• Man is the ultimate universal authority of all.
• +man is great, man is important
• - ignores source of original authority of God,
ignores something greater
Materialism
• Happiness is based on money & possessions
(acquisition our primary purpose)
• + we need things to survive
• - things can’t love us back
Atheism
• Denial of God’s existence
• + we are responsible for our own actions and
choose our own fate
• - no meaning to our existence
Individualism
• We should be the primary concern of our own
lives/self-sufficient
• + builds self reliance and confidence
• - self-centred, ignore others
Capitalism
• Focuses on pursuit of wealth/profit
• + promotes individual success
• - could deteriorate into greed
Communism/socialism
• Aims to have the group meet the needs of all
• + cooperation and communal concern
• - suppresses the dignity of the indv., could
suppress initiative and motivation
Hedonism
• Constant pursuit of physical pleasure
• + good to have fun
• - gluttony, avoid unpleasant responsibilities
Nihilism
• Nothing is important/life ends at death,
questions the worth of our actions
• +motive more valuable than action
• - can lead to apathy and despair
• “What we do in life, echoes in eternity”
• -Maximus on Gladiator
Existentialism
• We are isolated from others in our experiences.
• + we are unique
• - if true, then how do we relate to others?
Moral relativism
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We create our own right and wrong
+we decide the “right” to follow
- no moral standards
** Christians believe we discover right and
wrong through revelation, we do not invent it.
Religious indifferentism
• All faiths are the same so no need to settle on
one.
• + similar truths in all belief systems
• - if we do not choose, we will never approach
complete truth and beauty in our own religion
• **To discover the greatness of something we
have to get into it (ex. Sport, relationship,
religion)
Agnosticism
• Doubt the existence of God
• + we must ask questions and find God for
ourselves
• - unwilling to take leap of faith
• Leap is needed because belief in God can’t be
based on facts alone, it requires relationship.
• Ex. Marriage, Flying
Identify Five Examples of Overlap
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
X
X
X
X
X
**Christianity incorporates many of the positives of each
of these philosophies in Christian humanism
One More Philosophy: Utilitarianism
• judges the usefulness of every and any human activity
• 1. Useful is what ever is worthwhile, gives pleasure/comfort and
excludes pain/discomfort.
• 2. The danger of it all is when the principle of usefulness is
applied to people. Some people can be termed useless, burdens,
or discomforts and then discarded.
• 3. If a person is “used” in a negative sense ex. Exploited worker,
prostitute, one night stand does this not attack the dignity of the
person.
• 4. Christianity and the natural law are opposed to the negative
use of the person because it subjects one to being abused,
violated, and possibly killed. Ex. Elderly, handicapped, unborn.
My friend Mike
Plato’s Parable of the Cave
The Natural Law
• that rule of right and wrong which our reason
can perceive.
• Love is within us from God
Humanism
• having an interest in the “good” of humanity
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1. Christian humanism – includes God in
thought and action
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2. Secular humanism – excludes God from
thought and action
• **“We believe in life before death” – Cause
Canada mission statement
Case Study: Philosopher Fred
Nietzsche
• 1. German Philosopher in the 1800’s
• 2. Famous for saying “God is dead”
• 3. he said this because of watching the lives of
Christians who he thought only lived for heaven,
neglecting earthly responsibilities.
• 4. The Christian God, with his arbitrary commands and
prohibitions, would no longer stand in the way, so
human beings might stop turning their eyes toward a
supernatural realm and begin to acknowledge the value
of this world.
• Related to Practical Atheism – belief, but no actions
Christian Goal in Life
• 1. Ultimate – to prepare for heaven (meeting
God and our true selves)
• 2. Proximate (immediate) – to use this time on
earth to love God, neighbour, and self. All are
important, even to love ourselves.
• Ex. The two goals are very connected,
remember Maximus quote.
The Christian Concept of
the Human Person
Six Points of Being Human
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We are material-spiritual beings
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We belong to each other
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3.
We inherited original sin and are weak
We have an inner moral compass
1.
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we are fundamentally good.
We sin but God forgives us
1.
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We are unique but we need each other to have purpose
We are made in God’s image
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Belong to material universe created by God
We have both a body and a soul
Our conscience
Our vocation is to love
1.
Loving others gives us purpose in our lives
Theism and Naturalism
• Moral relativism
– Notes
• Multiculturalism
– dissect the word
• Pragmatism/Utilitarianism
– story of suicide workshop
• Utopianism
– Can we ever achieve heaven on earth
• This-world perspective
– What’s wrong with this? Quote from the Pope
• Postmodernism
– What did you find out?
• The “Cultural Creatives” Pros and Cons
Choices: Laws of the universe
• All the illicit stuff that Hollywood often portrays
has real hard life consequences which the
movies rarely portray.
• We end up with such heartache (my mom’s
story), but there is forgiveness
• My ND friends story about abortion choice