Hard Questions: How to Make Sense of the World
At the base of your all your thoughts…all your contemplations about God, yourself and the world around you…is a worldview.
What’s a worldview?
A worldview is nothing more than a set of assumptions which you hold about the basic makeup of your world.
So, what is YOUR worldview?
One way to get at it, according to James Sire in his book Naming the Elephant, is to see it as your essential, rock-bottom answers to seven basic questions.
You might find answering these questions rewarding. Even gratifying. Then again, you might find what you uncover puzzling…
Possibly even traumatic.
However, I believe it’s very important to take the time to carefully answer these questions. Self-analysis can lead you to a more vivid, meaningful life.
I mean, what could be more important than discovering what you believe about God, the universe, yourself and the world around you?
IS there anything more important? I don’t think so. But you decide.
So, take some time right now to answer these questions–whether in the comments, on your blog or on paper–and get to the bottom of your worldview.
1. What is prime reality–the really real?
2. What is the nature of external reality, that is, the world around us?
3. What is a human being?
4. What happens to a person at death?
5. Why is it possible to know anything at all?
6. How do we know what is right and wrong?
7. What is the meaning of human history?
In the end, you’ll probably find you fall into one of two camps: super naturalist or naturalist. God exists or only the universe exists…
One pushes for a sufficient reason behind the universe. One is satisfied with the universe. (See, theist and atheist alike are theologians.)
During a debate with Christian philosopher F. C. Coplestone, agnostic Bertrand Russell said, “I should say that the universe is just there, and that’s all.”
And that’s just the way it is. Brute reality.
And even though theists like me who see God as the self-existent sufficient cause for the universe take it one step further and say, “God is just there…and that’s all,” like the naturalist I have to conclude, “That’s just the way it is.”
Brute God. Sort of.
Ultimately, our worldview doesn’t prove whether we are right or wrong. It just identifies the orientation of our heart. What’s yours? I’ll share mine next week.
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6 Comments to Hard Questions: How to Make Sense of the World
In a recent study, the Barna Research Group revealed a stunning statistic that continues to reverberate throughout the evangelical world. Only 9 percent of professing Christians have a biblical worldview.1
Our church home fellowship just finished, “The Truth Project” that was funded and supported by Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family. Below is a short description of this very profound and thorough discussion of the Christian worldview. I highly recommend it to small groups and/or individuals seeking answers.
“Because of this, today’s believers live very similarly to non-believers. A personal sense of significance is rarely experienced, we spend our money and time on things that fail to satisfy and we begin to wonder what life’s ultimate purpose really is. We are, in short, losing our bearings as a people and a nation.
To counter this slide within the body of Christ, we are launching one of the most ambitious and powerful projects in the history of our ministry—Focus on the Family’s The Truth Project.
The Truth Project is a DVD-based small group curriculum comprised of 12 one-hour lessons taught by Dr. Del Tackett. This home study is the starting point for looking at life from a biblical perspective. Each lesson discusses in great detail the relevance and importance of living the Christian worldview in daily life.”
I’ve never heard those 7 questions before. A more basic analysis of one’s worldview is given by Ravi Zacharias. He says everyone has to believe something about Origin (Where did we come from), Meaning (What gives life purpose), Morality (How do we determine right and wrong), and Destiny (What happens when we die). And for the worldview to work, those four have to work with one another, not against.
Christianity says origin = God’s decree, meaning = Man in the image of God, morality = derived from God’s character, destiny = eternal life or hell based on our life.
Problems arise when you cannot answer those questions consistently. For instance, how does a worldview which claims evolution as the origin and nothingness as the destiny of man explain meaning and morality?
Maybe that adds to the discussion. I will definitely be working through those 7 today though.
Demian FarnworthApril 29, 2009
Benny, indeed, I worked through the Truth Project, too, last year. While you cover a massive amount of material in 12 weeks [meaning, nothing is done extensively] it’s worthwhile to anyone new to a Christian world view. Whets the whistle.
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Anthony…Zacharias’ sounds a lot cleaner. Simpler. The first time I crossed it was when I was reading “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist.” Thank you for chiming in.
Demian,
“In the end, you’ll probably find you fall into one of two camps: super naturalist or naturalist. God exists or only the universe exists…”
What is the difference between that statement, and boiling everything down to anthropocentric and theocentric. Is yours simply another facet of the same positions?
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To all: What is your favorite book(s) by Ravi Zacharias?
Demian FarnworthApril 30, 2009
Daniel, I think I like your summary better: man-centered or God-centered. This is getting better all the time. And regarding Zacharias books, my favorite is “Can Man Live without God?”…although it’s the only one I’ve read. 
[...] Because it’s the means by which we answer the hard questions of life. [...]
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April 28, 2009