Similarities, Differences, and Flaws - Worldviews Part 4

     In addition to learning about a bunch of different worldviews individually, (If you missed those topics, click here for Part 1, Part 2, and Part3) I learned similarities and differences between them, as well as their flaws from a Biblical perspective.

     Since I already mentioned many similarities and differences in the overviews of each individual worldview, I’ll summarize them. 

•    In the area of Theology: Christianity, Islam, and Cosmic Humanism all agree that there is a God, but Christians believe there is one God in the form of a Trinity (three persons), Muslims believe that there is only one God in one form, and Cosmic Humanists believe that everything is God.  These differ greatly from Secular Humanism, Marxist-Leninism, and Postmodernism which all agree that there is no God and that we are the higher power. 
•    In the area of Philosophy: Christianity and Islam agree that reality is both the natural and the supernatural, and Secular Humanism and Marxist-Leninism agree that matter is all that exists and is constantly evolving, though they disagree on what the evolution of matter applies to.  Cosmic Humanism and Postmodernism are the loners; the first believing that the supernatural is all that exists while the second believes that there is no reality. 
•    In Ethics: Christianity and Islam both teach that morals are absolute and are determined by God, Secular Humanism, Cosmic Humanism, and Postmodernism all teach that morals are relative, but Postmodernism differs from the other two in saying that morals are based on the culture instead of the individual.  The one worldview that didn’t have any similarities was Marxist-Leninism which believes that morals are based on the advancement of the lower class against the upper classes. 
•    In Biology: both Christianity and Islam believe that life was created by God, while Secular Humanism, Marxist-Leninism, Cosmic Humanism, and Postmodernism believe that life came about through spontaneous generation and evolution, though each of them have differing opinions on the specifics.  Secular Humanists believe in a very basic form of evolution, Marxist-Leninists believe that things evolved in leaps, Cosmic Humanists believe that things evolve by leaps, but they believe that it is our minds that are evolving, and Postmodernists won’t commit to one theory, other than the belief that we evolved. 

     As to pointing out the flaws in each of these worldviews from a Biblical standpoint, that could be a whole article in and of itself, but I’ll try to keep it brief and just look at a few of the bigger problems. 

     Secular Humanism, Marxist-Leninism, and Postmodernism all say that God doesn’t exist, therefore we were created by random chance.  This also ties in with the argument that the natural world is the only thing that exists.  The main flaw in these ideas to me can be summed up by this quote by C.S. Lewis, “Suppose there were no intelligence behind the universe.  In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking.  Thought is merely a by-product of some atoms within my skull.  But if so, how can I trust my thinking to be true?  But if I can’t trust my own thinking, of course, I can’t trust the arguments leading to atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an atheist, or anything else.  Unless I believe in God, I can’t believe in thought; so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God.”

     An argument against everything being god as Cosmic Humanists believe is that I would be a god.  The problem is, I don’t posses any of the qualities necessary to be a god (all knowing, all powerful, etc). 

      Another big disagreement with Christianity is the belief that there is no absolute truth, but that very statement declares itself an absolute truth.  If there are none, how can they state that?  Along with that is the idea that we should be tolerant of other peoples’ beliefs.  I should start by saying that I agree wholeheartedly!  Assuming you use the proper definition of “tolerance.”  Most people think that it means you shouldn’t push your ideas on other people and just let everyone believe what they want, however it actually means that you are to be respectful of other people’s ideas and opinions even if you are in disagreement with them. 

      Last is the idea of spontaneous generation.  This idea is one of the main planks of evolution, but it was actually proved to be unscientific by Louis Pasteur in 1862 with his swan-neck flask experiment.  I could go on and on with this; I have learned so much from this course and have enjoyed putting it to use in my daily life, and I hope you all have learned a little from reading this.

Comma Queen

Sources:

“Understanding the Times: A Collision of Today’s Competing Worldviews (Revised 2^nd Edition)” by David A. Noebel

Doing God’s Work in a Post-Christian America - David Curry

      God’s Word is the only answer to those who call evil good.  It is only through His Word that lost sinners may come to know God’s saving grace.  Yet, as we take God’s Word forth, we face an increasingly resistant and determined foe. 

      Unlike any other nation in the world, America was founded upon Christ and His Word.  In His sovereign providence, God established this land of America – a nation unique in the history of the world – the first nation to have freedom of religion.  At the time of our founding, religious tyranny prevailed all over the globe.  Only in America was full religious freedom granted for the very first time.   Here God established a nation founded by the Pilgrims and the Puritans who came with evangelical Christianity.  Here the Bible was believed and the gospel was preached. 

      Today our Christian foundation is under assault.  Some in our country gnash their teeth at the idea that this is a Christian nation and will not be satisfied until they have removed every vestige of our Christian heritage from this nation.  America has become a nation that glorifies violence, illicit sex, and rebellion.  She has forgotten its true founder. 

      The founders of this country had many reasons to believe the LORD God was establishing them here and scattering their enemies from before them.  The sovereign God declares about Himself through Isaiah the prophet:    

I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things. (Isaiah 45:5-7 ESV)

      To achieve His sovereign purposes, God gave His people victory over His enemies, especially in circumstances that here humanly impossible.  We see this over and over again in the Bible.  The early Americans believed that God helped them repeatedly.  Without His help, they could not have settled their colonies or even survived in the difficult conditions in this initially hostile land.  They certainly could not have defeated the greatest military power in the world with a ragtag army of farmers. 

      In 1778 George Washington wrote a letter to a fellow patriot, Thomas Nelson Jr., in which he marveled at how much the Lord was helping the American cause.  General Washington said that God has helped us so much that anyone who can’t see that and can’t thank Him must be worse than an unbeliever. 

Today, it is difficult to say we are still a Christian nation.

      The Pew Research Center recently reported that the number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew research polling.

      In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics, as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation. 

      Current research by the Barna Group revealed that only 9% of all American adults have a biblical worldview.

      A “biblical worldview” is defined as believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or by doing good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.

      The Barna Group also observed that less than one out of every five adults who profess to be born-again Christians have a biblical worldview.

      The research data showed that one pattern emerged loud and clear: young adults rarely possess a biblical worldview. The current study found that less than one-half of one percent of young adults, those aged 18 to 23, have a biblical worldview, compared to about one out of every nine older adults.

If God is sovereign, declaring the end from the beginning – how is it that it seems the world is flying apart?  Habakkuk cried out to God:

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. (Habakkuk 1:2-4 ESV)

      Lately, offending Christians is what passes for entertainment these days on major television network programs and motion pictures.  And this is happening as America continues in an economic malaise that has shrunk household wealth to levels not seen since the early 1990’s.  Yet, the LORD has entrusted to us his resources needed to take his Gospel to the ends of the world.  By His providential grace, we are not standing on a dusty dirt road in Namibia or Kenya or Tanzania waiting for someone to bring us the good news of Christ Jesus. 

      God is sovereign – but we have a responsibility.  Hear God’s Word in Acts 13:

 As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

 “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”  

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.   (Acts 13:42-48 ESV)

      Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Luke affirms the sovereignty of God over all of life while at the same time affirming the significance of human activity, as evidenced by the remarkable human effort and sacrifice involved in proclaiming the gospel.  Again, God is sovereign – but we have a responsibility to take His Word to the ends of the earth. 

      Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).”  Our LORD grieves over the destruction of the lost, “…for I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn and live! (Ezekiel 18:32)”

      Our Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Jeremiah 17:15:  Behold, they say to me, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come!” 

Are we doing EVERYTHING we can to send the Word?

      We cannot give up – we cannot quit.  The LORD God called us to walk in this work of reaching His lost.  We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand.  Hear God’s word in 2 Timothy:   “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”

      There is much more work to be done, and the urgency increases with each passing day.  I appeal to you by the mercies of God:  be a good soldier; pleasing Him who enlisted you.  May God bless you as you continue to serve Him.

      David Curry is a Ruling Elder at Center Grove Presbyterian Church and former State President of the Gideon's ministry.

Marxist-Leninism, Cosmic Humanism, and Postmodernism - Worldviews Part 3

      Marxist-Leninism, Cosmic Humanism, and Postmodernism. Do those names sound as intimidating to you as they did to me? The fact that “Marxist-Leninism” is just a fancy way of saying “Communism” didn’t even help. These are the final three worldviews that I studied in my worldview class. (If you missed the one about worldviews, click here. If you missed the one outlining Christianity, Islam, and Secular Humanism, click here.)

Marxist-Leninism (Communism)

      At first, Marxist-Leninism seemed almost exactly the same as Secular Humanism, but after studying it further, I was able to see the differences. Their views on theology are pretty similar to that of the Secular Humanists – they believe that there is no God or other higher being unless you count humans. According to Karl Marx, “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” We are actually God, but because we just couldn't fathom this, we created God to explain everything. 

      Marxist-Leninist philosophers agree with Secular Humanists that the universe was created by random chance and is constantly changing; however, Marxist-Leninists disagree on the application–they say that instead of only applying to life forms, this evolution applies to everything. This idea is called Dialectical Materialism which is the belief that in every situation, there is a conflict between two ideas (the thesis and antithesis), and that conflict produces a new idea (the synthesis) which eventually comes in conflict with another opposing idea, and the process continues. They agree that matter is all that exists; this includes our minds, thoughts, etc. 

      Truth is determined through science and ultimately through the Dialectic process. The Marxist-Leninist ethical code is based on something called Proletariat Morality and is the idea that “right” is anything that helps the poor or hinders the wealthy, and “wrong” is anything the wealthy do that oppresses the poor. Biological and social evolution ultimately determines morality. 

      The Marxist-Leninist idea of how life began (called Punctuated Equilibrium) is very similar to that of the Secular Humanist (relies on spontaneous generation, natural selection, and the fossil record), but differs in saying that evolution moved very slowly to start with–almost invisibly–and then, out of the blue, an evolutionary explosion happened, causing things to evolve so quickly that it’s undocumented. 

Cosmic Humanism

      While most of the other worldviews I studied in the worldview class have similarities with at least one other worldview also covered, Cosmic Humanism is different than all the others. The Cosmic Humanist view of God is something called Pantheism–the belief that everything is God. Instead of one God over everything or even no God at all, they believe that everything is God of itself. 

     They believe that the only reality is the supernatural–the things we can touch, see, hear, and smell are just illusions created by our minds. Since we are each our own God, truth is whatever you feel, or whatever your emotions are telling you at the time. Also, because of that, we each determine our own set of ethics–right and wrong are whatever we make them. This means that everyone is right and no one is wrong, even if people’s ideas or views differ. 

     The one similarity I found in Cosmic Humanism with another worldview is its view on how life came about, which is very similar to the Marxist-Leninist’s Punctuated Equilibrium. The only difference is what they believe to have been evolving. While the Marxist-Leninist’s believe that matter is evolving, Cosmic Humanists believe that it is actually our minds evolving for the purpose of discovering our God-self; a search for higher consciousness instead of a higher form of life.

Postmodernism

     The Postmodernist worldview is probably the one I knew the least about before taking this course, even though it is probably the most quickly growing “religion” right now other than Islam. They believe that God doesn't exist, but try to avoid flat-out stating that because they also believe that there are no absolute truths. 

     Their views on reality differ from all the other worldviews I learned about, in that they believe there is no reality, only what we've come up with in our own minds. Truth doesn't correspond with reality; instead, it’s a set of opinions that applies to each person individually. What one person believes might be different than someone else, but both are truth. They also believe that you should be tolerant of everyone’s beliefs, since they’re all true. 

     Their view on morality is called Cultural Relativism, the belief that truth and morals are relative to one’s culture. In other words, right and wrong are determined by your culture and the society you live in. Since each culture is different, none can claim their view of morality to be the ultimate standard. 

     The Postmodernist view of how life began is very different than any other worldview I’ve studied. They believe in the theory of evolution but most won’t endorse any one theory (i.e. Classical Darwinism, Neo-Darwinism, or Punctuated Equilibrium) because of their views on reality. They also don’t have the same views on evolution as most other worldviews–they believe that instead of man being the most advanced or important species, it is actually bacteria and they are the dominant form of life on Earth.

     Check back for the last installment in this series, looking at the similarities and differences in these worldviews and then looking at their flaws from a Biblical perspective!

Comma Queen


Sources:
“Understanding the Times: A Collision of Today’s Competing Worldviews (Revised 2nd Edition)” by David A. Noebel
Marxist Theology (http://www.allaboutworldview.org/marxist-theology.htm)
“Understanding Postmodernism” with John Stonestreet
“Responding to Relativism” with Frank Beckwith and Greg Koukl

Instant Gratification—Just Add Water!

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 

James 1:14-15

     Frozen meals, pre-shredded cheese, instant coffee, pre-cooked bacon, cake mixes, pre-made pie crusts, fast-food, boxed dinners, microwaves, high-speed internet, instant movies, instant messaging… shall I continue? Have you ever noticed how lazy our society has become? How low our patience level has shrunk? How the industry has pushed our temptations for our demanding whims? How so many people have the instant gratification syndrome?

     The instant gratification syndrome is basically the condition of urgently wanting something (usually trivial), having to and fulfilling that demand immediately, or otherwise creating a fuss or grumbling when you can’t have it right away. Now this is a basic, sinful, fleshly desire which everyone (including me) has at one point in their life. But the problem is many are unaware of this syndrome which they have and don’t realize what has happened to them while the culture is feeding this sickness.

     Look at the food industry. If you walk through a grocery store, much of the food is pre-made, ready for you to just add water, pop it in the microwave for a couple minutes (because the stove top takes way too long), and dinner is served. Who has time or motivation to cook a full, homemade meal anymore? Fast food restaurants pepper the streets, offering a meal in minimum time at drive-thrus. Want supper now? Cha-ching! 

     Look at spending. With just a quick swipe of a credit card, we can buy whatever we want. Loans allow people to make major purchases, like houses or vehicles, right when they want it, even when they don’t have the money to pay for all of it. Advertisements push impulse buys and foolish spending. Take car ads for example, marketing cars at only so little a month! Buy now! The offer ends soon! However, they fail to advertise for how long you must pay that monthly so little amount; but that doesn’t matter as long as you have that sweet ride right then and there.

     Look at technology. With high-speed internet, a whole world of data sits at our fingertips, ready to satisfy our whims. Suddenly desire to watch the music video to a song, or crave funny cat videos? What’s stopping you from meeting those instant demands? Have you ever felt disappointed or offended when people don’t comment on your newest Facebook status or like the video you posted, because you crave that gratification? Just look at the first word in “instant messaging.” Phones, formally used to simply make calls, can now access high-speed internet, play music, present games, store data, deliver instant messages and texts, access email accounts, and include many frivolous applications—all within hand’s reach.

     Now look at the effects of instant gratification syndrome. Food and mealtimes become just something to shove down our throats as fast as we acquire it, instead of meaning so much in that God has provided this meal, and Mom has worked hard to prepare this wonderful dinner. That truly fulfilling satisfaction of presenting and savoring a meal hard worked for is lost on fast-food and boxed dinners. Plus, packaged food reaps unhealthy consequences on our bodies.  Impulse buys rarely pay off the price, may lead to debt, and demonstrate a lack of self-control and wisdom. Working hard and saving up to buy that sweet car is so much more genuinely gratifying and is a wiser use of money than buying what we want, when we want. With internet, we get frustrated when the browser takes more than a few seconds to respond, labeling ten seconds as “slow.”

     I’m not saying all of the above is evil. Loans might be necessary for pressing issues. Instead of sending a letter for weeks in transit on horse or boat, technology has assisted in quicker communication. Looking up Scripture is so much faster and easier with internet search engines (and there’s nothing wicked about funny cat videos, although I’m sure you could use your time better). I eat pre-cooked, frozen sausages! And they’re delicious. 
            However, we must be careful how we use our instant gratification abilities. Is it just to satisfy an instant demand? Do you become upset when you can’t get something as soon as possible? “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:14-15, ESV). Of course, James is not implying we should never use the internet or eat out, but we should pay attention that our desire for immediate satisfaction should not entice us to the extent that we turn into lazy, demanding slaves of nearsightedness. Do not let the world and your desires sinfully and successfully tempt you. Realize when the instant gratification syndrome symptoms show. Inform and instruct others around you of this ubiquitous condition. And while you’re at it, throw away that microwave popcorn and try buying a popcorn maker and popping corn kernels.  Homemade popcorn tastes much more delicious while you browse for instant movies.

Klipsie

Christianity, Islam, and Secular Humanism - Worldviews Part 2

     Most of us think we know just about everything there is to know about the basics of Christianity (at least I did) but what about some of the other religions and worldviews? (If you missed Part 1, click here to find out what a worldview is) Do we really know where they stand on theology (the study of God), philosophy (the study of knowledge and reality), ethics (the study of right and wrong), and biology (the study of life)? In this article, I’ll lay out the basics of Christianity, Islam, and Secular Humanism.

Christianity

   Of the different worldviews I studied in my worldview class, I had expected to know the most about Christianity–which was indeed the case, but I still learned quite a bit!  We learned that Christianity is really very different from most other worldviews.  Christians believe that there is only one God, but He exists as three different persons in the Trinity, and that He is a personal and loving God who is perfect, all-powerful, all-knowing, and much more.  The Christian argument for the existence of God is that since every design must have a designer, and every law has someone who instituted it, creation must have a Creator.  

     Christian philosophy teaches first and foremost that truth is absolute and comes from God.  The subsequent view of reality is that it consists of both the natural and the supernatural–the things that you can touch, see, hear, and smell, but also the things that you can’t.  Therefore, both our minds and our bodies are equally reliable.  In other words, we don’t rely only on science, or only on our own thoughts, but we combine both.  

     Their ethical code teaches that right and wrong are grounded in the character of God, which can be seen at work in the bible, and they are one of the few religions that believe in an absolute standard of morals.  They also believe that God gives everyone a conscience which shows His absolute moral code.  

     Finally, the Christian view of how life began is that God created each life form separately in the course of 6 days, though since then, they have likely experienced microevolution–meaning they have had small changes to help them adapt, but none have turned into a separate species altogether.

Islam

     Of all the other worldviews studied, I found Islam to be the most similar to Christianity.  Muslims agree with Christians about the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing God, but they believe that there is only one God (they view the trinity as being three Gods), and he is very impersonal.  Also similar to Christians in the area of philosophy, they believe that reality exists in both natural and supernatural, and that knowledge comes both from science and our thoughts, though more so on the second, as the basis for their philosophies came from the Greek philosophers.  Islamic morals are determined by God, but not his character.  He decides what is right and wrong, even though those same ethics don’t always apply to him.  Also, they believe that our actions redefine morality.  Their views on how life began are that the world was created by God in a period of 6-8 days, and all but a small faction disagrees with the theory of evolution.

Secular Humanism

     Before I started this class, I didn’t know very much about Secular Humanism, other than some of the very basic ideas.  This isn’t something you really learn much about unless you take a class like the one I’m in, so maybe this will help you understand their beliefs better if you didn’t already know anything about them.  Their beliefs on the existence of God are that he doesn’t exist but is simply a figment of our imagination–something we made up in order to try to explain the existence of the universe.  Instead, they believe that we (humans) are the ultimate source of knowledge and only we can solve our own problems, create our own futures, save the earth, etc.  Their philosophies claim that there is no supernatural, only the natural – the things we can feel, see, hear, taste, and smell.  Matter is all that exists, and it is always changing, evolving to make things even better than before.  They believe that truth is only found in what can be seen and is grounded in science.  

     The Secular Humanist view of right and wrong is that they are relative.  Nothing is really right or wrong, and each individual determines his or her ethical code by their experiences.  There is no God or other “higher power” other than ourselves on which to base our ethics.  Also, since there is no God to have created the universe, they believe that life came about through spontaneous generation–the evolutionary theory that life came about spontaneously from non-living matter by a natural, random process–and that it continues to change (evolve), getting better and better over time.  They also rely heavily on natural selection (nature selects favorable characteristics of an organism and eliminates the others), the struggle for existence (only the best-equipped organisms will survive), beneficial mutation (genetic mutation adds characteristics that will help an organism survive), adaption (slight changes in an organism that help it survive in a certain climate, area, etc.), and the fossil record (evidence found in fossils).

Check back to find out about Marxist-Leninism, Cosmic Humanism, and Postmodernism!

Comma Queen

Sources:

“Understanding the Times: A Collision of Today’s Competing Worldviews (Revised 2^nd Edition)” by David A. Noebel

Malachi

So Hi, 

     First off you will notice I am (probably) the only sane person on this blog, or at least the only human; everyone else is either an alien, some weird super intelligent animal, or a part of English grammar. 

      I am a somewhat stereotypical geek/homeschooler, by that I mean I’m anti-social and spend more time with anything but humans and I enjoy every second of it. I mean seriously, I hang out with a lizard, a heron, a haiku, an alien in a human suit, and a comma. I like reading Old and New school Christian novels and sermons. 

     Malachi is Hebrew for ‘God’s messenger’ (literal is “My messenger”). That is what I want to be in life, a voice crying in the wilderness. I am here because I want to challenge young men and women to get out there and be God for those around them. The one thing that hit me when I wrote this is that North America is the only continent that is losing believers every year. We needed another Great Awakening and each one was started by the youth at that time raising the bar above what even the adults had set for themselves. I believe that we are starting the next Great Awakening. 

      I am currently writing a book/devotional on God’s search for man. I decided on writing this because there are so many bizarre accounts of God calling people that didn’t want to be His workers and running from Him. 

     I am also a committed Whovian, if you don’t know what that is then here are some words of advice: “Don't blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't blink. And stay out of the shadows. Good Luck.” 

Ad majorem Dei gloriam, inque hominum salutem.

Malachi

What Is A Worldview? - Worldviews Part 1

      Some of you may remember that I (the Comma Queen) switched to an Administrative position at the beginning of the school year because of my school load. Well, I’m back for a little while at least to share some of the stuff I’ve been learning through a really big Worldview class I’ve been taking this year. I’ve been learning about different worldviews – what they are, how they affect people, the different types of worldviews that exist and what they believe, and much more. To start off with, I’ll be sharing what a worldview is and how it functions.

     First things first, as my history teacher has drilled into me, define your terms. So, how do you define, “worldview”? One definition I found on an online dictionary was, “A worldview is an overall way of looking at the world.” According to Norman Geisler and William Watkins, respected Christian authors and speakers, a worldview is “...a way of viewing or interpreting all of reality. It is an interpretive framework through which or by which one makes sense of the data of life and the world.” Personally, I would define it similarly to the dictionary and say that a worldview is the way we view the world.

     I also learned some comparisons to help illustrate how a worldview works. One is that of a pair of glasses. You use them to help you see the world around you. Depending on the prescription, they will either give you a clear view of things, or they will distort everything. Another example is a tree’s roots. When you look at a tree, you don’t often see its roots. Instead, you see the trunk, the branches, the leaves, etc. Even though you can’t see them, though, the roots are very essential to the survival of the rest of the tree. They go deep into the ground to produce nourishment and they anchor the tree to keep it from falling over.

     Like the glasses, you use a worldview to help you view the world and while one worldview will make things clearer, others will just confuse you and make it difficult to understand the world around you. Like a tree’s roots, it’s essential to life and stability, though you can’t see it. All you can see are the exposed parts–the actions that are made as a result. It’s like meeting a new person; you can’t tell right away what type of worldview they have, but if you watch their actions, you’ll get an idea of what they believe. For example, you might see someone praying over a meal. This would indicate that they believe in some sort of a higher being (a god) and are very likely a Theist—a Pantheist believes that everything is god and ultimately, that they are their own god, so they wouldn’t likely take the time to pray to themselves; an Atheist doesn’t even believe in any sort of god to be prayed to in the first place.

     Hopefully this helps better understand what a worldview is. I know that before I took any type of worldview class, I had no clue what it even was! In my next few articles, I’ll be going into specifics on the six different worldviews I’ve been studying in-depth, including Christianity, Islam, Secular Humanism, Marxist-Leninism, Cosmic Humanism, and Postmodernism. In the final section, I’ll be looking at similarities between the different worldviews and then analyzing their flaws from a Biblical perspective.

Comma Queen

Sources:

“Understanding the Times: A Collision of Today’s Competing Worldviews (Revised 2^nd Edition)” by David A. Noebel

YourDictionary (http://www.yourdictionary.com/)

“Loving God With Your Mind” with J.P. Moreland

MARCH UPDATE!!!

It has been a year!

This has been a great year. It has been great to see the ideas, brainstorming and work all come to fruition. I am extremely nostalgic about last year, and extremely excited about this one! We have some great things planned, some new writers, new areas to branch out into...

So many thoughts to think and so many things to be thought!

We hope you've enjoyed, learned from, wept over, and eaten our articles as much as we have writing them!

So, this is an update... what's new?

-First off, due to copious amounts of schoolwork and other factors, Justin Gummi, Chipper and Haiku will be taking a hiatus or retirement from The Thought Box. We hope you've enjoyed their articles over the past few months!

-The Comma Queen is still in her advisory role, though she has some articles that will be coming along shortly.

-Klipsie will continue writing her fun, inspiring, and challenging articles.

-Haron will be back and taking a look at some pretty cool stuff.

-And it is my pleasure to introduce the newest member of our little band, "Malachi"! Be sure to look for his  bio on March 11th.

-I am here... as usual...

Other new and cool stuff:

We have an e-mail! Got something you want us to write about? Want to be spotlighted in our NEW younger guest spot? Shoot an e-mail to tchthoughtbox@gmail.com and we'll get back to you in a timely manner.

Did you catch that? In addition to our by-invitation-only Guest Spot on the last Monday of every month, we are now accepting submissions for the not-by-invitation-only Guest Spot on the Thursday following that Monday. Just shoot us an email a week prior and we will look at it and tell you what we think.

We are also now encouraging idea submissions (also via the thcthoughtbox@gmail.com address or the contact us page) for articles and Guest Writers. So, shoot us an idea and it might probably will get chosen by one of the writers for one of their upcoming articles!

That's all I've got for now!

All the Best,

Leaping Lizard