an
introduction to worldview
-by Nate
Archer
We all have a worldview. Maybe you don't think you have a worldview, but you do. There are basic questions which have an incredible influence over your life depending on what you really believe the answers are. Questions like: What is real? Where did we come from? What is truth? Am I here for a purpose? Does God exist? What is He like? What will happen to me after I die?
In his book, The Universe Next Door James Sire defines a worldview as "a set of presupposition which we hold about the basic makeup of the universe." Let me break that definition down and explain it for you.- First of all, these are BELIEFS WE HOLD. They are not merely what we claim to believe, but what we actually believe.
- They are PRESUPPOSITIONS. To "suppose" is to believe something. "Pre" means before. What this really means is that these are the thoughts upon which all of your other thoughts rest. They are the "foundation" for everything else you believe.
- A worldview is a SET of beliefs. This is important! The things we believe do not stand alone. These beliefs must work together as a system. Each foundational belief we hold affects every other belief. For example, the existence of a Creator will effect what we believe about the purpose and value of human beings. Some worldviews are "coherent." Some are not. For a worldview to be "coherent" all of the beliefs must make sense with each other.
- Worldview questions are BASIC questions. This doesn't mean that they are simple. It means that they are the basis, the foundation, for everything else we believe and do.
- These questions are about our WORLD. This doesn't mean they are about our planet. It mean they are questions about everything that exists.
“A worldview is a set of presuppositions which we hold about the basic makeup of our world.” –James Sire, The Universe Next Door
"Presupposition" = things we "suppose" beforehand; the basic assumptions of life
Your worldview effects every choice you make.
In India, when a woman's husband would die, he would be cremated in a giant bonfire. The man's widow was expected to throw herself, alive, into the fire to be burned up along with her husband. Why would someone do this? It seems insane to end your life early just because your husband died. But to these people, it made sense according to their worldview. They believe in reincarnation, so they believe that they will come back again after they die. If that is true, why is it a big deal to start over early- especially if it gives you better karma. That is another part of their worldview. During our lives we generate "karma." If we generate good karma, we come back as a higher being next time around. If we generate bad karma, we come back as a lower being next time around, like a fly or a homeless person. These beliefs have actually made it hard for relief workers like Mother Theresa to help the desperately poor of India. According to their worldview, the "untouchables" were born poor and rejected because of what they did in their previous life! Therefore to help them would interfere in their karma!
Some worldviews overlap with other worldviews much more than others. Some barely overlap at all. These examples from a Hindu worldview might seem extreme because they are from a worldview very different from our own. However, we talk to people every day with different worldviews. Why does one person idolize a certain political candidate while another person thinks the candidate is a complete idiot? Why do people disagree about abortion, or homosexuality? It all boils down to these foundational questions.
“A worldview is a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions (assumptions which maybe true, partially true or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic constitution of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being." –James Sire, The Universe Next Door, 4th edition
"A worldview may be defined as the philosophical glasses that a person wears to look at this world of ideas, experiences, and purposes. The worldview functions as an interpretive conceptual scheme to explain why we 'see' the world as we do and act as we do." -Ravi Zacharias, The Shattered Visage
Worldview questions can be split into five main topics:
KNOWLEDGE
What is truth? Can we know
anything with certainty? How do we know the things we know? Is
truth the same for me as it is for you?
GOD
Does God exist? Is it possible
to know anything about Him? What is He like? Is God
good? Is there more than one? Am I God? How does God
relate to evil? How do I relate to God?
The
UNIVERSE
What is real? Why does
"something" exist instead of "nothing?" Is the
universe eternal or created? When did everything come from?
Does it have a purpose? Is the "natural" world all that
exists, or is there a world beyond the natural world?
MAN
What makes a human a human?
What happens after we die? Do I have a soul? Was I created for
a purpose? What is the purpose of human history? Are is human
nature good, bad, or neutral? How are humans to relate to each
other? Are we different from animals?
ETHICS
Is there such a thing as right and
wrong? Who decides what is right and what is wrong? How do I
know what is moral? Does absolute moral truth exist, or is it all
relative. Is morality just opinion.
"Always
be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason
for the hope that you have."
-1 Peter 3:15
A Catalog of Worldview
What is worth living your life for? How would you respond to a tragedy in your life? If you fell 100 feel from a cliff while rock climbing, and lived, would you have anyone to thank? What makes something right or wrong? Listed below are some description of worldviews. Some are very common. How would each of these answer these questions differently?
Note: These are description of these worldviews, not strict definitions. Several of these worldview overlap. Also, some of these worldviews have other variations that are different from the description given here. Finally, this is not every worldview possible.
“NATURALIST”
You don’t believe in God.
Everything that happens is the result of physics and chemistry.
If a climber has an accident, there is no "reason" for it
except for the laws of physics.
There is no higher purpose to anything and there is no afterlife.
“NIHILIST”
You don’t believe in God.
Everything that happens is the result of physics and chemistry.
There is NO “reason” for the accident.
There is NO reason for life at all.
There is NO purpose.
You have come to realize that EVERYTHING is hopelessly meaningless
and pointless.
We’re born.
Life stinks.
We die.
That’s it.
“EXISTENTIALIST”
You don’t believe in God.
There is no purpose to life EXCEPT WHAT WE CHOOSE TO MAKE OUR
PURPOSE.
You admire a climber’s dedication to climbing because it gives
meaning to his life.
Existentialists are passionate people who stare down the
meaninglessness of life by creating meaning by our bold choices.
“BIBLICAL
CHRISTIAN”
You have a Christian worldview.
God exists and is all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly good.
Humans are created by God for the purpose of glorifying Him as we
make Him our treasure.
We are sinners and deserve condemnation but can be saved by grace
through faith in Jesus.
God works all things together for the good of those who love Him
and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
You believe God’s revelation, the Bible, is the ultimate source
of truth.
Truth is true for everyone.
“WISHY-WASHY
CHRISTIAN”
You give lip service to God and “kinda” believe the God of the Bible.
At least, you have heard a lot of the stories.
You believe in a “feel good God.”
When things go well, you think that God is loving.
When things go bad, you think that He is being a jerk.
Note: Obviously this is not a technical name for a worldview. However, many people do in fact live their lives this way.
“PRAGMATIST/RELATIVIST”
You believe that people should believe whatever WORKS for them.
If something makes you feel better, go ahead and believe it.
Pragmatism = “Whatever works is true.”
Relativism = “Each person has their own truth.”
“HEDONIST”
You don’t know if God exists.
You don’t really care or think about it much.
You believe that life is about fun and pleasure.
We should do whatever makes us feel good.
Whatever makes you happy is right.
Note: This is NOT the same thing as what John Piper calls “Christian hedonism. Also, I am not saying that all hedonists are agnostics.)
“NEW
AGE” (pantheistic monism)
You believe that everyone, and everything, is “God.”
You also believe in karma which means that the universe gives us
our fate depending on if we have generated good karma or bad karma.
pantheism = "Everything is God"
monism = "everything is one"
“DEIST"
You believe that God created the universe and then stepped off the
stage. God is like a clockmaker and the world is like a perfectly
designed clock. God never needs to intervene to "fix"
it. Miracles do not happen. God exists, or at least he existed
once, but he is no longer relevant.
“SOLIPSIST”
You hold to the rare and strange belief that you, and only you, exist.
Everything else is just a figment of your imagination!
"The ultimate aim of the modern movement in biology is, in fact, to explain all biology in terms of physics and chemistry." -Francis H. C. Crick, naturalist
"God is dead. And we have killed him." -Frederich Nietzsche, nihilist
"See
to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive
philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of
this world rather than on Christ."
-Colossians 2:8
Let's pretend that you were just in a car accident and you are now paralyzed for life. You are married and your spouse is having a very hard time dealing with what has happened to you and is thinking about leaving you. Your spouse goes to his or her friends for advise, but each of them has a different worldview and gives a different answer:
"I would not get a divorce, but that is my truth. What is true
for me might not be true for you. You have to follow your
heart." -Pragmatist/Relativist
"If your spouse cannot fulfill your sexual needs, you shouldn't have to stay with that person." -Hedonist
"You took a vow to love your spouse 'for better or for worse until death do you part.' I know from the Bible that abandoning your spouse is not what Jesus would do. Divorce is against the character of God." -Biblical Christian
"What does it matter?" -Nihilist
As Christian thinker Francis Schaeffer has said, "People are unique in the inner life of their mind- what they are in their thought world determines how they will act." This is very true. Your worldview is already affecting your life every day. It is time that you start to examine your core beliefs to find out if they are true and what implications they have for your life.
Ronals Nash offers three tests for choosing a worldview:
1. The Test of Reason
Is this worldview logically coherent or does it violate the law of non-contradiction? Is the worldview self-refuting? For example, if a worldview teaches that there is no truth, that worldview can't be true... because there is no truth!
2. The Test of Experience
Does this worldview fit with what I know to be true about the outer world? Does it fit what I know to be true about my "inner world?" For example, how can a worldview that denies objective right and wrong be true when you know that it was wrong for Hitler to kill the Jews?
3. The Test of Practice
Can this worldview be consistently lived out? Or, do I have to borrow beliefs from other worldview systems in order to live my life? For example, any solipsist who tries to live life consistently denying the existence of other people will end up dead or in jail!
Recommended Reading:
The
Universe Next Door, by James Sire
Worldviews in Conflict, by Ronald Nash