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MarketFaith
Ministries
321 Anton Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32312
Phone: 850-383-9756
Fax: 850-514-4571
Email: info@marketfaith.org
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Summary Explanation of the
Basic Worldviews
Naturalism
Naturalism assumes that there is no “built-in” meaning or purpose for
anything. Human life, indeed every kind of life, and every aspect of material
reality are just enormous cosmic accidents. The essence of reality is nothing
more than material substances which, over the eons, have evolved to what we
see today.
Since
there is no ultimate moral purpose or meaning in anything, it is simply up to
the creatures who are capable of contemplation to invent their own meaning.
To this point in evolutionary history, only man has ended up evolving with a
sense of moral values or purpose, so only man needs to deal with this issue.
Ultimately, since there is no innate value or meaning, each person has to
find their own meaning – something subjective that makes life meaningful
and worth living for them. It may be different from individual to individual
but that is OK. There is nothing that can objectively be called right, truth,
purpose, or meaning.
Animism
Animism assumes that any kind of unexplained event happens because spiritual
beings or supernatural forces are at work in the natural world. Certainly
natural forces are recognized as operating in situations where a natural
cause can be readily seen. But in cases where a natural cause cannot be seen,
it is automatically assumed to be caused by supernatural power.
Far
Eastern Thought
The ultimate end of the most prominent forms of Far Eastern Thought is
absorption into an all-encompassing cosmos. No one is able to take seriously
any kind of objective reality – whether knowledge or sensory experience. It
is acknowledged that there is such a thing as objective reality, but it goes
on to assert that the nature of that reality is quite beyond our ability to
comprehend. The goal of life, therefore, is to simply recognize that reality
cannot be known and to passively live life. This attitude frees a person from
all of the suffering that “seems” to be all around. When the state of
total passivity is achieved, individuals are freed to simply let life come as
it will.
Theism
Theism, in a general sense, gives us all the categories necessary to get a
handle on truth by providing a framework for understanding both the material
and the spiritual aspects of existence. It points to God as creator, gives a
basis for natural and spiritual law, and holds out the hope that there is a
reason and purpose for our existence.
The
big problem with theism, as a category, is that it is so broad. It
encompasses several of the major world religions as well as dozens of smaller
groups. Many, if not most, of these groups have their own authoritative book
which they consider to be an actual revelation from God. Most do not,
however, contemplate a God who is interested in intimate interaction with the
material world and man, in particular.
Various
theistic approaches go in very different directions, some of which contradict
one other. This means that not every specific theistic view can be viable.
Theism does generally, point us in the right direction, but we need to find
the specific view of theism that we can acknowledge as truth.
Relational
Revelation
Relational Revelation is a specialized form of Theism and is the only
worldview that allows for a completely coherent and comprehensive
understanding of our perceptions of reality, and which has a basis for
backing it up. This does not mean that we will get answers to every question
that we want answered. There are certainly some things that we long to know
which are beyond our human ability to understand.
The
pure view, though, does cover all of the bases. There are categories for
understanding the part of reality that we interact with physically and for
understanding that part which is beyond the reach of the senses. And it does
all of this in a way that matches up with the way human beings actually
experience life.
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