Final Exam Worldview

What is prime reality?

What is the first question?

What is the nature of external reality?

What is the second question?

What is a human being?

What is the third question?

What happens at death?

What is the fourth question?

Why is it possible to know anything at all?

What is the fifth question?

How do we know right and wrong?

What is the six question?

What is the meaning of human history?

What is the seventh question?

What life-orienting core commitments are consistent with this worldview?

What is the eighth question?

Prime Reality is the infinite, personal God revealed in the Holy Scriptures. This God is triune, transcendent and immanent, omniscient, sovereign, and good.

What is prime reality for Christian?

-He is the only self-existent being: "I am who I am."
-He is the source of all existence.
-He is the one and only creator and God

What does it mean for God to be infinite?

-He is self-reflective.
-He possesses the characteristic of self-determination--He thinks and he acts.
-God is the source of our personalities.
-God is triune: within the one essence of the Godhead we have to distinguish three "persons" who are neither three gods in on the one side, not three parts or modes of God on the other, but coequally and coeternally God." The Trinity confirms the communal, "personal" nature of the ultimate being--Perichoresis.

What does it mean that God is personal?

God is beyond us and our world, and God is otherly: God is not a stone, man, etc.

What does it mean for God to be transcendent?

God is with us and present in the world, but he is not of the same essence as the world, his creation.

What does it mean for God to be immanent?

God is all-knowing, and he knows the beginning and the end.

What does it mean for God to be omniscient?

Nothing is beyond God's ultimate interest control, and authority

What does it mean for God to be sovereign?

-God's goodness is expressed in two ways: his holiness and his love.
-His holiness knows no evil: in him there is no darkness.
-His goodness is expressed in his love, for God is love. This leads God to self-sacrifice and the full extension of his favor to his people.

What does it mean that God is good?

-There is an absolute and personal standard of righteousness.
-There is hope for humanity because God is love and won't abandon his creation.

What are two things that God's goodness mean?

External reality is the cosmos God created ex nihilo to operate with uniformity of cause and effect in an open system.

According to Christianity, what is the nature of external reality?

-God did not make the universe out of himself. He spoke it into existence from nothingness.
-He created the universe out of nothing not from pre-existent chaos

What does it mean that God created everything ex nihilo?

-The cosmos was not created to be chaotic.
-The universe is orderly: we expect the earth to turn so the sun will rise every day.
-The system is open, which means that it is not programmed--it is open to reordering by God, as displayed in Jesus Christ, and humans, as displayed through the Fall of Adam and Eve.
-Open means that each action each of us makes changes and produces the future.
-Thus, the universe is orderly, but not determined.

What does it mean that God created a cosmos as a uniformity of cause and effect in an open system?

-Human beings are created in the image of God and thus possess personality, self-transcendence, intelligence, morality, gregariousness,
and creativity.
-Human beings were created good, but through the fall the image of God became defaced, though not so ruined as not to be capable of restoration; through the work of Jesus Christ, God redeemed humanity and began the process of restoring people to goodness, though any given person may choose to reject that redemption.

What is a human being for Christianity?

A person is not forced to any necessary reaction.

What does it mean for a human to be self-transcendent?

Humans have the capacity for reason and intelligence.

What does it mean for a human to have intelligence?

Humans have the capacity for recognizing and understanding good and evil.

What does it mean for a human to have morality?

Humans are social beings and have a fundamental desire and need for human companionship--community--especially represented by the "male and female" aspect.

What does it mean for a human to be gregarious?

-Humans have the ability to imagine new things or to endow old things with new significance.
-Human creativity is borne as a reflection of the infinite creativity of God himself.

What does it mean for a human to have creativity?

For each person death is either the gate to life with God and his people or the gate to eternal separation from the only thing that will ultimately fulfill human aspirations.

What happens at death in Christianity?

A glorified existence as an individual within the Kingdom of God. These people will be completed, fulfilled, engaged in the ever-enjoyable communion of the saints.

What does existence with God look like?

An existence forever separated from God, holding their uniqueness in awful loneliness apart from precisely that which would fulfill them

What does existence apart from God look like?

Human beings can know both the world around them and God himself because God has built into them the capacity to do so and because he takes an active role in communicating with them.

Why is it possible to know anything at all in Christianity?

God speaks through the created order of the universe. David says, "The heavens declare the glory of God;/ the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

What is general revelation?

This is God's disclosure of himself in extranatural ways: the burning bush, the Hebrew people, speaking with Moses, the ten commandments, prophets, the Bible, Jesus Christ, who is God's ultimate special revelation.

What is special revelation?

Ethics is transcendent and is based on the character of God as good (holy and loving).

How do we know right and wrong in Christianity?

-The ten commandments
-The Sermon on the Mount
-The apostle Paul's ethical teaching
-In the person of Jesus Christ, the complete man, the good life incarnate

What are some ways God's morality been revealed to humanity?

-History is linear, a meaningful sequence of events leading to the fulfillment of God's purposes for humanity.
-History is the divine purpose of God in concrete form.

What is the meaning of human history in Christianity?

Creation, Fall, Redemption, Glorification.

What is the pattern of human life?

Christian theists live to seek first the kingdom of God, that is, to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

What life-orienting core commitments are consistent with Christianity?

-Not just to do so in religious worship, singing praise and enacting the traditional rites of the church
-To glorify God is to reveal his character by being who we were created to be: the embodiment of the image of God in human form, perfectly illustrated in the person of Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to glorify God?

-Seek first and Proclaim the Kingdom of God.
-Enjoy and be satisfied by God: Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
-Love your neighbor as yourself.

How do we be like Jesus?

A response of love, obedience, and praise to the Lord of the Universe, their maker, sustainer and, through Jesus Christ, their redeemer and friend.

What is the first act of Christian Theists?

A transcendent God, as a First Cause, created the universe but then left it to run on its own. God is thus not immanent, not triune, not full personal, not sovereign over human affairs, not providential.

What is prime reality for Deism?

-It is closed to God's reordering because he is not interested in it. Thus, there are no miracles or anything supernatural.
-It is closed to human reordering because it is locked up in a clock-like fashion. Humanity would have to transcend it and get out of the chain of cause and effect

What are the two ways that cold deism universe is closed?

Human beings, though personal, are a part of the clockwork of the universe.

What is a human being in Deism?

Human beings may or may not have a life beyond their physical existence.

What happens at death in Deism?

Warm deists, those closest to Christian theists, persisted in the notion of an afterlife, and cold deists, those further away, didn't.

What is the difference between warm and cold deists in their opinions about what happens after death?

Through our innate and autonomous human reason and the methods of science, we can not only know the universe but we can infer at least something of what God is like. The cosmos, this world, is understood to be in its normal state; it is not fallen or abnormal.

Why is it possible to know anything at all in Deism?

Ethics is intuitive or limited to general revelation; because the universe is normal, it reveals what is right.

How do we know right and wrong in Deism?

Whatever is, is right. But if whatever is is right, then there is no evil. Good becomes indistinguishable from evil.

According to the Alexander Pope, is anything in creation fallen or evil?

History is linear, for the course of the cosmos was determined at creation. Still the meaning of events of history remains to be understood by the application of human reason to the data unearthed and made available to historians.

What is the meaning of human history in Deism?

All narratives that included any miracles

In the Jeffersonian bible, what did Thomas Jefferson take out?

Cold deists use their own autonomous reason to determine their goal in life; warm deists may reflect on their commitment to a somewhat personal God and determine their goal in accordance with what they believe their God would be pleased with.

What life-orienting core commitments are consistent with Deism?

The rejection of the full personal character of God as described in the Bible

What was the first and most important loss of Deists?

Millions of Americans hold to a vague, simple, easy-going belief in the existence of an omnipotent, impersonal, transcendent being, a force or an intelligence.

Who are some examples of popular deists and what is the basic belief?

-A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.
-God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most religions.
-The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
-God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
-Good people go to heaven when they die.

What are the common beliefs of moralistic therapeutic deism?

God, ultimate reality, in this view makes no demand on his creation to be holy, righteous or even very good. It's also is only based on human intuition.

What is the main problem with moralistic therapeutic deism?

-Autonomous human reason replaced the Bible and tradition as the authority for the way ultimate reality was understood. Everyone could decide what God was like.
-Autonomous human reason replaced the Bible and tradition as the authority for morality. In practice, people do not agree on matters of good and evil or what constitutes "good" behavior as much as the early deists thought.
-Deists rejected the biblical notion of the fall and assumed that the present universe is in its normal, created state. But if whatever is, is right, then no place is left for a distinctive content to ethics.
-Since the universe is closed to reordering, human action is determined. Human significance and mechanical determinism are impossible bedfellows.

What makes deism so unstable?

Prime reality is MATTER. Matter exists ETERNALLY and is all there is. God DOES NOT exist.

What is prime reality in Naturalism?

Matter was made up of IRREDUCIBLE "units" existing in MECHANICAL, spatial relationship with each other based on physical LAWS

In the 18th century, what was the common perspective concerning matter?

The law implies that MASS can NEITHER be created nor destroyed, although it may be rearranged in space, or the entities associated with it may be CHANGED IN FORM.

What is the Law of Conservation of Mass?

The cosmos exists as a UNIFORMITY of CAUSE AND EFFECT in a CLOSED system.

What is the nature of external reality in Naturalism?

Naturalists AFFIRM the continuity of space, time and matter, and that they are held together from within, which means that they would be DETERMINISTS, but naturalists argue that we are still free to fashion our own destiny, at least in part.

What is the naturalists view on determinism versus free-will?

Human beings are COMPLEX "machines"; personality is an interrelation of CHEMICAL and PHYSICAL properties we do NOT yet fully understand

What is a human being in Naturalism?

By stressing out HUMANNESS (our distinctness from the rest of the cosmos), a naturalist finds a basis for value, for, it is held, INTELLIGENCE, CULTURAL sophistication, a sense of RIGHT AND WRONG not only are human distinctives but are what make human beings valuable.

What is the naturalist's perspective on the value of human beings?

Death is EXTINCTION of PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUALITY.

What happens at death in Naturalism?

Through our INNATE and AUTONOMOUS human REASON, including the methods of science, we can know the universe. The cosmos, including this world, is understood to be in its NORMAL state.

Why is it possible to know anything at all in Naturalism?

Ethics as related ONLY to HUMAN BEINGS

How do we know right and wrong in Naturalism?

Christianity

What was the basis for morality for the early naturalists?

For CHRISTIANITY, GOD is the foundation of all values. For NATURALISTS, values are CONSTRUCTED by human beings.

What is the difference in the basis for morality between Christianity and Naturalism?

We affirm that moral values derive their source from human EXPERIENCE. Ethics is autonomous and SITUATIONAL, needing no theological or ideological sanction. Ethics stems from human NEED and interest...Human life has meaning because we create and develop our FUTURES."

What is the locus of naturalistic ethics according to the Humanist Manifesto II?

From INTUITION, from authority, and from CONVENTION. No one grows up without picking up values from the ENVIRONMENT, and while a person may reject these and pay the consequences of ostracism or martyrdom, seldom does anyone succeed in inventing values totally divorced from CULTURE.

According to G. G. Simpson, where do morals come from?

History is a LINEAR stream of events linked by cause and effect but without an OVERARCHING purpose.

What is the meaning of human history in Naturalism?

Naturalism itself implies no particular core commitments on the part of any given naturalist. Rather core commitments are ADOPTED UNWITTINGLY or CHOSEN by INDIVIDUALS

What life-orienting core commitments are consistent with Naturalism?

The overall attitude that human beings are of SPECIAL value; their ASPIRATIONS, their thoughts, their YEARNINGS are SIGNIFICANT at an individual level.

What is Humanism generally?

A form of humanism that is completely framed within a NATURALISTIC worldview

What is Secular Humanism?

In theory, Marxism is supposed to benefit working people and enable them to gain ECONOMIC CONTROL over their own lives.

What is the purpose of Marxism in theory?

It gives the impression of being honest and objective

What makes Naturalism so persistent?

Prime reality is MATTER. Matter exists ETERNALLY and is all there is. God DOES NOT exist.

What is prime reality for Nihilism?

The cosmos exists as a UNIFORMITY of CAUSE AND EFFECT in a CLOSED system

What is the nature of external reality for Nihilism?

Human beings are COMPLEX "machines"; personality is an interrelation of CHEMICAL and PHYSICAL properties we do NOT yet fully understand.

What is human being for Nihilism?

Death is EXTINCTION of PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUALITY.

What happens at death for Nihilism?

Through our INNATE and AUTONOMOUS human reason, including the methods of science, we can know the universe. The cosmos, including this world, is understood to be in its NORMAL state.

Why is it possible to know anything at all in Nihilism?

Ethics are related ONLY to HUMAN BEINGS

How do we know right and wrong in Nihilism?

History is a LINEAR stream of events linked by cause and effect but without an OVERARCHING purpose.

What is the meaning of human history in Nihilism?

Naturalism itself implies no particular core commitments on the part of any given naturalist. Rather core commitments are ADOPTED UNWITTINGLY or CHOSEN by INDIVIDUALS.

What life-orienting core commitments are consistent with Nihilism?

NO, since external reality is CLOSED within a continual sequence of cause and effect, the present state of affairs must GOVERN/CAUSE the FUTURE state of affairs.

According to Friedrich Nietzsche, do human beings have free will?

NO, if someone robbed a bank, that would ultimately be due to UNPREVENTABLE forces triggering one's decisions. Thus, people are simply MACHINES that are programmed to do things solely based on PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES.

According to Nihilism, since everything is determined by an endless sequence of cause and effect, can humans be guilty of wrongdoing?

Either chance is the word we use to describe the events that occur without our understanding of how they happened, but they are events that are, nevertheless, still subject to the UNSTOPPABLE movement of cause and effect; or CHANCE IS SIMPLY IRRATIONAL--CAUSELESS, PURPOSELESS, DIRECTIONLESS EVENTS THAT JUST HAPPEN.

According to Nihilism, what is chance?

The investigation of what distinguishes justified BELIEF FROM OPINION

What is epistemology?

Since humans are subject to the same CLOSED SYSTEM OF NATURAL SELECTION as monkeys, there is no way to know with certainty that humans are thinking rationally without some "RATIONAL MIND" that is outside of the closed system to tell us otherwise. Thus, we can know and be certain of nothing.

Charles Darwin said, "The horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has developed from the mind of lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would anyone trust the conviction of a monkey's mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?" What is he confessing?

Moral values are RELATIVE TO the CULTURE of a TRIBE, NATION, OR SOCIAL UNIT.

What is the cultural anthropologist's answer to the question, which values are the true values?

NO, morality is only decided by the group powerful enough to SUPERCEDE another group's ethical applications. But, when that king of the hill loses his position, then the new king of the hill gets to decide what is right or wrong FOR THE TIME BEING. Thus, there is no ABSOLUTE RIGHT OR WRONG.

If there is no moral standard that is true across all cultures, then does morality or right and wrong exist?

Most naturalists DO NOT take their naturalism seriously. They are INCONSISTENT. They affirm a set of values. They have friends who affirm a similar set. They appear to know and DON'T ASK HOW THEY KNOW WHAT THEY KNOW. They seem to be able to choose and don't ask themselves whether their apparent freedom is really caprice or determinism.

According to James Sire, why are not most naturalists nihilists?

-From meaninglessness nothing at all follows, or rather, anything follows.
-Every time nihilists think and trust their thinking, they are inconsistent, for they have decided that thinking is of value or that it can lead to knowledge. But at the heart of a nihilist's one affirmation lies a self-contradiction: There is no meaning in the universe.
-In order to be a practicing nihilist, there must be something against which to do battle. A practicing nihilist is a parasite on meaning. She runs out of energy when there is nothing left to deny.
-Nihilism means the death of art--literature, painting, drama, film--has nihilism for its ideological core. Breath, by Samuel Beckett, is a self-contradiction because it has a meaning, even though the meaning is that humans have no meaning.
-Nihilism poses severe psychological problems for a nihilist.

Know the five reasons why nihilism is unlivable:

-NIETZCHE died in an asylum.
-ERNEST HEMINGWAY affirmed a lifestyle and eventually committed suicide.
-SAMUEL BECKET wrote dark comedy and leaned on the absurd.
-FRANZ KAFKA lived an almost impossible life of tedium, writing novels and stories that boil down to a sustained cry: "God is dead! God is dead! Isn't he? I mean, surely he is, isn't he? God is dead. Oh, I wish, I wish, I wish he weren't."

Know the following conditions of the following philosophical nihilists:

Prime reality is MATTER. Matter exists ETERNALLY and is all there is. God DOES NOT exist.

What is prime reality for Atheistic existentialism?

-Naturalism: The cosmos exists as a UNIFORMITY of CAUSE AND EFFECT in a CLOSED system.
-Atheistic Existentialism: The cosmos is composed solely of MATTER, but to human beings reality appears in two forms—SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE.

what is the nature of external reality for atheistic existentialism?

-Naturalism: Human beings are COMPLEX "machines"; personality is an interrelation of CHEMICAL and PHYSICAL properties we do NOT yet fully understand.
-Atheistic Existentialism: Human beings are COMPLEX machines; personality is an interrelation of chemical and physical properties WE DO NOT yet fully understand. For human beings alone EXISTENCE PRECEDES ESSENCE; people make themselves who they are.
-Atheistic Existentialism: Each person is TOTALLY FREE as regards his or her NATURE.

what is a human being for atheistic existentialism?

Death is EXTINCTION of PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUALITY.

what happens at death for atheistic existentialism?

-Naturalism: Through our innate and AUTONOMOUS human reason, including the methods of science, we CAN KNOW the universe. The cosmos, including this world, is understood to be in its NORMAL state.
-Atheistic Existentialism: In full recognition of and against the ABSURDITY of the OBJECTIVE world, the authentic person must REVOLT AND CREATE value.

why is it possible to know anything at all in atheistic existentialism?

Ethics as related ONLY to HUMAN BEINGS.

how do we know right and wrong in atheistic existentialism?