Christan worldview

What is a worldview?

A commitment or fundamental orientation of the heart about the basic nature of reality that provides the foundation for how we live.

What is apologetics?

Giving an answer or reason for the Christian hope, with gentleness and respect.

What does Reality ask?

What’s real?

What does Identity ask?

Who are we?

What does Meaning ask?

What’s the point of life?

What does Morality ask?

What’s the right thing to do?

What does Evil ask?

What’s wrong with the world?

What does Knowledge ask?

How do we know?

How does modernism relate to the 6 worldview questions?

Reality: matter is all there is. Identity: humans are highly evolved animals. Meaning: improve and prolong human life. Morality: cooperate for human well-being. Evil: problems such as war, disease, pollution, tyranny, and scarcity. Knowledge: reason, science, and technology.

How does postmodernism relate to the 6 worldview questions?

Reality/Knowledge: each person or community has its own truth, experience, reality, and story. Identity: define yourself. Meaning/Morality: embrace differences and give them respect. Evil: forcing one truth, reality, or identity on everyone.

What is the cosmological argument?

Everything exists either dependently or independently. The cosmos is dependent, the causal chain cannot be infinite, and God is proposed as the independent First Cause.

What does dependent mean in the cosmological argument?

Caused; its explanation for existence comes from outside itself.

What does independent mean in the cosmological argument?

Uncaused; it does not depend on another cause for its existence.

What is the “Who made God?” objection to the cosmological argument, and how is it answered?

The objection asks what caused God. The response is that God is defined as an independent, uncaused Being.

What is Hawking’s “no time before the Big Bang” objection, and how is it answered?

Hawking argues there was no time before the Big Bang for God to create. The response is that the cause of time would not itself have to exist within time.

How does the Big Bang support the cosmological argument?

The Big Bang means the cosmos had a beginning, supporting the idea that the universe requires a cause beyond itself.

What is the teleological argument?

The cosmos displays complex, purposive order; this order indicates design, and design points to a Designer, identified as God.

What are other names for the teleological argument?

The design argument and the fine-tuning argument.

What is the natural-selection objection to the teleological argument, and how does the presentation respond?

Natural selection is offered to explain apparent biological design. The response is that the laws and conditions allowing natural selection, including the universe’s initial conditions, themselves appear fine-tuned.

What is the multiverse hypothesis?

The hypothesis that more than one—and possibly a very large number of—universes exist.

How is the multiverse used as an objection to fine-tuning?

If many universes exist with different conditions, a universe fine-tuned for life may seem less surprising.

What problems does the presentation give with the multiverse hypothesis?

There is no independent evidence for it; it requires several assumptions; and even if it exists, the origin of all the universes still requires explanation.

What examples of fine-tuning and design does the presentation identify?

The universe, our planet, the bacterial flagellum, and DNA.

What is the moral argument for God?

Humans have a moral sense, and cultures across time agree on basic moral standards; objective morality points toward God as its foundation.

What are the alternative explanations of where morality comes from?

Evolutionary/Wolf Pack Theory, Social Contract Theory, Platonic/Karmic morality, and the Theistic view.

What is the Evolutionary/Wolf Pack explanation of morality?

Morality developed from social instincts because cooperation helps individuals and groups survive.

What problem does the presentation give with the Evolutionary/Wolf Pack explanation?

Survival does not explain why things such as rape, genocide, slavery, murder, or harming outsiders are objectively wrong.

What is Social Contract Theory?

People agree to limit some of their rights and follow rules in order to benefit from living together.

What problem does the presentation give with Social Contract Theory?

It has difficulty explaining moral duties toward people who are outside or reject the contract.

What is the Platonic/Karmic explanation of morality?

Morality comes from a transcendent but impersonal moral principle.

What problem does the presentation give with Platonic/Karmic morality?

It raises the questions of whether there can be moral law without a Lawgiver and where there is room for grace.

What is the Theistic explanation of morality?

Morality is grounded in a transcendent Person: God.

What is the Euthyphro Dilemma?

Is something right because God wills it, or does God will it because it is already right?

What is the solution to the Euthyphro Dilemma?

God’s own being and character are the moral standard; his commands flow from who he is.

What is a theodicy?

A defense or vindication of God’s existence and goodness in the face of evil.

What is the Problem of Evil?

If God is all-powerful and all-good, why does evil continue to exist?

What is the Appeal to Mystery theodicy?

Humans do not see the whole picture as God does, so our limited knowledge may keep us from understanding why God permits particular evils.

What is the Free Will Defense?

God gave created beings free will, and evil results from created beings abusing that freedom.

What is the Soul-Building Defense?

God allows hardships that can train people to love, obey, and trust him and develop mature character.

What is the Greater Good Defense?

God can permit evil in order to bring a greater good from it.

What is the Backhanded Moral Argument?

Our outrage at unfairness raises the question of why we expect an objective standard of fairness if no objective morality exists.

What is the final Christian theodicy presented in class?

God entered human suffering through Christ, who became human, suffered, was crucified, rose from the dead, and will return to renew creation and end sorrow, pain, and death.

What was Nietzsche’s objection to Christian morality?

Nietzsche called Christianity “herd” or “slave” morality because it teaches the strong to serve the weak instead of exercising their strength.

What did Nietzsche mean by “God is dead”?

The idea of God as the transcendent Moral Lawgiver and Judge had lost its authority, leaving no absolute basis for truth and morality.

How can Christians respond to Nietzsche’s objection?

The course’s theistic view argues that objective morality is grounded in God’s character rather than human power, preference, or survival.

What was Hume’s first objection to miracles?

Different religions use miracles to support competing truth claims, so their miracle claims appear to undermine one another.

How can Christians respond to Hume’s first objection?

Competing interpretations do not prove that no miracles occurred; they only mean that every interpretation of those miracles cannot automatically be correct.

What was Hume’s second objection to miracles?

Miracles are highly improbable violations of the laws of nature, so a reasonable person should not believe them.

How can Christians respond to Hume’s second objection?

Improbable events can occur; the important question is whether there is good evidence that a particular miracle occurred.

What was Freud’s projection or wish-fulfillment theory?

Adults wish for a greater father figure to protect them, so they project a Father-God onto the heavens.

How does Freud’s projection theory challenge religion?

It argues that belief in God comes from a psychological desire for protection rather than from God actually existing.

How can Christians respond to Freud’s projection theory?

It does not explain every religion or conception of God, it can be turned against disbelief, and a person’s motive for believing something does not determine whether the belief is true.

What are Christianity’s key points?

One God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Jesus is both God and man; his death and resurrection save from sin; Christians hope for Christ’s return and resurrection.

What are Islam’s key points?

One God; follow Muhammad’s teachings, especially prayer, charity, fasting during Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca, and hope of resurrection.

What are Hinduism’s key points?

Many gods manifest one God; escape from reincarnation through works, mysticism, or devotion to a god; the soul and God are one.

What are Buddhism’s key points?

Nontheistic or polytheistic; escape from reincarnation by following the Buddha or Buddhas; take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

What are Judaism’s key points?

One God; follow the Law of Moses; hope for a coming human Messiah and resurrection.

What is pluralism?

The view that all religions put people in touch with the same basic truth and are more or less equally correct paths to spiritual reality.

What is particularism?

The view that religions do not all teach the same basic truth and that only one religion is the most correct path to spiritual reality.

What is Fisher’s model of religions?

Religions have surface-level differences in beliefs but share a core of moral values and transcendent experience of an unknowable Ultimate Reality.

What illustration does Fisher use for her model?

The blind men and the elephant.

What is one problem with Fisher’s model?

Fisher must decide which religious teachings are merely surface differences and which belong to the true core.

What is another problem with Fisher’s model?

If Ultimate Reality is unknowable, it is difficult for Fisher to claim that she knows all religions are experiencing the same Ultimate Reality.

Why does the presentation say Fisher’s model becomes particularist?

It treats Fisher’s interpretation of religion as more correct than the conflicting truth claims religions make about themselves.