The word ‘worldview’ is a translation from the German word weltanschauung, which means a way of looking at the world. The ‘worldview’ is the lens of the filter through which we understand our existence and see the world.

→ welt = world, schauung = to look at

Worldview Presentation

Religion: “A belief in a supreme power or powers thought to control the universe and all living things.” (Macquarie Dictionary)

Seven Fundamental Components of a Worldview

1. A Model of the World

   It should allow us to understand how the world functions and how it is structured. Should answer the basic question: ‘Who are we?’

2. Explanation

   Why is the world the way it is?

   Where does it all come from?

   Where do we come from?

3. Futurology

   It should answer the question ‘Where are we going to?’ It should give us a list of possibilities, of more or less probable future developments. but this will confront us with a choice: which of the different alternatives should we promote and which should we avoid?

4. Values

   It includes morality or ethics, the system of rules which tells us how we should or should not behave. The more fundamental issue of value is: ‘What is good and what is evil?’ It also gives us a sense of purpose, a direction or set of goals to guide our actions.

5. Action

   Knowing what to strive for does not mean knowing how to get there. The next component must be a theory of action. It would answer the question: ‘How should we act?’ It would help us to solve practical problems and to implement plans of action.

6. Knowledge

   Plans are based on knowledge and information, on theories and models describing the phenomena we encounter. Therefore we need to understand how we can construct reliable models. This is the component of knowledge acquisition. It should allow us to distinguish better theories from worse theories. It should answer the traditional philosophical question: ‘What is true and what is false?’

7. Building Blocks

   The final component reminds us that world views are seldom developed from scratch. People generally start with fragments of world views and build on them.

5 Major Points - World Views Video

1. Moral Activity

2. A person’s paradigm is a model that holds everyone’s worldview, a set of fundamental ideas that forms a structure of a person’s worldview

3. Paradigms

   1: Materialism or atheism = there is no God

   2: Pantheism = nature itself is god

   3: Appeasement Theism = god is a bloodthirsty tyrant

   4: Deterministic Theism = God’s will controls everything that happens

   5: Deism = God made the world and then abandoned it

   6: Benevolent Theism = God is love and man has free will

Class Task will be based on those paradigms as well as the text below

Our worldview impacts how we view ourselves, how we relate to each other, how we relate to God, the world around us, our history, our freedom, our origins, our view of truth, our role in life, and our view of the future.

Science and Religion Video

We need science to understand our world and we need religion to guide us through it. Someone who only follows science is dehumanised and someone who only follows religion is blind.

What happens when you die? (from different world views)

Atheism: nothing happens, you turn into dust and there is no more consciousness

Agnosticism: unsure of what happens

Deism: varied views, some believe in the afterlife and that you may be rewarded for your good deeds

Monotheism: you basically go to hell or heaven, a place of judgment or a place of paradise

Polytheism: the dead, or at least some of the dead, will be able to see the gods visually in the afterlife

Pantheism: no belief in the afterlife but they believe that you will come back as apart of mother nature

Religious World Views

Five MAJOR religious traditions

• Buddhism

• Christianity

• Hinduism

• Islam

• Judaism

World Religion Groups

• Christians - 32%

• Muslims - 23%

• Hindus - 15%

• Buddhists - 7%

• Jews - 0.2%

• Various Folk Religions (Chinese, African, Native American, etc.) - 6%

• Other (eg. Shinto, Baha’i, Taoist, etc.) - 1%

• None - 16%

Christianity, Islam & Judaism:

A divine power is said to transcend (be predominantly above or beyond) the world. The One God exists beyond the human and yet guides humanity throughout its everyday existence.

Buddhism & Hinduism:

A divine being or power dwell within the individual (immanent). In the case of Buddhism, for example, it is important not to look for a Buddhist equivalent of ‘God’ but for an ultimate goal or principle, such as nirvana or dhamma, that gives Buddhists a sense of ultimate meaning.

Shinto (Japanese religion):

Kami (gods and spirits) dwell in people, specific places or natural phenomena.

Truth

Is God Dead? - Time Magazine Cover April 8, 1966

Is Truth Dead? - Time Magazine Cover April 3, 2017

Truth is the idea or belief in what is right. In this case, how do we live our daily lives based on this ‘truth’ and how does this affect the way we interact with others.

What is Truth?

Does truth matter?

• Absolute Truth is truth based on external realities that are not determined by the perception of the viewer.

• Relative truth is a truth based on a persons perspective, feelings, or opinions. 

What does The Bible say about Truth?

• “If you continue in My word, then you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32) 

  • If we know the word of God, then we are his disciples. His disciples will know the truth, and by knowing the truth we will be set free. 

1. Does absolute truth exist and can we know it? (Romans 1:18, 20-25; 3:3-4)

• Absolute truth does in fact exist, for example; there are no round squares and the angle of a triangle adds up to 180º. We can know it, it is all around us. For some (Christians specifically) the way that they define absolute truth is through God, their Saviour.

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

³ What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? ⁴ Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written:

“So that you may be proved right when you speak
    and prevail when you judge.”

2. If truth was truth in Jesus’ day, has it changed since then? (Matthew 28:18-20; Ps 119:160; John 17:17)

• It can’t have changed since then, because God would have had to change since then too.

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

¹⁶⁰ All your words are true;
    all your righteous laws are eternal.

¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

3. Is God’s truth eternally engaging and momentous or changing and trendy? (Ps 111:8-9; Malachi 3:6)

God’s truth is eternally engaging and momentous.

⁸ They are established for ever and ever,
    enacted in faithfulness and uprightness.
⁹ He provided redemption for his people;
    he ordained his covenant forever—
    holy and awesome is his name.

⁶ “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

4. Christian truth is an end, not a means to any other end. Do you agree or disagree?

• Christian truth is a means to another end. The end is to spend eternity with God’s people and God himself in Heaven.

5 Major World Religions

Hinduism

• Religions of India, dates back to five millennia

• Follow dharma = good karma

• Don’t follow dharma = bad karma

• Escape the wheel (moksha)

• Brahman is the creator

• Vishnu is the preserver —> who sometimes takes on human form

• Shiva is the transformer or Lord of the dance

• Durga is the fiercely protective divine mother

• Ganesha has an elephant head and is the wise patron of success

• Third largest religion in the world

Judaism

• In the year 70, the Romans destroyed the temple in their capital, Jerusalem

• Transformed from a temple religion with sacrifices and priests to a religion of the book

• Judaism is a religion of symbolism, reverence, and deep meanings tied to the literature of its history

• Hebrew bible, or Tanakh, and many interpretations and commentaries

• Passover meal: every item on the menu symbolises an aspect of the escape from slavery

• The importance of growing up is emphasised when young people reach the age of bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies during which they assume responsibility for their actions

• 14 million Jews around the world —> 6 million in Israel, 5 million in the United States

Buddhism

• Siddhartha became the Buddha, the enlightened one —> the first one

• The Buddhist plan is called the Eightfold Path

• Many Buddhists believe in God or gods, but actions are more important than beliefs

• There are nearly a billion Buddhists in the world today, mostly in East, Southeast and South Asia

Christianity

• 2000 years ago in Judaism’s Promised Land, Christianity was born

• Christianity grew out of Judaism

• Just as Buddhism grew out of Hinduism

• There are two billion Christians worldwide, representing almost a third of the world’s people

Islam

• Islam began 1400 years ago

• The word Muslim means one who surrenders, meaning a person who submits to the will of God

• A Muslims’s five most important duties are called the Five Pillars:

  • Shahada, Muslims declare publicly, there is no other God but Allah, and Muhammad is his final prophet

  • Salat, they pray five times a day facing Mecca

  • Zakat, every Muslim is required to give 2 or 3% of their net worth to the poor

  • Sawm, they fast during daylight hours for the lunar month of Ramadan to strengthen their willpower and their reliance on God

  • Hajj, once in a lifetime, every Muslim who is able must make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca rehearsing for the time when they will stand before God

• The words of God are collected in the Quran, which literally translated into ‘the recitation’.

  • Muslims believe it to be the only holy book free of human corruption

“But common to all religions is an appeal for meaning beyond the empty vanities and lowly realities of existence, beyond sin, suffering, and death, beyond fear, and beyond ourselves.”

1. How did things start? Creation?

Hinduism:

• It teaches that the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation, and destruction (samsara). Creation is associated with Brahma, the creater god, and the universe is a manifestation of Brahman, the ultimate reality or universal spirit.

Judaism:

• Judaism teaches that God (YHWH) created the world out of nothing (ex nihilo) in six days, as described in Genesis. Humanity was created in God’s image.

2. How did sin/problems come about?

Hinduism:

• Sin (pāpa) arises from ignorance (avidya) and attachment (maya) leading to actions (karma) that cause suffering. Problems are viewed as consequences of one’s past actions in this life or previous lives.

Judaism:

• Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. This introduced suffering, death, and separation from God, through human beings are not inherently sinful.

3. Is there a way to salvation?

Hinduism:

• Salvation (moksha) is liberation from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. It is achieved through various paths, such as knowledge (jnana), devotion (bhakti), good actions (karma), or meditation (dhyana).

Judaism:

• Salvation in Judaism comes through faith in God, repentance (teshuva), and living a life in accordance with God’s laws (mitzvot). There is no single concept of personal salvation; focus is on communal responsibility and covenant with God.

4. What happens after death?

Hinduism:

• After death, the soul (atman) is reborn based on karma unless it attains moksha, which leads to union with Brahman and freedom from samsara.

Judaism:

• Judaism offers various views: some believe in resurrection, others in the immortality of the soul, and still others emphasise living a righteous life