This week, Ben Williams came in to teach us about different
forms of worldviews. It was a very
challenging, thought provoking week.
The word worldview is defined as a holistic approach to
life, rooted in a set of basic beliefs that you have, whether you know it or
not, that determines your view of and for the world. Human history is based on determining basic
beliefs.
The five basic beliefs every world religion must establish
are:
1.)
Origin- where do we come from?
2.)
Identity – Who are we? What does it mean to be
me?
3.)
Meaning – What is the purpose of our lives?
4.)
Morality – How do we determine right from wrong?
5.)
Destiny – What happens when we die?
Plato believed that reality is supernatural. That the real world, the physical world, is
only a reflection of some perfect world we will see someday. Aristotle believed that reality is physical,
that truth is found within the object itself.
We find perfection in what we already know. These two philosophers have set the pace for
the biggest differences in world religions.
First we looked at Naturalism. This belief encompasses Nihilism (life has no
meaning), Existentialism (I must make meaning in my life, since there is no
meaning to life), Hedonism (Life is about pleasure), and Humanism (life is
about making the world better for humans).
Naturalists follow Aristotle’s idea that reality is physical. This means that they see the world as it is,
and see nothing beyond that.
Naturalists believe that the world began with the big bang,
and life has evolved from there. Many of
them believe that humans are not much better than apes. Others don’t think that human life has much
meaning at all. Some naturalists believe
that human life has no meaning, while others believe that the meaning of life is
just to make the world a better place for other humans. However, potentially the saddest part of
naturalism is that they believe everything stops when we die. In the words of Howard Stern, “Here’s what
happens when you die- you sit in a box and get eaten by worms.”
Next we looked at transcendentalism. This includes most of the eastern world
religions such as Buddhism, and Hinduism.
These are two examples of pantheistic religions which believe that all
is god. In other words, we are all a
small part of the energy that runs the universe.
Transcendentalist believe that in order to be reincarnated
at a higher level in life, we must maintain a good karma, or balance between
right and wrong. There is no idea of
repentence, because you are already god, so who would you need to repent
to? They believe we are all here to work
together as a part of the energy of god; that we are really just spirits that
have been imprisioned in bodies here on earth.
The end goal of enlightenment can only be achieved if you live your life
well enough to be reincarnated at a higher social caste than you lived the life
before. Eventually, once you have passed
all the other levels, you reach a state of Nirvana, or oneness with God.
It was really interesting to hear about so many different
worldviews. Ben did a good job of
challenging us to defend our own beliefs by arguing the views of these other
religions. It was fun to see how well we
really know what we believe, but it also brought a whole new perspective into
things. When you know and understand
other religions, it makes it a lot easier to understand where they’re coming
from. You are then able to defend your
own beliefs, without offending theirs. I
think it’s important to educate ourselves in other religions in order to speak
the truth of the gospel into their lives.
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