Download World Views and Human nature

The call of the Bible is to “repent”, meaning to “change
one’s mind” about life and reality. Such a change begins
with the basic concept of a worldview. To participate in an
athletic event it helps to be in the same ballpark!
Anthropology: Human nature
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World View Definition
 “A world view provides a model of the world which
guides its adherents in the
world”.
Walsh and Middleton (1984) The Transforming Vision
 It is the lens through which we see the world.
 Arthur Holmes:
“The need to unify thought and life; the need to define the
good life and find hope and meaning in life; the need to
guide thought; the need to guide action”
Anthropology: Human nature
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Testing of World Views
 It should be rational: should not ask us to believe
contradictory things
 It should be supported by evidence: consistent with what
we observe
 It should give a satisfying comprehensive explanation of
reality: why things are as they are
 It should provide a satisfactory basis for living: not forcing
us to borrow from another world view to survive

Anthropology: Human nature
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Three World Views
see human nature differently

1. Theism
2. Naturalism
3. Pantheism
• Our view determines how we educate children, punish
criminals, run our government and view ethical differences
• Theism is seen as simplistic, while Naturalism and
Pantheism are reductionists (both which detract from
uniqueness and purpose)
• These views are mutually exclusive: they might all be
Anthropology: Human nature
wrong, but cannot all be right!!
4
Distinctions

Naturalism: Man is a biological “machine” which
evolved totally by chance without purpose
Pantheism: Man is seen as forgetful deity whose
essence is a complex of energy fields. Reality is hidden by
an illusion of apparent physical world.
Theism: Man is a special creation who accepts the
reality of physical and spiritual natures. A balanced livable
view of what it means to be human
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Questions world views
must answer

Are humans special in any
way?
Do we have purpose and origin
that sets us apart from the rest of
the animal or material world?
Are we good, evil or neither?
What happens when we die?
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Are humans special to the
Naturalist?
Terminator II, Arnold Schwartzenegger:
Boy:”Listen to me carefully, ok? You’re not a Terminator anymore.
All right? You got that? You just can’t go around killing people.
Terminator: “Why?
Boy: “What do you mean, ‘Why?’ ‘Cause you can’t!
Terminator: Why?
Boy: “’Cause you just can’t, ok? ‘Trust me on this!”

To Naturalist who believe no spiritual reality
exists, the answer is irrational. God is irrelevant.
Man is no more than an random accident of
mindless evolution of time plus chance
Sartre argued that man must make his own
meaning in the face of absurd universe. He is
Anthropology: Human nature
autonomous, self-centered
and must save himself 7
Are humans special to
New Age Pantheist?

 All life forms are divine, i.e. complex energy fields
 Gerald Jampolsky argues that love is only part of man that is
real—but it can’t be defined!
 A radical monism, “all is one and all is god”
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh:
“There is no purpose in life; existence is non-purposive. That is
why it is called a leela, “a play”. Existence itself has no purpose
to fulfill. It is not going anywhere…there is no end that it is
moving toward”
Anthropology: Human nature
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Are humans special to
Theists?

 All men created in God’s image (1:26)
 Created for a purpose, to glorify God
 Jesus gave additional purposes in Matt 22:37-39
 Love God
 Love your neighbor
 Christianity doesn’t reduce man to his material physical
nature or merely to non-material invisible energy nature
 Rather recognizes the real complexity of humanity as physical,
emotional and spiritual components
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Are we good, bad or neither?

NATURALIST
 Question of good and evil apply only to survival
 How moldable is human behavior: Skinner believed
humans are completely programmable via conditioning
methods
 Wilson, “Human emotions and ethics have been
programmed to a “substantial degree” by evolutionary
experience: people are being coded to respond to
conditions by evolution”
 Jean-Paul Sartre believed humans are “choosing
machines” completely free to choose who they shall be:
either ruler or drunk. Neither is better than the other
since everything is meaningless, without moral value.”
Anthropology: Human nature
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Are we good, bad or neither?

PANTHEISTS had difficulty with notion of “good and
evil”. They are indifferent:
“In the totality of Beingness there is no absolute anything—no rights
or wrongs, no higher or lower aspects—only the infinite interaction
of forces, subtle and gross, that have meaning only in relationship to
one another”
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh: “I am totally passive. Whatsoever
happens, happens. I never question why, because there is no one to
be asked”
CHRISTIANITY: Universe created by a personal, moral
Creator God, for good purposes.
 Creation is in a fallen state due to rebellion against God
 Humans are inclined to sin, and born in state of sinfulness
 Explains potential for goodness, sense of justice and inclination
toward evil
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What happens after
death?
 Naturalist:

Bertran Russell, “people are lumps of
impure carbon and water, dividing their
time between labor to postpone their
normal dissolution and frantic struggle to
hasten it for others”
Movie: FlatLiners involved young doctors
who wanted to die and be brought back
just to see if there was anything out there:
conclusion—death means extinction
Anthropology: Human nature
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What happens after
death?

Pantheist
Death is an inconvenience on road to
nirvana.
Multiple reincarnations permit accumulation
of karma until oneness with universe in
thought and action is attained
Illustrated by a drop of water falling into
ocean loosing its identity and oneness with
universal energy occurs
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What happens after
death?

 Christianity
 Denies the reincarnation and extinction
 Death is door to continual existence which begins with a
destiny-judgment (Heb 9:27)
 Considered a lineral view of history: single life—universal
death—judged by God—destiny
 Based on historical evidence of Christ’s life and divine
dealing with Israel, the biblical account is trustworthy
 Those who have trusted in the redemptive work of Christ
on the cross will spend eternity in glorified bodies
worshipping and fellowshipping
with their Creator God 14
Anthropology: Human nature