Hello everyone, I know its been a while since I have posted anything, but hopefully I will be able to share some good things with you all. This post is about Worldviews.
What is a worldview?
To put it simply, a worldview is a person's philosophy of life. It is how they view the world and come to make decisions regarding what they believe about life, death, morality, knowledge, and a variety of other philosophical topics. Whether you are a church laymen, or just a casual philosopher, it is very important that you understand the various worldviews that many people have. Why? Well, because by understanding the system that a person interprets the world through, you can better be prepared to debate, or talk, to that person.
Worldview Thinking
Believer it or not, everybody has a worldview. You, the reader, have a worldview, as do I, the writer. Our worldviews affect the way we think about life. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever debated an issue with somebody and found that you both had very different ideas on the subject? A great example of this is abortion. Lets say that you have an atheist and a christian arguing about abortion. Both sides might appeal to different scientific evidences to support their sides, but both sides may also appeal to other things. For example, the atheist, who does not believe in God, may be pro choice since they do not believe that humans are made in God's image, and therefore do no believe that we have an obligation to God to preserve the life of a child (this is not necessarily why an atheist would be pro choice, but it is a possible reason). On the other hand, the Christian, who believes that everyone is made in God's image, may be pro life because they believe that human life is sacred (since we are made in God's image). See the conflict of ideas? Take note of how both sides have different assumptions that affect the answer they give to the question of whether or not abortion is right or wrong. These assumptions, in a way, make up part of their different worldviews.
How We Come to Have a Worldview
There can be a variety of reasons why we come to have the worldview that we do. Personal experience and logical reasoning are two of the big reasons. Everything from the environment we grow up in, to our personality type can play a role. However, it is important to note that the decision to call yourself the member of a particular worldview (i.e. a Christian, an Atheist, an Existentialist, etc.) is a very big decision. Make sure that you, now being informed through this blog, take the time to really consider your beliefs. You don't simply have to believe what you were told growing up. Rather, take your worldview seriously, think it through, and make it personal. After all, it is the way you view the world. Make sure your glasses aren't cracked.
In Closing
Hopefully you can see the importance of understanding different worldviews. I will be posting some more blogs that go into more detail about different worldivews. I also would like to point out that the example above is simply an example using possible reasons that could arrived at by people holding those two worldviews. That being said, not every atheist is pro choice, and not every christian is necessarily pro life.
God bless and Jesus loves you!
- Jon
