worldview example

[Scott]

Here is a script I did for our youth class. The idea is to get them to understand what worldviews are at a very general level. Let me know your thoughts. And remember, this is directed at people who will need the ABCs of worldview training. I am not looking for precisions, just trying to get the point accross.

______________

Ok, let´s begin with what worldviews are. A worldview is simply a basic set of beliefs. These beliefs concerns things like whether or not God exists, whether good and evil exist, what is the meaning of life, and things like that. Worldviews are the basic beliefs that we use to make sense of the world. People with different worldviews can view things very differently.

Consider two guys standing in an art museum. One is color blind and the other is not. The color-blind person will see only shades of gray. The person with normal vision will see the rich colors of paintings. These different pairs of eyes see different things. These pairs of eyes are like worldviews. Different worldviews cause people to understand the world differently.

Let me use an example of how religion affects our views of the world. Consider the September 11 bombings of the World Trade Center. I am going to read you views of what happened from three different perspectives, Christian, atheist, and Buddhist.

The first perspective I would like to read is from the Christian perspective. This is from a pastor named John Piper. He wrote an essay called "œGod was Sovereign over 9/11 and So We Have Hope." In the essay Piper says that God was in control during 9/11, even though he condemned the acts of the terrorists. Piper then goes on to explain:

How God governs all events in the universe without sinning, and without removing responsibility from man, and with compassionate outcomes is mysterious! But it's what the Bible teaches. God "works all things after the counsel of His will" (Ephesians 1:11).

"œAll things" includes rolling dice (Proverbs 16:33), falling sparrows (Matthew 10:29), failing sight (Exodus 4:11), financial loss (1 Samuel 2:7), the decisions of kings (Proverbs 21:1), the sickness of children (2 Samuel 12:15), the suffering and slaughter of saints (1 Peter 4:19; Psalm 44:11), the completion of travel (James 4:15), repentance (2 Timothy 2:25), faith (Philippians 1:29), holiness (Philippians 3:12-13), spiritual growth (Hebrews 6:1-3), life and death (1 Samuel 2:6), and the crucifixion of Christ (Acts 4:27-28).
From the smallest thing to the greatest, good and evil, happy and sad, pagan and Christian, pain and pleasure"”God governs all for His wise, just, and good purposes (Isaiah 46:10). Lest we miss the point, the Bible speaks most clearly to this in the most painful situations. Amos asks, "If a calamity occurs in a city, has not the Lord done it?" (Amos 3:6). After losing his 10 children, Job says, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21). Covered with boils, he says, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (Job 2:10).

Oh, yes, Satan is real and active and involved in this world of woe! In fact, Job 2:7 says, "Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head." Satan struck him. But Job did not get comfort by looking at secondary causes. He got comfort by looking at the ultimate cause. "Shall we not accept adversity from God?" And the author of the book agrees when he says that Job's brothers and sisters "consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the Lord had brought on him" (Job 42:11). James underlines God's purposeful goodness in Job's misery: "You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful" (James 5:11). Job himself concludes in prayer: "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted" (Job 42:2). Yes, Satan is real, and he is terrible"”and he is on a leash.

Piper rightly explains the Christian understanding of 9/11. It is part of God´s providence. God has good reasons for allowing the events, even though He has not told us what it is. Our hope is that the suffering of 9/11 was not meaningless or without purpose. Rather, we trust that God has some higher purpose that He has chosen not to tell us.

The next perspective is by an atheist named John Shelby Spong. He wrote:

We once conceived of God as external to life, supernatural in power, and able to intervene in human history to accomplish miraculous rescue. We know intellectually that such a God is but a phantom of human hope. The image of hijacked planes crashing into buildings killing thousands of people gives us no hiding place for theological pretending. The skies are empty of a protective deity ready to come to our aid. God defined theistically has died. That is the lingering conclusion created by last week's events.

Note that the atheist comes to a completely opposite conclusion from the Christian. Spong starts with the belief that there is no God. To him 9/11 simply confirms this belief.

The last perspective I want to mention is hindusim. Here is an excerpt from a Hindu talking about 9/11 in an article in Hinduism Today entitled "œHonoring Ancestors:

According to Vedic tradition, important rites for the ancestors should be performed each year. These should occur on the anniversary of the day of death, as well as during the period of pitri paksha--the dark fortnight following the last autumnal full moon of the year. Pitri paksha is considered the most auspicious time to offer nourishment and oblations to the ancestors. The Vedic sages recognized that each of us exists as an interdependent being linked to the universe through our ancestry. They predicted that the collective grief of the modern world would be caused by the loss of our ancestral memory--and that this would cause the breakdown of dharma, the orderly fulfillment of an inherent nature or destiny that guides and safeguards our living values as they relate to self, family, community and nature. They understood that honoring ancestors keeps us living in harmony not only with our forebearers but also with the whole of humanity. . . With the passage of time, the cosmic unrest experienced during pitri paksha intensifies. Natural disasters are increasing steadily during this period. The terrible disaster of September 11, 2001, occurred during pitri paksha. We must strive to calm these recurring cycles of upheaval. Each one of us can help in this endeavor by personally respecting our ancestors. This can be accomplished in a practical way by making small sacrifices with our ancestors in mind.

This Hindu relies on his core beliefs to understand the 9/11 event. He concludes that September 11 is because we don´t honor our ancestors. His solution to 9/11 in part is to make sacrifices with ancestors in mind.

What causes John Piper to look at 9/11 and see God´s providence? What causes the atheist to look at 9/11 and see confirmation that God does not exist? What causes the Hindu to look at 9/11 and see it as a result of not worshipping one´s ancestors? The answer is that they have different worldviews, or different foundational beliefs.

 

[Contra_Mundum]

I appreciated that, Scott. Thanks.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Great examples? How old are the youths?

I ask for two reasons:

1. You might want to shorten up the last quote. It's good but younger minds might get lost in all the words and lose track of the main argument. He gets to the "it's because of our ancestors" pretty quickly.

2. If they're old enough to handle it and it wouldn't be too scandalous, you might want to throw in a quote from a Muslim who praised the attacks on 9/11. I think it will give them a real sense of how a world view can make somebody seem completely insane even though, from their lens, the events make perfect sense and are justifiable. They probably have little opinion about the way atheists and hindus affect them with their worldviews but a Muslim quote will bring home the consequence of a world view.

Again, I thought it was outstanding but you asked my opinion such as it is.

[Edited on 3-1-2006 by SemperFideles]

 

[Scott]

Ritch: Good points. I will shorten the Hindu quote. I don't want the details of hindu belief to distract them from the main point, which is simply that different worldviews interpret that same event differently.

Do you know any quotes from muslims who approved of 9/11? I remember seeing a 20/20 report or something about how many muslims outside the US approved of the event but don't have anything handy.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Repugnant as they are, here are Osama Bin Laden's thoughts on Oct 7, 2001:

I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that Mohammad is his messenger.

There is America, hit by God in one of its softest spots. Its greatest buildings were destroyed, thank God for
that. There is America, full of fear from its north to its south, from its west to its east. Thank God for that.

What America is tasting now is something insignificant compared to what we have tasted for scores of years.
Our nation (the Islamic world) has been tasting this humiliation and this degradation for more than 80 years.
Its sons are killed, its blood is shed, its sanctuaries are attacked, and no one hears and no one heeds.

When God blessed one of the groups of Islam, vanguards of Islam, they destroyed America. I pray to God to
elevate their status and bless them.

Millions of innocent children are being killed as I speak. They are being killed in Iraq without committing any
sins, and we don't hear condemnation or a fatwa (religious decree) from the rulers. In these days, Israeli
tanks infest Palestine "” in Jenin, Ramallah, Rafah, Beit Jalla, and other places in the land of Islam, and we
don't hear anyone raising his voice or moving a limb.

When the sword comes down (on America), after 80 years, hypocrisy rears its ugly head. They deplore and
they lament for those killers, who have abused the blood, honor and sanctuaries of Muslims. The least that can
be said about those people is that they are debauched. They have followed injustice. They supported the
butcher over the victim, the oppressor over the innocent child. May God show them His wrath and give them
what they deserve.

I say that the situation is clear and obvious. After this event, after the senior officials have spoken in America,
starting with the head of infidels worldwide, Bush, and those with him. They have come out in force with their
men and have turned even the countries that belong to Islam to this treachery, and they want to wag their tail
at God, to fight Islam, to suppress people in the name of terrorism.

When people at the ends of the earth, Japan, were killed by their hundreds of thousands, young and old, it
was not considered a war crime, it is something that has justification. Millions of children in Iraq is something
that has justification. But when they lose dozens of people in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam (capitals of Kenya
and Tanzania, where U.S. embassies were bombed in 1998), Iraq was struck and Afghanistan was struck.

Hypocrisy stood in force behind the head of infidels worldwide, behind the cowards of this age, America and
those who are with it.

These events have divided the whole world into two sides. The side of believers and the side of infidels, may
God keep you away from them. Every Muslim has to rush to make his religion victorious. The winds of faith
have come. The winds of change have come to eradicate oppression from the island of Muhammad, peace be
upon him.

To America, I say only a few words to it and its people. I swear by God, who has elevated the skies without
pillars, neither America nor the people who live in it will dream of security before we live it in Palestine, and
not before all the infidel armies leave the land of Muhammad, peace be upon him.

God is great, may pride be with Islam. May peace and God's mercy be upon you.

You'll obviously want to pare it down to the first few thoughts.