_101 Ucc (1)cat.doc

ST.PAUL'S UNIVERSITY BACSDIST291619 PROGRAMME: BACHELOR OF COMMUNICATION UNIT NAME: CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW UNIT CODE: UCC 101 CAT 1

Question 1 (a) Explain how a worldview is formed

According to the diagram worldview is formed from the culture that an individual is already subscribed or in other words born in. This means that every person has a culture in their head. This is what we call their worldview. Thus there is a bit of difference with each individual. The culture in their head, however, includes the areas allowed to be different and those required to be the same or similar an example from the diagram would be decisions which in turn is complimented by the actions someone takes. Expressions of commonality in individual worldviews make up the cultural worldview of the group. The way people relate to one another in daily activities, and how they cooperate together for the good of the group as a whole, called the society. In relation to that, the diagram also illustrates that Worldview impacts our understanding of the world and makes sense of it therefore influencing how we express ourselves our attitudes, feelings, thoughts personal values, beliefs, assumptions, and ideas are made up from our worldview which has a direct effect on our culture. Simply put, the diagram shows that worldview is formed at least in part by a combination of things like your upbringing and our background, but unlike so many factors that are out of our control, our worldview is one thing we can have a lot of conscious control over. (b) Discuss the relationship between a person’s worldview and his/her behavior According to the diagram, a person’s worldview affects aspects of our personality as well as our emotional connection to our environment and the people who live in it hence an individual’s behavior is influenced. Example, based on your background and upbringing, you may tend to be an optimist, or a pessimist. Or be disinterested in others, helpful, or selfish.

To show optimism and assumptions as illustrated by the diagram above, a smart child might never study and so fails the exams if he believes that he is not intelligent. One’s worldview also determines their self-confidence, self-awareness and self-esteem. When we filter information it doesn’t expand our worldview hence we only absorb the information that matches our world view system. This impacts our behavior by making us biased towards what we believe in no matter how many proofs are provided. That is why persuading someone to believe into something against his/her belief becomes hard. QUESTION 2 With relevant examples analyze the main elements of a Christian worldview difference between Christianity and Atheism (15 marks) Christian worldview Christian faith upholds the existence of God, who is infinite, eternal and personal ( 1 John 3:20), transcendent, immanent, omniscient, sovereign and good. God is infinite in the sense that He is beyond our human understanding and beyond any measure by human standards (Isaiah 55:8-9, Job 36:26). No other being in the universe can challenge Him in his nature. He is a self-existing being. He is also one (Deuteronomy 6:4). God refers to himself as “IAM WHO I AM” (Exod 3:14) meaning that He is the one prime existence and no one is like Him. Atheistic worldview Atheistic worldview on the other hand denies the existence of God. The idea of God is perceived as irrelevant and waste of time. Secular people believe that God is merely a concept created by the human mind.

According the deists, who are part of atheists, God created the universe, but he is no longer present in it and has left it to run on its own. To them God is not immanent, not fully personal, not sovereign over human affairs, and therefore cannot provide. The following are major guiding points to which Christian and atheist worldview is based upon; God is eternal; He is without beginning or end. He eternally is. He never grows old. He is constant and everlasting. He lives because he is eternal (Deut 33:27, Psalm 93:2). Some atheists hold that though God once existed, he does not exist anymore but if he exists then he does not care for his creation and he does not love it. To atheists the material universe is all that exists. Reality is one-dimensional and there is nothing as a soul or a spirit. Everything can be explained on the basis of natural law. God is good; the ultimate character of God is goodness. He is the source of all that is good. The love of God is extended to his creation. Because he loved the world he sent his only son to die on the cross for the salvation of all who believe (John 3:16). The universe is a reflection of God’s goodness and purpose.

In contrast, Religion is viewed as highly

subjective by the atheists. It gives people false hope and mental strength. Truth is observed to come from scientific observation. They believe that reality consists of only that which can be proved with facts. Judgments about good and bad, right and wrong is made in relationship to their impact on human beings. The ideal good is what is beneficent to humanity. God is transcendent and immanent; The God worshipped by Christians regards heaven as his throne and the earth as his footstool (Isaiah 66:1). He is far beyond the limits of this earth and yet so near that the earth is his footstool. He is both transcendent and immanent. As transcendent he reigns above and is not dependent on creation. He belongs to a heavenly order yet at the same time he is Emmanuel (God with us). Though he is above creation, he is reachable. Psalm 139 indicates that he is found everywhere. God is not matter but exists in

spirit form. On the contrary, Atheists hold that man was not created but evolved from simpler forms of being to the present complex form through a process of chance and natural selection. They also deny the existence of the supernatural and the spiritual realms. God is personal and spiritual; The God of the Christians is not a mere force or energy or existent substance. He has a personality. He is alive and has a will. He can think and act in a particular way. The universe is the work of his hands (Psalm 24:1). He created human beings in his own image and likeness. An implication of God being personal is that He has a personality and for this people can be in communication with Him. However, God exists in spirit form and cannot be reduced to any visible form (John 4:24) on the other hand, the paramount believe in the existence and death of human beings by the atheists is that, human beings are made of matter and nothing else. When the matter is disorganized at death, the person disappears. There is no credible evidence that life survives the death of the body. One’s existence ends at death. Nothing can make an individual’s life to survive beyond death. The only immortality is to continue to exist in our offspring and in that way, our lives have influenced others in our culture. The atheists however subscribe to the view that Atheists also deny the view that the universe was created. The atheistic teaching on evolution leaves no room for faith in God. All that exists is attributed to an impersonal mix of matter, energy, time and chance. God is omniscient; The God whom Christians worship is all knowing. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours and just as heaven is higher than earth is (Isaiah 55:9) He is the alpha and omega and knows everything from the beginning to the end (Rev. 22:13). He is the ultimate source of all knowledge and all intelligence. He has the solution for all problems. This is contrasted by the views of the atheists that they do not find any belief in a divine power necessary to explain either the origins of the universe or its operation. Complete trust

is put on the capabilities of human beings. For this reason, atheists do not believe in any form of revelation. God is sovereign; because of His infinite nature, God is sovereign. This means that, He is in charge of the universe. He controls all creations. Nothing is beyond God’s attention and control. He is the king of the universe. God is the ruler of the cosmos and the power that continuously guides it and keeps it going. He is enthroned above the circle of the earth and views people on earth as grasshoppers (Isaiah 40:22).

In conclusion I would observe that in many churches there are secular theists who regard themselves as ‘Christians’ yet they uphold atheistic views in their daily life (Kraft 2008:245). Though they would not say that God does not exist, they act like it, as if there is no one to hold them accountable for their actions. Christian and secular worldviews are constantly in conflict. While Christianity views reality as being under the governance of God, the secular worldview regards reality as being accessible to humanity and under its control. In the secular worldview, God has been removed from public life. In other words, the governance of God is denied.