Theism in a Postmodern World by Billy Bush Religious Worldviews RELS 402 Professor W. C. Calhoun June 22, 2009 Abstract In today’s postmodern world, ideals of being consumed with self and self appropriated ideas of truth leave God forgotten and to them, God is dead. This same thought process see’s no reason or logic to bring God into the picture let alone into their lives. The pervasive postmodern worldview today includes precepts such that self decides who we become, as well as, is not necessary to have a God who should be in control of our lives. It is difficult for a Christian to live out his theistic worldview in today’s postmodern world, but it can be done because of our beliefs in God. Like …show more content…
(John 3:16, NIV). Many people ask “If God is just, why is there evil?” (Forte, 2003). The answer to this is simple, evil exists because humans choose to disobey and fall into sin. The disobedience of man is the original cause and current cause of evil in this world, not God. Christian theism includes what happens to a person when they die. “For each person death is either the gate to life with God and His people or the gate to eternal separation from the only thing that will ultimately fulfill human aspirations” (Sire, 2004). Inevitably, there are only two destination choices; either we will go to heaven or hell. Hell was not only created by God for Satan and those angels who chose to defy God’s will but also for those who have chosen to reject Christ’s love and to follow Him. Christian theism defines how ethics relates to the role of humans. “Ethics is transcendent and is based on the character of God as good [holy and loving]” (Sire, 2004). Theism teaches the universe is moral and there is an absolute standard by which we should all judge things. God is “the” standard and all issues should be judged next to His standard. Christian Theism teaches us, “History is linear, a meaningful sequence of events leading to the fulfillment of God’s purposes for humanity” (Sire, 2004). History, as we know, began when God created this world. History is not simply a story seen as possibly or potentially true, depending upon from who
Christians believe that there is a destination of either heaven or hell. Both sacrifice important goods and valuables.
History is happening all around us, whether it is affecting us positively or negatively. History is an occurrence of events that have made an impact so big that we emphasize them today. From the Sumerians, to the latest recorded history, we are creating history within. History is happening every day, but it is up to us the retreat back the occurrences of the past life. It is because of history that we function the way we do. For example, through the 15th century, occurrences happened, for example the diversity of people seen throughout the new world. You’ll see that conflict and tension led to experiences with self-government and that the questioning of authority of the church led to diverse religions. Everything that happened in the past has led us to have the history we do today.
People from all walks of life face many ethical dilemmas. These dilemmas have consequences. Our worldview determines how we deal with these dilemmas, and guides us to the right decisions. In this essay, I will examine an ethical issues through my Christian worldview. I will also present other viewpoints, and compare them to mine.
In reading a Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich you realize that history seems so much less complicated when you are the one standing back and reflecting on the past. You realize how easy it is to often forget that every single new idea, religion and war was a struggle that lasted generations upon generations. History is more than just a page or a story, its our account of the world. That goes to show how short life and history is, you realize that history is always repeating, war after war, peace then war. There are good and bad periods in history and its up to us to learn from them. In a way history is much like a human being it goes through stages, learns about life, and has inner struggles or wars about their ideas and their beliefs.
So much of society seems to live his/her life on a sort of self-serving autopilot mode. Rarely does one stop to think how or why he/she is making certain decisions or how these decisions can affect his/her life in the future. Often times, it is not until one has a “string of bad luck” or something tragic happens in one’s life, when he/she will turn to Jesus for help “getting them through this problem” only to return to one’s self-centered ways once his/her life has returned to normal. Living life with a Christian worldview is not something that one can take off a shelf and use when needed and allow it to collect dust on that shelf the rest of the time. This paper will discuss the many parts that make
As a Christian I rely on the holy word of God, the bible, as a guide to ethics, and morals, however not all see this the same way. Jesus Christ, his life is the model for ethics. Jesus is the Christ, he is the way. Jesus gives a guide to proper behavior and
likely to go to hell for a period. In my opinion it would be unfair.
This then begs the question; what are the reasons that God believes that the existence of evil is necessary? There are two ways of approaching an argument for the belief that God has his reasons to allow evil. These two ways are a theodicy and a defense. In his book, Inwagen says “The difference between a theodicy and a defense is simply that a theodicy is put forward as true, while nothing more is claimed of a defense than that it represents a real possibility” (31). Theodicy takes into account the evidence of evil and shows that it is still reasonable to believe in a God despite the existence of evil. Overall, a theodicy is a justification for God. A defense, on the other hand, offers a logical explanation for the existence of evil. A defense may say that there are reasons that God allows evil to persist, but, humans may never know these reasons. There is one well known and most rational defense. This is called the free-will defense. The free-will defense says that God made the world and included rational beings. He gave them the power of free-will. This meant that humans held the ability to make their own decisions and to have their own desires freely without any barriers. God decided that overall, free-will was a great enough good and that the existence of it outweighed the existence of the evil that results from the abuse of
A worldwide movement encompassing all disciplines, postmodernism arose in response to the dominant idea of modernism, which is described as the social condition of living in an urban, fast-changing progressivist world governed by instrumental reason.
What happens to a person at death is a belief we acquire from our religion and culture. In Christianity we believe heaven is our reward for living a meaningful life. On the other hand as Christians we were taught to preserve life and avoid intentional death to selves or others.
Christian morality is centered on assessing the ethical implications of us as people. Who we ought and be, and what actions we ought to take or avoid based on an understanding of the scripture and relevant human experiences. I do not subscribe to the divine command theory (DCT) of ethics, as I believe you can have ethics without God. The DCT proposes that what is morally right is what God has commanded (for example, love thy neighbor), and what is forbidden by God is morally wrong (i.e. murder), yet there are many who agree that murder is wrong without reading the bible to recognize this. As such, I argue that the churches moral teachings are of
Over the years my worldview has evolved from as a by product of cultural influence, to one steeped in my belief of God. However, until I got married 4 years ago, I had never actively worked on developing my Christian theistic worldview. Brown, Phillips and Stonestreet (2008) described a persons’ worldview as the framework that guides our beliefs and viewpoints (p. 21). With this in mind, I have established 3 main tenants of my worldview, God is, the universe was and morality will be. These are the foundations for the way I live, move and express my being in this world.
Postmodernism was a reaction against the modernism philosophical values and assumptions. Although many agree that there is a thin line between modernism and postmodernism, postmodernism is not modernism. In modernism, scientific theories were used to determine what is true. However, postmodernism allows individuals to question the theories and not take them as facts (Duignan, 2014). While modernism emphasized on objectivism, postmodernism allows extensive subjectivism in all aspects of life.
Evolution is the succession of inherited traits from generations that develop over time. Similarly, moral relativism is the process of expanding a person’s morals and beliefs during their lifetime. However, instead of advancing over generations based on proceeding genes, moral relativism focuses on changing because of the environment around them, or rather the surrounding culture. Therefore, understanding right and wrong is subject to a person’s individual decision dictated by personal and situational circumstances. Christians who hold a biblical worldview believe that ethics are derived from the revelations of God demonstrated in the Bible. Although, this basis comes from the character and nature of God, not necessarily what Christians should do in specific
The problem of evil is as ancient as humanity itself. Since the dawn of man, thinkers, philosophers, religionists and practically every human being who have suffered at the hands of evil have pondered this enigma, either as a logical-intellectual-philosophical or emotional-religious-existential problem. The preponderance of evil as a reality in human existence, and