Five Worldviews

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Five Worldviews

• Though there are 6,000 distinct religions in the
  world today, they can be broken down into five
  major categories
• Adapted from Christianity The Faith that Makes
  Sense by Dennis McCallum (Tyndale)

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The Five Worldviews

• Naturalism
• Atheism Agnosticism Existentialism
• Pantheism
• Hinduism Taoism Buddhism New Age Consciousness
• Theism
• Christianity Islam Judaism
• Spiritism Animism and Polytheism
• Thousands of religions
• Postmodernism

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Naturalism
No objective values or morals exist. Morals are
individual preferences or socially useful
behaviors. Even social morals are subject to
change

• Material universe is all that exists. Reality is
  one dimensional no soul or spirit. Pure
  naturalism.

• Man is chance product of biological process of
  evolution. Man is entirely material. Humans will
  pass out of existence.

Truth is understood as scientific proof. Only
what can be observed with five senses is accepted
as real or true
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PantheismHinduism Taoism Buddhism New Age
Since reality is impersonal, pantheistic thinkers
believe there is no distinction between good and
evil. Enlightened behavior is what fails to
understand essential unity
Truth is an experience of unity with the
oneness of the universe. Truth is beyond all
rational description. Rational thought as known
in West cannot show reality.
Only the spiritual dimension exists. All else is
illusion, maya. Spiritual reality, Brahman, is
eternal, impersonal and unknowable.
Man is one with ultimate reality. Thus man is
spiritual, eternal and impersonal. Mans belief
that he is an individual is illusion. All is part
of God, or God is in everything.
5
TheismChristianity Islam Judaism
Moral values are the objective expression of an
absolute moral being.
Truth about God is known through revelation.
Truth about the material world is gained via
revelation and the five senses in conjunction
with rational thought.
An infinite personal God. He created a finite,
material world. Reality is both spiritual and
material. The universe as we know it had a
beginning and will have an end
Humanity is the unique creation of God. People
were created in the image of God, which means
that we are personal, eternal, spiritual and
biological
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Spiritism, Animism and Polytheism
Moral values take the form of taboos, what ever
irritates or angers various spirits. This is
different from the idea of good and evil. It is
just as important to avoid irritating good or
evil spirits
Truth about the natural world is discovered
through the shaman figure who has visions telling
him what the gods and demons are doing and how
they feel thus what can be expected.
World is populated by spirit beings who govern
all. Gods and demons are causes behind
natural events. Material things are real, but
have spirits associated, so can be see as
spiritual
Man is creation of the gods lie the rest of the
creatures on earth. Often, tribes or races have
a special relationship with some gods who protect
them or punish them
7
Postmodernism
Values are part of our social paradigms as well.
Tolerance, freedom of expression, inclusion, and
refusal to claim to have the answers are the only
universal values
Truths are mental constructs meaningful to
individuals within a particular cultural
paradigm. They do not apply to other paradigms.
Truth is relative to ones culture.
Reality must be interpreted through our language
and cultural paradigm. Therefore, reality is
socially constructed.
Human are nodes in a cultural reality they are
a product of their social setting. The idea that
people are autonomous and free is a myth.