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WORLDVIEW

WORLDVIEW. “Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes.”. (C.S. Lewis in his introduction to Athanasius’s On the Incarnation ).

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WORLDVIEW

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  1. WORLDVIEW “Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes.” (C.S. Lewis in his introduction to Athanasius’s On the Incarnation)

  2. Australia tired of Mercator’s Eurocentric view of the world and always being at the bottom responded with the Southern Hemisphere at the top.

  3. When King Frederick Mutesa was forced to flee Uganda, many of the loyal Baganda people began to become sick; some died. WHY? • When the king left, part of us left, and the life went out of our people. If he remains away we will all die. • For whatever reasons social psychologists can present, the Baganda think that they will die and, lacking a will to live, some do die. • Perhaps an epidemic growing out of the many deaths in the war has spread among the Baganda. • This is punishment for the Baganda for cooperating with the British colonialists, and profiting at the expense of their African brothers. • The Baganda have been cursed by a witch from another tribe.

  4. Recently a man in England was struck by lightning twice it the same day, yet he lives. WHY? • God has spared him for some purpose. • He was always lucky. • The probabilities of being struck by lightning twice are fantastic, and to live through both – well, this is one for the record books! • A careful examination of all conditions (weather, location, clothing, etc.) will probably explain both why he was struck twice and at the same time explain why he was not killed.

  5. AMERICANS AND THEIR PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE(George Barna, The Frog in the Kettle, 1990) • 51% - No philosophy of life • 24% - Philosophy not based on Christian values • 25% - Christian philosophy of life

  6. So, what is worldview? • A particular perspective of reality by which individuals and societies organize and live out their lives. • The “interpretation of influences, experiences, circumstances, and insight.” (J. Mark Bertrand) • The basic suppositions about reality (God, Existence/Creation, Humanity, Truth, Time/Event) which lie behind the beliefs and behavior of a culture.

  7. “Culturally structured assumptions, values and commitments underlying a people’s perception of reality… and organizing those perceptions into perspectives.” (Charles Kraft) Worldviews function to: • Evaluate all aspects of life in socially approved ways; • Explain aspects of life according to socially approved ways of seeing reality; • Validate common perceptions and behavior; • Interpret things in ways that are consistent with those of the rest of the culture; • Adapt to internal and external pressure for change. • Assign commitment priorities that help people identify what people and other aspects of life to pledge allegiance to;

  8. WHAT IS THE CORRECT WORLDVIEW ?

  9. – No one sees the world exactly as it is – God alone sees reality as it actually is WE SEE THROUGH OUR RESPECTIVE LENSES (cf. 1 Cor. 13:12 – “For now we see in a mirror dimly”)

  10. A WESTERN WORLDVIEW • Rationalism, Naturalism and Secularism/Secular Humanism • Compartmentalism (conditioned by western philosophies and categories) • Individualism, Materialism, and Relativism • Privatism, Capitalism, Imperialism, and Progressivism – Enamored with change for change’s sake • “American Arrogance” – “We’re Number One” mythology (Dwight Hopkins) – Symbols of American Religion – “The flag and the fetus” (Harold Bloom) • American culture is “interiorization and individualization” (Rodney Clapp) • Dominant philosophy in America is “Individualism, Privatization, Personal Autonomy, and Self-Worship“ (James Means).

  11. SYSTEMIC NATURE OF HUMAN ORGANIZATION (Parsons And Shils)

  12. Culture is the “total process of human activity and the total result of that activity” or “the artificial, secondary environment” of language, habits, ideas, beliefs, customs and values.(H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture, 1951)

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