Big Picture Answers for America's Big Problems -
Rebuilding on America's Original Worldview
by Leonard Ransil
Section 2: Christianity vs. Rival Worldviews
Chart 1 from a previous chapter, "Discovering Your Worldview," posed questions designed to help you recognize your belief system. It is repeated below for your convenience and is followed by a new chart that demonstrates the differences between the Christian Worldview and the Materialistic Worldview. Compare your answers to Chart 1 questions with those in the new chart to see where your beliefs line up. The same process will be used to compare
the New Age Worldview in a later chapter.
CHART 1
A. PAST:
1) Origin: Where did everything come from?
2) Condition: Was/is it good, neutral or bad?
3) Origin: Where did I come from?
4) Condition: Was/am I good, neutral or bad?
B. PRESENT:
1) Identity: Who Am I?
2) Purpose: Why am I here?
3) Am I ultimately accountable to anyone?
4) Condition: Why is there calamity, evil, suffering and death?
5) Will this bad condition ever be fixed? If so, how, by whom and when?
C. FUTURE:
1) Destination: Where is everything going?
2) Condition: will it be good, neutral, bad?
3) Destination: Where am I going?
4) Condition: will it be good, neutral or bad?
5) Do my choices now determine my ultimate future?
1) Yes
2) No
D. APPLICATION: Given my answers (my belief system/worldview), what should I do and how should I live and behave now?
Chart 4 answers are correlated to the letter and number system above. (Chart numbers throughout Section 2 are sequential, beginning with the first chapter, "Discovering Your Worldview".)
CHART 4 | |
CHRISTIANITY | MATERIALISM |
FAITH IN THE GOD OF THE BIBLE | FAITH IN THE PROCESS OF EVOLUTION |
A. 1 | The God of the Bible created everything | A.1,2,3 | Man and all creation evolved from the accidental and random process of natural selection or punctuated equilibrium or something yet to be discovered. |
A. 2 | and He called it good. | B. 1 | As an animal, man must be free to follow |
A. 3 | God made man | B. 2 | his instincts and desires to become self-actualized. |
B. 2 | to know, love and belong to Him, to serve Him in obedient faith and to live for His glory and pleasure forever. | A. 4 | Since man is inherently good, |
B. 3 | All that God created is accountable to Him, including mankind. | B. 3 | he is his own moral authority, accountable to no one. |
B. 4 | Adam rejected God's legitimate authority as his creater and came under Satan’s dominion, causing the darkness of alienation from God, personal suffering, sin and death that now befalls everyone. | C. 1 | Mankind is evolving to eventual perfection. |
A. 4 | Since all humans came from Adam, | B. 4 | Suffering and death are part of the evolutionary process of the survival of the fittest. |
B. 1 | they are born also as fallen rebels by nature. | C. 1 | Mankind (not individuals) will triumph! |
B. 4 | All creation is groaning, waiting for the revelation of God's sons and daughters. | B. 2 | Each person must be free to determine his own meaning and pursue his own happiness as he defines it. Anything preventing this is |
C. 1 | God's plan is to redeem mankind through rebirth by faith in Jesus' sacrificial death and | B. 5 | a social evil that must be remedied by the state. Since all beliefs and behaviors are equally valid, acceptance of all differences is only reasonable and fair. |
B. 5 | His atonement for all mankind’s sins. This grants | B. 4 | All notions of God, religion and afterlife are restrictive and divisive and, therefore, must be removed by law for the sake of society's mental health. |
| C. 2,4 | true believers divine life that enables them to do God's purpose here and gives hope for endless fulfillment in Christ. | B. 3 | Therefore, since there are no absolutes, the end justifies the means. Whatever is good for each person, according to his definition of good, is morally okay for him. |
C. 2 | Hell awaits all who reject God's merciful offer and thus, remain slaves of the Devil forever. | B. 2 | Getting one’s needs met is the primary goal in life. |
C. 5 | Yes | C. 1,4 | On the whole, the natural world is gradually improving because evolution is a fact. As for you, death is the end of your existence. |
C. 3 | God offers you a way out. Put your trust and future in God's hands so that Heaven will be your home! | D. | So, everyone should just “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow, we die.” |
D. | By God's grace, believe in and confess Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord and abide in Him for His glory and your good through the ministry and power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 10:9.) | C.2,3,5 | No. You have no ultimate purpose or future. |
Have you determined yet which worldview is a safer choice? Here is a hint: the next chapter will unpack some of the implications of the differences and what they mean for the future of each believer.
