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Worldview: Naturalism

October 12, 2009 in Philosophy, Theology with 11 Comments

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Naturalism

Following is the 3nd installment of a series on Worldviews. There are seven questions presented by James W. Sire in his book, “The Universe Next Door,” which he says every worldview must answer. This book is used in many colleges for philosophy curriculum, and Sire writes from a Christian perspective. Though influenced somewhat by Sire, what I proceed to give answers to comes from my own words and thoughts. No quotes. If you want Sire’s opinion, let me know and I’ll provide that for you.

1. What is prime reality⎯the really real?
Prime reality is matter. The fact that consciousness exists does not alter the meaning of the really real. Consciousness is nothing more than matter working in a unique way. Since matter has stemmed not from a Creator, but from matter intrinsic, we must conclude that it has either remained matter always and has simply taken on different forms, or it has self emerged in some unknown point in history. Either way, we do not know for sure which one is the sounder. All we know is that we are, and everything else is.

2. What is the nature of external reality, that is, the world around us?
Continue Reading…

So You Think?

October 8, 2009 in Apologetics, Philosophy, Theology with 8 Comments

Thinking is OKAY!

As a matter of fact, I do!

We think about ourselves. We think about our world. We think about others. We think about how things operate in the world. We think about the way things “ought” to be. We think about diversity. We think about equality. We think about pleasure, about entertainment, about pain, about relief, about destiny, and on and on it goes. Sometimes we think too much about certain things.

I was filling out a survey the other day, where I am to respond by circling “0″ to “4″; “0″ meaning “never” and “4″ meaning extremely. One of the question (among others) that was, how shall I say, retarded, was: “Do you have ideas or beliefs that others do not share.” Okay. Obviously this is some kind of psychological analysis, and obviously, this question is entirely vague. I was going to circle “4″—Extreme! Of course I have ideas and beliefs that others do not share. I Believe In JESUS! Besides, everyone has ideas and beliefs that others do not share. Even more, everyone has their own idea and no one shares ideas or beliefs with anyone else in any real way. In other words, no such thing as telepathy! This survey was evaluating how a person thinks. And it just made me wonder if the people who created this survey ever thought about the way THEY think.

How often do we think about the way we think?

I am not sure we do—at least by and large. Continue Reading…

Worldview: Deism

October 7, 2009 in Philosophy, Theology with 22 Comments

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Deism

Following is the 2nd installment of a series on Worldviews. There are seven questions presented by James W. Sire in his book, The Universe Next Door, which he says every worldview must answer. This book is used in many colleges for philosophy curriculum, and Sire writes from a Christian perspective. Though influenced somewhat by Sire, what I proceed to give answers to comes from my own words and thoughts. No quotes. If you want Sire’s opinion, let me know and I’ll provide that for you.

1. What is prime reality⎯the really real?
Consciousness alone necessitates the idea of God. Prime reality, though, is found in the fact that we exist. Creation is attributed to the works of this God, but he does not intervene, is impersonal, unknown, and possessing no personal attributes, such as love. Therefore, no thing can be truly known about this God. Since this is so, all one really knows to be really real is that which one can perceive with the senses and intellect. We dare not be honest about reason⎯that it cannot move us into a place of awareness of such a creator because the very act would be a kind of personal connection. The creator would have to have granted this access upon creating humans. The ability to know “it” (the creator) in any way, even apart from personal revelation, requires divine assistance. Therefore, what ever is really real is left to the observance through that of the natural man and his clearly limited functions.

2. What is the nature of external reality, that is, the world around us?
Continue Reading…

Worldview: Christian Theism

September 28, 2009 in Philosophy, Theology with 13 Comments

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God's Eye

Following is the 4th installment of a series on Worldviews. There are seven questions presented by James W. Sire in his book, “The Universe Next Door,” which he says every worldview must answer. This book is used in many colleges for philosophy curriculum, and Sire writes from a Christian perspective. Though influenced somewhat by Sire, what I proceed to give answers to comes from my own words and thoughts. No quotes. If you want Sire’s opinion, let me know and I’ll provide that for you.

1. What is prime reality⎯the really real?
Prime reality is the very absolute, consistent, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Creator/Redeemer God (YHWH)—immanently experienced through His equally eternal Son, Jesus (Ye’shua). Since God is the really real, everything He creates is therefore real also, including consciousness. Therefore, while consciousness is not prime reality, it is nonetheless really real⎯not an illusion⎯though entirely contingent upon prime reality, which is God.

2. What is the nature of external reality, that is, the world around us?
Continue Reading…

Worldview: Introduction

September 25, 2009 in Philosophy, Theology with 12 Comments

To Understand is to SEE
A worldview is basically the way in which you perceive and interpret yourself, the world around you, and the existence of all things. Everything you process is filtered, in some way, through your worldview. It’s how you look at all things. Not all people’s worldview is refined, or complete, but regardless everyone has something of a worldview.

Insert: New Series

In these upcoming posts I Continue Reading…

Thoughts on Worldviews

September 21, 2009 in Apologetics, Philosophy with 10 Comments

Worldviews

Worldview: A commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart that can be expressed in a story or set of presuppositions which we hold about the basic constitution of reality and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being.”[1]

I am in currently in a worldview class. I really enjoy it. But I do have my work cut out for me, as you can see in the above picture. What I like about this most is the discussion that occurs in the classroom. I tend to challenge ideas, even if I agree with them. And boy did I challenge the ideas presented in last weeks class. Continue Reading…

The Sale of a Skeptic

August 28, 2009 in Philosophy with 5 Comments

The following is an excerpt of a book I’ve recently been dabbling in. The book is “Questions That Matter: An Invitation To Philosophy,” written by ED. L. Miller, 1984 (page 177). This is a fantastic and hilarious crack at a philosophical skeptic.

The theme as presented by the book: “In his Sale of the Philosophers (about A.D. 175) Lucian pokes fun at some Greek philosophers under the guise of having them put up for sale at an auction. In the following (and concluding) passage[1], the Skeptic Purrho is clearly represented by Pyrrhias (“Coppernob”).

Zeus: Who’s left?

Hermes: This Skeptic here. Hey, Coppernob! Come here and be auctioned! Hurry up! Not many to sell you to; most of them are drifting off now. Still—any bids for this one?

Buyer: Yes, me. But tell me first, what do you know?

Pyrrhias: Nothing

Buyer: How do mean, nothing?

Pyrrhias: I don’t think there is anything at all. Continue Reading…

It Wasn’t Me

July 14, 2009 in Philosophy with 4 Comments

We live in a diverse worldblame2

We have 144 countries on this planet with a population of approximately 6,770,900,000. We have in our country alone we have many diverse races and ethnicities. We live in a diverse country in a diverse world.

Let’s take this a little further Continue Reading…

Bystander Christianity

May 12, 2009 in Church, Philosophy with 0 Comments

I have a question for you

While I have been doing some reading in psychology, I came across an interesting observations some psychology researches had discovered. The story is about a real life situation where a woman was rapped and stabbed. This assault lasted about 30 minutes. There were approximately 38 neighbors who heard her cry for help, but no one responded. I began to do the “tilt”, which is a common physical expression accompanied by the word, “huh?”

As I read, a few psychologists interview these neighbors and developed what they call a theory of “diffusion of responsibility.” This means that the more people who witness an event, the less likely will someone intervene. The reason: shared responsibility. The bystanders have a psychological understanding that their fellow bystanders have just as much responsibility to intervene as they do. Therefore, what happens often is no one intervenes because everyone is waiting on someone else to initiate the intervention.

Then it occurred to me

Is this what has happened in the modern church? Has the growth of Christians – especially in America – caused the lack of action and witnessing? There are many who claim Christianity and are not of the flock, while others are truly Christian but think other people will do the work.

I wonder.

Do you wonder?

Whatever Works!

February 27, 2009 in Philosophy with 0 Comments

Brilliant!
Gee, “What ever works”… hmmm, I’ve never seen something so intelligent before.

Customer: I need something for acne

Clerk: Here’s some stuff that works

Customer: What is it?

Clerk: I dunno, but it works!

Customer: What does it do?

Clerk: Clears up your face

Customer: Side effects?

Clerk: Well, could cause cross-eyed syndrome, bleeding nostrils, flakey skin, crooked teeth, and itchy butt.

Customer: Is that safe?

Clerk: I dunno, our philosophy is “Whatever Works!”

Sheesh, postmodernism. Hold on, I think postmodernism may be a little more sneaky than this.

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