Man's Place in the Universe

The universe is undoubtedly large and intimidating and we can never hope to understand the majority of it.  Something that man has trying to figure out since the beginning though, is were does man fit into all of it?  What is mans place in the universe, what is his purpose in life if there is any at all?  There is generally four different views of mans place in the universe, and they are the following.

1. Man is fated and subjected to the forces of the universe.
2. Man is the center of the universe and is the full determinant of his destiny.
3. Man is the subject to chance and there is nothing sure, predictable, or controllable.
4. Man is created by God with purpose and intentionality.

We can all see examples of these in our culture today, and just about everyone can fit into these four world views. The first one, Man is fated and subjected to the forces of the universe, deals with those people in our culture who go through life leaving everything up to fate.  They just live for the now because they never know when it will end.  They are only one in a billion others.  The world is completely mechanical to them, and man is simply a cog in the vast machine of the universal.

In the Second, Man is the center of the universe and is the full determinate of his destiny.  This person believes in general, that nothing really matters except "I'll take care of me. No one else is my problem.  I can fix what comes my way through my own power."   To them, Man is in control, the universe it at his fingertips waiting for his command (Which real likely, right?)  Today especially, with so much technology and knowledge available, it becomes very easy for someone to fall into this category of life, since our modern world makes it is so easy to do everything.  We rarely have to look to anyone for help anymore.

In the third, Man is the subject to chance and there is nothing sure, predictable, or controllable.  I always think of these people as the ones who live life everyday for the ride, they just want to have fun till its all over.  There is no fate, nothing is predestined, they just live life and see what happens in the wake of their choices.  Some of it will be good and some of it will be bad, whatever they do only good or bad will come from it, nothing more.  They never know what they are going to get they just hope for the best and live life for the here and now.

And lastly, Man is created by God with a purpose and intentionality.  The difference between this worldview and the others is that this one has purpose.  True Christians live with the mindset of serving Jesus, than Others, then lastly themselves (J.O.Y.! ha ha).  Life has meaning due to our belief that God created them uniquely and with an individual purpose. This belief straddles the line between fate and free will in that God has a plan for our lives but our decision if we want to allow him to use use for that plan.  Unlike the other views, we believe that death is not the end, it is only the beginning. 

Out of all of these views, the one I see the most in our country is #3- man is subject to chance and there is nothing sure, predictable, or controllable.  I see so many people in our society who believe that nothing they do matters, and in the end we all die anyway so why not do what they want now?  They refuse to see their value in Christ and their refusal to him blinds them from seeing that they are very accountable to him. It hurtts my heart to see so many people my age who have no plans for the future and believe that nothing they do matters.  They miss out on the incredible opportunity to have an unending life where they can see God's love for them and have purpose and meaning restored. 

 Something that a lot of Churches don't do a good job at teaching is God's role as the absolute authority and how that matters in our life. Some churches either explain that God is the ultimate authority of the universe or just give the church members lists of rules to follow to live the "Christian Walk".  Rarely do they show that one effects the other.  The church needs to emphasise that BECAUSE God is sovereign, our lives are made to serve him in all we do, say, and think.  Because of the churches lack in addressing this issue, people believe in a powerful God, but do not see his connections to their life or see his hand in things around them. 

If someone came up and said to me "Man is completely free" I would have to say that man has free will, but they also have a loving God who desprately wants to be there Father if they would just turn over the controls to him.

And that Just about sums it up :)

~Emma
  

Worldview~Star Trek

Star Trek is a common name to just about everyone these days.  Though i myself have never seen any of the series, i feel like i already know all about the characters and their missions in the Galaxy. Even now, Trekkies everywhere are waiting in great anticipation for the Release of Star Trek: Into the Darkness coming out this May.  Few seem to think about the original series, though.  The original series aired on NBC on 1966, and while critics today look at the series's cheesy script and even cheesier set, we all forget what a breakthrough it was for the time. Aimed for adults, Star Trek showed morality issues of a future generation of the crew of a space ship peacefully exploring the Galaxy.

Events that were taking place at the time included the Cold War and Racial Segregation and discrimination.  Not surprisingly Star Trek focused on these problems.  For instance, it was a multi-Racial crew that most memorably included both an African American Woman and a Russian crew member.  Blacks and women also appeared as Doctors and Scientist, something that was unheard of in the television industry. 

In the Video below is an example of Star Treks view of racism. 

In the Video we can see the two Men/Aliens are from the same planet, but are intent about destroying one another.  Notice the colors their faces are?  Black in white, reflecting the tension of the Whites and African Americans in the time of racial segregation.  Like the two alien in the video, the Whites and Blacks clashed against each other.   One Alien held against the other for a past enslavement of his people, and the other hated him for not being thankful for what love his people showed the others race.  Hmmmm. Sounds a little familiar don't you think?

Star Trek pushed one main message. That Despite the War and Racial injustice- Humanity will be OK. After the original series started and failed, the fans and other media took over its continued fame.  Conventions were held and actors spoke.  NASA named their first space shuttle orbiter the Enterprise after the space ship in Star Trek.  In 1970, Star Trek  became a motion picture, and was named the #1 TV show.  African American Scientists and Engineers have said that they have been greatly impacted by the TV shows, and women have stated that the shows have greatly changed their view of feminism, and given them confidence to seek out a different life for themselves. 

~Emma

 

Truth and Knowing

There are three ways we can know things and the ways are Cognitive, Empirically, and Revelation.  Cognitive are things that we know intuitively or without learning such as hunger.  Empirically refers to what we’ve learned though sensory experience or observation. While Revelation is the revealing of God’s truths to us.
 Throughout history, different philosophers believed different things.  Herodotus was a Greek philosopher who believed that the world is in constant change, therefore there is no way to obtain knowledge or truth.  At the same point of time Parmenides, another Greek philosopher, believed that the world is constant, and knowledge cannot be obtained through senses, but through reason.
Plato believed that there were two layers of the world.  One is revealed to us by our senses, and is real.  The other is constantly changing, and the reality of that layer is an illusion.  Aristotle believed the same thing as his teacher Pluto, though while Plato believed that universal forms were not present in material things, Aristotle believed they were.
Around the time of the eleventh century, Thomas Aquinas played an important role in helping define what we know.  He helped define the relationship between nature and grace and helped rekindle the love for learning. 
From 1200-1500 AD, there was the time of the Aristotelian Revolution.  It was the time in which Thomas Aquinas's teachings on Grace and Nature became popular.  Aquinas believed that there was an upper story and lower story of the world. The upper story is of God and heaven, and the lower story Material seen things.  Man tried to find a balance of belief of both Nature and Spiritual things.  Because of this search, the Renaissance started, and the scales were tipped towards Nature.

Because of the Renaissance, the lower story became more important than the upper story and humanism came into motion.  Now it was man defined his truths and his morals instead of looking to God.

The result of theology, philosophy, and art becoming "autonomous" in scope was that  Artist, theologians, and philosophers began to depict reality the way they saw fit, regardless of God and scripture.
Then the period of Reformation Started and began to restore proper balance between Grace and Nature, and got rid of the “religiousness “ that had run the church during the time of the Renaissance.
Reformers of the time included Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others.  They believed that the bible was the only thing that could give knowledge of God, and it is Christ alone that can give us salvation.
Due to the rebirth of culture through Reformation, education, arts, and just government all flourished.

 

Os Guinness~ Truth

If our faith is not true, it would be false even if the whole world believed it. If our faith is true, it would be true even if the whole world and the entire cosmos were against it.”

-Os Guinness

 

Os Guinness studied truth and came to a firm conclusion about what he believed on the topic of truth.  First, only a high view of truth honors the God of Truth, and only a high view of truth reflects how we come to know and trust God.  Second, only a high view of truth empowers our best human enterprises.  Thirdly, a high view of truth is sufficient for resisting evil and hypocrisy.  And lastly, only a high view of truth will help our growth and transformation in Christ.

~Emma

I believe...

I believe that Worldview is personal and dynamic! Your world view depicts who you, and who you will become.  Your world view "glasses" can make you see things of this world totally different than others.
Influences contribute to how our world view is formed.  What our parents believe, our peers believe, and what our society believes are some of the main things that influence our worldview.  What goes on around us contributes on how we live and view life.
There are a few questions that you should be prepared to answer in order to defend your worldview.  The one I personally choose is "how did it all begin and how will it all end?"  I think it is important to be able to answer this question, especially as a Christian.  We have to know that God made earth and made man in his own image and believe that one day, Jesus, Is going to come and collect his bride (the Church) and we will go to heaven to forever be with him.  I believe that that just about sums up all that i believe in a nutshell.
Your worldview determines how you live your life right?  So there are many areas that it effect.  I believe that the three areas it affects the most are how leisure, family, and government.  Leisure, as in how you spend your time, and what do you do with the time you've been given.  Family, as in how do you act towards family, your value for family, and how you impact your family. And lastly, worldview not only effects the way one person lives, but can effect a whole nation through the world view of the people in charge. This only goes to prove that your world view not only just effects you but the people around you!
~Emma