Worldviews – Part III

by Ed Urzi

When we last got together, we talked about the most basic, foundational principle of a Biblical worldview- a principle found on the very first page of the Bible where we’re told that “…God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). This means that a real, Biblical worldview starts with two basic principles:

  1. The universe and everything in it had a beginning
  2. An independent, supernatural Being (God) caused the universe to come into existence

Of course, there have also been many objections raised to the arguments that support this Biblical worldview over the centuries. Perhaps the most common objection to a Biblical worldview and the evidence of God’s existence is known to us today as atheism.

Atheism

In it’s most basic terms, atheism is the belief that God does not exist. The word “atheism” is made up from two parts: “a” which indicates something negative and “theos,” a form of the Greek word that means “god.” Used together, these two parts build a word that means “no god.”

The Principles of Atheism

People who believe in atheism usually agree on a few basic principles such as:

  • God does not exist
  • Only the world/universe exists
  • The concept of “god” is an invention of human beings.

So an atheist is a person who takes the position that the universe is all that exists. A true atheist also believes that no god exists anywhere within the universe or beyond and that the universe is all that there ever was, all that there is and all that there ever will be. When it comes to subjects like religion and spirituality, atheists commonly explain the existence of religious beliefs by saying that the religions of the world were all invented by human beings to help give life meaning and to help people cope with things like fear, guilt and anxiety.

Of course, people who do believe in the existence of God have responded to these objections with a few objections of their own over the years. For example, we said earlier that the idea that God does not exist is one of the basic principles of atheism.

Some have responded to this atheistic belief by saying, “But how do you know that God does not exist?” You see, in order for someone to realistically hold the position that God does not exist, that person must find some way to prove God’s non-existence. This presents the serious challenge of trying to prove that in all places and in all times, God does not exist. So you can see that this is a very difficult position to support because it is essentially trying to say that “something” (God) is really nothing (non existent) and has never been anything.

But there’s another problem too. The problem for atheists is that God, by definition, is a being who is infinite and unlimited. Human beings however, are finite which means that they are limited in their knowledge, ability and experience. This means that the person who claims that God absolutely does not exist must have all knowledge in order to really make that claim successfully. But a limited, finite human with all knowledge wouldn’t be a limited, finite human being anymore- they would be God. That’s pretty self-defeating for someone who claims that God doesn’t exist.

Agnosticism

Another objection to God’s existence is known as agnosticism (pronounced “ag-na-st-cism”). While atheism says that God absolutely does not exist, agnosticism takes a somewhat different approach. An agnostic doesn’t say that God does or doesn’t exist. An agnostic believes that human beings either can’t or don’t know if God exists.

The word “agnostic” literally means “without knowledge” and like the word atheism, the word “agnostic” starts with the prefix “a” which indicates a negative position. Following this prefix is a form of the word gnosis (pronounced “no-sis”), a word that means “knowledge.” When these parts are taken together, they create a word that describes someone who believes that there is “no knowledge” of God. So in general, an agnostic is someone who believes that there is not enough evidence to prove or disprove the existence of God.

The Principles of Agnosticism

As we’ve already mentioned, people who are agnostics are commonly divided into two separate groups. The first group of agnostics is made up of those who believe that we don’t know whether or not God exists. The second group consists of others who say that we can’t know whether or not God exists.

Now a person who doesn’t know if God exists might be someone who is open to looking at the evidence for God’s reality. So this is not really a bad position to hold if someone is truly interested in considering the case for God’s existence. However, the person who says that we can’t know if God exists has a problem.

You see, the person who says that we can’t know if God exists knows at least one thing about God’s existence: we can’t know if God exists. It also requires far more knowledge than limited human beings possess to say that we absolutely cannot know if God exists. Like the atheist who says that God absolutely does not exist, this type of agnosticism is self-defeating.

Now it’s true that finite human beings cannot possibly understand everything about an infinite God. However, it’s still possible to know some things about God even if we can’t have a complete, total understanding of Him. There is a big difference between knowing some things about God and saying that we can’t know if God exists at all.

Pantheism

The worldview that “all is God” is also known as Pantheism. The word pantheism has two parts: pan which means “all” and theism which refers to God. Pantheism holds that “god” exists as a force or thing and that the world is god and god is the world. A pantheist believes that god is found within all things and since human beings are a part of “all things” then they are “god” too. People sometimes act on this worldview through the belief that they can absorb spiritual “energy” through meditation or by wearing certain kinds of crystals.

One of the issues with a pantheistic worldview is this belief that people are gods. The problem is that God (in order to be God) must have perfect knowledge. This means that the person who did not always know that he or she was God is disqualified from being God due to their lack of perfect knowledge. Another problem is that if God is infinite, then how can human beings (who are not infinite) also be god? These questions illustrate some basic problems with a pantheistic worldview.

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