In our last installment, we spent some time defining the term “worldview” and then talked about why a worldview matters. In case you missed that, here’s the short version: A worldview is a set of core beliefs that provide a way for people to understand, interpret and make decisions in life.
For example, there are many people with a worldview (or core belief about life) that allows them to lie, steal, cheat or act unethically if it will benefit them in some way. Those people then express that worldview each day in lots of different ways. This illustrates why a worldview really matters- people act on what they believe and what someone does is always the best indicator of what that person really believes.
So with that, it’s time now to take a look at the basics of a Biblical worldview and also look at some good reasons to support it. To begin, we can say that the starting point for a Biblical worldview is found right on the very first page of the Bible:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1: 1).
So with this in mind, we can say that a real, Biblical worldview starts with two basic principles:
- Everything that exists in the universe had a beginning
- An independent, supernatural Being (God) caused the universe to come into existence
Now someone who doesn’t accept a Biblical worldview may object to this by saying, “Hey, I don’t even know if this so-called “God” even exists- why should I accept what you believe?”
Good question. First, let’s establish that God’s existence isn’t something that you can prove like an experiment in Science class. In other words, you can’t prove God’s existence using things like experimentation, observation and a hypothesis. The reason for this is that “God” is not an observable, re-creatable event that we can test in the same way that we might test an element of nature. And since we can’t go back to the very moment of creation to see exactly what happened, we have to look at other evidences to find support for a Biblical worldview.
Self-Evident Truths
So how can we know and confirm that a Being called “God” exists? Well, one way that we could do it is to say that the knowledge of God’s existence starts with some self-evident truths. Now you may remember that “truth” is defined as “that which corresponds or conforms with reality.” A “self-evident truth” is a type of truth that is obvious, a truth that is undeniably understood to conform to reality. A “self-evident truth” is so clear and unquestionable that it needs no further explanation or support other than itself.
Some of you may be familiar with this idea of self-evident truth from it’s appearance within the American Declaration of Independence. One of the better known portions of the American Declaration of Independence says this: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (emphasis added).
In saying that certain truths are “self-evident,” the founders of the United States Of America stated their belief that certain things (like equality, liberty and freedom) are gifts from God that the government must respect because they are obvious, unquestionable truths that can’t be denied. Today, we can also use this same concept of “self-evident truth” to provide a confirmation of God’s existence and get some foundational support for a Biblically based worldview.
Over the years, there have been two arguments for God’s existence that make use of self-evident truths: one is known as the Cosmological argument for God’s existence and the other is known as the Teleological argument for God’s existence.
Cosmological Argument
First among these self-evident truths for God’s existence is what scholar-types like to call the Cosmological argument or the argument from creation. The cosmological argument briefly says that there must be a cause or reason for the universe (or “cosmos”) to exist. The cosmological argument can be stated in three basic points:
- The universe had a beginning
- Anything that has a beginning must have been caused by something outside itself
- That means that a Creator must exist to explain the fact that the universe began
The line of reasoning for this argument goes like this: “Nothing” cannot produce “something” (like the universe) because “nothing” doesn’t even exist! In other words, it’s impossible for something that has a beginning to create it’s own existence- it’s existence must be caused by something else.
For example, if you are reading this sentence then it means that you exist, right? But that wasn’t always true, was it? There was a time when you did not exist- but then your parents got together and “you” began. Now you didn’t create your own existence as a human being- your existence was caused by the actions of others. This is not only true for human beings, of course- it’s also true for every finite thing that has ever existed.
Well in a similar way, the fact that the universe exists means that it must have been caused (or created) by something other than itself. Therefore, the fact that the universe exists requires that a “Beginner” of the universe must exist too. In other words, you can’t have a Creation without a Creator.
Teleological Argument
Next up is the Teleological argument (or the argument from design). The Teleological argument goes like this:
- You can’t have a design without a designer
- Creation shows evidence of design
- Therefore, a designer of creation must exist
The Teleological argument looks at creation as a kind of window through which we might understand something about the existence of God. For instance, whenever you see the multitude of stars, a beautiful sunset or enjoy any other aspect of nature, you come face to face with the unspoken testimony that a higher intelligence designed these things. Creation, or the things that have been made, reveal the existence of a higher intelligence behind these things. Simply put, the existence of a design also implies the existence of a Designer.
Taken together, the Cosmological and Teleological arguments for God’s existence provide powerful support for a Biblically based worldview.