ST.

PAUL'S UNIVERSITY

BACSDIST291619

PROGRAMME: BACHELOR OF COMMUNICATION

UNIT NAME: CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW

UNIT CODE: UCC 101

CAT 1
Question 1

(a) Explain how a worldview is formed

According to the diagram worldview is formed from the culture that an individual is already

subscribed or in other words born in. This means that every person has a culture in their head.

This is what we call their worldview. Thus there is a bit of difference with each individual.

The culture in their head, however, includes the areas allowed to be different and those

required to be the same or similar an example from the diagram would be decisions which in

turn is complimented by the actions someone takes.

Expressions of commonality in individual worldviews make up the cultural worldview of the

group. The way people relate to one another in daily activities, and how they cooperate

together for the good of the group as a whole, called the society.

In relation to that, the diagram also illustrates that Worldview impacts our understanding of

the world and makes sense of it therefore influencing how we express ourselves our attitudes,

feelings, thoughts personal values, beliefs, assumptions, and ideas are made up from our

worldview which has a direct effect on our culture.

Simply put, the diagram shows that worldview is formed at least in part by a combination of

things like your upbringing and our background, but unlike so many factors that are out of

our control, our worldview is one thing we can have a lot of conscious control over.

(b) Discuss the relationship between a person’s worldview and his/her behavior

According to the diagram, a person’s worldview affects aspects of our personality as well as

our emotional connection to our environment and the people who live in it hence an

individual’s behavior is influenced. Example, based on your background and upbringing, you

may tend to be an optimist, or a pessimist. Or be disinterested in others, helpful, or selfish.

To show optimism and assumptions as illustrated by the diagram above, a smart child might

never study and so fails the exams if he believes that he is not intelligent. One’s worldview

also determines their self-confidence, self-awareness and self-esteem.

When we filter information it doesn’t expand our worldview hence we only absorb the

information that matches our world view system. This impacts our behavior by making us

biased towards what we believe in no matter how many proofs are provided. That is why

persuading someone to believe into something against his/her belief becomes hard.

QUESTION 2

With relevant examples analyze the main elements of a Christian worldview difference

between Christianity and Atheism (15 marks)

Christian worldview

Christian faith upholds the existence of God, who is infinite, eternal and personal ( 1 John

3:20), transcendent, immanent, omniscient, sovereign and good. God is infinite in the sense

that He is beyond our human understanding and beyond any measure by human standards

(Isaiah 55:8-9, Job 36:26). No other being in the universe can challenge Him in his nature. He

is a self-existing being. He is also one (Deuteronomy 6:4). God refers to himself as “IAM

WHO I AM” (Exod 3:14) meaning that He is the one prime existence and no one is like Him.

Atheistic worldview

Atheistic worldview on the other hand denies the existence of God. The idea of God is

perceived as irrelevant and waste of time. Secular people believe that God is merely a

concept created by the human mind.

According the deists, who are part of atheists, God created the universe, but he is no longer

present in it and has left it to run on its own. To them God is not immanent, not fully

personal, not sovereign over human affairs, and therefore cannot provide.

The following are major guiding points to which Christian and atheist worldview is based
upon;

God is eternal; He is without beginning or end. He eternally is. He never grows old. He is

constant and everlasting. He lives because he is eternal (Deut 33:27, Psalm 93:2). Some

atheists hold that though God once existed, he does not exist anymore but if he exists then he

does not care for his creation and he does not love it. To atheists the material universe is all

that exists. Reality is one-dimensional and there is nothing as a soul or a spirit. Everything

can be explained on the basis of natural law.

God is good; the ultimate character of God is goodness. He is the source of all that is good.

The love of God is extended to his creation. Because he loved the world he sent his only son

to die on the cross for the salvation of all who believe (John 3:16). The universe is a

reflection of God’s goodness and purpose. In contrast, Religion is viewed as highly

subjective by the atheists. It gives people false hope and mental strength. Truth is observed to

come from scientific observation. They believe that reality consists of only that which can be

proved with facts. Judgments about good and bad, right and wrong is made in relationship to

their impact on human beings. The ideal good is what is beneficent to humanity.

God is transcendent and immanent; The God worshipped by Christians regards heaven as his

throne and the earth as his footstool (Isaiah 66:1). He is far beyond the limits of this earth and

yet so near that the earth is his footstool. He is both transcendent and immanent. As

transcendent he reigns above and is not dependent on creation. He belongs to a heavenly

order yet at the same time he is Emmanuel (God with us). Though he is above creation, he is

reachable. Psalm 139 indicates that he is found everywhere. God is not matter but exists in
spirit form. On the contrary, Atheists hold that man was not created but evolved from simpler

forms of being to the present complex form through a process of chance and natural selection.

They also deny the existence of the supernatural and the spiritual realms.

God is personal and spiritual; The God of the Christians is not a mere force or energy or

existent substance. He has a personality. He is alive and has a will. He can think and act in a

particular way. The universe is the work of his hands (Psalm 24:1). He created human beings

in his own image and likeness. An implication of God being personal is that He has a

personality and for this people can be in communication with Him. However, God exists in

spirit form and cannot be reduced to any visible form (John 4:24) on the other hand, the

paramount believe in the existence and death of human beings by the atheists is that, human

beings are made of matter and nothing else. When the matter is disorganized at death, the

person disappears. There is no credible evidence that life survives the death of the body.

One’s existence ends at death. Nothing can make an individual’s life to survive beyond death.

The only immortality is to continue to exist in our offspring and in that way, our lives have

influenced others in our culture. The atheists however subscribe to the view that Atheists also

deny the view that the universe was created. The atheistic teaching on evolution leaves no

room for faith in God. All that exists is attributed to an impersonal mix of matter, energy, time

and chance.

God is omniscient; The God whom Christians worship is all knowing. His ways and thoughts

are higher than ours and just as heaven is higher than earth is (Isaiah 55:9) He is the alpha

and omega and knows everything from the beginning to the end (Rev. 22:13). He is the

ultimate source of all knowledge and all intelligence. He has the solution for all problems.

This is contrasted by the views of the atheists that they do not find any belief in a divine

power necessary to explain either the origins of the universe or its operation. Complete trust
is put on the capabilities of human beings. For this reason, atheists do not believe in any form

of revelation.

God is sovereign; because of His infinite nature, God is sovereign. This means that, He is in

charge of the universe. He controls all creations. Nothing is beyond God’s attention and

control. He is the king of the universe. God is the ruler of the cosmos and the power that

continuously guides it and keeps it going. He is enthroned above the circle of the earth and

views people on earth as grasshoppers (Isaiah 40:22).

In conclusion I would observe that in many churches there are secular theists who regard

themselves as ‘Christians’ yet they uphold atheistic views in their daily life (Kraft 2008:245).

Though they would not say that God does not exist, they act like it, as if there is no one to

hold them accountable for their actions. Christian and secular worldviews are constantly in

conflict. While Christianity views reality as being under the governance of God, the secular

worldview regards reality as being accessible to humanity and under its control. In the secular

worldview, God has been removed from public life. In other words, the governance of God is

denied.