*** SHOW NOTES (not a transcript) ***

Lead:

What is wrong with the world? Today we compare how the various worldviews we’ve been looking at answer that question.

Intro:

Sometimes smart mixes with funny. As Dr. Clay Jones puts it in his book, Why Does God Allow Evil,

But (evil) isn’t God’s problem—He is only good and doesn’t do any evil. It’s humankind’s problem because we are the ones who do evil. With that perspective in mind, the question changes from “Why does God allow evil?” to “Why does God allow humans?(2)

As we get toward the end of our journey through some basic distinctions between worldviews, today we’ll be looking at how they address what’s wrong with the world.

Yesterday in our Bible segment the opposition that Jesus foretold began to happen. Today is a significant turn in the revelation of the Messianic kingdom which, as you’ll recall, is a key theme for Matthew as he makes the case to a Jewish audience that Jesus is the one.

Sponsor:

Today’s sponsor and provider of background music is Pip Craighead’s The Dandelion Project, and the new track is Night School.

Bible segment (read along with The Bible Project):

Passage: Matthew 13-14
Translation: NLT (New Living Translation)
Verses: 94
Words: ~1987

Thinking/reflection segment:

Our journey so far.

Question 1: Zero, one, or more than one god?

Question 2: If one god, what is the relationship god has to the cosmos — the created order?

Question 3: If no god, how do you explain meaning and morality?

Comparison 1: How do different worldviews think about reality?

Atheism (no god): Generally lean towards naturalism (science is the only source of knowledge) and struggle to ground an argument for meaning and morality.
Monism (one god, all is divine or we are all one): If we’re all one, distinctions are an illusion. Even for those that think the distinctions are real, there’s still a perspective that everything is god and god is everything.
Theism (one god, separate from the created order): The idea that God is loving and relational and created humanity in His image as physical and spiritual beings is the domain of a Christian worldview that sees God as good, that all humans are to be valued as persons, and that grace is an important part of relationship.

So what’s wrong with the world?(2)

Atheism: We’re too often driven by our base instincts or superstition. We project our paradigm onto the world — and it’s illusory. We fail to be our authentic selves, perhaps too influenced by society.
Monism: There is no reality, or we can’t really explain it; such enlightenment needs to be experienced. If all is divine, we assume a people-centered view and lose our sense of the sacred.
Theism: Deists may argue that we’re crippled by superstition or organized religion, but theists point out that the real problem is that we fought against God’s love and law, refusing his sovereignty, and have become alienated and sinful, even in our very natures.

The problem of evil is a problem for every single worldview. As one person put it, original sin is the one Christian belief that doesn’t really have to be proven! I’m guessing you can sense that ignoring it, calling it an illusion, or looking to fellow broken humans for the solution is problematic.

So how does each worldview answer the problem? See you tomorrow.

Wisdom segment:

Passage:
Translation:
Verses:
Words:

Love you!

-R

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

Sources and resources:

(1) Norman L. Geisler, “Atheism” Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 56.

(2) Tom Price and David Montoya, "Belief Mapping: Discover Your Unique Way of Seeing the World" (handout presented in a contemporary spirituality class at Oxford Centre for christian Apologetics -- Business Programme, July 4, 2019). Learn more at BeliefMapping.com.

(3) Clay Jones, Why Does God Allow Evil?: Compelling Answers for Life’s Toughest Questions (Eugene: Harvest House Publishers, 2017), 73, Kindle.

Other:

Norman L. Geisler and Ronald M. Brooks, When Skeptics Ask (Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1990), 2. This, by the way, is a brilliantly organized work on apologetics, approachable if you don’t have a doctorate in philosophy or theology, and is a book I’d heartily recommend.

Cameron Blair, “Worldviews” blairs.id.au (blog), 2005, http://blairs.id.au/worldviews/. Accessed August 24, 2019. This is a brilliant flowchart if you want to go more deeply.

#867: Matthew 13-14 | Spotting worldviews, part 5 -- what's wrong?