address the following
seven basic worldview questions:
1.What is prime reality?
2.What is the nature of the world around us?
3.What is a human being?
4.What happens to a person at death?
5.Why is it possible to know anything at all?
6.How do we know what is right or wrong?
7.What is the meaning of human history?
Personal Worldview Inventory
Introduction
Most great philosophers have optimized that many people do not have anything
approaching an articulate philosophy. Even fewer have a philosophy that is constructed carefully.
However, almost every person has a worldview. One may then wonder what the actual meaning
of this worldview that affects us is. James Sire in his book In The Universe Next Door defines
worldview as a commitment and a framework of attitudes and ideas about ourselves, the world,
and life (Hicks and Rasor, 2012). In other words, a worldview refers to a set of beliefs that
human beings hold to and live by. It is valuable for people to discover their own worldviews.
Actually, it is an important step toward self-understanding, self-awareness, and self-knowledge.
- What is prime reality?
This question tries to find out what is really true and real. For most people, the prime
reality represents God, the gods that some believe in, and the material universe or cosmos that
surrounds them (Moorman, 2015). This question generates several other worldview questions.
For instance, Can we prove that God exists? What are God’s characteristics, and what
relationship does He hold with the universe? What is God’s role in history? Was the universe
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created by God or it has always been in existence? People find the answers to these questions
depending on their background experiences, practical applications, the attitudes and values they
have developed. Our answers to this question are most fundamental because they set the
boundaries for answers that can be given to the other six questions consistently.
- What is the nature of the world around us?
Here people’s answers are directed towards whether they as autonomous or created,
orderly or chaotic, as a spirit or matter, whether the world is the objective part of human beings
or whether man emphasizes his subjective and personal relationship on it. - What is a human being?
A human being is usually defined as a sleeping god, a highly sophisticated and complex
machine, made from the image of God. Human beings have the ability to utilize systems of
symbolic communication for exchange of ideas and self-expression. They also have the ability to
create complex social structures made up of several competing and cooperating groups from
family kinships to political states. They are the only existing species that can build a fire and eat
cooked food, they are also they only extant species that clothe themselves and create the use of
several other arts and technology. - What happens to a person at death?
The common belief is that after death, there is personal transformation to a higher state,
extinction, reincarnation, existence in a shadowy state on the other side of life. The religion has
tried to find the best answer to this question but still there is much that remains held in the
misery of God that needs simple faith. The traditional Christian view is that is that individuals
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who believe will share external joy in heaven with God whereas those who do not accept God’s
love will perish in endless separation from God.
- Why is it possible to know anything at all?
According to Baggett and Baggett, human beings are made in the image of God. One of
God’s attributes is that He is omnipotent, that is, He is all-knowing (Baggett and Baggett, 2013).
Therefore, human beings also have the urge of knowing almost everything surrounding them.
Man has also developed rationality and consciousness and his survival contingencies in the long
evolutionary process. - How do we know what is right or wrong?
According to the Bible, man is made in the same image of God. God has a good-loving
character therefore; man to live up to the expectations that he should do what is right. This he
develops due to conscious and the notions that he develops toward his culture and physical
survival. - What is the meaning of human history?
Man answers this question as to determine God’s purposes or even the expectations
of the gods he believes in. The history involves making earth the happiest place; a paradise
and to prepare other people to live in a community full of love, joy and holy God.
It is however of prime importance to note that these questions and answers indicate
the various ways the intellectual commitments are worked out in people’s lives. They
appreciate the significance of viewing one’s worldview in the context of the varying
worldviews; individual ends up having his or her view on reality.
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Conclusion
The various worldviews result in emergence of other issues. For instance, are human
beings free or determined? Is God impersonal or personal? Who is in charge of this world?
Obviously, these questions boggle the mind. Man should therefore realize that he lives in a
pluralistic world where he should understand that he has a lot to learn about living in today’s
world. Worldviews are fundamental whether human beings realize it or not. They provide a
foundation upon which the moral values and corresponding actions are based (Forrest, 2015).
When one has more than one plausible interpretation, he/she always interprets in a manner
that is consistent with how they see the world.
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References
Hicks, J. C., & Rasor, P. (2012). Analyzing the Christian Worldview: Why Christianity is the
Only Reasonable, Logical, and the Factual Answer for Life.
Baggett, D., & Baggett, M. (2013). Epistemic humility: Engaging a Christian
worldview. Christian Teachers Journal, 21(2), 28.
Moorman, S. (2015). Nursing from a Christian Worldview: Being Transformed to
Care. Journal of Christian Nursing, 32(1), E1-E7.
Forrest, J. N. (2015). Evaluating Worldviews.