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The Constructing Of A Worldview
Most individuals very seldom think or consider what their worldview is or what this even means. It appears that the only people who truly consider their worldview with any seriousness are those who study, theology, philosophy or some type of religious studies. This is a testament to the times in which we live as well as an indictment against the church for not preparing a people for this age. Many individuals may ask what is a worldview? The brief answer would simply be:
1. How one thinks about about the world and its existence.
One's understanding of the universe in which they live.
The understanding of the worldview is much more comprehensive than this. The Christian Apologetc Research Ministry (CARM) considers the worldview to be the following:
" A set of beliefs and assumptions that a person uses to interpret the world around them." Carm also suggests that a worldview will answer the 7 principles:
1. What are we?
2. Were we created or did we evolve?
3. What is our purpose in life?
4. Does God exist?
5. From where do we derive our morals?
6. Are there moral absolutes?
7. Why is there suffering in the world?
The American Scientific Association defines the worldview as the following: "A worldview is a theory of the world, used for living in the world. A world view is a mental model of reality — a framework of ideas & attitudes about the world, ourselves, and life, a comprehensive system of beliefs — with answers for a wide range of questions such as:
1. What are humans?
2. Why we are here?
3. What is our purpose in life?
4. What are your goals for life?
5. When you make decisions about using time — it's the stuff life is made of — what are your values and priorities? *
6. What can we know, and how? and with how much certainty?
7. Does reality include only matter/energy, or is there more?
Worldviews can be quite extensive and are not always biblical or religious. many worldviews seek to answer fundamental questions about reality and the ontological existence of all things. It is from our worldview that we develop our understanding of life, meaning and moral standards. In fact the worldview of an individual will inspire them to consider the value or lack of value of life (mankind in general).
The collaborate authors of Wikipedia define the term worldview in the following manner:
"A comprehensive world view or worldview is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's knowledge and point of view. A world view can include natural philosophy; fundamental, existential, and normative postulates; or themes, values, emotions, and ethics"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_view
The founder of the term was believed to be Wilhelm Von Humbolt, a Prussian philoogist. The term, however was used by Kant and later popularized by Hegel. This term was always used in German and later used in English to refer more to philosophies, ideologies and cultural or religious perspectives, than to linguistic communities and their mode of apprehending reality. was originally called Weltanschauung ( Velt an sau un) and was considered to be the following:
1. An explanation of the world
2. Values, answer to ethical questions "Where are we heading?"
3. A praxeology, or methodology, or theory of action: "How should we attain our goals?"
4. An epistemology, or theory of knowledge: "What is true and false?"
5. An etiology. A constructed worldview should contain an account of its own building blocks, "Its origins and construction"
I firmly believe that the church's lack of understanding of the principles of Weltanschauung and those principles of apologetics and polemics has led to a mass exodus of people who were once believers into abherrent belief systems that are in opposition to biblial principles who appear to have lost all faith in the church and in any organized religious movement of group. It is very interesting that these individuals do not understand that they are in effect organizing their own religious group and gatherings and will soon repicate everything that they have grown to hate and despise.
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