This is the first part of a series of blog articles about world views.
Every person has a worldview. We have an idea of what is real and what is not. For example, most of us believe that the sun and moon are real and really exist. We have an opinion about what is good and evil, or what is morally right and wrong. For example, that it is wrong/evil to steal your neighbor’s car and that it is right/good to love your own children. We have ideas about how certain things work in the world. For example, most people believe that the earth revolves around the sun. But that wasn’t always the case. I.e. a worldview can be wrong. Strictly speaking, there is no person who will be right in all points with his worldview. A worldview is usually not complete, i.e. we cannot explain everything in the world.

Typically, a worldview tries to ask answers to central existential questions, such as:

1. The question of origin: Where do I come from? Where does the world come from? Why does it exist?
2. The question of morality: What is good and what is evil? What is right and what is wrong (morally and  not when solving a  math problem!) ? How should we live?
3. The question of meaning: What am I living for? Why am I here? What is the purpose of life?
4. The question of the destination: Where am I going?

In the following, we want to look at two examples. First we look at the answers in case of an atheistic worldview and then for a Christian worldview.

For an atheistic worldview, the answers look like the following:

1. Origin: The universe came into being out of nothing or it is eternal and then also without a cause. In both cases, we are a product of chance and necessity.
2. Morality: There is no good, evil, right and wrong in the objective sense. By objective I mean “regardless of people’s opinions”. Subjective, on the other hand, would be “dependent on the opinion of the people”. For example, 2 +2 = 4 is true whether we acknowledge this or not. So that’s objective. Questions of taste, such as regarding your personal favorite ice cream or your favorite soccer club, on the other hand, are subjective. In case of atheism, good and evil, right and wrong are only social constructs. In addtion our mind would be only the product of our brain, and because our brain is a physical object it si subject to the laws of nature. Accordingly, the concept of free will would not be plausible.  In that case we would be determined to do what we do, and I was determined to write this blog post. Therefore, the concept of moral obligations would have no basis. Whether Mother Theresa or Adolf Hitler. Neither was good nor evil in the objective sense.
3. Meaning: There is no objective meaning to life. There is only the meaning we make up. For Hitler the meaning was the 1000-year Reich, for Mother Teresa to fly after Jesus and help the poor in India.
4. Destiny: When we die, that’s it. After that, nothing more will come for us. In the distant future (about 5-6 billion years), the sun will first expand into a red giant and then collapse and become a white dwarf.[1] The universe will expand more and more and thus become cooler and cooler the more it expands. The temperature asymptotically approaches absolute zero over time and all life would cease to exist.[2] All hopes, dreams, ideas, inventions, and heroic deeds will be forgotten forever. All that remains is a universe in ruins!

These are inspiring prospects and have already driven some to despair!

What does Christianity say about these questions? Very briefly:

1. Origin: God created the world. Which consists not only of the material universe, but also of the heavenly world.
2. Morality: The good is anchored in God’s nature. God is absolute good, and evil is a distortion of good. It cannot exist without the good. Good and evil, right and wrong are revealed to us through our conscience and through the Bible.
3. Meaning: The ultimate purpose of life is to live in never ending fellowship with God.
4. Destiny: Our death is not the end. Every follower of Jesus will receive eternal life and will be resurrected like Jesus was resurrected. Jesus will come back and judge the world. There will be a New Heaven and a New Earth.

That sounds better. But is it true?

In the following blog post, I will delve deeper into this topic. Foremost, it will be about whether the answers that a worldview gives to these four questions correspond to the truth.

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[1] https://www.space.com/22471-red-giant-stars.html

[2] https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/popular-writings/science-theology/the-end-of-the-world