Paper Example on Understanding Worldviews: A Historical Perspective

Part 1

Over the last two centuries, several discussions on the concept of world view ranging from Christian perspective to non-Christian perspectives. Worldview is a term that is used to an intelligent self-evident perspective on the universe. It is the contemplation of the world and the specific philosophy of the world. The concept of worldview is developed by opinions, beliefs, and certainties about the reality of fundamental aspects. These aspects influence an individual's perception, knowledge, reasoning, and actions. The elements of an individual's worldview are believed in reality (metaphysics), beliefs on nature and sources of knowledge (epistemology), beliefs on the origin of man, nature, and the world (cosmology), and beliefs on nature of values and ethics (axiology). In the modern world, there is a belief that Christian ministry, particularly evangelism and outreach. The presupposition holds that spending time and money on Evangelism and outreach is an outdated practice. The worldview also presupposes that the use of ministers who participate in the outreach are manipulators trying to use faith to lure Christians for money. From a metaphysical point of world view, it points out that it involves a set of views about the nature of the world perceived as a whole. The epistemological world view basing on this ministry, the Bible mandates the church for world view persuasion within specific methodological limitations under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The bible verses give the model for proper Evangelism both in the works of Jesus and the apostles. Thesis Statement: although the Evangelism and Outreach were the most effective methods of winning non-believes many centuries ago, today, it is perceived as a waste of time and resources.

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The non-believers have a negative perception of Evangelism and outreach because they regard it as a waste of time. One of the opinions is that Evangelism and outreach do not have tangible facts to support Christianity; hence, they view Christians as liars who only propagate false hopes (Tinder 1). The non-Christian views Christians are pretenders and resist of realism in several aspects of society. For instance, Christians believe that God heals his people through prayers, which is converse to the non-Christians who insist on medical diagnostic as the only way to treat diseases. The non-Christians perceive Christians as people who avoid and fear reality because Christians don't agree with some of the laws and regulations that contradict biblical teachings (Mayhew et al. 220). For instance, the non-Christians viewed Christians as people who do not like democracy by opposing laws that allow individuals to engage in homosexuality. All these negative views have affected Evangelism and outreach in Christianity (Tinder 1). According to Mohler et al., there is a worldview presupposition that God created scarce resources, and people have to spend most of their time working to acquire Wealth and become successful in life (p. 10). The presupposition associates Wealth with happiness, making people trust their skills and experience in a particular field and disregard the role of God in prosperity.

Part 2

Van Tillian presupposition is used in this part to explain its position of worldview as far as evangelism and outreach theory is concerned. Van Tillian engages with the non-Christian based on the assumptions concerning the Trinitarian of God simply because he conceptualized that all human beings are made in the image and likeness of God and that the arguments brought on board by any person can be argued and verdicts reached upon justification and rationality of the argument. In essence, God is the one who provides knowledge, and it is crucial to understand how other people reason and perceive the world. Throughout his argument, Van utilized other believers, like Glenn. The latter utilizes the message from Ecclesiasticus 38-39 that explains how people should find time to get wisdom in this case through arguments and reasoning about bible teaching (Mayhew et al. 220).

The leadership of the society can be rational when the view of the world is best understood when both ends of the arguments will accept and listen actively without disruption. The implication behind Tillian's theory is that any argument concerning the world has a basis and should include God because He is the founder and creator of the world and every animal and human being. Both the Christians and non-Christians are made in the image and likeness of God, and their perception towards the world is controlled by God, who is the background of all creation (Murray 1). In the framework, Tillian employs the use of many concepts from Evidentialist as well as the Thomistic ideas that explain the beliefs based on the uniformity of natural causes in the world. However, Van Tillian did not assert that such a concept is justifiable; instead, he used such ideas and beliefs to justify the biblical approach, particularly in the neural grounds that occur naturally. Tillian uses Thomistic and Evidentialist in transcendental arguments. The arguments involve the meta-arguments concerning a number of the principles that form the basis in which the non-Christians in various parts of the world view the world. Mostly, this kind of presuppositions goes back and forth, trying to understand the logic that befalls truth, reality, and faith concerning the Christians and non-Christians view of the world (Beentjes, 188).

Part 3

The supposition holds Christians believe in the bibles as the ultimate authority in their worldview but must apply the concept of reason. The implication behind this is that most of the laws governing across the world go hand in hand with the biblical verses. For instance, the apostles' role was Peter and Paul to preach the gospel to non-believers. In Acts 21:8, the Bible says, "leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven." Christians should not engage in activities that earn money, but should also participate in outreach ministries to acquire heavenly wisdom. Such values and beliefs form the significant Christian teaching hence the belief that Christian faith is the foundation of rational thoughts about how the world should behave. An example from Ecclesiasticus 38-39 in the Bible will be used later in this assignment to enhance understanding of the argument (Beentjes 188).

The goal of Evangelism and outreach is to teach Christians how to avoid sins by obeying God's laws. Augustine claims that human has freedom of will when they utilize reason, which is God-given (Aquinas 13). This means that they can choose to do a good thing or a bad thing. According to Augustine, human beings are controlled by the will. It may have been positive or negative impacts depending on whether the intention is good or bad. For instance, According to Augustine, Adam, and Eve sinned against God when they had the evil will to eat the fig secretly. If they did not have a bad intention, they would not have eaten the fruit even if Satan misled them. Satan came in the form of a serpent to make them go against the rule of God. God had forbidden them from eating the fruits from the middle tree because it was the tree of knowledge. Sin, according to Aquinas, is a wrongdoing against reason, right conscience, and truth. It is the lack of sincere love and respect for neighbors and God. It is normally caused by the wrong attachment to earthly materials. It hurts and inures men. It also occurs as a result of doing contrary to God's laws, such as the Ten Commandments (Ramm 12).

The values on good life, integrity, equality, and respect among others have a logical sense in them; hence they form most of the values and laws governing the society. Christians expect that any argument should include bible verses and evidence for it to qualify. Van Tillian contradicts this point of view because he believes that any human being can come up with an intelligent argument as long as it is rational and can impact in positively shaping the society. Tillian was advocating for critical thinking as far as the values and norms of the world are concerned. Importantly, it should be noted that arguments between the non-Christians and Christians are biased because one side of the argument does not want to agree and accept that the opponent's opinion can help explain the view of the world (Beentjes 188).

Conclusion

In conclusion, there have been several discussions on the concept world view for many years ranging from Christian perspective to non-Christian perspectives. This concept has varied definitions basing on the context. Christians put themselves in the shoe of the non-believers to find a basis to start their argument. Van Tillian, a theorist, concurs with the book of Ecclesiasticus 38-39 that encourages people to seek wisdom by finding time to reason and engage in conversations. The non-Christians are so resistant, and they believe that Christianity block people from thinking critically and logically hence individuals subscribed to Christianity do not allow their mind to think intelligently and provide solutions to the problems affecting the world.

Works Cited

Albl, Martin C. Reason, Faith, and Tradition: Explorations in Catholic Theology. Saint Mary's Press, 2009.Beentjes, Pancratius C. "Recent Publications on the Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus)." Bijdragen 43.2 (1982): 188-198.

Hanes, Jonathan M., and Andrew Pinsent. "Presuppositionalism revisited: the necessity of a transcendent God for the intelligibility of science." Science & Christian belief 28.1 (2016): 20-23.

Mayhew, Matthew J., et al. "Expanding perspectives on evangelicalism: How non-evangelical students appreciate evangelical Christianity." Review of Religious Research 59.2 (2017): 207-230.

Mohler Jr, R. Albert, et al. "The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology." (2009). https://sbts-wordpress-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/equip/uploads/2015/10/19.2-ECONOMICS-MOHLER.pdfMurray, Jason Matthew. "Campbell and "Expository Apologetics": Presuppositionalism Critiques Campbell's "Original Gospel." (2020).

Ramm, Bernard L. Offense to reason: A theology of sin. Regent College Publishing, 2000.

Tinder, Glenn. Can We be Good Without God?: On the Political Meaning of Christianity. Regent College, 1995.