The World of Worldviews: Making Sense of the World Dr. William E. Brown

The World of Worldviews:Making Sense of the WorldDr. William E. Brown

Transcen- dentalism Naturalism Ultimate Questions Theism

Naturalism the world as we see it

TRANSCENDENTALISM the world as we want it

Theism the world from God's hand

I never lost my faith… I felt for a time that I had outgrown the church. Now it is a bone of contention in my soul that I did not share my faith with my kids, as my parents did with me. It was a source of grace when I needed it. I have been greatly nurtured and inspired by my faith. Martin Sheen

“Our father, God, Allah, we thank you for this moment in time. Bless Kanye, bless his album, take over his album and take it to the highest place possible . . . In the name of Allah and the spirit of our inner essence. Amen.” Prayer by Kanye West prior to a concert, Blender

Marilyn Sewell Unitarian Universalist Minister Christopher Hitchens Author, God is NOT Good: How Religion Poisons Everything Interview, Portland Monthly Magazine, Jan 2010

The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories from the scripture literally. I don’t believe in the doctrine of the atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make and distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?

Only in this respect: I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, in other words, the Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.

I disagree with that. I consider myself a Christian. I believe in the Jesus story as story, as narrative, and Jesus as a person whose life is exemplary that I want to follow. But I do not believe in all that stuff that I just outlined.

I simply have to tell you that every major Christian, including theologians, has said that without the resurrection and without the forgiveness of sins, what I call the vicarious redemption, it’s meaningless. In fact, without that, it isn’t even a nice story - even if it’s true . . .

It doesn’t really matter to me if it’s true literally. It matters to me whether the story has efficacy for my life.

Well, that’s what I meant to say. When C.S. Lewis, for example, says, . . ‘if this man was not the son of God, then his teachings were evil’ because if you don’t believe that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and you can get to it by the way, the truth, and the life, offered by the gospel, then there’s no excuse for telling people to take no thought for the morrow, for example, as he did. . . It would be an evil nonsense.

THEISTIC RELIGIONS Jesus Christ JUDAISM (2,000 BC) CHRISTIANITY (AD 30) ISLAM (AD 600)

CHRISTUS NEXUS Christianity is Christ. . . Take Christ from Christianity, and you disembowel it; there is practically nothing left. Christ is the center of Christianity, all else is circumference. John Stott

When all is said and done and my life is over, all that will have truly mattered is that I made a choice in this life to believe in and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. -Kerry Livgren of Kansas “Dust in the Wind”

I love my church, and was . . . raised by intellectuals who were very devout. I was raised to believe that you could question the church . . . What is worthy of satire is the misuse of religion for destructive or political gains. That's totally different from the Word, the blood, the body, and the Christ. His kingdom is not of this earth. -Stephen Colbert

“Jesus Christ is lord” Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:3 If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

“Jesus Christ is lord” • He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. • Colossian 1:15-20

“Jesus Christ is lord” • The image of the invisible God • The firstborn of all creation • Before all things • The head of the body, the Church • The beginning . . . from the dead • The firstborn from the dead He is

“Jesus Christ is lord” • By Him • All things were created • In Him • All things hold together • The fullness of God exists • Through Him • All things were created • All things reconciled to Himself

“Jesus Christ is Lord” Created by Him for Him He is before Reconciled by Him to Him ALL THINGS Hold together in Him

“jesus Christ is lord” But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. . .

“jesus Christ is lord” I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ— the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. . .

“jesus Christ is lord” I want to know Christ ! and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. • Philippians 3:7-11

Worldviews

The World of Worldviews:Making Sense of the WorldDr. William E. Brown

The World of Worldviews: Making Sense of the World Dr. William E. Brown