Christian Worldview Concepts

Christian Worldview and Medical Ethics - Part I

Essential Elements of the Christian Worldview

One of the most important components of any worldview is the question of the origin and nature of the universe. How did it begin? Who or what caused it to exist? What is the real nature of the universe? It is impossible to accurately discuss how to function in the universe until we come to understand the basic nature of the universe. Is the universe all that exists? Is the universe composed only of material things? Did the universe always exist or did it have a beginning? If it had a beginning, was its beginning caused by something personal or something impersonal?

Francis Schaeffer attempted to address these fundamental questions when he wrote about the metaphysical necessity in his book He is There; He is Not Silent. He argued that the question of the origin of the universe could only have three possible responses. Either the universe came from nothing, or it came from something impersonal or it came from something personal¹. The notion that the universe came from nothing is meaningless for it violates the most basic laws of reason. Not even atomists such as Epicurus would accept such a proposition. From nothing comes nothing.

The second option, that the universe had an impersonal beginning is the dominant viewpoint in modern science. Whether one accepts some form of evolution and Big Bang cosmology, the central feature of those theories is that the universe had a chance, impersonal beginning. There was no grand design because there was no grand designer. Modern evolutionists borrow lumber from the lumberyard of philosophers such as Epicurus, who held that the complexity in the universe could be explained as the product of small changes over time, all beginning from invisible elementary particles. Epicurus held this position as an article of faith, not fact, for he never saw one of these elementary particles. He held this position not because it was justified scientifically, but to conceive of the universe devoid of any need for a God². The seminal ideas of Epicurus provide the philosophical underpinnings for the modern worldview of Naturalism, which is the dominant worldview of modern science.

A worldview which holds that the complex universe emerged from elementary physical particles over long spans of time ultimately must conclude that the universe itself is impersonal because its beginning was impersonal. There is nothing personal about elementary particles. However there are some monumental questions left unanswered. If the universe had an impersonal beginning, then everything in the universe is impersonal. Just as something cannot come from nothing, the impersonal cannot give rise to that which is personal. If everything in the universe is impersonal then it is without meaning as well. However, people seem to live their lives as though they do have meaning. How can this be true if the universe is without meaning?

Thus, Naturalism fails to account for the way people actually live their lives. However, it is a worldview based upon a basic belief that provides for a universe containing no God and no threat of divine judgment. Despite the fact that Naturalism does not account for some of the most important aspects of human existence, viz., the fact that humans live as though their lives have meaning, it provides its adherents with the comfort that they live in a purely natural universe controlled by humans, not a supernatural deity. Ironically, even the Naturalist believes his life has meaning and purpose, but to be consistent he must smuggle into his worldview beliefs that are not part of Naturalism. He must go outside the boundaries of Naturalism and borrow concepts that Naturalism necessarily must reject in order to make sense of the world.

The third option for the origin of the universe is that the universe has meaning and purpose because it had a personal beginning. Since the universe came into existence by the creative act of a very personal Creator, the universe has meaning, which means that the particulars within it have meaning. Hence, human beings have meaning.

¹ Schaeffer, Francis A. He is There and He is Not Silent (Chicago: Tyndale House Publishers, 1972)
² For an excellent treatment of this theme read Benjamin Wiker, Moral Darwinisn: How We Became Hedonists (Downers Grover, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002)