Naturalism Worldview

What defines a worldview? Cosgrove (2006) defines a worldview "as a set of assumption or beliefs about reality that affects how we think and how we live" (p. 19). That is, a worldview, contributes to how a believer thinks and lives the day to day realities of the belief in God, knowing what is moral and ethical and what happens after death are most critical in the formation of Christian worldviews. At the start of this course I felt that my Christian beliefs defined everything I knew and learned about; now I see that my beliefs are shaped in part by other worldview beliefs.

A question among many is knowing and believing in the existence of a spiritual being. How do we know that God or any spiritual being truly exists? A believer knows that God exists because their faith, their heart and their mind are open to willfully believe that He exists; without that, it would be almost impossible to believe. Hebrews 11:6 states " But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Believers also know that their God/ spiritual being exists when they look to connect their faith to educational and life situations around them. Cosgrove (2006) says that the Bible is a source from God to provide special revelation ... "God's communication to us through the Bible and the person Jesus Christ" (p.55). 1 Chronicles 28:9 states that, "If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever." There is no true certainty in knowing the existence of God, it is however, the believer who knows and feels the existence of God in their hearts and souls and with faith believers learn and know what is and is not considered moral and ethical in their worldview.

Another contributing factor in a Christian worldview is the issue is ethics. How does one know what is considered appropriate and what is not? First, ethics refers to what one determines as right from wrong. The New Age Movement believes each individual should trust their feelings to determine what is ethical. Personally, I agree with New Age believers however, I also believe that ethical choices have been made in part because of previous experience as well as values and morals that have been learned traits from elders.

"These interconnecting beliefs provide a guiding and correcting foundation for the pursuit of all knowledge. Second, the bible also contributes some details of knowledge in many areas of particular importance to human life, such as marriage, family, the human personality, crime, and punishment, meaning in life, human sexuality, poverty, anger, and grief, among many others" (Cosgrove, 2006, p. 39).

Knowing the differences between right and wrong is an important aspect of Christian living. I feel Christian believers should not put themselves in situations where they may become subjected to harm amongst