comparing worldviews: atheism and christianity. why this topic? 1 peter 3:15 – “but in your...

Comparing Worldviews:Atheism and Christianity

Why this topic?

• 1 Peter 3:15 – “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”

Tonight’s Purpose

• To inform you about the differences between Christianity and Atheism (Naturalism) and equip you to speak to those holding the atheistic (naturalistic) worldview with “gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

Why comparison?

• “Comparison is the mother of clarity.” (Os Guinness)

• “To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?” (Isaiah 46:5)

Defining Worldview

• “The way someone thinks about the world” (Merriam-Webster)

• We all believe something about the world in which we live and we all have a worldview whether we realize it or not.

Worldview Questions

#1 What is prime reality?—the really real?

• Atheism—Matter is the only thing that exists. – Some atheists would argue that matter has existed

eternally.• Carl Sagan: “The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever

will be.” (Cosmos, 4)

– Most would say that the universe had a beginning based on Einstein’s theory of General Relativity and the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

• Stephen Hawking: “The universe has not existed forever. Rather, the universe, and time itself, had a beginning in the Big Bang, about 15 billion years ago.”


• Christianity—“Prime reality is the infinite, personal God revealed in the Holy Scriptures. This God is triune, transcendent and immanent, omniscient, sovereign, and good.” (UND, 28)– Infinite—God has always existed and is the source

of all other reality. • “Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel

and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:13-14)


– Personal—God is a personal being and not simply a force. He thinks and acts.

– Triune—In Christianity (not in Islam or Judaism), God is not only personal, but triune. “Within the one essence of the [triune] Godhead we have to distinguish three ‘persons’ who are neither three gods on the one side, not three parts or modes of God on the other, but coequally and coeternally God.” (Geoffrey Bromiley)

• God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19)


– Transcendent & Immanent—“God is beyond us and our world…[but at the same time] he is with us.” (UND, 29)

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants,you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:1-4)


– Omniscient—God is all-knowing. (Psalm 139)– Sovereign—God rules His creation and “nothing

is beyond God’s ultimate interest, control, and authority.” (UND, 30)

– Good—Goodness is the essence of God’s character, expressed through his holiness and grace.

#2 What is the nature of external reality, that is, the world around us?

• Christianity—“External reality is the cosmos God created ex nihilo (from nothing) to operate with a uniformity of cause and effect in an open system.” (UND, 31)– God created everything out of nothing. (Genesis 1)

• “Now we see the astronomical evidence leads to a biblical view of the origin of the world. The details differ, but the essential elements in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same: the chain of events leading to man commenced suddenly and sharply at a definite moment in time, in a flash of light and energy.” (Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers)


– Uniformity of cause and effect… – The cosmos was created to be orderly, not chaotic. (Isaiah 45:18-19)

– … in an open system – The universe is not programmed. “God is constantly involved in the unfolding pattern of the ongoing operation of the universe.” (UND, 32)

• “If the course of events were determined, our decisions would have no effect.” (UND, 32)

– The Fall (Genesis 3)


• Atheism—“The cosmos exist as a uniformity of cause and effect in a closed system.” (UND, 70)– The universe is not open to reordering by a

transcendent being.• “We find insufficient evidence for belief in the

existence of a supernatural; it is either meaningless or irrelevant to the question of survival and fulfillment of the human race. As nontheists, we begin with humans not God, nature not deity.” (Humanist Manifesto II)

#3 What is a human being?

• Atheism—Human beings are matter and can be described as complex machines resulting from the processes of evolution.– “Let us conclude boldly then that man is a machine,

and that in the whole universe there is but a single substance with various modifications.” (Julien Offray de La Mettrie)

– “Science affirms that the human species is an emergence from natural evolutionary forces. As far as we know, the total personality is a function of the biological organism transacting in a social and cultural context.” (Humanist Manifesto II)

#3 What is a human being?

• Christianity—Human beings are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). We are like God and represent God to the rest of creation. We are personal beings and act according to our own character and nature.– Because we are created in God’s image, we have personality,

reason, creativity, and morality (see Romans 2:15).– Because of Adam’s sin, we are born with a sin nature, which

causes us to distort the image of God (Romans 5:12; Psalm 51:5).

• We have become alienated from God, from others, from nature and even ourselves. This is the essence of fallen humanity. (Francis Schaeffer)

– Because of Christ, we can be redeemed from sin and become more conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 5:19, 8:29).

#4 What happens to a person at death?

• Christianity—At death, people spend eternity with God and His people or away from God and His people (see Matthew 25:46).– God will create a “new earth” where He will spend

eternity with His people. In heaven and the new earth, there will be no more sin, death, pain or tears. (Revelation 21:1-5)

– Hell is a monument to human freedom. Hell is God’s tribute to the freedom he gave each of us to choose whom we would serve; it is a recognition that our decisions have a significance that extends far down into the reaches of foreverness. (G.K. Chesterton)

#4 What happens to a person at death?

• Atheism—Death is the end of existence.– Bertrand Russell: “No fire, no heroism, no

intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave.”

– Ernest Nagel: “Human destiny [is] an episode between two oblivions.”

– Richard Dawkins: “Religion teaches the dangerous nonsense that death is not the end.”

#5 Why is it possible to know anything at all?

• Atheism—Human beings can know things through reason, especially through science.– “The fact that we human beings – who are

ourselves mere collections of fundamental particles of nature – have come close to an understanding of the laws governing us and our Universe [sic] is a great triumph.” (Stephen Hawking)


• Christianity—“Human beings can know both the world around them and God himself because God has built into them the capacity to do so and because he takes an active role in communicating with them.” (UND, 36)– God communicates to us through:

• General revelation (Psalm 19:1-2; Romans 1:19-20)• Special revelation (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21)


– "Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true?...But if I can't trust my own thinking, of course I can't trust the arguments leading to Atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an Atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God." (C.S. Lewis)

#6 How do we know what is right and wrong?

• Christianity—“There is an absolute standard by which all moral judgments are measured. God himself—his character of goodness (holiness and love)—is the standard.” (UND, 42)– Christian ethics is grounded in God’s character

and is revealed in Scripture, most perfectly through Jesus Christ.

• “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” (John 1:8)

• “If there were no Moral Law, then we wouldn’t make excuses for violating it.” (Norm Geisler)

#6 How do we know what is right and wrong?

• Atheism—Ethics is related to human beings. The continuance of human life is valued above all else.– “We affirm that moral values derive their source from

human experience. Ethics is autonomous and situational needing no theological or ideological sanction. Ethics stems from human need and interest. To deny this distorts the whole basis of life. Human life has meaning because we create and develop our futures. Happiness and the creative realization of human needs and desires, individually and in shared enjoyment, are continuous themes of humanism. We strive for the good life, here and now.” (Humanist Manifesto II)

#7 What is the meaning of human history?

• Atheism—History is linear, but without an overarching purpose.– “Man was certainly not the goal of evolution,

which evidently had no goal.” (George Gaylord Simpson)

– “Natural selection is the blind watchmaker, blind because it does not see ahead, does not plan consequences, has no purpose in view.” (Richard Dawkins)

#7 What is the meaning of human history?

• Christianity—“History is linear, a meaningful sequence of events leading to the fulfillment of God’s purposes for humanity.” (UND, 43)– Creation (Genesis 1-2)– Fall (Genesis 3)– Redemption (Genesis 4-Revelation 20)– Restoration (Revelation 21-22)

#8 What personal, life-orienting core commitmentsare consistent with this worldview?

• Christianity—To glorify God by loving Him with everything, loving others with the love of Christ, and seeking His kingdom above our own.

#8 What personal, life-orienting core commitmentsare consistent with this worldview?

• Atheism—There are no core commitments common to atheists. Commitments are chosen by individuals.– “While naturalism provides no rational

justification to act selflessly, naturalists often choose to serve their community or promote a purely secular human flourishing.” (UND, 85)

– American Humanist Association

#9 Does evil exist, and if so,how does this worldview deal with it?

• Atheism—Most atheists would say that evil does not exist because objective morality does not exist. Thus, there is no evil. When people perform “evil” acts, something has gone wrong with their DNA.– “In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic

replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason to it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. DNA neither cares nor knows. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.” (Richard Dawkins)


• Christianity—Good and evil exist (Isaiah 5:20) and are defined by Scripture, reflecting the character of God. God triumphs over evil through salvation and judgment.– Salvation through the gospel

• What is the Gospel?—The good news that sinful man (Romans 3:23) can be reconciled with a holy God (2 Corinthians 5:18) through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s Son (1 Corinthians 15:3-4; John 3:16).

• Our Response—To repent from our sins and follow Christ as Lord and Savior (Mark 1:15; Luke 9:23).

• Evidence of Salvation—We are growing in Christ-likeness (Philippians 2:13), resulting in good works (James 2:14-17) and obedience to Christ’s commands (John 14:21), flowing from a pure heart (Matthew 5:8).


• Christianity—Good and evil exist (Isaiah 5:20) and are defined by Scripture, reflecting the character of God. God triumphs over evil through salvation and judgment.– Judgment through the just punishment of sin (see

Question 4)– “If God does not exist and there is no immortality,

then all the evil acts of men go unpunished and all the sacrifices of good men go unrewarded.” (William Lane Craig)

A Final Word

• “If God does not exist, then you are just a miscarriage of nature, thrust into a purposeless universe to live a purposeless life. So if God does not exist, that means that man and the universe exist to no purpose—since the end of everything is death—and that they came to be for no purpose, since they are only blind products of chance. In short, life is utterly without reason.” (William Lane Craig, “The Absurdity of Life without God”)

Notes

• See wilsonsonmission.com for my notes, which contains links to sources cited.

Suggested Books

• Christian Apologetics– Christian Apologetics by Douglas Groothuis– The Reason for God by Tim Keller

• Comparing Worldviews– The Universe Next Door by James Sire

• Atheism and Christianity– Gunning for God by John Lennox– I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist by

Norman Geisler and Frank Turek

comparing worldviews: atheism and christianity. why this topic? 1 peter 3:15 – “but in your...

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