Theism Christianity And Naturalism: Philosophic Debate

Introduction to Philosophy

Worldview, which acts as a filter of the mind, plays an important role in the life of each individual living on the earth by affecting the way that one is thinking, recognizing, and even solving the problems. There is more than one worldview out there, such as Theism Christianity. Naturalism, Nihilism…… However, the two worldviews which normally become a topic to debate are Theism Christianity, and Naturalism; and one is more valuable than the other. By using the answers to some of the eight questions about worldview, which was written in the book The Universe Next Door by James W. Sire, the value of Theism Christianity is going to be affirmed to be higher than Naturalism.

The first two questions are about the prime reality and the external reality. For Christianity, the infinite and personal, triune God is the prime reality; and the cosmos, which is the external reality, was created out of nothing by God. However, Naturalism describes it as just a physical world; matter is what the prime reality is all about. The most accepted theory that Naturalism has used to explain the origin of the matter is the Big Bang Theory but it still does not explain the starting point of the event, where it came from, and why it happened. On the other hand, Christianity believes that God created, designed the cosmos out of nothing. God is involved in his creation since this is an open system. The world was reordered by God in the Fall which was caused by Adam and Eve; and then, through Jesus Christ, God gives humans a chance to be redeemed. Another sign that proves the creation of the cosmos is by God is the complexity of the presence of life on earth, which required numerous factors combined together with extreme precision; and this can be done only by the perfect and detailed God. The human being, as well, is also the creation of God.

The definition of human beings and morality is what questions number three and six are about. Theism Christianity states that God created human beings bases on His image. Since the human being is the image of God, so moralities are also based on God, and it is good because God is good. God is the standard and the measurement of morality. The standards were revealed in the Scripture; the Ten Commandments are one of the examples. In contrast, the human being is just a complex machine according to Naturalism. Naturalists have used Darwin’s theory of evolution to explain the presence of the human being as if a human came to the world totally by chance or accident, and they still do not fully understand the process or how the human body operates. They also say that there has to be personality for ethics to be possible. As personality comes with the existence of human beings, so does ethics. As a result, ethics is defined by each individual and it is respective.

One of the most important questions every worldview must answer is the meaning of life, which is achieved by clarifying what happens to an individual after death. For Christianity, one will either have an eternal life with God and his people or be separated from God forever. Each person is a God’s will, and it is important to realize his plan and trust him during life. God is thorough, so the existence of each individual has a purpose. Contrarily, death is just the end of an individual as said by Naturalism. If humans really came to the world by chance and death is merely the extinction of individuality, then life is meaningless. How sorrowful it is to have a life without purpose. Since death is the edge, everything that a person has tried to accomplish in life is for nothing; so why bother doing anything?

After all, Theism Christianity has more value than Naturalism; and it surely is the most logical, solid of all worldviews. Theism Christianity not only has the perfect answers for the questions to which every worldview has to have the answers but also gives human being a meaningful, peaceful life.