Your Worldview - Are Your Beliefs Consistent with Your Worldview?

What do people believe and why? If one is rational and thoughtful, one must be open to the possibility that one's beliefs may be wrong. One must be able to realistically examine the evidence that contradicts one's beliefs. This principle applies to both believers and skeptics alike. Does one's beliefs have an explanation of the origin of the universe and the origin of life on earth? Has one looked at the evidence that Jesus Christ was the God who created the universe and life in it? If you are ready to consider the possibility that your beliefs might be wrong, and look directly at the evidence, please see the Evidence for the God of the Bible page and the Is Christianity True? page. If feel it is important for skeptics to recognize that not all their beliefs are based upon physical evidence, and are may not even be consistent with their own worldview.

Do skeptics have beliefs?

Most skeptics take pride in their intellectual ability and like to think that they have no "beliefs." However, modern science has shown us that everyone has beliefs, since this is how our brains work (an atheistic materialist worldview is a belief system). We would like to think that everything we believe is based upon evidence and logic; this is simply not true. In fact, we become emotionally bound to our worldview, so much so that worldviews are difficult to change. Since I am asking you to consider a worldview change, I am going to ask you to let go of your emotional attachment to your worldview and consider the evidence apart from it; that is one of the main goals of this website.

The skeptical worldview

The first principle is that all beliefs should be based upon observational evidence. Unlike theists, who base some beliefs on religious writings, skeptics must rely entirely on physical evidence. The second principle is that skeptics must be logically consistent at all times. In other words, a skeptic may not believe something is true if observational evidence contradicts it. Most skeptical atheists believe that all phenomena have naturalistic causes. This belief is based on observing our world, where cause and effect appear daily, with rare exceptions, if any. One must ask the question, "Just because cause and effect overwhelmingly operate in our universe, does this mean that supernatural events never occur?" Even in the Bible, which claims to be a record of God's supernatural actions, over 90% of what is described is purely naturalistic. So, even the Bible recognizes that the vast majority of events that occur in the universe have a natural cause. However, insisting that supernatural events never occur expresses a belief that can never be fully confirmed. To be truly open-minded, one must recognize the possibility that supernatural events do occur.

There is lots of evidence that supernatural events do occur: the creation of the universe, the fine-tuning of the universe, the laws of physics, Near-Death Experiences, fulfilled promises in the Bible, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ are just a few things that prove the Bible is true and Jesus is who he claims He is.

Problem with the skeptical worldview/atheistic materialist worldview

One must examine the origin of the universe; as this is the starting point for the universe's history. Before the 20th century, atheists assumed that the universe was eternal, a concept called the Steady State universe. However, beginning with Einstein's theory of general relativity and early observational evidence, it became apparent that the universe was expanding. (See Hubble, See Space-time page) This revealed that the universe was merely billions of years old, not trillions or infinite. The data eventually led to the "Big Bang" theory (also called the Creation event and the Initial singularity), which is universally accepted by modern-day cosmologists. Attempts to avoid the idea that the universe had a beginning have all failed observationally. (see Multiverse page). The idea that the universe could have gone through an infinite number of births and deaths (the oscillating universe theory) was shown to be false on the basis of the lack of amount of matter within the universe, and the fact that any collapse would have led to a "Big Crunch" instead of another Big Bang. So, we have come to realize that the universe first began to exist 13.7 billion years ago out of true nothing. Atheists are left with a dilemma, since their worldview requires that everything that begins to exist must have a cause. So logic requires admitting that the universe had a cause. Virtually all atheists say that this cause was some natural phenomenon, but this is no evidence for this. It is also possible and likely that the cause of the universe was a supernatural intelligence (i.e., God). Those who are "strong atheists" (not working out in the gym, but having a belief that no god exists) have violated one of the main rules of atheism - that all beliefs are based upon observational evidence. So, any atheist who denies the possible existence of God violates his own worldview.

The problem actually gets worse for the atheist. The physical laws of the universe fall within very narrow ranges in order for life (or even matter) to exist, suggesting a high level of design (See Anthropic Principle page). The observational evidence strongly leans toward the existence of God of the Bible, contradicting strong atheism. The prospect of finding a naturalistic cause for the origin of the universe is bleak, since the laws of physics indicate that we will never be able escape the bounds of our universe to even attempt to look for the cause of the universe.

Conclusion

A skeptic or atheist is governed by two main principles: 1) all beliefs must be supported by observational evidence, and 2) beliefs that contradict observational evidence cannot be tolerated. However, strong atheism states that there is no god, even though observational evidence indicates that the universe has a cause that cannot be detected observationally. The evidence strongly supports a God, a causal Agent that is able to operate in Extra Dimensions of Space and Time. So, despite the lack of observational evidence for a naturalistic cause for the universe, the strong atheist believes that the universe has a naturalistic cause and that there is no god, contradicting the tenet that all beliefs should be based upon observational evidence. See Dimensions page

See Is God Real: The Evidence for God's Existence page and Is Christianity True page

Also see Space-Time page

Also see Worldviews page

Ref

https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/blog_channel/what-in-the-world-is-a-worldview

ttps://reasons.org/explore/blogs/take-two/putting-beliefs-to-the-test-9-ways-to-know-if-your-worldview-is-reliable

https://reasons.org/explore/publications/connections/what-in-the-world-is-a-worldview

https://reasons.org/explore/publications/reasons-newsletter/god-of-the-gaps-or-best-explanation

A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test by Kenneth Richard Samples