Session Two: Apologetics and World Religions

Overview

• Focus on worldviews, particularly secularism or modernism, also known as secular humanism.
• Explanation of worldviews as systems of thought and their impact on interpreting reality.
• Discussion on secular society and common objections from a secular worldview.

Understanding Worldviews

• Definition: Deepest assumptions about reality; a system of thought shaping our perception and interpretation of the world.
• Analogy: Viewing the world through a lens; different lenses lead to different interpretations.
• Examples:
  • Health issues interpreted differently in secular and tribal contexts.
  • Healing perceived as spiritual or psychosomatic based on worldview.
  • Human body seen as creation or product of natural selection.

The Concept of a Frame

• Worldviews are not just ideas but are frames of reference encompassing traditions, culture, media, and personal experiences.
• Frames influence emotional reactions and are integral to the narrative experience of reality.

Importance of Understanding Worldviews

• Helps in recognizing biases that prevent accepting certain truths.
• Essential in evangelism and ministry; helps in transitioning people to a Christian worldview.
• Example of a secular versus Christian narrative about evidence and beliefs.

Structure of Worldviews

• Acts of a Narrative:
  • Creation: Origin, human nature, purpose.
  • Fall: Reasons for the world's issues.
  • Redemption: Ways to fix the world.
  • Consummation: Ultimate end or goal.
• Understanding different narratives helps in engaging with other worldviews.

Development of the Secular Worldview

• Secularism: Society assuming God is nonexistent or uninvolved.
• Modernity's Rise:
  • Church failures, corruption, and hypocrisy.
  • Rise of science and technology as explanations and solutions.
  • Religion becomes compartmentalized and privatized.

Secularism's Narrative

• Creation by nature rather than God.
• Problems due to ignorance, not spiritual disconnection.
• Solutions through science, technology, and education.
• Utopian end envisioned through peace and prosperity without religion.

Post-Modernity

• Distrust of reason and truth due to misuse and bias.
• Fragmented, community-based truths.
• Religion: Moral therapeutic deism in modernity; all religions valid in post-modernity.
• Religion as a commodity with diminished influence on justice and morality.

Impact on Various Sectors

• Medicine: Viewed mechanistically in modernity; alternative and sometimes unsupported practices in post-modernity.
• Business:
  • Secular view: Profit-focused, treating people as resources.
  • Christian view: Stewardship, empowerment, and societal service.
• The Christian perspective offers restoration and ethical improvement in various societal aspects.