Christian Theism
Traditionally, the main features of Christian theism are as follows: God is infinite, personal, transcendent, omniscient, sovereign and good. The implications of these propositions provide a framework for the Christian narrative. The overarching story of the Christian faith can be described in the following historical epochs: creation, the fall, redemption and glorification.
The Bible is considered the Word of God and is not exhaustive when addressing God’s interaction throughout history, but is comprehensive in providing an understanding of who God is and how He has revealed Himself.
Generally speaking, according to Christian theism most significant among God’s qualities is His goodness expressed in holiness and love.
“God’s goodness means then, first, that there is an absolute standard of righteousness (it is found in God’s character) and, second, that there is hope for humanity (because God is love and will not abandon His creation).” (Sire)
Upon these truths hinge both morality and purpose which is binding upon all humanity. Adam and Eve, the original man and woman, sinned against God by disobeying His command and from this point the very essence of humanity was marred, this is referred to as the fall. Due to the demands of God's nature, from the time of the fall mankind has been implicitly separated from God and without hope in the world.
However, the love of God has been extended toward humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
"Our role is to respond by repentance for our wrong attitudes and acts, to accept God's provisions and to follow Christ as Lord as well as Savior." (Sire)
Furthermore, the consummation of our redemption will happen in conjunction with the bodily resurrection at Christ's future return to earth. Redemption in its fullness will purge the creation of sin and its effects, and will renew every facet of humanity and this world that God created.
Deism
The Deist views the universe as a sophisticated clockwork mechanism. Within this worldview are two streams of thought, warm and cold deism, which both concede the existence of God but differ in terms of His continued involvement in the universe.
The warm deist posits a semi-personal God who has set the activities of nature in motion but is largely uninvolved. He can be understood through the natural order by exercise of “God-given” reason.
The cold deist embraces a view that: “...eliminates most features of personality God is said to display. He is only a transcendent force or energy, a Prime Mover or First Cause, a beginning to the otherwise infinite regress of past causes.” (Sire)
These views differ starkly from a Christian biblical worldview in that Christ is the ultimate self-disclosure of God; the exact representation of His activity and personality in human history.
Naturalism (Materialism)
Naturalism as a worldview was spawned as scientific discovery slowly gave way to the elevation of autonomous human reason above conceptions of God. Over time, piety was exchanged for pragmatism and the existence of God was supplanted by probing the mysteries of nature.
The nature of the cosmos became the primary subject of investigation: "...with an eternal Creator God out of the picture, the cosmos itself becomes eternal- always there though not in its present form, in fact certainly not in its present form." (Sire)
From this premise it would follow that because the cosmos is self-existent then the universe is a closed system.
"It is not open to reordering from the outside- either by a transcendent Being (for there is none) or...by self-transcendent or autonomous human beings (for they are a part of the uniformity)." (Sire)
However, the Bible sets forth that the universe is created by God and He is eternally self-existent and immanent in the material world. Furthermore, the biblical narrative is primarily concerned with God’s interaction with His creation, especially humanity, which places the primary emphasis upon God rather than nature.
Nihilism
"Nihilism is more a feeling than a philosophy, more a solitary stance before the universe than a worldview." (Sire)
The only reasonable conclusion of a closed system, as held by Naturalist, is the complete meaninglessness of life itself.
If self-existent matter is all there is, and the universe operates with uniformity apart from any supernatural, self-transcendent or autonomous influences then humans are just biological machines. Concepts such as morality or human freedom become nothing more than empty ideals which have no significance in the final analysis of life.
Whereas, the Christian biblical worldview holds that God has created man is His image as being sacred- both temporally and eternally significant, and therefore intrinsically valuable. As a free moral agent, man is capable of affecting meaningful change in his environment (e.g. love and service) as well as in his person (e.g. ethics and self-control).
Existentialism
Simply put, existentialism is a worldview to transcend nihilism and takes on two basic forms: atheistic and theistic.
Existentialism embraces the majority of naturalist views, especially regarding matter and uniformity, but differs on the state of human beings in its two forms.
In the atheistic form, the constitution of a human being is held as insignificant until by self-consciousness one becomes something significant as one defines it.
In the theistic form, one is self-consciously searching for significance in a hostile and indifferent world apart from any divine assistance.
In contrast, God is inherent in the Christian biblical worldview and man has God-given purpose which he seeks to realize through a personal relationship with God.
Eastern Pantheistic Monism
“Atman is Brahman”, is the statement which most accurately encapsulates Eastern Monism.
"Atman", or the soul of the individual, is a part of a greater essence of the universe known as "Brahman." The Eastern Monist believes that the ultimate goal of any person is to achieve “oneness” with "Brahman" by virtue of emptying oneself of desire.
However, from the Christian biblical standpoint, God is volitional and has made man in His image to be desirous. Christianity teaches that desire centered in Christ is good for both spiritual and practical life.
Furthermore, according to Christian tradition God is immaterially distinct from man, meaning that in every state of affairs God and man are separate in essence.
New Age
New Age philosophy is a milieu of many religions and worldviews, leaning heavily upon Eastern Pantheistic Monism.
Primarily, New Age thought focuses its attention on “a new consciousness” which comes about through a process of enlightened thinking which will ultimately precipitate a “superhuman” race.
According to Sire’s analysis of this worldview, “the 'self' is the kingpin” and history is peppered with sages, prophets and gurus who are representative of the “new consciousness” or “super humanity."
The Bible establishes Jesus of Nazareth as the only true superhuman, the first fruits so to speak, of a renewed creation under His authority and rule. Because of sin the consciousness of mankind is marred and incapable of self-actualizing superhuman qualities. Only by faith in the person and work of Christ is one able to participate in this new state of being (or divine nature), partially experienced in this present age, but then fully in the age to come.
Works Cited
Sire, James. The Universe Next Door. InterVarsity Press: 2009. Google Books file.
Packer, J. I. Knowing God. InterVarsity Press: 1993. Google Books file.
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