Why Everyone Should be a Christian - Even Atheists - Part 2 - Christianity Makes More Sense of the World than other Worldviews

Purpose

Part one of my Christmas post, "Why Everyone should be an Christian, even Atheists - Part 1", claimed that if everyone followed that set of Christian beliefs, we would have true Peace on Earth.

In the second and last part of this series, I attempt to show that adopting this Christian Worldview explains the world as we know it, and explains ourselves and our cultures better than any other worldview.

For ease of the reader, I re-list my Christian Worldview beliefs.
 

My Christian Worldview

1) We are to love God with all our heart and all our mind and all our soul. 

2) We are to love all others, even our enemies. 

3) We are to treat others as we would wish to be treated. 

4) We are to use our talents to make the world a better place.

5) We are to help the poor. 

6) We are all Children of God, and thus He has given each of us a ‘spark’ of Himself. Thus, we humans are brothers and sisters. 

7) It is up to us to grow toward God by developing this spark of Christ within us - to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect. 

8) Because we have free will, we are responsible for each of our thoughts, words, and deeds. 

9) Cause and effect operates in the realm of human interactions as well as in the realm of physical laws. Hence, the consequence of each person’s thoughts, words, or deeds will return to that person in kind. For example, loving thoughts or actions that benefit other people’s lives will come back to us as loving thoughts or actions which others show toward us.  Similarly, negative actions will result in negative repercussions. To summarize, “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.” Most Eastern religions call this Karma. 

10) Each person has the right to life, liberty, and to be secure in their own property. Thus, each person has the right to live life in the manner in which he or she sees fit, as long as this does not interfere with the right of others to do the same. 

11) Children are our greatest resource, and families with loved and well-reared children are the bedrock of a true civilization.  

Christ said, "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." (Matthew 18:6-7) 
 

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How this Christian Worldview Explains Us and our World better than other Worldviews 

This is not meant to be a step-by-step logical argument. Rather, it gives indications that the Christian Worldview explains more about our own personal thoughts and feelings, than other worldviews - it is the simplest explanation as to why things are the way they are.

Let's get personal here. Each adult seems to assume we are beings of free will, and knows right from wrong. Every culture has had court systems whose foundation consists of those two assumptions. We don't put animals on trial because we assume they don't have free will. So we have this almost unconscious belief that we were created as independent individuals, with the freedom to make our own choices. Evolution cannot adequately explain this, but being created in God's image explains it quite well.

Every culture that anthropologists have been able to study, has shown that each has a belief in God or gods. I have heard some use the theory of evolution to explain this, saying that this belief helps to keep people from being less violent, and encourages them to cooperate. But we are the only species that believes in God. If the evolutionary explanation were true, it would seem that many species would have evolved the same belief. Occam's razor applies here. The simplest explanation that fits all the facts is the best one: the reason that every culture believes in Higher Beings is because there are Higher Beings.

Many cultures have also adopted the Christian beliefs of The Golden Rule, using one's talents to benefit others, marriage, and passing down knowledge to future generations. Why do parents care if their children are better off than they are? There seems to be a built in drive to make humanity better. Why? The best explanation is that God made us this way. He wants us to grow toward Him: To Create a Kingdom of God on Earth, as Christ told us to pray for.

How about this fact. Studies have shown that over 80% of people on Earth have some belief in Higher Powers. Are we just fooling ourselves? Don't think so.

And where did the greatest religious leaders come from? Were Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Moses, and Zoroaster just random exceptions, or were they sent for a reason? And thousands of years later, many of us still try to follow their teachings.

And what of those from many different times, and many different cultures, who have claimed they have had a 'religious experience'. The individual experiences vary, but most experience a feeling of complete peace; of everything in the Universe being connected; of sensing God; and sensing a love that permeates the Universe. 

Conclusion

No other worldview explains these facts better than the Christian Worldview given above.
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Tim Farage is a Senior Lecturer and Graduate Adviser in the Computer Science Department at The University of Texas at Dallas. The views expressed here are those of the author. You are welcome to comment upon this blog entry and/or to contact him at tfarage@hotmail.com.
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Statement of my Core Philosophical Beliefs

In brief, I am a Christian reincarnationist. So the beliefs below reflect this, and I believe they all are in harmony with Christ's teachings.

1) Every person is a child of God, and is here on Earth to grow toward God.

2) Each of us should love God and love others, even our enemies.

3) Each of us ought to treat others as we would like to be treated.

4) Each of us is to use our talents to help make the world a better place, including helping the poor.

5) Cause and effect operates in the realm of human interactions as well as in the realm of physical laws. Hence, the consequence of each person’s thoughts, words, or deeds will return to that person in kind. For example, loving thoughts or actions that benefit other people’s lives will come back to us as loving thoughts or actions which others show toward us.  Similarly, negative actions will result in a negative repercussion. To summarize, “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”

6) Adults are personally responsible for their own lives – for each thought, word, and deed that they have.

7) Each person has the right to life, liberty, and to be secure in their own property. Thus, each person has the right to live life in the manner in which he or she sees fit, as long as this does not interfere with the right of others to do the same.

(I use the term “property” to refer to anything tangible or intangible that can belong to a person or group of persons. A car, an engagement ring, money, a legal contract, a business, and a patent are examples of property that a person may own. This is to be distinguished from the term “natural resources” in that the natural resources are tangible or intangible entities that are a product of nature. Thus the air, trees, oil, minerals, water, land, radio spectrum, etc., are natural resources).

8) No person, group, or government entity should force their beliefs on another, nor is it the role of government to legislate as to how individuals should lead their lives, as long as they do so peacefully. Rather, the main role of government is to protect our right to have whatever beliefs we have, and to protect our right to live as we see fit, as long as this is done in peace.

9) Each person has the right to defend himself, his family, his country, other people who are innocent from harm initiated by another person or group of persons.

10) Since the Earth’s natural resources were not created by individuals, they do not a priory belong to any one individual or group of individuals; therefore, they should be considered the property of the people as a whole. Hence, they ought to be under the control of the government, which may then sell, lease, or rent such resources to individuals, groups of individuals, or corporations who may then use or develop these resources so that they can be of value to themselves and others.  These entities would then be required to pay a fee to the government or each individual, for the right to extract a natural resource.

11) Children are our greatest resource, and families with loved and well-reared children are the bedrock of a true civilization. Parents are responsible for the upbringing of their children, and each child has the right to love, food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and education. It is the responsibility of the child’s parents to provide these. (However, it may be currently necessary or expedient for the government to assist parents with some of these responsibilities with subsidies. In such cases, the parents should be given as much freedom as possible to fulfill their responsibilities to their children). 

The ideal situation is that children are raised by their married, biological parents in a loving environment.  It is also best if the mother need not be concerned with earning money, so that she may focus on this most important of tasks.

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Tim Farage is a retired Professor in the Computer Science Department at The University of Texas at Dallas. The views expressed here are those of the author. You are welcome to comment upon this blog entry and/or to contact him at tfarage@hotmail.com.

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The Purpose of my Blog

The purpose of my blog is to present what I consider to be practical ways to make the world a better place – a place in which the various systems: educational, political, economic, environmental, scientific, family, cultural, architectural, city planning, transportation, etc., are in harmony with Natural or Divine Law. Natural Law is here defined as those laws determined by our Creator, that when followed in universally consistent ways, facilitate the physical, material, spiritual and moral evolution of humanity – to help create a ‘New Renaissance’ in our world.

To see my basic philosophical/religious beliefs that underlie my presentations, click on the link on the right side of this blog, “Statement of My Core Philosophical Beliefs”.