Theism

Next on our list, and the last worldview that will encompass the remaining faithviews of our day, is theism. Theism is the belief that there is a single god of the universe that brought all things into existence, gives meaning and purpose to our lives, and will ultimately control our destiny.

Of course, when working to get a basic understanding of life on any realm, one must generalize in order to "set the table," so here we go. There are three major religions that fit into this category. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. As we all know, there are sub-groups to these religions and factions from them, but we will only deal with them broadly.

Judaism believes in the God of the OT from the Bible. In essence, today's Jewish people are still waiting for the savior of the world to be revealed and bring salvation and power back to their people as promised to Abraham, King David, and so on.

Islam believes that Muhammad, their last 'prophet', gave a new and final account of their god, Allah. They believe that this account, supposedly from an angel named Gabriel, is the rule and norm of their life over and against anything else found in any holy book other than the Koran, Sura, etc.

Christians understand the 66 books of the OT and NT to be the holy, inspired, inerrant Word of God and the rule and norm for all things. They further believe that Jesus was the Savior Who was come into the world to save humanity from their sins, and that His Word, these 66 books, are a consistent story of God's salvation plan for all humanity.

In these theistic worldviews, we will also need to answer the four ultimate questions.

1. Origins - Where did all this come from? Theistic believers would say that god created all things and ultimately has a plan for all of his creation.

2. Meaning is derived from god's view of who people are, what their purpose is, and what his plan of salvation is. For the theist, it all depends upon which god is being called upon. By that I mean that Allah is very different from Jesus, and YHWH without Jesus is different as well. So the meaning changes, yet all adhere to their "god's" view of meaning imposed upon them.

3. Morality also comes from the god being followed. Each god for these religions will have a different set of concerns and consequences, although some may seem similar. And although it can be easy to find fault in the imperfect people who follow god, the implications of having an individual and personal relationship with god will finally trump any latent convictions hanging on the fence.

4. Destiny again will differ drastically from one god to the next. The Jewish person must work out his faith, knowing that Abraham's covenant requires a response. The Muslim must work out his faith in the 5 pillars, not always sure if his convictions have been enough to make Allah happy [unless the sixth pillar is followed in its entirety, which "should" secure eternity with Allah. Although this teaching seems to follow the conservative teachings of Mohammad in the Koran and Sura, only approximately 15% of Muslims attest to this pillar]. Jesus saves by grace, and is therefore showing an easy, yet profoundly difficult way to the Father. Although salvation comes by belief that He, Jesus, died for our sins and rose again 3 days later and will come again...soon...the road after this salvation comes is often difficult. Following Jesus takes faith and help and direction from Him since the world and even one's sinful nature is opposed to this task. Nonetheless, salvation is secured freely through belief in Christ's work on the cross for all mankind's sins.

Now that these three major worldviews have been generally put forth, I hope you will be able to begin to see the many varieties through these "glasses" so that you can see where you fit in the world we are currently sharing. Knowing where you fit also allows you to understand where others fit in this continuum so that you can positively engage the world(views) around you.

I hope and pray that you find yourself with Jesus. I hope you will see His views of origins, meaning to life, morality and destiny from His Word as not only the best explanation for the world around us, but also the most intellectually stable and profound. And I especially pray that you would not end there, but continue to work out your faith by engaging others in loving, yet challenging, dialogue on questions that are age old..."What is truth?" [John 18.38] May God bless you as you do.