True U: Faith and Reason

So, in order to keep everybody up on the same page, I wanted to give those that didn't get to be there or attend the entire time, some basics that you need to know as you enter Week #2 and our first jump into the Cosmology Argument. So here goes (Don't worry, we will start next week with a bit of Q&A):

As we look into reasons why we believe what we believe, we have to have some common ground or specific end that we need to achieve. A goal, if you will, that when we reach that goal we can say we have come to a conclusion on. We call this conclusion the Prime Reality, or the thing from which everything came; What caused all of this? When we examine all of the evidences that exist in the world, what is the ultimate reason for all of those pieces of evidence? Again, we call this the Prime Reality.

When we try to answer the question, "What is the thing from which all other things came," we must consider all of the evidences that exist in the world. Fortunately, there are years and years and hundreds and thousands of philosophies and reasons to try and answer this question. Unfortunately, there is not near enough time in a year to accurately study all of those avenues of thoughts. So, we break these things down into 4 main philosophies or reasons of thought:

Theism: This is where we, Christians, would fall in belief. The basis here is that a personal and active God created, sustained and, at times, inserts themselves into the world that He created. In other words, God is the Prime Reality.

Deism: This is similar to Theism in the sense that God created the entire world and all the things in it, but then removed Himself from the picture and allowed the world to go as it pleased. God does not insert Himself in this model and does not make Himself known to the creations that He created. In other words, God is the Prime Reality, but He does not necessarily sustain or insert Himself into the world that He created.

Pantheism: The only similarity with the others in this one is the fact that God exists. Where this one starts to be different is that in Pantheistic ways of thought, God is exists in everything. And I don't just mean all "natural" or "organic" things. God exists in me, you, the walls, the computer that you read on; everything. In other words, God is the Prime Reality, and He is everywhere and exists in everything.

Materialism/Naturalism: This is the oddball of the other three. In this, the way that matter and energy can be measured is the reason for everything. Measurements, logic and reason are king in this system of thought and reason. This one is quite popular in our society because it seems to have objective thought and reasoning to back up its claims. So, in other words, matter and energy are the Prime Reality.

These are the four worldviews that we will be using to evaluate the evidences that exist in the world. If you have more questions, hit me up! We can start a dialogue