Interview questions to understand different worldviews

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Will you help me out? My assessment is due on the 31st of March and requires me to interview a person, but more is always better than one, to ask them questions about their worldview. I have included some examples to get you thinking but feel free to go to the left field. Thanks for considering my request.

1. What is prime reality - the really real?
i. Is there a God or not?
ii. If there is God, what is God like?
iii. If there is no God, what is the origin of material? Or how do you think everything started

2. What is the nature of external reality (that is, the world around us?)
i. Is it created or uncreated?
ii. It orderly or chaotic?
iii. Subjective (personal, it is how you feel about what is going on around you, how you feel when you see something, the feelings are only for your experience, and those feelings are based on how you experienced the world before that moment, no one else can feel what you are feeling. It is internal) or is the external world objective (factual, proof that what is happening or what is present is actually there, or happening, it is still there even if you deny its existence)? -
iv. Matter or spirit or both?
v. Personal or impersonal?
vi. Is it eternal or temporal?

2. What is a human being? (As opposed to being an animal or an insect)
i. Are we a highly evolved biological machine?
ii. Are we a god or a potential god?
iii. Are we made in the image of God?
iv. A naked ape
v. What about people who don’t make the criteria? Where is the bar, what is the minimum point that makes us a human? (cultural truths like family, language, reason, leadership, innovation, justice)

3. What happens to a person at death?
I. Do people cease to exist?
II. Are people reincarnated into another life? -Transformed to a higher state?
III. Or de we depart to a shadowy existence on “the other side?
IV. Do people enter directly into heaven?
V. What happens to our soul? Do we have a soul?

4. Why is it possible to know anything at all?
i. Because we are made in the image of an all-knowing God or
ii. that consciousness and rationality developed under the contingencies of survival in a long process of evolution.

5. How do we know what is right and wrong?
i. Because we are made in the image of God whose character is good
ii. Right or wrong is determined by human choice alone
iii. Determined by what feels good
iv. Developed under cultural or physical survival

6. What is the meaning of human history?
i. Meaning is what humans make it to mean life
ii. to realise the purpose of God
iii. Or the purpose of the gods
iv. To make a paradise on earth
v. To prepare for life in community with a loving God

7. What personal, life-orientating core commitments are consistent with this worldview?
i. How we perceive the world affects how we live; what we believe to be true shapes our conscious mind.

HOW DO WE RESPOND? By their very nature, all worldviews will prescribe a response—a way of living out the view of life that is held.

Thanks again for helping me out. feel free to answer all questions or as many as you can.

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@Tashf,

Maybe some context around my assessment. I'm doing a Diploma in Christian Ministry, just part-time; this is my 2nd year. And I have found the different units of study to be very interesting. For this one, I need to compare my worldview with that of someone with a different worldview. I'm currently limited by a lack of transport to meet people outside my immediate circle, so I nearly balked when I read this assignment's requirement. How was I to find some people? And here I am.
The 8 questions were from James Sire's book, The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalogue

Maybe I'll go first - I put the choices there to get you thinking.
Q1. What is prime reality - the really real?
i. Is there a God or not?
ii. If there is God, what is God like?
iii. If there is no God, what is the origin of material? Or how do you think
everything started?

I believe there is a sovereign God, one singular God. That He created the world and cosmos, I believe He was here before everything existed.
How do I know that? Well, I don't know how I just know that this is true. It is my experience. It is how I perceive/view the world. It probably developed over a long time as I experienced life as a child and as a young teenager, how I experienced life before I knew God personally. I found God when I was 18. I saw things change in my life where there was no other logical explanation. That is my prime reality. God is the creator of the universe. and therefore all material has its origin from God the creator. Because I believe this it affects my everyday reality. it is from this place I walk out my life.

That's my really short thought on that. I'd love to engage with you about your thoughts. Do you believe in a God?

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@Tashf,

I forgot to mention what my God is like. I struggled with the concept of a Father God for many years, I could understand a savior God, (Jesus) a helper, counselor kind of God (Holy Spirit), but a Father God was different. My dad was good to me; he worked hard and provided for his family; Mum and Dad are still together, but he worked long hours to provide, and he missed out on heaps. I'm nearly 50 now, and I realise that my God is those things that Dad was, but so much more; God is always present. No matter where I go, he is there; no matter if I fail or stuff up, he is still there, loving me unconditionally. I suppose I had to grow a lot to let go of the false images I had of God because of my relationship with Dad. Just like a good Dad, God has pulled me out of wrong situations and steered me to better paths.

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To be honest you'd have better luck striking up a conversation with someone on one of the religious threads, then maybe tell one of them about this thread.

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@izzythepush,

Thanks Izzythepush,
I got one reply through another channel. I just made it in time for my assignment.

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@Tashf,

Tashf wrote:

Will you help me out? My assessment is due on the 31st of March and requires me to interview a person, but more is always better than one, to ask them questions about their worldview. I have included some examples to get you thinking but feel free to go to the left field. Thanks for considering my request.

1. What is prime reality - the really real?
i. Is there a God or not?
ii. If there is God, what is God like?
iii. If there is no God, what is the origin of material? Or how do you think everything started

2. What is the nature of external reality (that is, the world around us?)
i. Is it created or uncreated?
ii. It orderly or chaotic?
iii. Subjective (personal, it is how you feel about what is going on around you, how you feel when you see something, the feelings are only for your experience, and those feelings are based on how you experienced the world before that moment, no one else can feel what you are feeling. It is internal) or is the external world objective (factual, proof that what is happening or what is present is actually there, or happening, it is still there even if you deny its existence)? -
iv. Matter or spirit or both?
v. Personal or impersonal?
vi. Is it eternal or temporal?

2. What is a human being? (As opposed to being an animal or an insect)
i. Are we a highly evolved biological machine?
ii. Are we a god or a potential god?
iii. Are we made in the image of God?
iv. A naked ape
v. What about people who don’t make the criteria? Where is the bar, what is the minimum point that makes us a human? (cultural truths like family, language, reason, leadership, innovation, justice)

3. What happens to a person at death?
I. Do people cease to exist?
II. Are people reincarnated into another life? -Transformed to a higher state?
III. Or de we depart to a shadowy existence on “the other side?
IV. Do people enter directly into heaven?
V. What happens to our soul? Do we have a soul?

4. Why is it possible to know anything at all?
i. Because we are made in the image of an all-knowing God or
ii. that consciousness and rationality developed under the contingencies of survival in a long process of evolution.

5. How do we know what is right and wrong?
i. Because we are made in the image of God whose character is good
ii. Right or wrong is determined by human choice alone
iii. Determined by what feels good
iv. Developed under cultural or physical survival

6. What is the meaning of human history?
i. Meaning is what humans make it to mean life
ii. to realise the purpose of God
iii. Or the purpose of the gods
iv. To make a paradise on earth
v. To prepare for life in community with a loving God

7. What personal, life-orientating core commitments are consistent with this worldview?
i. How we perceive the world affects how we live; what we believe to be true shapes our conscious mind.

HOW DO WE RESPOND? By their very nature, all worldviews will prescribe a response—a way of living out the view of life that is held.

Thanks again for helping me out. feel free to answer all questions or as many as you can.

Sorry this is late. In any case, here is the absolute truth...and a thought or two of speculation about it.

I do not know if any GOD (or gods) exist or not;
I see no reason to suspect that gods cannot exist…that the existence of a GOD or gods is impossible;
I see no reason to suspect that at least one GOD must exist...that the existence of at least one GOD is needed to explain existence;
I do not see enough unambiguous evidence upon which to base a meaningful guess in either direction on whether any gods exist or not...so I don't.

(When I use the word "GOD or gods" here, I mean "The entity (or entities) responsible for the creation of what we humans call 'the physical universe'...IF SUCH AN ENTITY OR ENTITIES ACTUALLY EXIST.)

That is the truth...now here is the speculation:

The same thing holds for you and everyone else on this planet...so all those "beliefs" you spoke of are just guesses.

Nothing wrong with making guesses. Some may be correct. But if truth actually is important to you, it probably would be better to call your guesses "guesses" rather than "beliefs."

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Interview questions to understand different worldviews

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