What Should I Wear Today?

These are the styles of questions that N. T. Wright answers in his book of “Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church.” Wright opens his novel with questions that shape throughout the book: What is the hope of our life? Is our hope in “heaven?” What are we going to do in hope of reaching eternal bliss? The societally scripted dichotomy of being a man of science and a firm believer in the Lord presents a struggle with the notion of heaven. Where is this alleged divine creation of a mystical place with a ladder of angels ascending and descending? Accompanied by one’s birth, is the hope that they will find their meaning of life. Despite my limited years, I have been exposed to much world terror, political issues, economic depressions, and environmental scares. As a Christian, these events have posed the question of whether my living on this Earth is for myself or for the Lord. Wright provides two ways for Christians and others alike to follow: the first is to follow the cryptic “code” of the Bible. To follow such a code, one must “decode” the Bible and align their lives to the truth hidden deep

“I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions.” (5)

Throughout the course of humanity’s history many questions have risen that have posed a problem to us as a species. Questions such as the following: What is the proper relationship between individuals and society? What is beauty, and why is it important? Is there purpose in human existence?, and many others have caused enough trouble in humanity’s short existence on the earth to cause a near identity crisis. However, all of these questions fall under the shadow of the main question that has been asked since the creation of Adam- “What exactly is the real relationship and purpose of humanity towards the divine?”

How might these questions about human nature, purpose, and flourishing, be answered by those holding a Pantheistic or Atheistic (choose one) worldview?

One of the fundamental questions that religions seek to answer is that of origin. How was man put on earth? Why and from what was he created? Who created him? What does his creation imply about the status of human beings? Some or all of these questions are answered by a religion’s creation stories. Every religion’s creation myths attempt to give solutions to problems present to that religious society. Because of this, each religion may have one or more creation stories, each of those different from one another in the questions they ask and the answers they give.

Our worldview allows us to see into the world at such an angle that it coincides with our beliefs, therefore affecting how we think and live. Whether one falls under an atheistic, pantheistic, or theistic worldview, they are guided in their life choices depending on the beliefs of their worldview. Throughout this paper, I will summarize the elements of a Christian Worldview such as God, Humanity, Jesus, and Restoration; I will then analyze questions one might have about the Christian Worldview, and finally I will reflect on my worldview.

Having completed the unit of philosophy of religion, you are now ready to respond to an article written by an actual atheist.  This article, titled “On Being an Atheist,” was written by H. J. McCloskey in 1968 for the journal Question.  McCloskey is an Australian philosopher who wrote a number of atheistic works in the 1960s and 70s including the book God and Evil (Nijhoff, 1974). In this article, McCloskey is both critical of the classical arguments for God’s existence and offers the problem of evil as a reason why one should not believe in God.

We can only do as much, or as well, as we know to do; and if that does not work, then one must ask: What am I to do? That is an excellent question, for it holds value for those who are willing and able to reveal its answer. The value of a well-formed question is found in the answer that it holds; that is, if by raising that question, we are able to behold the answer within it. Although I consider philosophical, theological, and rhetorical questions to be valuable when seeking insight and understanding, these are questions that are not meant to illicit a response, and therefore, they have no practical value. The only value of such questions is that they leave us open to other questions which may hold the answer. For example, when wondering

With this, we no longer can answer the important questions that ask “what” of our lives. We begin to care only about chasing after what we find pleasure or survival in.

There are a number of universities in the United States that offer a liberal arts education. These particular universities encompass philosophy and theology as a part of their core curriculum. By taking such courses students are enabled to learn and understand more about the world around them and who they are. A question concerning the existence of God and the role of each individual in society gives rise to speculation. In his article “Why Study Philosophy and Theology”, Dr. Peter Kreeft makes a bold claim which indicates that “anyone who is simply not interested in philosophical questions is less than fully human…” He explains this claim by providing a continuous chain of arguments, in which each argument breaks down the proper reasoning behind why an individual should desire to learn about philosophy and theology. These arguments include the Goal of Education, the Big Picture, and Good Philosophy and Theology.

Analyse the key beliefs of a religious and secular world view in relation to ultimate questions – Taylor Murfitt.

The Existential questions which are important to ask are, Why do we suffer? What happens after we die? and does god exist? Many religions will have answers for these questions, however the comparison between the Catholic viewpoint and the Secular Humanist viewpoint will be argued in this report.

Giussani describes the six unreasonable positions before ultimate questions and I classify these as preconceptions. These positions evade the questions that deal with our existence. What does reality consist of and what is it made for? What is the ultimate meaning of existence? Why is there pain and death and why in the end is a life worth living (Giussani 45)? The theoretical denial of the questions defines these questions as senseless. These questions are only seen as grammatically correct. They are only words and sounds. The voluntaristic substitution of questions deals with the removal of the elementary experience and how if we do not have that energy to answer the fundamental questions, we then use self-affirmation. This self-affirmation is voluntaristic energy and can only lead to answering these questions with measurable answers rather than accounting for all of the factors. These positions affirm that the questions

Through out history, as man progressed from a primitive animal to a "human being" capable of thought and reason, mankind has had to throw questions about the meaning of our own existence to ourselves. Out of those trail of thoughts appeared religion, art, and philosophy, the fundamental process of questioning about existence. Who we are, how we came to be, where we are going, what the most ideal state is....... All these questions had to be asked and if not given a definite answer, then at least given some idea as to how to begin to search for, as humans probed deeper and deeper into the riddle that we were all born into.

The mystery of God's existence has been a crucial element of many religious studies and traditions. Who is God? What is God? Where is God? To effectively discuss the existence of God, it is necessary to illustrate the notion of faith. People of faith believe that God does exist, and that relationship with God gives meaning to their lives. Others who are skeptical point to God as an obsolete hope of an ignorant human race. People today live in a world distinguished by sophisticated technology in which modern science has been a strong agent in questioning the existence of God.