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World View Survey
Hello,
A class at my church is planning on performing an over view of various
"world views". I thought that it would be interesting to ask people
from a variety of points of view about their "world views". The follow
questions are being posted to a variety of groups.
I would very much appreciate answers from any of you who would like
participate in this little survey. I will make a digest of all the
different responses for use in the class, and I will send the digest
to all who participate. No names or email addresses will be included
in the digest.
I will be looking for answers in the newsgroups, but email to
jfb@kaiwan.com is appreciated.
Thank you very much.
World view questions:
1. Do you ground your beliefs in a philosophical or religious understanding
of the universe? I.e. do you know what the universe is, how it came into
being, who or what "made" it, or did it always exist? Or are these
questions unimportant?
1a. Is the universe mainly a product of chance or is it the product
of some kind of intelligence? Or something else?
1b. Is the universe eternal?
2. Do you believe that there is a God?
Answer the following if you answered yes to 2 or if you judge any of
them applicable:
2a. Do you believe that there is just one God, or many Gods?
2b. Do you believe that there are any limits on what God (or the Gods)
can do? If so, what kind of limits? Is God (or are the Gods) finite
or infinite?
2c. Do you believe that such supernatural powers perform scientifically
verifiable miracles?
2d. Is God (or are the Gods) more like a force or more like a person?
2e. Is God (or the Gods) is some sense one or united with the universe?
2f. Are humans potentially Gods?
2g. Is God (or are the Gods) to be found within you or outside of you?
2h. Is God present in everything? Is everything really a part of God
in some sense?
2i. Do you commune with God? How? Meditation or prayer?
2j. What is God's (or the God's) purpose for humanity? What is required
of humans? Faith? Good works?
3. What happens after death? Do you just cease to exist? Do you go
someplace else like a heaven or hell? Will there be a future
resurrection from the dead? Do you believe in reincarnation?
3a. Can you affect what happens to you after death? Go to heaven? Escape
the wheel of death and re-birth?
4. What makes living meaningful or worthwhile?
5. Do you believe in an absolute right and wrong? Do you believe that
there is a single moral code that everyone ought to follow? Or are
morals strictly relative?
6. Why should anyone follow a moral or ethical code? Or should they?
6a. What are the consequences of not following a moral or ethical code?
Bad Karma? Hell? Retribution in this life?
7. Is it possible to know anything with absolute certainty? Or is truth
relative?
8. How do we know things? Science and reason? Intuition? Revelation?
Enlightenment?
9. How good a guide is reason in discovering and understanding truth?
Is reason limited or can reason be used to understand most anything?
10. Do you believe that there are higher states of consciousness or
understanding? Can humans obtain or acheive these higher states?
12. Does evil exist? Or is evil an illusion?
13. Is human kind only a type of animal?
14. Do you believe in biological evolution? Is evolution "blind" or is
it directed from the outside in some manner?
15. Is history progressing towards a goal?
16. Is time linear or cyclical? Does time have a beginning or an ending?
Do events eventually repeat themselves, over and over again?
John Baskette (jfb@kaiwan.com or jfb@macsch.com)
