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    Worldview and Moral Issues: Christian Worldview E-book Series, #3
    Worldview and Moral Issues: Christian Worldview E-book Series, #3
    Worldview and Moral Issues: Christian Worldview E-book Series, #3
    Ebook115 pages1 hourChristian Worldview E-book Series

    Worldview and Moral Issues: Christian Worldview E-book Series, #3

    By Freddy Davis

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    About this ebook

    It used to be that American Christians didn't need a knowledge of worldview concepts. However, American society has radically changed to where it is no longer homogeneous like it used to be. Now, we are religiously pluralistic, and consistently interact with people from many other worldviews and belief systems. It is an understanding of worldview that gives us the knowledge we need to not only effectively share the gospel to others, but also to have confidence that our beliefs are true and right.

     

    This book is a compilation of key articles written by Freddy Davis, president of MarketFaith Ministries that deals with how the various worldview beliefs deal with morality. It will give you the ability to understand and effectively interact with the people in society who come from other worldview backgrounds.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFreddy Davis
    Release dateSep 9, 2024
    ISBN9798227197252
    Worldview and Moral Issues: Christian Worldview E-book Series, #3
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    Author

    Freddy Davis

    Freddy Davis is the president of MarketFaith Ministries. He is married to Deborah and has one son, Ken. Freddy did his undergraduate studies at Florida State University in Speech Communications and received his MDiv and DMin degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition to his pastoral ministry and work with MarketFaith Ministries, Freddy served overseas as an international missionary for nearly 17 years (in Japan and in the former Soviet Republic of Latvia). Freddy is the author of numerous books, workbooks and other works.

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      Book preview

      Worldview and Moral Issues - Freddy Davis

      Christian Worldview E-book Series - Volume 3

      Worldview and Moral Issues

      Dealing with Moral Issues

      When is Something Evil?

      Worldview Issues Treatment

      We Know Who Holds the Future, but What Does the Future Hold?

      Worldview in Entertainment

      Abortion

      Worldview and Abortion

      What is the Real Choice in Abortion?

      Pornography

      Worldview and Pornography

      What Makes Pornography So Bad?

      Worldview Expressions of Pornography

      Sexual Immorality

      Worldview and Sexual Immorality

      Sex from a Christian Worldview

      Business Boycotts

      Should Christians Boycott Offending Businesses?

      Homosexuality

      What is the Worldview Basis of Homosexual Marriage?

      A Worldview Perspective on Homosexuality

      Race

      Race Relations from a Worldview Perspective

      Lying

      Deliberate Lying as a Worldview Expression

      Bad Language

      What’s the Big Deal about Foul Language?

      Introduction

      MarketFaith Ministries is a worldview discipleship ministry. Our purpose is to provide resources and training to help Christians become more knowledgeable and effective as they live out their Christian faith.

      We have been providing resources and training since 2006. Over that period, we have produced many books focused on the topic of worldview and its practical implications for Christians. You can find them in various places where books are sold, as well as on the MarketFaith Ministries website (www.marketfaith.org).

      But in addition to the books, we have written scores of articles. This e-book is part of a series that we are making available that feature many of the articles that have been published. Each e-book contains articles that focus on a specific area of worldview knowledge.

      You will find the knowledge contained in this resource to be valuable beyond imagination. It will give you the ability to understand and effectively interact with the people who have different views  – some that you may consider truly unimaginable.

      Dealing with Moral Issues: When is Something Evil?

      Most people are aware of the fact that Nazi Germany was responsible for the genocide of six million Jews. But it was not only Jews that they murdered. They also killed many other people whom they deemed enemies, or simply were not useful to the state. They murdered men, women, handicapped, aged, sick, prisoners of war, forced laborers, camp inmates, critics, homosexuals, Jews, Slavs, Serbs, Germans, Czechs, Italians, Poles, French, Ukrainians, and many others. In total, it is estimated that they killed around 20 million people – simply because they were deemed not worthy.

      Most people looking at this from the outside find it hard to imagine that anyone could justify killing people off like that. However, from the vantage point of the Nazi regime, this was actually considered a good thing. In their mind, the greater good was a pure race. Eliminating those who were inferior was seen to be the moral thing to do.

      During his rule, it is estimated that Joseph Stalin killed somewhere between 9 and 20 million of his own citizens during the Great Purge. He also had a rational motive for his actions. As a committed Communist, he was convinced that in order for society to advance and a true communist utopia to emerge, capitalism had to be eliminated. For him, the class struggle had to play out. He also had to make sure that no other constituencies emerged that could possibly overthrow him. Based on those principles, he viewed his actions as completely moral.

      It is estimated that Mao Zedong was responsible for killing around 65 million Chinese. A large percentage of those died from starvation due to his Great Leap Forward policy. This was a program designed to move China from an agrarian economy to an industrialized society based on communist principles. Millions more were killed as he eliminated those deemed to have not properly supported his goals.

      Mao, like Hitler and Stalin, believed that the ends justified the means. For him, the moral thing to do was to radically transform China into a leading world power. If many people had to die to achieve that end, it was a small price to pay. Promoting the Great Leap Forward was the moral thing to do regardless of the toll in human lives.

      We could easily go on with this list of those who committed genocide. There were the ancient Romans, Genghis Kahn, the Japanese during WWII, Cambodia’s Pol Pot, the Ottomans as they worked to spread Islam, and on and on. What is important to note in all these cases is that those who perpetrated these genocides had reasons that they considered moral.

      As we look at this from our Christian worldview perspective, we deem all of those acts to be evil. They were completely contrary to the teachings of the Bible. So where did all of these other people get the idea that their genocides were actually moral?

      To address this question, we have to explore what exactly makes people think an action is moral or immoral. The answer lies in their worldview beliefs.

      Animistic groups evaluate morality based on the particular pantheon of gods they worship. They generally see their gods to be the right ones, but also recognize that other tribes and groups worship different ones. If they do battle with another group and are able to defeat them, they consider their gods to be the strongest and feel justified in their conquests. In these cases, morality is determined by the gods who are strongest. Historically, Genghis Kahn, the ancient Romans and Greeks, and the Japanese based their understanding of morality on this type of belief.

      There are also certain groups of Theists who believe they are justified in wiping out other groups of people. In particular, from the very time of its founding, particular factions of radical Muslims have held this belief. Some Muslim groups, though not all, interpret portions of the Qur’an to mean that all who are infidels should be wiped out – with infidels being defined as people who are not Muslim or who convert out of Islam. The motivation of these people is based on their belief that the Qur’an is a revelation of God’s will, and by carrying out genocide, they are obeying God – which makes their actions moral.

      In more modern times, along with Muslin extremists, it has been primarily believers in naturalistic philosophy who have had the more genocidal tendencies. Naturalism is the belief that the natural universe, operating by natural laws, is all that exists. Belief systems in this category are all atheistic. Hitler’s basic beliefs fell into this category.

      But the most prominent naturalistic belief system that has fostered genocide in the modern era has been the various versions of Marxism. This has included people like Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot.

      In the case of naturalistic beliefs, there is no outside authority source that is able to define morality. There are no gods that duke it out in the spirit world, and no God who is able to reveal morality. Here, morality is defined by the people who are able to impose their will on the rest of society. It is based on the law of the jungle.

      When it comes to the authority source that defines morality for Christianity, we are looking at the same worldview category as Islam. It is a theistic belief system which holds that God has revealed to mankind what is moral and immoral. There is a huge difference between the two, however, and the difference lies in the content of the two authority sources. While both faiths claim to be a revelation from God, one instructs its followers to kill infidels, while the other looks to the Bible with its elevated view of the value of human life and emphasis on grace and mercy.

      So, how can we know for sure how to determine what is moral? Is there a way?

      Let’s start with the common understanding of what things people deem to be moral. In spite of the fact that the above mentioned dictators and dictatorial regimes committed genocide and felt they were justified in doing so, that is actually an extreme minority position. Most individuals in the world, regardless of their worldview beliefs, believe that killing other people is wrong. They may qualify that to some degree based on various circumstances, but in general they believe it is wrong. The varying qualifications are typically determined by whether or not they know or like the other person. It is interesting that all

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