Worldviews Reflective Integration free essay sample

Transcendentalism and Postmodernism: Reflective Integration Contemporary coverage of the news bombards us daily with the presence of evil. Whether it is national headlines or the world news, it is evident that evil exist in our world today. The presence of evil can present conflict despite of your personal worldview. For many centuries, the presence of evil in the world has been the basis of intellectual debate and many scholars as well as theologians have tried to develop theories as to why evil exist. Regardless of whether you may be an atheist, agnostic, a pantheist or a Christian, the presence of evil in the world presents challenges in several ways. The presence of evil and how we comprehend it sets the foundation for our commitment to a specific worldview. Antheist, Agnostic and Evil Many atheists consider the problem of evil as proof that God does not exist. From this viewpoint one may argue that just as God is null to exist, there is no such thing as evil. We will write a custom essay sample on Worldviews Reflective Integration or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page For an atheist evil is simplified to occurrences that naturally exist. This is better described as stated in Making Sense of Your World, â€Å"Some people are going to get hurt, others are going to get lucky and you won’t find any rhyme or reason to it† (Phillips, Brown and Stonestreet, 2008, p. 151). The dilemma here is that we live in a world often void of positive outcome and one might find that they are hopelessly and helplessly waiting for luck to come their way. Consequently this mindset leads to the lack of moral boundaries for good and evil and one can find themselves living life out of control and hoping to be luckier than the next guy in beating the odds of natural causes and processes. Contrary to an atheist, an Agnostic suspends judgment of evil, saying that there are not sufficient grounds either for affirmation or for denial. They settle to simply state that it is unknown whether evil exist or does not exist. The consequence with this mindset is that the agnostic faces a pessimistic, disheartening, hopelessness when facing the presence of evil. This is due to the realization that for the agnostic, the presence of evil boils down to just making the best of a bad situation. However, learning to make the best of a bad situation can be humanly challenging even for the dedicated agnostic. Pantheist and Evil For worldviews influenced by pantheistic doctrines, the presence of evil and suffering is tied to two possibilities. The first is that evil and suffering are merely illusions created by the human mind, and the second is that evil and suffering are tied to unwholesomeness, impurity, or impiety of character. The problem with the illusionary view is that as stated in Making Sense of Your World, â€Å"The problem of the evil is not answered by identifying it as an illusion. It has simply been shifted to another level. † (Philips, Brown, Stonestreet, 2008, p. 152). In addition, the illusion does not fit the actual experience of the world or of evil (Philips, Brown, Stonestreet, 2008, p. 152). From the second perspective of human unwholesomeness, impurity, or impiety, â€Å"any evil that one experiences in life is the result of negative energy from former incarnations† or from negative deed or action performed in this life (Philips, Brown, Stonestreet, 2008, p. 153). The problem with this mentality is that this view assumes that pain and suffering is deserved as a result of actions you have performed prior to your current existence and among other issues, this belief ultimately â€Å"discourages acts which would help to alleviate the suffering of others† (Philips, Brown, Stonestreet, 2008, p. 153). Christianity and Evil In Christian societies, the presence of evil has been explained in a few different ways. It is often defended by a free will mentality which proposes that in order for God to abolish evil, He would also have to revoke man’s free will to choose to love or reject Him. Rick Rood explained this view in his article The Problem of Evil: How Can a Good God Allow Evil by saying that, â€Å"Certainly, God is capable of destroying evil—but not without destroying human freedom, or a world in which free creatures can function. † (Rood, 1996, paragraph 14) Believers would also contend that evil brings them closer to God, which is the ultimate goal. Psalm 90:15 states â€Å"Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil† (New Living Translation). The theistic worldview also maintains that everything works for good in the end. This is portrayed in the biblical story of Joseph. In the big picture, evil is real and terrible, but the reason for its existence and the plan for its ultimate demise is all figured out. From a personal perspective, I think the biggest challenge for a believer is the explanation of suffering. We know that God is a good God and that yes all things work out in the end, but that idea can be hard to grasp in the midst of encountering evil. Furthermore it is not easy to correlate the explanation of suffering to one who has not experienced God. Conclusion The presence of evil in the world poses challenging threats to the foundations of any worldview. Even those with the great philosophical answers and strong core beliefs, find it difficult to reconcile the existence of evil with atheistic/agnostic logic and reason, or theistic spiritual necessity; or pantheistic self-actualization/illusory concepts. Even for some who plead passive ignorance, the presence of evil still remains a huge problem that ultimately challenges the human mind and heart.