Worldviews

My oldest daughter had an assignment in her AWANA book - she needed to interview at least 3 people and ask them four questions.  


The four questions were:


1. Who Is God?
2. How did the world begin?
3. What is your pourpose on earth?
4. What will happen to you after you die?


The assignment was to find people who held various worldviews.  Well, the quickest route, we thought, was through facebook!  Her closest friends are at church, and (we think) most of the folks at church hold a simlar worldview.  Our entire family is Christian, so basically hold similar worldviews.  However, I keep in touch with hundreds of friends through facebook - and they have a wide variety of worldviews.  We found four people who were able and willing to answer her four questions.  


Some of those who participated were interested to see the results of her interviews, and so I'm going to post them here, with names withheld.  Those who participated put much thought and time into this project, and we deeply appreciate their willingness to participate.  I'll share each person's answers in a separate blog post.  Without further delay, here is one person's answers to these four important questions:

1) In my opinion, God is not so much a Who, as a What. Of course, not in a demeaning sense, but I mean an incredible being more than a simple person. I believe he is a powerful, omnipotent spirit, that has inspired faith, fear, hope and life to a huge population. I can't imagine anyone can define God fully until the end of life. You either believe or not, and I find it more comforting to believe, that there is a greater power than myself, and my choice is that I believe in God. And, also more so in a spiritual sense than in a formal religion.

2) While I do believe that there was at some time, a creation of man, animal and 'life' in general, I doubt is was anything like we have currently. I also believe that the timeline of 7 days is more symbolic than accurate, and that the 'beginning' of the world has been a constant evolution, and is continuing still.

3) Hopefully, I am not sounding argumentative, here, but I don't believe we have a purpose in general. To begin, I think that to say we have a purpose, would mean that there is a destiny involved, and I do not believe in predestination. Therefore, I believe that rather than a purpose, we have a responsibility in life. Each of us were given a gift to exist in the time we have on Earth and with each other. While we can create a purpose, we really need to be responsible and active with the life we were given. Once we are born, our family or providers make our choices for us and as we grow we take over. I think it is our responsibility to make the best life we can, not so much for ourselves, but for those we are a part of and most importantly, the future. Perhaps I am splitting hairs here!!

4) I will be creamated! But, you mean after that, I assume! Who can know? I believe that there is a spiritual realm that exists where souls move in energy. I think the idea of Heaven and Hell in the extreme way they are portrayed are creations by men, but that there is a place for spirits. Certainly, we hope that there is a place for all of us to meet our loved ones, but then we must also confront the devils that not all of the ones that have passed will make the cut. No matter how much we loved them. I think that if we all live the best life we can, be open to other beliefs, respect everyone regardless of our politics, and leave it better than we found it, we can pass on to the next realm knowing we did the best we could.

Hope this bit of insight helps! I'm not the most religious person, in the sense that I don't go to formal church on a regular basis, but I am a spritual, thoughful person. I pray daily and try to pay it forward, but I fail a lot! If you need any additional help or need me to elaborate - which I doubt - let me know! Good luck with the project! I'd love to see some of the outcome and your report if you would like to share.