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100 Reasons to Believe New Testament History
7. Christian Worldview Logically Consistent
All religious worldviews address the questions of life's origin, meaning, morals and future destiny. Only Christianity, however, answers these questions in a logically consistent way. All other worldviews give answers that do not cohere together. Remember that the first test for truthfulness to be applied on any claim, whether it is a single statement or complex worldview, is the test for logical consistency. If contradictions exist, then the claim cannot be true. If no contradictions exist, then the statement may be true. Additional tests may then be conductedA.
Buddhism is a non-theistic, if not atheistic, worldview. Yet its proponents adhere to a strict moral code. As noted in point 4, only God makes sense of absolute moral values. The Buddhist's adherence to a moral codes with no acknowledgement whatever to the determiner of these absolute values creates an enormous contradiction.
Hinduism teaches that the meaning of life is to atone for the sins committed in previous lives. This explanation gives us no answer whatever for why our very first life was supposedly necessary.
Atheism is a worldview wrought with contradiction. Its proponents believe in a totally materialistic universe without meaning whatever. But notice that in a purely materialistic universe all thoughts, including the atheists, are the product of random, meaningless chemical reactions. If this is the case, then no thought could be said to be any more valid than another. Ultimately, the atheist tries to persuade us against the belief in design and meaning in the universe with evolutionary arguments, which have to be designed meaningfully!
Pantheism teaches that God exists as the universe. This view states that God is everything, and that individuality is an illusion caused by the mind. If Pantheism is true then individual minds themselves are part of the illusion, and therefore can provide no basis for explaining it.
Pantheism also fails to address the problem of evil in a logically consistent way. If God is all good, then evil must exist as independent of God, contrary to the pantheistic idea that God is everything. If God is all evil, then good must exist independently. Some might contend that good and evil, right and wrong, are really just illusions, inapplicable to what really is. If this view is true, then to be right is as meaningless as being wrong. Why then does the pantheist try to convince others of the truthfulness of his worldview?
The Christian worldview on the other hand, addresses each of the basic questions of life in a logically consistent way.
The Question of Our Origins: Christian answer: We were lovingly designed and created by God
The Question of Life's Meaning: Christian answer:Our purpose is to know and serve our creator who loves us and gave Himself for us
The Question of Morals: Christian answer: God, the unchanging creator of life, establishes absolute right and wrong.
The Question of Our Destiny: Christian answer: Our ultimate destiny is either eternal life in heaven if we accept
Christ's free gift of salvation, or eternity in hell as the consequence for our sins if we reject His offer.
7. Christian Worldview Logically Consistent - Notes and References
A. After the logical consistency test, there are four other tests which can be applied to a truth claim. They are:
1. The Empirical Evidence Test - Is there physical evidence to substantiate the claim?
2. The Experiential Relevance Test - Does the claim refer to terms and concepts that are meaningful to us?
3. The Undeniability Test - Does the claim deny something undeniable? (i.e. the statement, "I don't exist", is demonstrably false. Our existence cannot be denied since we must exist to engage in the denial process).
4. The Unaffirmability Test - Does the claim try to affirm something unaffirmable? (i.e. The statement, "I can't speak a word of English", is demonstrable false because in order to affirm such a statement, one must speak English).
Note that many claims can pass these tests for truthfulness and still be false. The point is, if a truth claim fails any of these tests, it cannot be true.