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The 5 Questions Every Worldview Must Answer
The 5 Questions Every Worldview Must Answer
In the book, “I Don’t have Enough Faith to be an Atheist,” Frank Turek and Norman Geisler point out the 5 questions every worldview must answer. They’re the most basic questions of life.
Origin - Where did I come from?
Identity - Who am I?
Meaning - Why am I here?
Morality - How should I live?
Destiny - Where am I going?
The Biblical worldview answers these questions with perfect clarity and satisfaction. Genesis 1:1 answers origin. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:27 answers identity. “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:26 and 2:15 answer meaning. “Let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” Genesis 2:16-17 answers morality. “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:9 answers destiny. “Out of the ground the LORD God causes to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden…” We came from God (origin), we’re His children (identity), we’re here to enjoy the blessings of relationship with Him (meaning), we’re here to do His will (morality), and we’re designed to be with Him forever eating from the tree of life (destiny).
Now, what if we believed there was no God? Origin is impossible to explain. If we came from primordial chemical soup, where did the soup come from? The honest answer is “we have no idea.” If we have no idea where we came from (origin), how can we possibly know who we are (identity)? The question, “Who am I,” is meaningless if we we came from purely unguided, random chemical process over time. We’re just bags of chemicals and the concept of “I” loses all meaning. If we don’t know origin or identity, how can we possibly know why we’re here (meaning)? The honest answer again is “We don’t know.” How should I live (morality)? Who knows? There is no moral standard outside ourselves. Concepts of “good” and “evil,” “right” and “wrong” are meaningless for bags of chemicals. How about where we’re going (destiny)? We all die and go to the grave, but is there anything beyond? Who knows?
The 5 most basic questions of life crumble and shatter under the atheistic worldview. Christianity is the only worldview that answers the 5 most basic questions of life with clarity and coherence. All else is empty and void. (Colossians 2:8)
