Worldviews: Christianity and Naturalism

The Christian Worldview

Christianity, similarly to Islam and Judaism, posits that there is a singular God and, therefore, the world’s largest religion is monotheistic. Yet, Christianity has vast differences with other monotheistic traditions. In other words, the three major monotheistic religions believe in the existence of a singular God, yet they understand His nature differently, resulting in either a flawed view of God or belief in different gods entirely.¹ Christians are Trinitarians, meaning they view God’s singular being as subsisting in three distinct Persons, and Jews today, although Binitarians at times throughout history, are strictly monotheists and are harsh on Trinitarian theology alongside the Muslims. This comparison to other religions that share belief in a singular God is necessary for explaining the nature of the Christian God. He is Three-in-One.

According to Christianity, this Trinitarian God is the Creator of the universe ex nihilo (out of nothing) and everything in it (Gen. 1:1). The Father created through the Word, His Son, and the Spirit, which proceeds from both, is the breath that gives life to all (Gen. 1:2; Job 33:4; John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16-17). God called this universe and creation good, yet because of sin, creation has become damaged and corrupted (Gen. 1:31; 3:17-18). However, God has a plan for the fullness of time to restore His creation to a glorified state (2 Pet. 3:13).

The pinnacle of this creation is humanity, created in the Image of God and His likeness, capable of creating and taking dominion over the earth, otherwise known as the Cultural Mandate (Gen. 1:28; 2:15).² Yet, humanity falls into sin through the disobedience of Adam and Eve. Through the work of Christ, Jesus the Son, humanity has the opportunity to place their faith in Him and be restored to a right relationship with God. When one believes in Jesus, they are given a new cultural mandate of sorts—the Great Commission—to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them (Matt. 28:18-20).

Christians have two sorts of epistemology—General and Special—and these two categories are “revelations,” or ways in which God reveals Himself. General Revelation is the ordinary way in which God reveals Himself, whether through nature or the human mind (Rom. 1). Special Revelation, on the other hand, is the written Word of God that contains everything an individual needs to be saved from sin (2 Tim. 3:16). Along with the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures are the witness to Christ’s work on the Cross to save sinners.

Special Revelation also serves as a moral guidebook for creation. While the Bible may not mention every moral and ethical dilemma, it does provide a framework for making ethical claims and reacting to them: “[God’s] [W]ord is a lamp to [humans] feet and a light to [their] path[s]”³ (Ps. 119:105). Moreover, the Scripture tells Christians to “love the Lord [their] God with all [their] heart[s] and with all [their] soul[s] and with all [their] mind[s]” and to “love [their] neighbor[s] as [their]self.”

The Naturalist Worldview

Naturalism, the worldview of atheists, posits that there is no God and such belief in Him is typically seen as irrational and illogical according to their perspective. Rather than a Supreme Being, naturalists see reason, rationality, empirical science, and fact as the governing and controlling factors of the universe.

Furthermore, naturalists see the cosmos as mathematically describable, originating with the Big Bang, a singularity that expanded rapidly and set all matter into motion. The universe as a whole is bound by the laws of nature, and therefore is predictable insofar as scientists and naturalists are capable of understanding the future by looking at the past and how the universe has developed throughout time.⁴ This development includes the development of life. Darwinism, the position that posits various species as originating from a shared ancestor, is the common position in naturalism. These species evolve throughout time, with the fittest of said species surviving and the unfit dying out, and have arrived at the species known today across the globe. It is crucial to clarify that Christians, such as Dr. Thorvald B. Madsen, also see the universe as mathematically describable and governed by nature, also, yet unlike naturalists, they believe these natural laws originate with God, who sustains the universe.

Regarding naturalism’s anthropology and epistemology, there are two main points to consider. First, humans are “entirely material things, like sticks and stones. [They] are alive, of course, but [they] do not have souls, if souls are taken to be immaterial things that can act and be acted upon… [They] are purely physical things, such that a complete scientific knowledge of [them] would cover all there is to know.”⁵ Second, the human experience depends not on rationality alone, but on subjective experiences, which are considered empirical data in the same way that psychology, sociology, and anthropology are sciences. These subjective experiences, including emotion and psychology, are determined as part of the natural processes of human life. Therefore, naturalists accept ideology derived from culture as true and authoritative. For example, this statistic is demonstrated in the inclusivity of the LGBTQIA+ movement, where atheism is often prevalent, although LGBTQIA+ says it is inclusive of any religious worldview.⁶

This embrace of subjective experience alongside rationality has effects on ethics as well. As demonstrated previously, the LGBTQIA+ community, ruled by subjective experience due to their supposed psychology, is an ethical dilemma that naturalists are often supportive of or indifferent towards. This agreement and support are grounded in the naturalist belief that ethics are a human and social construct, shaped by cultural norms. For naturalists, any ethical position is deemed acceptable if it agrees with cultural norms and does not harm others.

Footnotes

1. Thorvald B. Madsen, “The Elements of a Worldview”; class handout in Introduction to Apologetics (Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Spring 2025), 1. ↩

2. Thorvald B. Madsen, “Unit 2 Video - Dr. Madsen - Intro to Apologetics,” YouTube.com, August 8, 2022, 18:12-19:51. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCbfQLlK-Bg&t=879s ↩

3. Unless otherwise specified, all Scripture references are to the English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016). ↩

4. Madsen, “Unit 2 Video - Dr. Madsen - Intro to Apologetics,” 14:24-14:39. ↩

5. Madsen, “The Elements of a Worldview,” 3. ↩

6. Ibid. ↩