WORLDVIEWS
SIRE REPORT
DIRECTIONS:
Answer all questions in complete sentences. Use only the material presented in The Universe Next Door. Feel free to copy word for word from the book where possible. Do not use material from other texts in your answers. Do not search Google for answers. Use the Sire text only to answer the questions.
A. Chapter Three: The Clockwork Universe - Deism
a. Introductory Considerations (47-50)
(1) Give at least two reasons why deism emerged as a worldview.
Answer: Change in authority for knowledge and the antiscientific nature of the church.
(2) Limiting our knowledge of God to general revelation is analogous to what, according to Sire?
Answer: “It is like finding that eating only eggs for breakfast for the rest of your life.”
b. Basic Deism (50-59)
(1) What is one form of popular deism?
Answer: Naturalism
(2) How does the deist view prime reality (God)?
Answer: Deists believe in a God but not the type of God that Christians believe in which is a personal God.
(3) What is the main difference between warm and cold deism?
Answer: Cold deists are hostile to Christianity, while warm diests are not.
(4) According to (cold) deists, in what two ways is the universe a closed system?
Answer: First they believe that the universe is closed to Gods reordering and that he is not interested in it. Second, the universe is closed to human reordering because it is locked up in a clocklike fashion.
(5) Deists believe that human beings are part of the clockwork universe. What does that imply about human actions?
Answer: This implies that humans would be able to get out of the chain of cause and effect and we can act to change our environment.
(6) What do deists believe happens to a person at death?
Answer: warm deists believe in the afterlife and cold deists do not
(7) What does “human reason becomes autonomous” mean?
Answer: It means without relying on the revelation from the outside. No scripture and no messages from God...