World-Views - making it better

In my last post I explained how the world views evangelistic tool works, now I want your help in making it even better.

The actual survey that I've used in the past was created by UCCF, which is the UK IFES member organisation. They developed not only the survey but the computer programme as well. Both can be found here.

Now here's the thing. The survey asks six questions and from those six questions tries to box you into a particular world-view (with inconsistencies anticipated). My concern is that some of the questions are a bit too simplistic and aren't nuanced enough. The survey does not make any distinction between post-modernity and existentialism or between eastern panthiestic monism and the new age movement.

This was something I had to live with until James Brennan offered to update the nuts and bolts of the survey programme to make it more user-friendly and adaptable. I'll explain more about that when I actually understand what he's wanting to do but for now what I need is your thinking caps on. Below are the survey questions. The survey contains other text explaining that we all come to life with a set of bedrock ideas and this survey aims to strip us back to that bedrock. It also explains that more than one answer is acceptable for the survey's purposes if they can't make up their mind.

Dependent on how you answer the different questions, you can either pop out as a Theist, Deist, Naturalist, Nihilist, Existentialist or Eastern-Panthiestic Monist. You should be able to figure out which answer will be for which. Got any suggestions for how to make it better?

1. ETHICS

1. Morality is relative to each individual & situation; therefore, whatever works best or seems right at the time is the right thing to do.
2. All moral abuses result from being out of harmony with nature.
3. There are no absolute standards; therefore, each person develops their own moral standard.
4. Morality is meaningless.
5. There is a set of absolute moral guidelines established by God that applies to all cultures and times.
6. None of the above.

2. HUMAN SIGNIFICANCE

1. I have significance and dignity specifically because I am made in the image of God.
2. I create my own significance in spite of the fact that there is no ultimate meaning or purpose.
3. I am significant because I am a human being, one of the most highly evolved forms of life on earth.
4. I am significant because of the god-like potential within myself.
5. As a product of directionless evolution, I have no more significance than a rock or a snail.
6. None of the above.

3. A HUMAN IS...

1. A physical being who makes itself miserable because (s)he asks pointless questions about meaning and purpose.
2. A higher animal; the grand result of millions of years of evolution and his/her immediate social upbringing.
3. A being who is incapable of moral perfection and who is therefore in need of God's forgiveness.
4. A being who has the capacity to create meaning and moral values for him/herself and then to live by them.
5. A spiritual being who should look within themselves for divine potential.
6. None of the above.

4. IN YOUR OPINION 'WHAT HAPPENS TO A PERSON AT DEATH?

1. They cease to exist.
2. They are judged and then rewarded or punished in an after-life according to their choices/actions in this life.
3. They come back in another form (reincarnation), OR pass from one state of illusion to the other.
4. None of the above.

5. THE BEST WAY TO FIND TRUTH IS...

1. Through experimentation on data observable through the five senses.
2. Through not only the senses & reason but especially through special revelation from God (Holy Scriptures, etc.).
3. God reveals truth only through the senses and reason, not through special, supernatural revelation.
4. Truth is subjective; it is whatever I decide it to be.
5. Through mystical experience (Yoga, meditation, visualisation, chanting, astral projection, etc.).
6. Because our brains & senses are the products of directionless evolution, we cannot trust our own perceptions of reality; thus, the concept of truth is meaningless.
7. None of the above.

6. GOD IS...

1. The Creator of the universe. He has concern for and is closely involved with his creation, especially human beings.
2. A being who designed the universe and "set it in motion" but who remains uninvolved or, at best, a distant observer.
3. Non-existent.
4. God exists in the minds of some individuals only for the purpose of creating meaning and value.
5. There is an impersonal divine force that exists within everything and everyone.
6. None of the above.