Some Different Worldviews

Posted on May 4, 2015 Updated on May 4, 2015

Read Romans 1:20-22 and John 1:1-5 as an introduction to Pantheism-“all is God.” This false idea says that God is not separate from nature but that nature is Cod. How is this view reflected in the literature?

When reading Romans 1:20-22 at first, it would seem like God is apart nature and human.” For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20, NLT). In this verse many people would interpret this as a pantheistic type of belief. Paul did not mean for this verse to be pantheistic or seem pantheistic. Paul was describing God as a being that we can’t see, but we know that he is real. God’s attribute is holy and perfect that he is not sinful. God has revealed himself that “we can’t say that he is not real. I believe that Paul did not have that idea that God is in everything and is everything that was created. Although paganism existed, pantheism was not heard of until the romanticism era.

Many people may have had pantheistic views, but these views was not fully developed. Pantheists strongly believed that we all are a part of God including nature. To pantheists there were no such thing as God being a separate being that was invisible. The beauty of nature was enough for pantheists. When reading John 1 and also in Genesis 1 for the first time, it would seem like God was some type of matter in space and time that evolved from a single molecule or matter that evolved over time. No human can explain where God comes from. All we know is that God is the creator of everything. There are some religions that holds a pantheistic type belief such as Native American Indians, Hindus, and Taoism.

Explain the difference between “innocence” and “experience” for William Blake. How does his emphasis upon the inherent goodness of man and the corrupting effects of society fit in with Romanticism?

Innocence: The Lamb

William Blake had an examples of innocence. For example, let’s choose “The Lamb”. This poem express and teaches us about innocence. The lamb is clearly describing Jesus Christ. This poem does use symbolism to refer to how Christians describe Jesus. When the poem mentions “Little Lamb”, this refers to Jesus Christ. For he calls himself a Lamb. God came into human form to experience life on earth and to die for our sins. Blake describes the lamb as meek and mild. This also pertains to Jesus Christ as well. Blake chose the correct man (Jesus) as an example of innocence.

Experience: The Chimney Sweeper

The Chimney Sweeper had two sides of the boy: innocence and experience. In this paragraph, I will be talking about the experience portion. As we can see the boy has a rough life experience. These experience consist of being a lonely child, living with abusive parents, and hard labor. This boy was miserable because of his life experiences. No child should go through these tough times. Blake would agree that this child was going through a rough childhood.

Inherent goodness of man and the corrupting effects of society fit in with Romanticism just as a size 9 shoe fits on a 9 inch foot. The reason I used this analogy is because in Romanticism, people only believe in what they see, taste, touch, feel, emotions, nature, and etc. I believe that it’s the same as being an atheist. People don’t say, “I am a romanticist” but more of “I am an atheist”.