The basic philosophical
questions of life are three: “Who am I?”
“Why am I here?” and “Where am I going?”
You can tell one’s worldview by the way they answer these
questions. Up until about 150 years ago
the answers to these questions were mostly based on man’s understanding of God
as the Creator of all things. Then, like
a slow moving locomotive the age of enlightenment appeared. Slowly but ever so
surely it was declared that truth might be known by following the rails of
reason. The concept of God was placed on
the back burner while men searched for truth through their own methods of
logic.
Having evicted God from the
train, men began to develop atheistic ideas that were vacuous in content. The result was a carving of hopelessness in
their hearts. God had affirmed to man
that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. (Proverbs 9:10) The depraved state of men’s minds was made
vulnerable by the absence of the fear of God.
Men began to develop absurd arguments that the complex and beautiful
world in which we live was all a “mysterious accident”. They propped up these arguments with nonsensical
statements such as, “Something came from nothing”.
One NASA scientist seems to
have recognized the folly of trying to reason our way to truth without the help
of a Supreme. Robert Jastrow said, "For
the scientist who has lived by faith in the power of reason, the story ends
like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to
conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is
greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for
centuries."
Though these three questions
are life’s most important, Americans in general are very apathetic about
finding answers to them. The American
Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) reveals that the number who claim to have
no religious affiliation increased from 8% in 1990 to 15% in 2008. When asked about having purpose in life, 28% told a Lifeway survey that “It’s not a
priority in my life to find my deeper purpose”.
The collective reply of many younger Americans regarding the discovery
of the wisdom of God is a resounding “whatever”!
Who Am I?
None will question the great
value of humanity. The atheist doesn’t
deny the value of humans but he refuses to believe that the source of our value
is God. The Atheist makes the absurd
declaration that the ultimate source of the universe was an accidental collision
of atoms. Somehow, the souls and
consciousness of men was spawned by a once in a trillion coincidental event
that formed a primordial soup that cradled first life. They believe that we are here merely by
chance and that we have no ultimate purpose. Our lives are merely a quick flash
in the pan and then we will merge into everlasting darkness never to be
remembered again. This worldview leads
to nothing but deep meaningless and despair.
The Christian believes that
man has great value because God created him.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1)
We are the crown jewel of his creation.
If one wants to study atheism, go to the philosopher, not the
physician. Those who study the complex
intricacies of the human body, its heart, its eye, its hearing mechanism have
too little faith to declare it all happened by accident. They believe there must be intelligence
behind such complexity.
Why Am I Here?
The atheist who rejects the
existence of God and gabbles that the universe was an accident and mankind has
no purpose looks into a bleak, black future.
If there is no intelligence behind the existence of man, if we are
simply here by chance, then we have no more purpose than a housefly or a
cockroach. The atheist philosopher,
Bertrand Russell, lamented the meaningless life: “…all the devotion, all the inspiration, all
the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast
death of the solar system, and…the whole temple of man’s achievement must
inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins…” For the atheist, life is meaningless, the
universe will eventually slip into extinction and all men will be swallowed up
by a dark hole of nothingness.
The preacher in Ecclesiastes
felt this same despair when he mourned the emptiness of life without God: “"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says
the Teacher. "Everything is meaningless!" (Ecc. 12:8) Job, at the height of his suffering groaned
about the aimless life, “I despise my life…my days have no meaning”. (Job 7:16)
The Christian finds
fulfillment in life by accepting the provisions of God through the Son. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the
life”. Christ’s followers soon come to realize
that a search for meaning is meaningless apart from the Messenger. Jesus
declared that he had come to replace the empty void in our lives with a rich
and satisfying life.” (John 10:10)
Where am I going?
The atheist believes that the
universe will eventually drift further and further apart until the energy and
heat and gravity will no longer affect the heavenly bodies. Just as the universe will cease to exist, man
will also cease to exist. Death is
simply an eternal sleep. From nothing we
came and to nothing we shall return.
The Christian strongly
disagrees with the atheist. The
Christian doesn’t believe we came from nothing nor does he believe we are on
the road to nowhere. Solomon makes a
solemn comparison when he says, “Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the
same fate awaits them both: As one dies
so dies the other…All go to the same place; all come from dust and to dust all
return.” (Ecc. 3:18)
Christians understand that
Christ is coming back again. He has not
promised us emptiness, he has promised us restoration. He will renew his creation and establish a
new kingdom. He will rule that kingdom
with perfect justice which will result in everlasting peace.
The atheist finds no
significance in his life. The Christian
realizes that he has unfathomable significance because he was created in the
image of God.
The atheist finds no meaning
in life. The Christian agrees with
Solomon’s proclamation that life is indeed meaningless apart from God. “…here is the conclusion of the matter, fear
God…” (Ecc. 12:13)
The atheist has no hope for
his future. The Christian revels in the
truth of Christ’s resurrection. He has
brought us “into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3) He has gone to prepare a place for us. (John
14:3) and he promises he will return for us.
Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.
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