Who Am I? Why Am I Here? Where Am I Going?

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. 

Life overflows with meaning, purpose, and hope for those who will believe.

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

He Loved Me Still

At the moment in life when a boy feels himself becoming a man I began to ask some earnest questions.  Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?  I sought answers in science class, in conversations with family and friends and by defiantly disobeying my father's wishes that I not waste time reading Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.  I began to explore other areas of thought and belief outside of the Christian worldview my parents had taught me.

I left church services believing that one’s spirituality was based on external behavior.  I knew a lot of Protestants and Catholics who acted Christian on Sunday but lived like the devil all week.  My Catholic friends rationalized their sinful behavior by going to Mass and confessing sins once a week.  My Christian friends would say a quick Saturday night prayer in preparation for church on Sunday.  I was disillusioned and disappointed.  I saw their hypocrisy and I despised in others what I knew was rooted in my own soul.

Bitterness began to eat away at me.  My parents worried much about the direction I was taking and so they sent me away to a Christian boarding school.  For the first time in my life I saw young people who really seemed to live an authentic Christian life.  I was skeptical.  I studied their lives and searched for flaws.  They didn’t seem to struggle with anger like I did.  They were not eaten up with bitterness like I was.  They had a peace that surpassed my understanding.  I learned that God loved me, that he could forgive me and that living a Christian life was possible through the grace of God.  I began a journey, cover to cover, through the Bible as a high school junior. 

God came to life through the scriptures.  I was envious of others around me who seemed to be living on a different plane of reality than I was living.  I went to chapel services.  I attended revival services.  I realized that my own moral failures and my own selfishness was what had separated me from Christ.

I learned that I could be restored.  My first year in that boarding school was pretty traumatic.  I struggled with my belief.  I tried to find fault in the professing Christians around me.  I thought I had to understand and comprehend salvation before I experienced it.  I finally came to realize that I could never really know Christ if I failed to repent of my sins.

I gave my heart to Christ.  I said 'yes' to God.  He invited me into relationship with him.  Shortly after he called me to teach and preach the truth of God.  I finally knew who I was, I knew why I was created, I knew where I was going.  Unfortunately, I lost my way for awhile.  I was Gomer in the book of Hosea.  I sought out others lovers, other gods.  I worshipped other idols. I was asking God for a divorce.  I wanted to enjoy the pleasures of sin. Even though I turned my back, the Hound of Heaven followed after my fleeing soul like the dog pursues the rabbit.  He would not cease seeking after me.  His love never faltered. He refused to let me go.  I sought divorce from God and he would have nothing of it.  I turned back to Christ on the day I realized that in my deepest agony, in my darkest moment, that he still loved me.

The Persians tell the story of the wife of one of Cyrus’ generals.   The general’s wife was accused and convicted of treason.  The king sentenced her to death.  When her husband comprehended the gravity of her situation he rushed into the throne room of the king and cried out in despair, “Oh Lord, take my life instead of hers.  Let me die in her place.”  The king felt compassion for them and said, “A love like this must not be spoiled by death.”  He set the woman free.  As they walked briskly away from the throne room the husband asked his wife, “Did you not see the compassion in the eyes of the king?”  She replied to her husband, “I had no eyes for the king.  I saw only the man who was willing to die in my place.”

Jesus is the groom who was not only willing to die but actually did die for the unfaithful bride.

Donald Gray Barnhouse wrote a book entitled God's Methods for Holy Living. In that book he tells a story about a young British aristocrat who married and then went off to fight in WWI.  His bride wrote him a letter and apologized for not writing more often.  She said she was extremely busy in a local hospital taking care of the wounded who had returned from war.  The young man received some leave time and so he went home to surprise her.  He went to the hospital where his young wife was supposedly working but she wasn't there.  He checked her flat and she wasn't there either.  Someone slipped up to him and said, "She will probably be at a tea dance at the Ritz today."  The husband went there and found her with another man.  He divorced her.

At the beginning of the same war, there was a young couple in love in the western part of the U.S.  They had planned to marry and the young man was suddenly called off to war.  On the day before he was to be shipped out the young woman said to him, "I know that it is not quite the date for our wedding, but you might be ordered overseas immediately; you might be killed, and I would much rather go through life bearing your name than go through life always explaining that the man I loved had been killed in the war.  So let's be married now."  They were married the next day and the husband was shipped out to France and the young bride sat lone in the little cottage that was to be their home. 

She was very lonely, of course.  Day after day she would write to him, she thought of him constantly and she sent him gifts.  Months passed and on one particular day she was so lonely she sat some pillows by the fire place and spread her husband's letters in front of her and she began to read them.  She began to cry.  Suddenly, as she was weeping over the letters she heard a step on the front porch.  The door opened and there was her husband.  He had sent a telegram telling her that he was coming but the message was lost and he had arrived unexpectedly.  She leapt to her feet and ran into his arms.  All the months of waiting, all the moments of loneliness, all her pent up fears were released as she wept in his arms.

The groom is going to come for his bride.  He seeks you even though he finds you flirting with the world?  He loves you even though your heart has grown cold with hypocrisy and unfaithfulness.  The love of this groom is too deep to fathom.  He will never file for divorce.  He loves you even in your adultery, even when you’ve given your heart to other gods, to your own idols. Jesus is searching for the unfaithful bride, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in…”  (Rev. 3:20)  Oh that you might know such love, such wondrous love!

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.