Better Purpose for Life
The relevance of the first big question carries over to the next two. For if there is no personal Creator who made this universe and ultimately us, if rather we are here only as the product of random chance, then there is no real meaning in life or purpose for which we are here. Philosopher William Lane Craig has put it like this:
Modern man thought that when he had gotten rid of God, he had freed himself from all that repressed and stifled him. Instead, he
discovered that in killing God, he had only succeeded in orphaning himself. For if there is no God, then man’s life becomes absurd
(William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, p. 71).
In the Wisdom literature of the Biblical canon, we find the same thing stated by Solomon, who said:
Meaningless, meaningless, utterly meaningless. Everything is meaningless (Ecclesiastes 1:2).
Atheists, of course, cannot ignore the question of life’s meaning. Every human heart yearns for an answer. Bertrand Russell argued that only by recognizing that the world really is a terrible place can we successfully come to terms with life. We must build our lives on the “firm foundation of unyielding despair.” However, as Craig has said:
One cannot live consistently and happily in this world view—if one lives consistently, he will not be happy; if he lives happily, he will not be
consistent (Craig, p. 78).
Another approach, the existentialist approach of Jean-Paul Sarte and others, is to acknowledge that life objectively has no meaning but to live like it does. In other words, create your own meaning in life by choosing to follow a certain course of action. But this is simply an exercise in self-deception—a Noble Lie, which in the end is unworkable. For, as Craig has said:
The more convinced you are of the necessity of a Noble Lie, the less you are able to believe in it. Like a placebo, a Noble Lie works
only on those who believe it is the truth. Once we have seen through the fiction, then the Lie has lost its power over us
(Reasonable Faith, p. 85).
Some may be willing to live with the despair of realism or the self-delusion of existentialism, but I don’t believe that will satisfy you. You long to live within a world-view that allows you to truly experience meaning and purpose in life—a true meaning and purpose established on a foundation that can support it.
The Christian world-view and Jesus in particular establishes that firm foundation on which you can find meaning and purpose in life. Jesus said,
Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain
came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on
the rock (Matthew 7:24-25).
When trials come down and doubts rise up, when people you know or the culture at large blow against your beliefs and convictions, your foundation will stand firm, if you have built that foundation on Christ and a Christian world view.
That foundation begins with belief in God as Creator, a Creator who made us in his own image, as it is written:
In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27).
God made us similar enough to himself in intellectual, emotional and volitional capacity as to be capable of a relationship with him. He also assigned the first humans the responsibility of ruling over and caring for God’s world, as it is also written:
That they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the
creatures that move along the ground (Genesis 1:26).
As the purpose of a thing is assigned by its maker, so our purpose as humans was assigned by our Maker, and it is found in experiencing a relationship with God and doing the work God has given us to do. Because of this, it is true, as Augustine has said:
Our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you (Augustine, in Confessions).
And true satisfaction and fulfilment can come only when we can say to our Father in heaven:
I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do (John 17:4).
Next Chapter: Better Hope
For further study: (click and read)
(1) The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. free pdf
(2) William Lane Craig response on: Finding Meaning in Life
(3) David Larson, chapter on Jesus Gives your life Meaning and Purpose
Book resources (order on amazon or CBD)
(1) Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life
(2) William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, chapter 2: The Absurdity of Life without God