"If we are to know how to live, we must find out what God is like" (Plato).
Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, concluded: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee."
"... The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (Galatians 5:6, NIV).
"It's not what you do, but how much love you put into it" (Mother Teresa of Calcutta).
"The only really happy people are those who have learned how to serve" (Albert Schweitzer).
There is meaning in life, in fact, the only worldview that offers meaning in suffering is the Christian one! It is important what you believe because ideas have consequences and we are admonished by Paul in 2 Cor. 10:5 (ESV) to "take every thought captive to obey Christ [pursue divine viewpoint]."
When we ascribe to a so-called worldview, or mental outlook (i.e., Judaeo-Christian, Postmodernism, Secular Humanism, New Age, or even Marxism); i.e., we interpret reality, not as it is, but as we are. Only God is objective and all true knowledge must originate with Him because He is omniscient or pansophic. If you assume evolution, for instance, and this is the linchpin that holds all secular worldviews together, then there is no God, no Lawgiver, nor Judgment Day, and no hell to shun, nor absolute moral values, and neither is there any absolute truth to boot. This is commonly referred to as moral relativism and the denial of Truth with a capital T. Just like the cynical Pilate who asked Jesus: "What is truth?" Jesus didn't just tell us the truth, like when He made pronouncements ("Truly, truly, I say unto you..."), but was the very personification of truth itself and made it knowable through Him.
You can never know anything by making man the measure of all things and the reference point or starting point of knowledge; you must begin with God and explain the universe, not with man and explain God away ("In the beginning God..."). Humanism deifies man and dethrones God, and Postmodernism considers all knowledge relative, except what relates to their metanarrative, interpretive framework, or worldview, i.e., Christian ideas! All secular worldviews have this in common: They are diametrically opposed to everything Christianity stands for.
Communists must affirm unequivocally that a "Supreme Being, Creator, or Divine Ruler [i.e., God] "does not, cannot, and must not exist." Man has irrefutable evidence for God and is without excuse (cf. Rom. 1:20); however, he suppresses this fact for moral reasons--he simply doesn't want to believe, because it's uncomfortable. "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge..." (cf. Romans 1:28). Augustine, in his Confessions, wrote: "You made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you."
They refuse to "let a divine foot in the door" and begin with the presumption that the supernatural is impossible, by placing ultimate faith in the scientific method and personifying science, bringing about "scientism," whereby pronouncements are declared that aren't related to science, but philosophy or religion, for example ("The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be," says Humanist of the Year (1981) recipient, astronomer Carl Sagan). Science has become a religion, with people only putting faith in the natural and the observable.
Without the church as the "pillar and ground of the truth" (cf. 1 Tim. 3:15), we lose the anchor and value system by which to judge right and wrong, and morality becomes elusive and truth becomes a short-term contract. Truth is relative, they say, well relative to what or to whom? No matter which belief system you ascribe to, it isn't a matter of faith vs. rationalism or reason, but of which set of propositions you are willing to accept by faith as presuppositions. Both systems require faith--for "all knowledge begins in faith: Socrates said that "to begin learning you first must admit your ignorance." Augustine also said similarly, "I believe in order to understand." When we have faith, God opens our eyes and illumines us, without God we would know nothing for sure.
The viewpoint of youth today, and many do not know what they believe, is that Christians have kissed their brains goodbye, and are ill-prepared to answer the attacks on their faith; they don't even think it's defensible, and can survive in the open marketplace of ideas. A worldview basically answers these three questions: Where did I come from? Why am I here? And Where am I going? The secular interpretation is that we came from blue-green algae or even nothing at all, and have no meaning or purpose in living but to seek fulfillment of instincts, and are headed toward oblivion or nothing but food for bacteria. Jean-Paul Sartre said that "without reference to God, man is a useless passion." Famed atheist and mathematician Bertrand Russell said that "unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is useless." We were put on this planet for a purpose, to make a contribution, to leave a legacy that will outlast us.
The only worldview that gives man dignity and purpose is Christianity. We are created in God's image and are not animals (they want to think they're animals so they can live irresponsibly like animals). The very word "purpose" is repugnant to secularists, who deny the Anthropic Principle, for instance, that demonstrates purpose and design in nature that is perfectly suitable for mankind. A life without purpose is lived in vain and is a waste, going nowhere! God put us all here for a purpose as part of His plan and glory: "The chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever," says The Westminster Shorter Catechism (ca. 1646), which refers to Isaiah 43:7, which says God created man "for His glory."
We are here to make God look good and be fulfilled in Him. As Blaise Pascal, French mathematician said, "If man is not made for God, why is he happy only in God? If man is made for God, why is he opposed to God?" As Jesus said, "... I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10, ESV). The eternal life with Christ begins at the point of entry into salvation (cf. John 5:24, ESV, emphasis added): "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has [present tense!] eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."
The only way one can find true meaning in life is to know Christ because He is our Creator. The Bible is our celestial beacon, divine GPS, and owner's manual and has everything we need to know for salvation and meaning. We all need to know we are important, have an impact, and have an identity or are somebody that counts. The Bible answers all these questions and gives us motivation to live to please others and God, not ourselves: A life lived selfishly is suicidal. Pascal, famed scientist and philosopher, said that there is a "vacuum-shaped hole in our heart that only God can fill." You not only matter, but are more important to God than the whole universe or cosmos.
God is a person to be known, is personal, and gets personal and knows us personally as persons, so intimately that He numbers our hairs! We alone have a God that is knowable and not aloof and impersonal, like Allah. Muslims emphatically deny the capability of knowing God personally and of having a personal, living relationship and fellowship with Him, that inspires and motivates life and living in the here and now, but in the light of eternity. Suddenly, when you see you have a divine purpose in being alive and can accomplish God's will, life becomes an exciting journey and relationship and even a challenge that other religions don't have. We grow in our knowledge of God and never gain definitive knowledge of an infinite Being. "The finite cannot grasp the infinite," says the classic maxim.
As a logical conclusion, when you deny God, you have no basis for meaning in life or to do anything but "eat, drink and be merry [cf. Isaiah 22:13]." Man then just exists, he doesn't live life to the full. Twentieth-century philosopher Will Durant asks: "Can man live without God?" This is the dilemma of the modern man who seems to think that "God is dead," as Friedrich Nietzsche falsely and shamelessly postulated; he was saying we didn't need Him to explain the cosmos or to find relevance--that God doesn't matter anymore. Without God, there is no anchor on the soul, and man has but a bleak outlook and is hopeless. We all need a sense of "ought" and understand the times to know what to do (cf. 1 Chronicles 12:32); who knows? We may have been born "for such a time as this" (cf. Esther 4:14).
The problem with man today: "Men have forgotten God," according to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, even if he professes a religion or even Christianity, he is a practical atheist or one who lives like one, despite a bogus profession of faith, he is only a nominal Christian or one in name only. Man will find that there is no basis of ethics without Him, and man is free to make up his own value system or ethics as he goes along, to suit his own interpretation and situation, like: "Listen to the God within!" Or, "If it feels like the truth to you, it is!"
Caveat: We must beware of following Israel's footsteps in the time of the judges: "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25, ESV). It is similar today, in that people lack a moral compass, and think that morals are determined by convention, consensus, or community standards--and evolve over time. God is the moral center of the universe and He is our Judge, we are not His judge--we answer to Him, He doesn't answer to us! Yes, Isaiah was also right on and on the same page: "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned each one of us to his own way" (cf. Isaiah 53:6).
Rick Warren lists four purposes to live for: as a member of His family; a model of His character; a minister of His grace; and a messenger of His good news. We all need a philosophy of life and an interpretative framework to view the world around us and put things into perspective.
If you've ever pondered: "Who am I?" Or, "Do I matter?" Or even, "Am I important?" The answer is in knowing God through His revelation in Christ. In my day people used to take time-outs and "find themselves." You can never get found if you don't admit you're lost! You were born to fit into God's intricate plan, not for God to approve your plans--you have the destiny to be realized in Christ!
A word to the wise is sufficient: Psalm 11:3, ESV, says, "[I]f the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Without God as our reference point, we lose all footing and orientation in society, and no civilization has ever been able to maintain ethics without the aid of religion, and "no society has ever survived the loss of its gods," according to playwright George Bernard Shaw. No nation has been able to maintain morals without the aid of its religion, according to Will Durant. Has the rise of Secular Humanism, which is a religion without God, eradicated Christianity from the public arena and marketplace of ideas;?
Have we come full-circle from the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, in which it was argued that the minds of children should be kept open and they should be taught about the theory of evolution, just to be fair? Now, they won't let the Christian view get its point across as a viable belief system and worldview that gives meaning to all of academia and its disciplines. We must not concede everything away and lose to the Postmodernist and Secular Humanist by default and give up the ship without a college try and fight.
Let me conclude with a quote from scholar Carl F.H. Henry: "The Christian belief system, which the Christian knows to be grounded in divine revelation, is relevant to all of life." Soli Deo Gloria!
Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, concluded: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee."
"... The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (Galatians 5:6, NIV).
"It's not what you do, but how much love you put into it" (Mother Teresa of Calcutta).
"The only really happy people are those who have learned how to serve" (Albert Schweitzer).
There is meaning in life, in fact, the only worldview that offers meaning in suffering is the Christian one! It is important what you believe because ideas have consequences and we are admonished by Paul in 2 Cor. 10:5 (ESV) to "take every thought captive to obey Christ [pursue divine viewpoint]."
When we ascribe to a so-called worldview, or mental outlook (i.e., Judaeo-Christian, Postmodernism, Secular Humanism, New Age, or even Marxism); i.e., we interpret reality, not as it is, but as we are. Only God is objective and all true knowledge must originate with Him because He is omniscient or pansophic. If you assume evolution, for instance, and this is the linchpin that holds all secular worldviews together, then there is no God, no Lawgiver, nor Judgment Day, and no hell to shun, nor absolute moral values, and neither is there any absolute truth to boot. This is commonly referred to as moral relativism and the denial of Truth with a capital T. Just like the cynical Pilate who asked Jesus: "What is truth?" Jesus didn't just tell us the truth, like when He made pronouncements ("Truly, truly, I say unto you..."), but was the very personification of truth itself and made it knowable through Him.
You can never know anything by making man the measure of all things and the reference point or starting point of knowledge; you must begin with God and explain the universe, not with man and explain God away ("In the beginning God..."). Humanism deifies man and dethrones God, and Postmodernism considers all knowledge relative, except what relates to their metanarrative, interpretive framework, or worldview, i.e., Christian ideas! All secular worldviews have this in common: They are diametrically opposed to everything Christianity stands for.
Communists must affirm unequivocally that a "Supreme Being, Creator, or Divine Ruler [i.e., God] "does not, cannot, and must not exist." Man has irrefutable evidence for God and is without excuse (cf. Rom. 1:20); however, he suppresses this fact for moral reasons--he simply doesn't want to believe, because it's uncomfortable. "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge..." (cf. Romans 1:28). Augustine, in his Confessions, wrote: "You made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you."
They refuse to "let a divine foot in the door" and begin with the presumption that the supernatural is impossible, by placing ultimate faith in the scientific method and personifying science, bringing about "scientism," whereby pronouncements are declared that aren't related to science, but philosophy or religion, for example ("The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be," says Humanist of the Year (1981) recipient, astronomer Carl Sagan). Science has become a religion, with people only putting faith in the natural and the observable.
Without the church as the "pillar and ground of the truth" (cf. 1 Tim. 3:15), we lose the anchor and value system by which to judge right and wrong, and morality becomes elusive and truth becomes a short-term contract. Truth is relative, they say, well relative to what or to whom? No matter which belief system you ascribe to, it isn't a matter of faith vs. rationalism or reason, but of which set of propositions you are willing to accept by faith as presuppositions. Both systems require faith--for "all knowledge begins in faith: Socrates said that "to begin learning you first must admit your ignorance." Augustine also said similarly, "I believe in order to understand." When we have faith, God opens our eyes and illumines us, without God we would know nothing for sure.
The viewpoint of youth today, and many do not know what they believe, is that Christians have kissed their brains goodbye, and are ill-prepared to answer the attacks on their faith; they don't even think it's defensible, and can survive in the open marketplace of ideas. A worldview basically answers these three questions: Where did I come from? Why am I here? And Where am I going? The secular interpretation is that we came from blue-green algae or even nothing at all, and have no meaning or purpose in living but to seek fulfillment of instincts, and are headed toward oblivion or nothing but food for bacteria. Jean-Paul Sartre said that "without reference to God, man is a useless passion." Famed atheist and mathematician Bertrand Russell said that "unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is useless." We were put on this planet for a purpose, to make a contribution, to leave a legacy that will outlast us.
The only worldview that gives man dignity and purpose is Christianity. We are created in God's image and are not animals (they want to think they're animals so they can live irresponsibly like animals). The very word "purpose" is repugnant to secularists, who deny the Anthropic Principle, for instance, that demonstrates purpose and design in nature that is perfectly suitable for mankind. A life without purpose is lived in vain and is a waste, going nowhere! God put us all here for a purpose as part of His plan and glory: "The chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever," says The Westminster Shorter Catechism (ca. 1646), which refers to Isaiah 43:7, which says God created man "for His glory."
We are here to make God look good and be fulfilled in Him. As Blaise Pascal, French mathematician said, "If man is not made for God, why is he happy only in God? If man is made for God, why is he opposed to God?" As Jesus said, "... I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10, ESV). The eternal life with Christ begins at the point of entry into salvation (cf. John 5:24, ESV, emphasis added): "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has [present tense!] eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."
The only way one can find true meaning in life is to know Christ because He is our Creator. The Bible is our celestial beacon, divine GPS, and owner's manual and has everything we need to know for salvation and meaning. We all need to know we are important, have an impact, and have an identity or are somebody that counts. The Bible answers all these questions and gives us motivation to live to please others and God, not ourselves: A life lived selfishly is suicidal. Pascal, famed scientist and philosopher, said that there is a "vacuum-shaped hole in our heart that only God can fill." You not only matter, but are more important to God than the whole universe or cosmos.
God is a person to be known, is personal, and gets personal and knows us personally as persons, so intimately that He numbers our hairs! We alone have a God that is knowable and not aloof and impersonal, like Allah. Muslims emphatically deny the capability of knowing God personally and of having a personal, living relationship and fellowship with Him, that inspires and motivates life and living in the here and now, but in the light of eternity. Suddenly, when you see you have a divine purpose in being alive and can accomplish God's will, life becomes an exciting journey and relationship and even a challenge that other religions don't have. We grow in our knowledge of God and never gain definitive knowledge of an infinite Being. "The finite cannot grasp the infinite," says the classic maxim.
As a logical conclusion, when you deny God, you have no basis for meaning in life or to do anything but "eat, drink and be merry [cf. Isaiah 22:13]." Man then just exists, he doesn't live life to the full. Twentieth-century philosopher Will Durant asks: "Can man live without God?" This is the dilemma of the modern man who seems to think that "God is dead," as Friedrich Nietzsche falsely and shamelessly postulated; he was saying we didn't need Him to explain the cosmos or to find relevance--that God doesn't matter anymore. Without God, there is no anchor on the soul, and man has but a bleak outlook and is hopeless. We all need a sense of "ought" and understand the times to know what to do (cf. 1 Chronicles 12:32); who knows? We may have been born "for such a time as this" (cf. Esther 4:14).
The problem with man today: "Men have forgotten God," according to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, even if he professes a religion or even Christianity, he is a practical atheist or one who lives like one, despite a bogus profession of faith, he is only a nominal Christian or one in name only. Man will find that there is no basis of ethics without Him, and man is free to make up his own value system or ethics as he goes along, to suit his own interpretation and situation, like: "Listen to the God within!" Or, "If it feels like the truth to you, it is!"
Caveat: We must beware of following Israel's footsteps in the time of the judges: "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25, ESV). It is similar today, in that people lack a moral compass, and think that morals are determined by convention, consensus, or community standards--and evolve over time. God is the moral center of the universe and He is our Judge, we are not His judge--we answer to Him, He doesn't answer to us! Yes, Isaiah was also right on and on the same page: "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned each one of us to his own way" (cf. Isaiah 53:6).
Rick Warren lists four purposes to live for: as a member of His family; a model of His character; a minister of His grace; and a messenger of His good news. We all need a philosophy of life and an interpretative framework to view the world around us and put things into perspective.
If you've ever pondered: "Who am I?" Or, "Do I matter?" Or even, "Am I important?" The answer is in knowing God through His revelation in Christ. In my day people used to take time-outs and "find themselves." You can never get found if you don't admit you're lost! You were born to fit into God's intricate plan, not for God to approve your plans--you have the destiny to be realized in Christ!
A word to the wise is sufficient: Psalm 11:3, ESV, says, "[I]f the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Without God as our reference point, we lose all footing and orientation in society, and no civilization has ever been able to maintain ethics without the aid of religion, and "no society has ever survived the loss of its gods," according to playwright George Bernard Shaw. No nation has been able to maintain morals without the aid of its religion, according to Will Durant. Has the rise of Secular Humanism, which is a religion without God, eradicated Christianity from the public arena and marketplace of ideas;?
Have we come full-circle from the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, in which it was argued that the minds of children should be kept open and they should be taught about the theory of evolution, just to be fair? Now, they won't let the Christian view get its point across as a viable belief system and worldview that gives meaning to all of academia and its disciplines. We must not concede everything away and lose to the Postmodernist and Secular Humanist by default and give up the ship without a college try and fight.
Let me conclude with a quote from scholar Carl F.H. Henry: "The Christian belief system, which the Christian knows to be grounded in divine revelation, is relevant to all of life." Soli Deo Gloria!
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