I was listening to a podcast earlier that touched on the old question of where do meaning and purpose in life come from? The usual Christian/apologetic argument is that without a creator or a higher being, there can be no meaning or purpose in life, and thus your life, and indeed the entire universe would be without meaning and purpose if there was no God.
Quite often the atheist debater in such discussions concedes that there is no 'ultimate' meaning or purpose, but sometimes we can define our own meaning and/or purpose in life. The Christian apologist usually doesn't think much of this and prefers to believe in a God who gives meaning and purpose to our lives.
This morning I found myself wondering if God himself (herself, itself, whatever) has a meaning and purpose in His life? I'm sure most Christians would claim that God does. So where did God get this purpose? From His creator? From some higher power? Or did he just give the meaning and purpose to Himself?
I'm sure that most Christians faced with this question would have to admit that if God has any purpose in his own existence, that he somehow devised this purpose Himself. In other words, beings can give themselves purpose without a higher power.
If God can give himself purpose, why can't we find meaning and purpose for ourselves? Why do we need a higher power when He does not?
3 comments:
How about instead of discussing the meaning of life, singular, we discuss the meanings of life, plural? And with cartoons too!
See https://edward-t-babinski.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-meaning-of-life-saving-oddist-for.html
We do define meaning and purpose in our lives. But because we are limited in our knowledge of ourselves and our future, we present a faulty view of what we think is our purpose. The issue is that circumstances change and therefore our definitions have to change along the way because we are creatures of limited knowledge ad wisdom.
I found true meaning and purpose in my life when I found God. I would love to talk more about this issue with you.
Thanks for the comment. Interesting to see that you 'found' your meaning and purpose when you found God, not that you were 'given' meaning and purpose. Happy to continue the conversation!
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