Making Sense of Human Life
The Worldwide Church of God experience for many of us was a profound time in our lives. We were innocent human beings who believed that we were seeking "truth" and had found it. After a period of time, we could see that there were reasons to doubt that we had really stumbled upon spiritual truth. In a sense we feel that we were raped (spiritually). Even very intelligent human beings can be hoodwinked. Some years ago, my own son that I love dearly was caught up in the Jehovah Witnesses and he and I went around and around with some very heated debates and I offended his senses. My son is a very intelligent man who is in management of a multi-million dollar company and his position pays him a salary that would be the envy of most human beings. What it proves is that even very intelligent human beings can be caught off guard and be swept up in religious foolishness.
Fortunately, I succeeded in persuading my son that his affiliation with this cult religious group was not something he wanted to be involved with. That was years ago and he was set free from bondage to this stupid religion. Without question he will never again be caught up in religious nonsense.
There is something deep in our human souls about being taken advantage of by religious hustlers, even if they were sincere about their deceptions. Ultimately human beings have been trying to make sense of human life for thousands of years. No matter our personal position in what we think is truth, it is for sure that we will all exit life on earth. You would think that common sense would dictate that life should be lived for positive and constructive purpose, while we have these few short years to live. Should we live to be seventy, eighty, ninety or even one-hundred and beyond, in terms of eternity it is just a blinking of the eye. What then is the purpose of life? I suppose the answer will vary with the individual.
None of us have a clue as to what really happens beyond the grave, although many have experienced "out-of-body" experiences that are to my thinking not to be dismissed. There is another dimension. We are not God and we will all perish. Those of us who have children and grandchildren know beyond doubt that it is sad to even contemplate death and that the void when anyone dies, is a void that can never ever be replaced. There is simply nothing on earth or in the universe that can replace my sons, my daughters, my grandchildren or my wife or loved ones. It is impossible. Is there a lesson in human existence that we all yearn to understand?
Why is God silent? Why does He not communicate with us on a level that we can see Him, converse with Him and know beyond doubt what this life is all about? Men have been asking questions like this since the beginning of time no doubt. Who can understand human suffering? Does any human being exist who does not know suffering? Who doesn't want utopia, paradise and happiness forever? We live in a world of seeming madness. The endless wars of death and destruction of countless millions of human beings never ceases and why? Are those who rule really even human beings? The United States has military bases all over the world and what for? World dominion? So a hand full of human beings gain control of the entire planet and all its resources and control all the people---then what? All the rulers will end their lives in the graveyard the same as all others.
Are we missing something in life? Religions and governments of men are obviously both control freaks. They both assume the position of being God to all human beings on earth. "Its the law" is the biggest excuse man ever invented for control. I don't doubt that God Almighty exists, but I also am flabbergasted that there are more questions about life than there are answers. Rest assured the Worldwide Church of God and its many deformed and mentally paralyzed daughters, have no more clue, than do all the other religious groups on earth. Humans will battle mentally forever over issues of religion. We all know that ALL the leaders of ALL the splinter groups of the Worldwide Church of God, will ALL vanish from life on earth and it is just a matter of time. Everything changes in time. Good bye Rod Meridith, Gerald Flurry and so forth. They will ALL meet up with Herbert and Garner Ted.
What then is the real purpose of human life?
Van Robison
14 comments:
Tough question. Not one to which there will be many speculative responses I expect. After all, those affiliated with a COG or Denomination already know all the answers to life. The whole purpose of religion is to give us purpose and hope that this life is not all there is.
The reason we form our relgions is to put death in its place. As the most conscious sentinent beings on the planet, we know we know and therein lies the rub.
It is almost impossible it seems for most humans to accept we are "the third ape." The vast majority of people have rigid views of the fact of evolution but have done none of the study or don't even have the curiosity to look at the evidence. Those who have never really looked at the evidence easily dismiss the obvious, mock the scientist, ridicule the concept and shoot the messenger.
As Donald Prothero notes about most critics of evolution, they basically sit home reading books that appeal to their prejudices and draw conclusions, while the scientist spends years of study and years in the field actually digging in the earth and seeing the evidence.
On the other hand, Morris, of "The Genesis Flood" fame says that no matter the evidence, we must make it fit the Biblical premise. Not a good way to get to the truth of a matter. Science does not "make things fit preconceived ideas" (Now someone is dying to say, "yes they do!!!") But they don't because there are too many others out there watching and reading their evidence who are trained to do so.
The bottom line (I'll say IMHO and to me) is that we indeed are hairless, conscious apes that share a common ancestor with chimps, gorilla and orangs 5 million years ago. Apes today are cousins, not direct descendents no matter how stupid a comment ministers make about "if we came from chimps, how come there are still chimps today." If you want to show your ignorance, just say that to those who know the science.
Life is what it is. Human consciousness is an amazing mystery to date. The core of us is the observer in the mind. That voice that comments and observes our thoughts. We are not our thoughts just as we are not our bodies. Our five senses do not process all that is outside our head and both sound and light exist in our heads as we watch a movie in the dark of impressions of what lies outside our skulls. The world is totally silent full of waves outside our heads and perhaps even pitch dark until photon energy illuminates inside our heads...whoa....:)
I'm still opting for hairless ape with an evolved consciousness trapped in a limited five sensed carbon based wetsuit...for now. Hey, I don't like just being a hairless ape anymore than the next guy!
"Hey, I don't like just being a hairless ape anymore than the next guy!"
I'd like to be something more too, but facts are facts. If man wiped himself off this planet tomorrow, the universe wouldn't even burp. Stars would go on exploding and being born, new planets would form and new life would begin evolving somewhere else.
The universe is a "don't give a damn" place. It's an eat or be eaten, kill or be killed, etc. mostly void expanse of unfeeling, non-compassionate matter and energy.
I don't know how it all came about and neither do you. Understanding quantum mechanics better may lead us to answers.
I do know that no "god" could have done it because that theory merely puts it all one step further back in time (whatever that is)and necessitates the creation of something even more special than the universe out of nothing with magical intelligence, power, etc. even greater than what we see all around us.
If the universe had to have a creator, so did that creator, the creator of that creator, etc., etc.
It's all here, and I'm here. It started from hydrogen and evolved step by step for billions of years. Where the hydrogen came from is something we haven't figured out yet. We're working on it. If we manage to survive, we have billions of years to do our figuring.
What then is the real purpose of human life?
That's an easy question with an easy answer, given to us by evolution:
Procreation for the survival of the species.
Isn't it obvious?
Even nature should teach you that.
Is that the best anyone can come up with on making sense of human life?
What a grim and dismal outlook – no wonder people get depressed; it’s a pretty poor advert for a ‘no god’ outlook.
I suggest that everyone not only check, but double check and then check again for ANY other outlook, before even thinking about embracing such a miserable conclusion on the why of human life.
Our wanting there to be a great (or small) purpose in human life does not mean there has to be one. Once you accept the fact that this life is "it" and that we are all going to die and go back into the void from which we came, then you are free from the control of religious or spiritual shysters and can assume control and responsibility for your life yourself. You do not have to please anyone else, and that is a great freedom. Your purpose in life becomes whatever you decide it is going to be. I agree that the big picture purpose from an evolutionary point of view is simply to reproduce to carry on the species. But you can choose not to do that either.
Not having a grand purpose for life does not make being alive less fulfilling for me. And I do not fear dying either. Rather, I should say that I do not fear being dead. The idea of ceasing to exist does not terrify me. I did not exist for billions of years before I was born and will not exist for the billions of years that will roll on after I die. I would prefer to live and continue to learn forever but that does not seem to match up with reality. So make the most of right now.
Glenn Parker
Glenn, you say ‘You do not have to please anyone else, and that is a great freedom.’
Well, of course that is just not true, and I am sure you know it’s not true. Unless you are living on a desert island somewhere, just about everything you do is dictated by the need to pleasing others, or following rules of others.
If you drive a car, there is a myriad of rules and regulations. The condition of the car, taxes, insurance, and regulations on where you drive, the speed you drive, where you park.
Earning a living in most of the first world countries, the government claws back in taxes more than half your earnings in some way or another, be it direct tax, or indirect sales tax on what you buy.
You also say that ‘then you are free from the control of religious or spiritual shysters and can assume control and responsibility for your life yourself.’
Glenn my reading of the Bible tells me exactly that – I am free from control of other men (or women), as I have a direct relationship between myself and God – no one else in between.
And it’s not a controlling God, but a God that only wants what is best for me, and only asks that I should have concern for others, in the same way that I have concern for myself.
A God that wants to share and develop things with me, now in this life, and with a fantastic and interesting future.
I don’t find that constraining or negative, but I do find the responses given here to be just that, negative and constraining.
Right on, Glenn. That's what I'm determined to do with whatever time I have left. It's the only game in town, so I'm going to play it to the full.
"What a grim and dismal outlook – no wonder people get depressed; it’s a pretty poor advert for a ‘no god’ outlook.
I suggest that everyone not only check, but double check and then check again for ANY other outlook, before even thinking about embracing such a miserable conclusion on the why of human life."
Comment: It does not matter if we like the conclusions of reality or not. Feeling there has to be something for humans does not make us special in the universe. Not wanting some truth to be as it is about our real origins or place in the universe does not make what we make up or imagine to comfort ourselves true.
Concluding there MUST be some human centric great plan is wonderfully comforting, but MUST is a word that reality scoffs at.
I know that the DNA in all my cells informs me that "I" originated in Africa 100,000 ish years ago and my DNA journied thru Africa, crossed the Red Sea at Yemen, went up into Iran, Iraq, Usbekistan, the russian stepps and about 35,000 years ago turned east into Europe where my ancestors overcame Neanderthals. Had I turned right, I would have been Siberian and related to most Native Americans.
It's in our spit.
Way cool story!
With that word real in there, the question “What is the real purpose of human life?” is so nonsensical that it doesn’t even have an answer unless there was a creator. Compare “What is the real purpose of yeastly life?” Outside the context of a kitchen or a brewery, we have no framework for an answer. Yet if we include in the picture a chef or brewmaster planning to make something, the question makes sense and the answer is obvious: “To leaven the bread,” or “To generate alcohol and carbonation in the brew.”
Similarly, if human life exists in a created universe and not a randomly generated one, we have a framework for an answer. Life’s purpose is whatever the creator had in mind.
Unfortunately, the hypothetical creator’s intentions are way less obvious than those of a chef or brewmaster. The cosmos is so much vaster than a kitchen or brewery that determining what it was designed to produce is literally and figuratively beyond our reach in all four (or is it eleven?) dimensions. If a creator exists, he has to be even vaster and thus more mysterious than the creation; furthermore he deepens the mystery of raw magnitude with complete intangibility. So though it makes ample room for a comforting sunny answer, the framework of belief in a creator also includes space for our darkest fears. It is entirely possible the answer is the same whether a creator is present or not: “There is no purpose.” It could even be worse: “We corrupt the real purpose.” Consider the kitchen analogy. “The bread is moldy. What is the real purpose of mold in the kitchen?” None, actually. It’s just there, spoiling things.
Extending that kitchen question to the cosmic scale, the answer could be that human life, like mold, has no real purpose; we are here because the creator failed to thoroughly sterilize the equipment he extruded the earth with and inadvertently contaminated the product. In fact the Bible promotes this idea but attributes the initial spoilage to Lucifer and his minions, who then spread their contagion to us. However, considering that the Bible was written by men, that explanation could merely be a desperate human attempt to shift the blame. Typical.
What I’m trying to say is, those who cling to belief in a creator because the ensuing sense of purpose is a comforting thought have neglected to think through all the possible purposes we might be expected to fulfill. Maybe it’s just me, but I get just as depressed thinking about some of them as Questeruk does about how narrow our survival and reproductive functions are. (They’re not really purposes)
What if Christians are right that our creator was so lacking in self-esteem that he created us to gather round and sing his praises for all eternity? So is that the role you aspire to—heavenly sycophant forever and ever?
What if our creator made so many of us because he had an ambition to gain glory by leading a vast army against his adversary at Armageddon with the battle cry “onward Christian soldiers”? So do you plan to volunteer as cannon fodder, or wait to be drafted?
What if he saw Armageddon as only one battle in a long campaign of imperial conquest, and the COGs are right in saying he created most human beings to be subjugated colonials and a few elite SS-like troops to rule them with a rod of iron? So which role would you rather fill? Masochist or sadist?
Oops, I left out the ultimate fear.
What if the creator himself is a sadist who gets such kicks by watching creatures suffer that not only does he fill their lives with everyday misery, he goes further by imposing on them a death sentence for breaking his laws? And what if he makes those laws so complicated that nobody can avoid breaking them and besides that he neglects to publish them to any humans except a few miserable agrarians near the east end of the Mediterranean—all so that he has an excuse to throw anybody he chooses into a lake of fire because his appetite for weeping and gnashing of teeth remains unslaked? So how do you plan to react? Are you going to express your agony by writhing and screaming, or hold it in stoically just to piss him off?
Nice posting Prof. Realistic and well said..
Hi Retired Prof,
Thanks for your input. However it does come across as if you think that here I am in my little corner, eyes closed, ears covered, and I have never considered any of these possibilities.
Of course I have thought things through. If there is no god, then the options are rather limited, as there would seem to be no actual purpose – even reproducing isn’t really a purpose, it’s just what happens.
If there is a God, unless He has revealed Himself in some way, then once again we are back to speculation – and you can speculate just whatever you want, your guess is as good as mine. If you want to speculate an inherently evil god, well that is an option.
I do however suggest, as I said early, that you continually check and double check everything – maybe there is more evidence around for a loving God than you think,
There is so much misinformation out there, on so many subjects. There are people that have been hurt with the COG experience, and have become dedicated atheists, (which maybe clarified some things for them), only to come back to a belief in God – Byker Bob and Purple Hymnal to name but two.
Others go off at a tangent, and go overboard on other ideas (e.g. DNA proves BI is wrong, when the Human Genome Project categorically states that there is no genetic basis for divisions of human ethnicity).
So who do you believe? Keep your options open Prof!
Questeruk, I can tell that you have found or constructed a stable philosophical framework. It's good that you have thought deeply about the issues I raised, even before I raised them. I admire that, and I appreciate your response.
The contrast between your intellectual framework (together with Byker Bob's and the former Purple Hymnal's) and mine (together with Allen C. Dexter's, Glenn's and DennisCdiehl's, among others) is among the things that make conversations among this group worthwhile.
Each of us may offer hints to people bewildered because their belief system is crumbling away or has been demolished. Maybe things we say can help them carry out the formidable task of constructing a replacement. I say "constructing" although some people are daunted by the do-it-yourself approach and prefer to seek out a different prefabricated credo from the one they are abandoning. Fine with me, as long as it meets their individual needs. Even though I enjoy explaining my own brand of skepticism, I'm not urging anyone to adopt it.
However, if I could figure out how to attract converts and persuade them to send me 10 (or 20 or 30) percent of their income, I might be tempted. ;-)
Prof notes:
I say "constructing" although some people are daunted by the do-it-yourself approach and prefer to seek out a different prefabricated credo from the one they are abandoning. Fine with me, as long as it meets their individual needs. Even though I enjoy explaining my own brand of skepticism, I'm not urging anyone to adopt it. "
Prefabricated...outstanding concept and perspective. I am not one able, at this time, to adopt someone else's prefabricated belief system. They break down upon examination over time which is why I am unsure that "we must all speak the same thing," has any real meaning in reality or is possible without the individual having to give up personal perspectives on issues. I believe it is not possible to "all speak the same thing," and be authentic to the self.
Post a Comment