In the middle of English Corner preparation I began searching for quotes regarding the meaning of life. (We are going to have a time of discussion where one group will build an argument/reasons to show the meaninglessness of life and one will build an argument/reasons to show that life is meaningful.)
It was so easy to find quotes (from the secular perspective) that speak of the meaningLESSness of life, but I also wanted to throw in some secular quotes that spoke of the meaningFUL side of life. (Not to fear, I grabbed some Ecclesiastes and Micah 6 quotes as well.)
I was actually shocked (Why?? Naivete? No, sin's deceitfulness.) to discover that when you get down to the meaning of the quote, there are actually NO secular quotes that tell us if life has meaning. Though they give the APPEARANCE of an answer, they are all merely facades that vanish into think air upon further questioning.
This is an excerpt from a quote spoken by the late Christopher Hitchens,
A life that partakes even a little of friendship, love, irony, humor, parenthood, literature, and music, and the chance to take part in battles for the liberation of others cannot be called 'meaningless' except if the person living it is also an existentialist and elects to call it so. It could be that all existence is a pointless joke, but it is not in fact possible to live one's everyday life as if this were so.
This quote had me laughing. (Well, actually -- one guffaw.) In the full quote, he first mocks "theists" for supposing that he could not live life without meaning. When he finally gets to the point, he has no point. Essentially, he's just throwing words around when he says that "what could be called meaninglessness can't be called meaninglessness because it doesn't feel like meaninglessness (unless your an existentialist)." He never actually tells us what he thinks, except that he doesn't know...and doesn't want to over-rule the other philosophers' ideas.
His conclusion, "it's not possible to live one's everyday life as if [the meaningless joke life] were so."
But wait, isn't that the question the theists asked him? "How can you live a life without meaning?"
His answer SHOULD have been, "I don't. I pretend I have meaning to make myself feel better."
The reality is that because he denied the One that brings meaning to all areas of life, Hitchens removed from himself the possibility of having a truly meaningful life.
Another quote I found compared us to animals and said our purpose is to stay alive. Well, that sucks considering that it's folly to try to stay alive since everyone dies in the end anyways.
The nicest quote came from Jamine Isabel E. Uy,
“When you learn to appreciate everything around you, that is when you have found the true meaning of life. But when you have learned to love another with all your heart, that is when you have finally understood and start to actually fulfill the purpose of your existence.”
She wants us to appreciate the horror around us as well? What if the one we love with our whole being betrays us? How do we find this "one"? Who has given us the purpose? What kind of love do you mean? What is love? How do we show this type of love? What if the one we love doesn't love us? Though she may come close, she's merely pointing us to each other. Vanity.
As I tried to decide how to bring our discussion(s) to a fitful end I planned to go to Philippians (pressing on for the prize,) but was interrupted by 2nd Corinthians 4 & 5.
Wow.
Then I began looking through the list of songs I have in iTunes in order to end our time with "quiet reflection". I saw Chris Tomlin's, "I Will Rise." I pushed play to see if the lyrics would work within our discussion.
Whoa.
What blessed assurance! To KNOW my Savior lives. I/we have more hope than any other group of beings on this planet because our hope is real. Our answer is real. It is not a facade of a worldview that must be denied in order to allow us to live -- for the mere moment.
Our worldview accurately describes what is around us and brings a fulfilling hope to our past, present, and to our future.
This last week I have been downcast in my soul, questioning what I should do with my life. (Stay in China? Return to family? Continue teaching? Teach a higher grade? Write? Counsel? Why does the Bible say "stay as you are"? What do my decisions matter??)
How foolish. While I will (in December) need to make those decisions, I can't allow them to overwhelm my mind.
How foolish for me to think (which I did, as I was searching for the quotes,) that the secular world could have a semi-fulfilling summary concerning the meaningfulness of life. I can't believe that thought was in my brain! How STUPID I am.
I haven't believed God's truth. I have believed the advertisements and TV shows. They look like they're happy. Sure, some will go to hell, they won't know the love of Jesus and His saving power, etc, etc, but (I guess??) I figured that their statement of having a fulfilled life was to be believed because they seemed to believe it.
Idiot.
Their (the secular) statement of a meaningful life is a distraction to prevent them from thinking about their hopelessness. (Ultimately.) They may feel happy. They may see meaning in their activities, but they can't answer why. They have been given over to the hopes and desires of their rebellious thinking. It is false. It is a trap.
He is the ONLY hope. False hopes and pretend "dreams" don't fulfill because they are not reality. The only reality is rooted in the One who has given life to all.
My focus has been re-aligned. Press on!!
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