If there is no life after death then whatever we do is in vain. This is the thesis of the book of Ecclesiastes written by the man accredited as being the wisest man in the world. He calls what he has to write, the words of the preacher.
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. (Ecclesiastes 1:1)
All too often people get caught up in what they are doing and they think that life is just fine, until one day they look in the mirror and their head is bald, or their hair has turned grey, or white, and their face has become craggy, adorned with bags under their eyes.
Eventually, they find they are not able to get out of bed so sprightly. The eternal youth is not so everlasting. The day no longer becomes something of which to look forward with the wonder of when they were a child. The various joint pains are not the same as the alarm that announced recess, which meant playtime and fun in the early years at school.
Growing old, losing one’s eyesight, becoming weaker and experiencing stiff joints more often, as various forms of numbness set in, accompanied by intermittent neuralgia, to suggest all this is caused by random acts of chance and it is not indicative of the second law of thermodynamics is illogical.
The aging process is not an act of chance. Having a bird hit you with a fecal bomb, when walking in an open field, might be a chance event, but not growing old.
Everyone grows old. Even the singer Cliff Richard, who at 60 looked like he had found the fountain of youth. Still, no matter what he was doing to resist the downhill slope. he was not exempt from the law of entropy: the tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity,
formulated as the second law of thermodynamics.
Cliff Richard looks older these days. On October 14, 2023, Cliff Richard celebrated 83 years on Earth.
Could Cliff Richard imagine himself not existing when he dies? It’s very hard to do.
Imagining yourself not thinking, not having consciousness, is not only difficult to conceive but means you are just one form of meaningless energy that returns to another form. Something like a cow in India eating grass only to die and be eaten by vultures.
Regardless of what biological life forms take up the energy, this is not going to establish ultimate meaning, nor make your life eternally significant. Actually, thinking about having a meaningful life when embedded among the suffering that exists around us, and that which we experience, just causes us pain. Suffering itself is being an unnecessary pain, it is easier to ignore and think of something else. Reality on this planet is not about blissful living.
Anyone adhering to the view that there is no Creator, and claiming that after death we have to satisfy the laws of karma, has to be deluded. The mere implication that there are laws of karma, or laws of anything, indicates a creator of those laws exists. Anyhow, the wise recognize the absurdity that is evident in any assertion that laws don’t need a creator. The fact is laws need a creator and it is extremely outrageous to insist that they don’t. Such an insane idea has to have come from human imagination — and one affected by LSD or the like.
Cliff Richard saw people suffering during famines of the Third World countries. I am led to believe this caused him to reach out to God.
The injustice of being born into a world of suffering, and not having asked to be born, ought to be recognized by us all. Surely, someone has to have caused this. One thing for sure, it wasn’t you. But you are here. Why? Maybe you are seeking to know the truth!
A woman was raped and had a son. Named John, you could say he is a product of a chance event, a random rape.
John grew up not knowing his mother. He was placed into a Roman Catholic boy’s home, where he suffered the indignity of being sodomized and abused by those who were supposed to protect him.
Years later, after he was drafted into the army, John became an alcoholic. Having a good voice, upon leaving the army, he became an opera singer. Unfortunately, alcohol killed his career. At the age of 46, John joined Alcoholics Anonymous. The last 30 years has seen sobriety bring a major change to his life.
When John turned to God, he forgave everyone who had harmed him, no longer permitting them to continue their psychological abuse and exist rent free in his mind. Even though John’s existence here on Earth was a chance event — the unintended product of a woman being raped — there was nothing random about his decision to take control of his own life and seek out God, forgive his abusers and live to bring attention to humankind’s true purpose on this planet.
That there is a purpose for our being here, we cannot deny — even if we know it not. Nevertheless, we have to discover it for ourselves. But if we think being born to die has meaning, instead of being a futile existence, then we are fooling ourselves.
There was a time when a man known as Saul of Tarsus thought he had a purpose when a practicing Jew. He fulfilled this purpose by making a name for himself killing Christians.
After having a personal encounter with the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, who had been killed by crucifixion on the Cross of Calvary, Saul of Tarsus became the Apostle Paul.
After some years of being a Christian, possessing a renewed mind and an enlightened perspective concerning the truth about existence, the Apostle Paul wrote about God’s eternal purpose that has been realized in Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:10-12), which is accompanied by the assurance that comes with the baptism of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:22).
If there were no Creator, life would have no purpose, as it wouldn’t exist as we know it. Chance events may occur within this existence. However, if there were only chance events, nothing could be counted upon happening a second or third time. Chance would not allow it to happen. Everything would be chaotic.
The Truth About Futility And Its Accompanying Unjust Suffering Exists
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