What is the meaning of life?

The biggest question in life

Often when discussing the concept of philosophy, sooner or later someone in the discussion will raise the most important of all questions: What is the meaning of life?

This is partly done as a joke. In Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the characters find themselves on a quest to discover the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. Ultimately, the answer they arrive at is “42”.

Although Adams satirizes the concept of trying to decipher the meaning of life, the subject requires serious consideration. The question is valid because the answer has many implications for one's life.

For those who have never had the opportunity to study philosophy, it may be helpful to have a brief example of the concepts that philosophers consider. It is disputed whether these three branches are sufficient to cover all considerations of philosophy.

Although the independent study of philosophy will reveal alternative theories about the capabilities and content of philosophy, the various questions that have preoccupied deep thinkers for millennia can generally be grouped into three main categories.

Metaphysics

Metaphysics sounds like science fiction to the uninitiated, but it is a legitimate branch of philosophy. Metaphysics contains the largest in scope and the most cosmic questions that philosophers discuss.

Questions in this category include: Is there a God? What is the meaning of life? Where do people come from? What is the definition of a person? What is the purpose of the universe? What is the origin of life and matter? What is reality?

Metaphysics is the least immediate of the philosophical subjects, but the consequences of its ideas are the most widespread in their impact. The way a human being views the universe he or she participates in has a lot to do with how he or she lives on a daily basis. Answers to the types of questions that fit into this category help in discovering one's purpose in life.

Epistemology

How does one know what one knows? This is the ultimate concern of the discipline of epistemology. The term is derived from the Greek word for "faith."

Philosophers who study this branch must ask: What is truth? How is truth determined? Is there such a thing as truth? What is the role of man's perception of truth? Can anything really be known? What does it mean to know anything at all?

Although this branch still deals with very abstract ideas, it is more relevant to everyday life than many metaphysical topics appear at first glance. The source of truth affects everything a person believes, including his thoughts about the meaning of life.

Ethics

The last branch is most obviously related to the everyday life of the common man. At this point everyone is a true philosopher, whether they know it or not.

There is only one question asked by this branch: What, if anything, should we do?

The purpose of ethics is to determine proper behavior. If a person has considered metaphysical concepts and reached a certain conclusion, this will necessarily affect his opinion about how truth can be found.

If a human being has reached conclusions about metaphysical matters and has an opinion about where the truth can be derived, he or she must develop a system for deciding what to do with that information.

Ethics is most easily observed when one is faced with dilemmas. When faced with a choice, people reveal their values, their source of truth, and their core beliefs about their place in the universe.

When trying to determine the purpose of life, one must necessarily align one's behavior with one's beliefs. This is exactly the question that ethics seeks to clarify.

The question

With this information now available, the question can be revisited: What is the meaning of life?

Because the concepts involved in philosophy are often hopelessly abstract and difficult to discuss succinctly, it will be helpful to illustrate the real-world implications of certain philosophical leanings when faced with examples or situations that reveal philosophical underpinnings.

Atheistic view

Atheistic Metaphysics

If a person concludes that there is no God, this has profound consequences for his entire worldview. How can an atheist answer the question “What is the meaning of life?” This may be the most representative answer from an atheist:

To me, the main difference between religious and atheistic conceptions of purpose is that the atheistic position leaves the specifics of individual purpose up to us. We have to decide what is important to us. Atheism does not deliberately contain demands or consensuses, nor does it impose any universal meaning. There is no atheistic, existential reason for all human existence.

—Sean Breen, The Atheist Republic

This argument reveals that to the atheist's mind the individual is autonomous and chooses his own purpose in life.

One does not need to be a master logician to see the problems that could arise with this worldview. What if someone decided to make it their mission to eradicate all or part of humanity in order to preserve nature?

What grounds will there be to oppose them? If one does not believe in God, then there seems to be no reason to value human life above the life of any other creature.

Also, what if two people choose a goal that is mutually exclusive or contradictory? Without the pre-existence of a deity, can a person even have a moral right to anything, even their own life? Based on what?

Atheists tend to lack consistency in their responses to these topics. Why would an unbeliever get out of bed in the morning? Why should I live another day? What are the unbeliever's ultimate goals in life? Is suicide immoral? Is killing immoral? Why?

In an attempt to bring some consistency to the discussion, some philosophers have approached these questions honestly.

Albert Camus was the most notable proponent of a school of philosophy called "absurdism." Although born into a Roman Catholic family, Camus rejected their religion and later embraced atheism. Camus believed that nothing mattered. He wrote a short novel called The Foreigner to illustrate his philosophy in the life of a character who lived out his ideas.

Camus had several goals with this work, but one of the most important to him was to show that his philosophy could not be tolerated by a society that craved greater or deeper meaning. The main character was amoral and performed both good and bad deeds for others over the course of the novel.

In the end, the main character kills a person. The novel is ambiguous about whether this action was murder or self-defense, but for the main character it didn't matter because he had no purpose in life.

Because of his strange outlook and his disregard for finding meaning in life, the court declared him a danger to society who should be guilty. He was eventually put to death for the crime, which they considered aggravated by a lack of apparent remorse.

Camus himself died in a car accident when he was still young, when his sober friend lost control of his car on a straight, dry and well-maintained road, crashing into a tree.

Atheistic Epistemology

A common refutation of atheism is to point out the inconsistency in the atheist's philosophy and the lack of any compelling excuse for believing one truth over others. Atheists generally believe in some version of the truth.

The question is: why? Where does it come from? The most common and convincing answer from atheists is that the belief system originates in the human mind.

If God is merely an agent advocating some universal morality, then morality exists independently of God, and given enough time humans could discover it through reasoning. In that case, we wouldn't need God—God's only role would be to help speed up the discovery process. God would be unnecessary.

— The International Atheist Alliance

Despite the confidence in this answer, one must simply take the question a step further and ask, “Why is human reason the standard of right?” How are these decisions made?

A gaping hole in the atheist's epistemology. This reduces the concept of God to a simple aid on the inevitable road to moral discovery. This quote includes a glaring non sequitur—a logical fallacy that seeks to connect a conclusion with a premise that does not naturally connect. The term literally means "does not follow."

In this case, the claim is that, given enough time, humanity could discover a morality that exists independently of God. Why? This is not a logical conclusion. This makes certain assumptions about the power of intuition that are unwarranted.

There are no answers here as to how truth is determined other than an appeal to reason. An atheist would probably say that Christians are in a similar predicament.

Why should God be the highest moral foundation? The answer lies in how the Christian understanding of who God is, as He is, is revealed in the Scriptures. God is not merely an object of worship for the Christian; He is the Creator and Sustainer of all life. He is the undisputed King of all creation. His will must be obeyed.

Atheists generally accept that reason is imperfect, but argue that it is the best source of truth available in the absence of an omniscient deity. The Christian views reason with deep suspicion.

It is a way in which human beings reflect the glory of God, but in a sinful state the mind is a split reed that pierces the hand of the man who leans too heavily on it.

Given the fallible nature of human reason, it is not difficult to understand how abortion was so accepted in the atheist community.

More recently, the phenomenon of "positional epistemology" has emerged. This idea is identical to what used to be called "moral relativism."

From the point of view of epistemology, the individual's identity and experience are the main factors in determining truth. In this way, two people with different identities can have unique "truths".

Although a woman may interpret a situation she witnesses differently than a man, the facts of the event are independent from the perspective of the witnesses, regardless of their experience or perspective.

Truth exists outside of and is independent of lived experience. If one does not believe that truth exists outside of humans, it is easy to see how perspective epistemology could be a viable conclusion.

ATHETIC ETHICS

So morality must be about how people are affected by human actions. But what is right and what is wrong? Some actions seem clear. It would be perverse to claim that bathing your daughter in battery acid is morally right. No doubt we could come up with a long list of actions that are equally wrong. It would also be easy to make a list of actions that are unequivocally good.

This is an interesting statement considering that 87 percent of professing atheists believe abortion is okay. This argument is presented as if it were obvious. There is no ethical basis for this claim in the absence of an objective source of morality.

Many cultures have subjected their young to horrendous rituals, similar to the battery acid bath example, which is thrown out as some incredible hyperbole.

It is also remarkable that even this definition of morality is based on fallen reason. In fact, all the definitions in this quote are derived from the human mind: human, affect, clear, perverse, equal, unambiguous, good.

Unshakable faith in human intuition is usually due to belief in evolution. Many atheists would argue that people today are morally better than they were in the days of child sacrifice because of our technological advances. It is patently false to make this claim in an age that sacrifices millions of babies under the protection of secular law.

In fact, virtually no evil conquering evil in the entire journey of human history has been eradicated. People are just as lost as they were thousands of years ago. Human reason has led to a population that believes men can choose to be women. People can't even figure out which bathroom to use without the help of an outside source of truth.

There are examples of atheistic ethics that agree with much of what a theist would suggest. Plato proposed four cardinal virtues before the time of Christ: prudence, courage, moderation, and justice. Nothing in this list is objectionable.

Benjamin Franklin also compiled a famous list of virtues:

Moderation: Eat until you're full. Drink not at altitude.

Silence: Speak not but what may be of benefit to others or to yourself. Avoid small talk.

Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time.

Resolution: Decide to do what you must. Complete what you set your mind to without fail.

Thrift: Make no expenditure except to do good to others or to yourself: i.e., waste nothing.

Industry: Don't waste time. Always be busy with something useful. Cut out all unnecessary actions.

Honesty: Do not use harmful deception. Think innocently and justly; and if you speak, speak accordingly.

Justice: Do not wrong by injuring or omitting benefits that are your duty.

Moderation: Avoid extremes. Refrain from resenting the injuries as much as you think they deserve.

Cleanliness: Do not tolerate uncleanness of body, clothing or housing.

Peace of mind: Do not worry about trifles or about accidents, common or unavoidable.

Chastity: Seldom use venus, but for health or progeny; never to stupidity, weakness, or injury to your own or another's peace of mind or reputation.

Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

While these lists seem admirable at first, they still beg the question of how virtue was defined. What are the consequences of this list of morality in reality? What would the world look like if they were adopted among the general population? Why these and not others?

Also, how should these terms be defined? What is "fairness"? How should it be practiced? Franklin's definition of chastity seems quite liberal. How did you come to this conclusion?

The Bible explains that God's law is written on the hearts of men and that all men have an active conscience. However, this knowledge is only sufficient for condemnation, not for salvation. The only clear goals that atheists seem to affirm are to constantly justify their disbelief to outsiders and to undermine the faith of those who are not like them.

The influence of atheistic philosophy on determining the meaning of life

Atheists don't seem to have a strong case for why life should exist. There is no transcendent point in life. Death is an inevitability that cannot be resisted or defeated.

This predictably leads to depression. Purpose is subjective and ethereal, and dying after a life devoid of meaning is a very real possibility. Atheists admit that there is a problem with suicide in their ranks.

This has been explained in various ways, including blaming Christians for bullying them to suicide, for which there seems to be no evidence other than second-hand anecdotes.

For a group that prides itself on logic, death seems like a logical response to life's struggles and suffering, especially if there is no afterlife to consider.

Given the empty nature of the atheistic worldview, abortion makes perfect sense. Aborted children can be dismissed as "unwanted", at least by the mother. Unwanted children will not have a good life. Therefore, it is better that unwanted children never lived at all.

The mother, because she is able to express self-determination, is able to secure her right to choose abortion instead of and against the unborn child, who cannot protest at all. There is no apparent evil here for the atheist.

Christian view

Christian metaphysics

The Christian answers metaphysical questions through a biblical understanding of God. The universe was created by God and serves His purposes.

When a Christian is faced with the task of determining the meaning of life, the answer is quite easily found in Scripture. The purpose of life is to glorify God. Efforts to unravel the meaning of life and to understand the mysteries of this concept seem strange and confusing to someone who grew up with a biblical worldview.

The scriptures answer how one can live for the glory of God. Obedience to God's commandments glorifies him. Repentance of sin glorifies him. When God saves undeserving sinners, He is glorified. Even the condemnation of the impenitent brings glory to God.

Dependence on God for daily provision and security glorifies him. In fact, all things should bring glory to God. When Christians are tested about the meaning of life, they need only recall the first line of the Westminster Catechism: "Let us glorify God and enjoy him forever."

Christians are often challenged by the perceived inability to prove the existence of any God, much less the God of the Bible. Atheists often give up at this point because, without sufficient evidence, they are unwilling to settle on any biblical truths, meaning there is no common ground to share in the debate.

The amount of evidence needed to prove the existence of God to an individual is determined mostly by that individual. If someone has reason to hate God, they may choose not to believe in His existence, despite overwhelming evidence.

It is a common claim that atheists choose not to believe in God because pure, unemotional reason leads them to that conclusion based on a calm and careful examination of the known facts.

In reality, atheists often become atheists for emotional reasons, after the fact they embark on a quest to disprove the existence of God. Some resent God for a supposed failure; they may have been grossly wronged by religious people in the past, or they may not be able to reconcile God's behavior with their personal standard of goodness.

Atheists may refuse to allow overwhelming amounts of evidence to convince them of the truth of God's existence, but they also lack the ability to prove that God does not exist. The scriptures contain many examples of Christ's encounters with those who witnessed a sensational miracle performed by Jesus in their presence, but were still skeptical of His claims to divinity.

Returning to the question of man's purpose, Christians define human life as the Bible defines it: born of human parents and created in God's image. It is because of this definition that Christians have been the most vocal and consistent opponents of abortion.

Christian epistemology

Christian epistemology is also quite simple. The truth exists and can be found in the Scriptures. In contrast, pure human intuition is flawed at best and straight backwards most of the time. Jeremiah 17 says that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

The answer, of course, is that no one can understand the heart, least of all its owner. Truth cannot be known apart from Jesus Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit who illuminates the text of Scripture to those who come to it seeking answers.

While Scripture is the clearest and most comprehensive record of truth, natural revelation also reveals some truths about God. Natural revelation is not sufficient to lead men to the ultimate truth of the universe, which is the Lordship of Christ and the Almighty, infinite reign of God the Father.

This is obvious because no one has ever encountered the truth of who God is from observing God's creation, because God is supernatural. His creation does reflect the fact that there is a Creator, but it cannot bring man into an intimate relationship with God.

Atheists may also point to the "Eutyphro dilemma" as a way of misleading Christians in epistemology. Is what is morally good commanded by God because it is morally good, or is it morally good because it is commanded by God? The answer to this is not difficult: both are true.

This is a false dilemma. Christians accept that whatever God declares to be righteous is morally right. Christians also claim that God would never command something that is morally wrong. They are not mutually exclusive. This is an example of the failure of reasoning to arrive at the real truth.

In this case, logic—which applies to the entire natural realm—is applied to a supernatural being. Since God is supernatural, logic does not apply to Him in the same way as to the created order.

A similar example of this is God's Trinitarian nature. How can God be both "one" and "three"? With created things this is not possible, but God is triune, and Christians accept this because it is clearly taught in Scripture, which is the ultimate source of truth.

Even truths that seem to contradict common perception or each other are true. Apparent contradictions are only apparent. Further study and the passage of time reveal that they are consistent after all.

Because the Christian source of truth is accessible to all and has not changed for thousands of years, it is a constant place to look for meaning in life.

Christian ethics

The world is a fallen place. This is sometimes a reason to doubt God. Christians recognize that the existence of evil and sin in the world is because people choose to sin. To know this, Christians must necessarily have a way of defining what sin is.

The word often translated as "sin" can also be translated as "missing mark." Christians understand that sin does not meet God's standard of behavior. Like the source of Christian epistemology, the judge of all right behavior and practice is the entire Holy Bible.

Christian ethics is based on a thorough study of Scripture, which is sufficient to answer all moral questions. While the atheist may stumble at the explanation of the immorality of murder, the Christian knows it is wrong because God's law declares it so.

General Objections to Christian Ethics

A typical jab at Christian ethics is to point out its perceived inconsistency. For example, a common accusation in some circles is to note that Christians do not abstain from crustaceans and sometimes wear clothing of mixed types of fabrics. Both of these actions are forbidden in the Old Testament.

Christians believe that the Old Testament is valid, infallible, and still essential to Christian faith and practice today. So why do they not follow many of its provisions today? The answer lies in the fact that God's revealed law in the Old Testament can be divided into three types of law: judicial, ceremonial, and moral.

The judicial laws were primarily for the government of the nation of Israel. Since this nation does not exist in the same form, these laws are not necessary, although the principles behind many of the laws are still valuable to study and understand.

The ceremonial laws concerned individual Israelites and the nation as a whole standing before the Holy God. To maintain this position, they had to observe a long list of rites and ceremonies to adhere to God's exacting standards of holiness.

This type of law was ultimately fulfilled by Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection meet God's standard of holiness. Christians are allowed to enter the presence of a holy God not because they have earned it, but because Jesus has earned it and given it to Christians. Ritual purification has been replaced by spiritual purification.

God's moral law exists because of God's moral character. It depends on His existence. God graciously chose to explicitly reveal His moral law to the world, but even if He chose not to, mankind would still be on the hook for these violations.

Stealing is wrong because God is sovereign and provides for the needs of His people. Desire is wrong for the same reason. Adultery is wrong because it taints the picture of Christ and His Church that marriage presents to humanity while deviating from God's stated design for human flourishing. Homosexuality is wrong for the same reason.

Why love others? Because the Bible unequivocally says to do so. Murder is wrong because God is sovereign over all life and death and because the sentence of death is His alone.

God's moral law is violated by abortion. God gives life. God gives babies to parents and they are responsible for every decision they make regarding the care of that baby.

Another common objection to Christian ethics is the argument that certain biblical dictates must be abandoned because the world has moved away from them. This is often argued in favor of women preaching and embracing homosexuality: “Paul wrote his letters in a patriarchal society, so he knew that churches had to reflect their surroundings in order to win converts.

That is why he banned women preachers. Now people understand that women can do anything that men can do, so it is acceptable to reject Paul's teaching on this matter.”

Defending homosexuality is more complicated for theological liberals because it is included in several of Paul's lists of sins. Many of the sins on the list are not yet acceptable to the world, so it is difficult to remove homosexuality from the list without justification.

The current tactic seems to redefine sin itself to encompass one kind of homosexuality while providing a pass to another kind. In warfare, this maneuver is known as establishing a "base." It is notable that these "vice lists" in Paul's letters often include "murder."

Abortion is in the same class as these sins, and there is a movement to normalize it and gain Christian acceptance for it, using the same argument that considering abortion a sin simply does not reflect the reality of the modern world.

This argument must be countered. Changing the definition of sins is an obvious sign of a desire to circumvent the clear revealed will of God by obfuscating the issue.

What does Jerusalem have to do with Athens?

Tertullian, a church father, uttered this rhetorical question when trying to point out that Christians need nothing outside of Christ to understand all the concepts contained in all the philosophies of the earth. Christianity itself is a philosophy.

This is the true philosophy. If Tertullian is right, should Christians spend their time studying this discipline? Can the study of philosophy help Christians come to a deeper knowledge of truth?

Philosophical utility

When Paul preached in Athens during his missionary journey through that land, he did so in one of the centers of philosophical discussion and learning. He chose this place in part because philosophers were concerned with getting answers to questions that Christianity could uniquely answer.

Their philosophy included many considerations of religion. Paul's sermon, found in Acts 17, was received with a mixture of interest, faith, and disbelief. Much of the interest that fell short of the true faith was caused by the novelty of Christian philosophy to the Greek mind.

No one has ever been saved by philosophy. No one was ever saved without philosophy.

Philosophy and abortion

Human beings need their world to have a deeper meaning. Everyone needs something more important than themselves to be a part of their reality.

When abortion is discussed, entire philosophical worldviews collide. It is impossible to maintain a coherent Christian philosophy while agreeing with abortion. Conversely, abortion is a natural consequence of the atheistic philosophical worldview.

Everyone on earth must come to terms with the basic questions of life, religion and reality. Most people do not fit neatly into a category, so it is beneficial for the abortionist to use philosophy as a means of entering into meaningful conversations to help clarify moral issues such as abortion.

One look at American culture reveals that it is in conflict with itself. Many people are strongly opposed to abortion. Several are furiously to choose from. Most people are somewhere in the middle, struggling to find a philosophical justification for drawing moral lines about the kind of abortion that can be tolerated.

This is evidenced by polls showing that most Americans are inconsistent in their support for abortion, believing that it depends at least in part on the totality of circumstances.

Life has meaning. It's not random. Humans were created to glorify their Creator, who is infinitely worthy. Abortion is always wrong because God is always God. His law is always His law.

God is not a man to lie, or a son of man to change his mind. Did he say and won't he? Or has he spoken and will not fulfill it? Numbers 23:19

The point of life, your life

Anyone reading this article may find that they have been faced with a number of confusing ideas and concepts. If no other meaning can be discerned from this article, then let it be this: God made you to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.

God is near because He sent His Son to earth to die the death that sinners deserved, making a way for sinners to have fellowship with God. The meaning of life is to accept this truth, turn from your sin and put your faith in Jesus.

This is the same reason God made your unborn children. God has a special relationship with children, orphans, widows, and those who are strangers in foreign lands. He loves them and wants them protected. Some of the most horrific punishments in the Scriptures befall those who mistreat these groups.

Maybe if you've read this far, you've had an abortion or helped others get one. Know that Christ's death is sufficient to cover this sin. You can be forgiven and be part of a community of believers who will support you and demonstrate the love of true family.

If you are considering an abortion, please contact Save Life and talk to someone about other options. We want to love you and your child.