Re: What is the meaning and purpose of life?
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 12:45 pm
Thanks Robby. There does seem to be SOME ways in which I think like the writer of Ecclesiastes.
However, he comes off as pessimistic in the book. I am not pessimistic. I love life, the joys of marriage, and the many other good things that life affords. I love the Lord and His works. I am privileged to live in the backwoods of Northern Ontario, and I can take walks in the forest, untouched by man (except my gathering of winter firewood from it) and admire its beauty, including the gorgeous wild flowers which grow there—the showy ladyslippers, the greater yellow ladyslippers, the columbine, the mertensia, the Joe-Pye flowers, the wild roses, the pitcher-plants, etc., etc. that grow in the forest and swamp. I am ever aware of the glory of God in his great creation! My wife and I are most blessed in so many ways!
Yet, I am also aware of the sorrows of the world: the death of children in their infancy, children being forced into prostitution, tortures, rapes, men raging at their wives and children causing terror to them, men beating their wives and children or even killing them, women who do likewise, the ravages of war and the great suffering on all sides, people taking monetary advantage of the poor, people suffering from cancer and other painful terminal illnesses, people at a loss as to how to cope with life, etc., etc. I see no meaning or purpose in all of this. Some say that God "allows" all of these things for a deeper purpose, though He doesn't reveal what that deeper purpose is. And couldn't he have brought about these deeper results without having to use such suffering as a means to bringing about these purposes? I simply reject that God has anything to do with this suffering. God is fully LOVE, and has no pleasure in the death even of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11).
Why then all this suffering? Much of it results from the evil, free-will choice of man. But how about natural disasters? Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, etc.? These may have all resulted from man's fall. There is no evidence that the Garden of Eden, the birthplace of mankind, had any natural disasters prior to the fall—not even death. But God offers hope in that he will restore things on earth as they were meant to be. "Meant to be"? Meaning and purpose? Yes, God has ultimate purposes which He will eventually fulfill.
However, he comes off as pessimistic in the book. I am not pessimistic. I love life, the joys of marriage, and the many other good things that life affords. I love the Lord and His works. I am privileged to live in the backwoods of Northern Ontario, and I can take walks in the forest, untouched by man (except my gathering of winter firewood from it) and admire its beauty, including the gorgeous wild flowers which grow there—the showy ladyslippers, the greater yellow ladyslippers, the columbine, the mertensia, the Joe-Pye flowers, the wild roses, the pitcher-plants, etc., etc. that grow in the forest and swamp. I am ever aware of the glory of God in his great creation! My wife and I are most blessed in so many ways!
Yet, I am also aware of the sorrows of the world: the death of children in their infancy, children being forced into prostitution, tortures, rapes, men raging at their wives and children causing terror to them, men beating their wives and children or even killing them, women who do likewise, the ravages of war and the great suffering on all sides, people taking monetary advantage of the poor, people suffering from cancer and other painful terminal illnesses, people at a loss as to how to cope with life, etc., etc. I see no meaning or purpose in all of this. Some say that God "allows" all of these things for a deeper purpose, though He doesn't reveal what that deeper purpose is. And couldn't he have brought about these deeper results without having to use such suffering as a means to bringing about these purposes? I simply reject that God has anything to do with this suffering. God is fully LOVE, and has no pleasure in the death even of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11).
Why then all this suffering? Much of it results from the evil, free-will choice of man. But how about natural disasters? Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, etc.? These may have all resulted from man's fall. There is no evidence that the Garden of Eden, the birthplace of mankind, had any natural disasters prior to the fall—not even death. But God offers hope in that he will restore things on earth as they were meant to be. "Meant to be"? Meaning and purpose? Yes, God has ultimate purposes which He will eventually fulfill.