“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21
Is the purpose of life to merely exist? Purpose is defined as the reason for existence (Random House 2019). Everything within the natural world, every living and nonliving element, exists with a specific purpose. The sun, air, water and even dirt have a specific purpose for existence. It could be argued that each naturally occurring element in our world exists for human existence. Why then would human life, the most significant of all things that exist in the world, be the only thing in the world to exist without a specific purpose? One cannot begin to make sense of the views of our world without first making sense of the purpose of our existence.
The Purpose of Life
Without the sun, soil and water, plants could not grow. Without plants, life could not be sustained. Without human life, well, earth may be better off. If you look at the earth as a whole and ecosystems at large, most will agree human life is destructive. While every element of the natural world can be linked to a specific purpose or byproduct of a purpose, humans are quite the contrary. Humans destroy earth more than aiding in its natural preservation. If this is true, then why are we here and why do we continue to destroy our home?
There is a widely accepted argument that earth, and all its inhabitants happened by accident and through evolution. Even if that is truth, how is it that every element was accidentally created or evolved with a defined purpose, with the exceptions of one small detail, the most advanced of all living creatures. Humans, or homo sapiens, benefit from all of earth’s intricate details. This accidental and evolutionary theory then suggests that these evolving accidents intricately work together for the united benefit of man and everything ends there. That is, by nature, man is the end of the accidents and of evolution. If this is truth, then we must look at one other detail, the idea of nature.
Nature is defined as “the material world, especially surrounding humankind and existing independently of human activities” (Random House 2019). Therefore, by definition and as it relates to these accidental and evolutionary ideologies, nature surrounds humans but is independent from humans. However, humans could not exist without nature. So, here is this natural world that occurred accidentally and exists independently from the most evolved and significant of all species; but purposefully exists to support this purposeless accidental species. More simply put, the universe happened by accident to purposefully support a purposeless species.
Nature of Truth and Reality
Within the natural and purposeful world there are patterns and cycles that can be observed, documented and agreed upon as truth. The food cycle, water cycle, life cycle, moon cycle and the carbon cycle; just to name a few. Man can observe and document these cycles and realities, eventually agreeing they are truth. Reality is that these systems are accepted as truth because they are divinely flawless. They work together with such intricacy and complexity that man could never recreate or even fully explain how they were created. Instead man watches in awe of their presences.
This level of detail is unlikely to have happened by accident. The mere dependence of each cycle upon each other supports that there must be a greater power at work that set forth with intention. This greater power must be all powerful and perfect to have created so many flawlessly perfect details. It only makes sense that humankind must also have purpose and meaning within the greater plan of this creator.
The specific purpose and dependency of each worldly element on one another supports that everything was created from nothing, with a distinct beginning and likewise will have a distinct end. Meaning time is temporal as it is relative to the creation and ending of the world (Geisler & Watkins 28).
Within our world exists many complex and interdependent systems, including human life. Given its complexities it only makes sense that the world was created by a supernatural power. This power is not observable from our vantage point; therefore, it must be apart from our world. Yet the power continues to sustain the world with a continued presence; therefore, it remains as a present force. This power created everything within the world with purpose and intention. This includes man who’s purpose we have not yet established. If man is the greatest of all creation, could it be that he was created in the image of the higher power to assist with the sustainability of the greater purpose? Making the purpose of human life to act in the image of the creator to fulfill the greater purpose of the creation.
Nature of Man and Deity
If these realities are true and accurate then what is this greater power and how is man to act in its image? Considering this idea of greater power and the extent of the creation, one may wonder if this is a single power or multiple powers working together. The complexities of creation and the flawlessness of their dependency supports the assumption that there is only a single creator.
Looking at complex and simple systems alike will reveal that multiple points of management or control give way to an increased potential for flaws. When you have competing powers, let’s say in government, you decrease the likelihood of systematic harmony due to competing forces. Commonly referred to as “too many cooks in the kitchen.” It is unlikely that a complex system, such as our universe, could be so flawless with numerous leading powers.
Therefore, it is more likely that creation was facilitated by a single power, a deity, a God. Like any good system led by a single power, it is reasonable that this God established representatives to sustain his work. These representatives are man, created in God’s image to assist with fulfilling a greater purpose. Man is held to high moral standards but is also given free will to have the ability to differentiate between right and wrong. How is man held accountable? Rights and wrongs will be judged and will lead to eternal rewards or punishment. As these consequences are eternal, the soul is far more valuable than the body (Geisler & Watkins 25).
Theism
This worldview, of an infinite God beyond and in the universe, is known as Theism. Theism declares there is more than just the physical world. There is a God that is personal. A supernatural God that created, sustains and acts within our world. This is the worldview for major religions such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism (Geisler & Watkins 15).
Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas, traditional theists from A.D. 354 – 430 and A.D. 1224-1274 respectively, established many widely accepted theological truths. The world is ex nihilo or created from nothing. God is tripersonal, morally perfect and performs miracles. Man is created in the likeness of God and has free choice, making way for both good and evil (Geisler & Watkins 23-32).
In more recent times, A.D. 1898 – 1963, C.S. Lewis accepted Augustine’s and Aquinas’ truths; stating “something which is directing the universe, and which appears in me as law urging me to do right and making me feel responsible and uncomfortable when I do wrong. I think we have to assume it is more like a mind that it is like anything else we know – because after all the only other thing we know is matter and you can hardly image a bit of matter giving instructions.” In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis does a profound job of establishing the idea of free will and right verse wrong, good verse evil and man’s relationship to God (Geisler & Watkins 23-32). He argues that “human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in” (Lewis 8).
From Augustine to Aquinas to Lewis, there are clear basic beliefs of the theism worldview. God exists in and beyond the world: the world was created by God and sustained by his continued presence. The world was created ex nihilo: the creation of the world was by God out of nothing. Miracles are not only possible, they have happened. Creation of man in God’s likeness: man has free will, is God’s representative on earth and therefore should be treated as sacred. There is a moral law: God is moral, man is created in God’s image, therefore man is subject to moral law. Man is immortal: mans moral actions will be judged and the sustainability of his soul will be determined by his time on earth. A day of reckoning: man will be either rewarded or punished on the day of judgement (Geisler & Watkins 38-40).
What makes these theologians even more interesting and convincing is the fact that they began apart from Theism but found their way, not only convinced in the ideas but advocates for the beliefs. Augustine is said to have begun as a “near-pagan,” exploring dualism and pantheism, finally landing on Christian Theism (Geisler & Watkins 23-32). C.S. Lewis explains that when he was atheist, he tried to persuade himself that most of the human race has always been wrong, while as a Christian he was able to take a much more liberal view (Lewis 35). There is a level of comfort knowing great contributors to the worldview did not come to accept this worldview until spending time dabbling in others.
Pantheism and Atheism
C.S. Lewis also wrote, in his book Miracles, that some get the impression that “Christianity
gives the ‘obvious’ accounts of God, the one that is too easy to be true.” Is this the appeal of theism
and why is it one of the leading worldviews? To better understand this, we must explore other leading worldviews, how they differ and where they fall short from theism.
As discussed, the idea of many gods doesn’t make sense from a systematical perspective; especially a systematically perfect system such as our world. Therefore, the ideas of polytheism are not a top contender to support the described natural world. Looking further at the idea of one God, we cannot overlook pantheism. C.S. Lewis describes pantheism as congenial because “it is as old as we are. It may even be the most primitive of all religions” (Lewis 131).
Pantheism, one of the views Augustine considered, is the idea that God is the universe and the universe is God. This worldview can be seen represented in Hinduism and Zen Buddhism (Geisler & Watkins 17). Like theism, pantheism believes in one infinite God. The main difference is that theism believes there is a world plus God while pantheism believes the world is God.
While this idea, in and of itself could be conceptualized, there are so many variations within Pantheism that gives way to a variety of established truths among followers; as opposed to commonly and widely accepted truths. In particular, the variations of how God and the world are to be identified (Geisler & Watkins 101-105). How can truth be considered truth if it varies so much within a common belief?
Further, pantheism believes that God is an unchanging absolute while man goes through a change called Enlightenment in which he reaches an awareness that he is God. Pantheism believes the world is God and man reaches an awareness that he is God through a process of change; yet God is unchanging. This adds a layer of complication and contradiction that discredits the overall
view.
While Hinduism is one of the oldest religions still practiced, there are many inconsistencies in which the truths and realities are not balanced. There is an attractiveness to be pulled toward something so old and foundational to worldviews, however when the basis of the beliefs contradict itself, it is hard to follow. “To deny that logic applies to reality, one must make a logical statement about reality. But if no such logical statements about reality can be made, how can the pantheist even explain his views?” (Geisler & Watkins 105).
Theism is appealing for its simplicity and alignment of truth and reality to the natural world, while pantheism is overly complicated yet has been accepted for a very long time; yet both believe in one God. On the other end of the spectrum is a world without god, defined as atheism. Atheists believe the world is all there is, there is no god in or beyond. Other beliefs are that the world is eternal, evils exists, man is material and destined for death, and ethics are relative. While it may be tempting to just believe in nothing due to truths that cannot be clearly seen or proven; atheism fails to support the rationality of our world. It goes back to this idea that man lacks purpose and makes way for a life of emptiness. “Chance does not explain the origin of all things; an intelligent cause is needed” otherwise we are accepting that “nothing produced something” (Geisler & Watkins 62).
“Pantheist and Christians agree that we are all dependent on God and intimately related to Him. But the Christian defines this relation in terms of Maker and made, whereas Pantheist (at least of the popular kind) says, we are “parts of Him, or are contained in Him” (Lewis 135). Atheism on the other hand believes the world is completely absent of a God. With all these conflicted worldviews, what is truth?
Truth and reality support there is a supernatural power and that man does have purpose. The world was formed by something, is presently sustained through that something and is proven by all creation within our world. Theism does the best job of consistently supporting these ideas and aligning them with history, science and psychological needs. Perhaps Lewis is right, “the old atomic theory is in physics what Pantheism is in religion – the normal, instinctive guess of the human mind, not utterly wrong, but needing correction. Christian theology, and quantum physics, are both, by comparison with the first guess, hard, complex, dry and repellent” (Lewis 133).
Natural human tendencies beg to prove there is more to life than mere existence because our natural world supports these ideas. Our world, and everything within it, was created intentionally by God. Humankind was created in God’s likeness and image to be his representatives here one earth. With that responsibility comes moral accountability, which can only be measured by how well we operate within our God given freewill. This freewill must then exist alongside good and evil. There will be a day of judgment in which we will be either rewarded or punished for our deeds during our time on earth. This may lead one to wonder how to navigate through these ideas. Romans 8:28 states “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those that love Him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Zondervan 1995). God has not left us to figure this out on our own. He has provided us with people, relationships and words to help decipher through our freewill according to His will. For Christian Theists, those teachings and morals can be found within the Bible; which is a historically supported collection of documents. The Bible supports the theism worldview over and over again.
Atheism leaves humans empty and purposely. Pantheism was a good start but did not provide full fulfillment. Theism, particularly Christian theism, provides a clear set of beliefs and values that supports this natural need for explanation and purpose. It provides us the freewill to act within our own understanding. In this world where we are given the freewill to believe in anything, I would rather choose to believe and be wrong; than choose not to believe and be wrong.
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20
Work Cited
Geisler, N.L., & Watkins, W.D. (2003). Worlds Apart: A Handbook on World Views. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Lewis, C.S. (2001). Mere Christianity. New York, NY: HarperOne Publishing.
Lewis, C.S. (2001). Miracles. New York, NY: HarperOne Publishing.
Purpose. (2019) Retrieved October 8, 2019, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/purpose?s=t. Random House.
Zondervan Corporation, L.L.C. (1995). BibleGateway. Retrieved October 2019, from
https://www.biblegateway.com/.
