How Does Christianity Provide Meaning & Purpose?

[Danmark]

This came up in another thread, "One More Reason Religion Does Not Come From God:"

I tend towards open theology that sees chaotic forces and a God that wants to work with humankind toward the envisioned end.

This is something that has bothered me for at least 50 years; what IS that 'envisioned end?' Religion in general and Christianity in particular are supposed to answer fundamental questions and to give purpose and meaning to life. But I don't see that it has accomplished that task. It merely puts a label on that quest by saying "God" and then going on to say things like the quote above. I get it, that according to Christian theology God made the universe and man and set some rules which man disobeyed and the wages of sin is Death and Jesus came to save us from death and if we believe in him we will live forever. So? What happens then? What is the point of 'living forever' in 'God's Glory' or whatever? We still have the same questions:
How did the universe come to be?
Where did God come from, or How has he just always 'been?'
What will our purpose be when we have been delivered from these Earthly bodies?
Is heaven like some eternal church service where we sing hymns forever praising God?
Maybe we all go to the same place when we die and for Christians it is heaven and for me it will be hell.
In other words, I still don't get the point of it all?

With or without God, it still seems to me that each of us has to find his own meaning and purpose in this life. What is the point of 'paradise?' Is it no more than a hedonist's dream?

[Danmark]

As I was about to publish that, my cat made "I'm bored" noises. So I threw a play mouse, landing it on the top level of his fake 'tree. If I miss and it falls down he ignores it. But if I hit the target he races up, retrieves the 'mouse,' descends like a shot and if he's in the mood trots over and lays it at my feet.

For that moment, I suppose, I gave him 'purpose.' Is our trouble as homo sapiens that our brains just got too big, affording us the ability to ask questions like, why should I climb that tree? I guess that is the point of 'The Myth of Sisyphus,' both the Greek myth and Camus's essay:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Sisyphus

[Divine Insight]

I don't understand it either. Life is either meaningful or it isn't. If life is meaningful then it's meaningful even as a temporary existence. If it's not meaningful, then extending it for eternity isn't going to make it meaningful.

Also, if the purpose of life is to "glorify" a God, and this is what gives lives meaning, then life can only have meaning as long as God is in dire need of being glorified. This would be a life that obtains its meaning from a "needy" God. And if for some reason God should ever be completely fulfilled and no longer be needy, then life suddenly life would have no meaning because the only meaning it ever had in the first place was due to the neediness of a God who needs to be glorified.

It makes absolutely no sense at all.

The mere fact that many humans would like to live forever already demonstrates that they value life. Therefore they must also feel that life is innately meaningful. Otherwise why would they lust to live forever in the first place?

Clearly we are the ones who give our own lives meaning. A God couldn't give our lives meaning even if a God wanted to. If we don't give our own life meaning, no one else could do it for us, not even a God. So the idea that a God could give meaning to our lives is non sequitur anyway.

[Elijah John]

This came up in another thread, "One More Reason Religion Does Not Come From God:"

I tend towards open theology that sees chaotic forces and a God that wants to work with humankind toward the envisioned end.

This is something that has bothered me for at least 50 years; what IS that 'envisioned end?' Religion in general and Christianity in particular are supposed to answer fundamental questions and to give purpose and meaning to life. But I don't see that it has accomplished that task. It merely puts a label on that quest by saying "God" and then going on to say things like the quote above. I get it, that according to Christian theology God made the universe and man and set some rules which man disobeyed and the wages of sin is Death and Jesus came to save us from death and if we believe in him we will live forever. So? What happens then? What is the point of 'living forever' in 'God's Glory' or whatever?

"Love" , love is the purpose. From this Theist's pov: God loves us, and the redeemed of God, love Him.

We still have the same questions:
How did the universe come to be?

With a Word, according to the Bible. And with the Divine tools of evolution, physics and biology...from a scientifically Theistic pov..

Where did God come from, or How has he just always 'been?'

God is an eternal being, and that means eternally pre-existent as well. He lives in a dimension that transcends time, and we will too, and partake of his eternal nature. What is necessary for us to know, will be revealed...or as Paul says.."we see now a through a glass darkly.." Presumabley, things will be much clearer in the afterlife.

What will our purpose be when we have been delivered from these Earthly bodies?
Is heaven like some eternal church service where we sing hymns forever praising God?

Whatever is good and enjoyable on earth, is only a shadow of the good that is in Heaven. Why would things be any less enjoyable in Heaven? Implicit in the belief that God is Good, and the source of all that is Good, is that He will be clearly present with us as the recognizable source of all our good activities, "up there". And there will be a continual atmosphere of thanks and praise, even if "unspoken".

Maybe we all go to the same place when we die and for Christians it is heaven and for me it will be hell.
In other words, I still don't get the point of it all?

That is the old "Heaven is in the clouds, with us playing harps" mentality. That has been inculcated into us, with stagnant and sterile stereotypes. I understand your apprehension if you see Heaven as an eternal "church service"...some services are as dull as dishwater. But life is vital, and eternal live, even more so.

With or without God, it still seems to me that each of us has to find his own meaning and purpose in this life. What is the point of 'paradise?' Is it no more than a hedonist's dream?

Hedonism is completely self-directed and self- absorbed, and hedonistic interactions with others are only for using them only for one's own purposes,,. And Hedonism always has painful negative consequences, eventual if not immediate.

Heaven, on the other hand, is shared love with the Source of all good, and we will love the Source even more than the blessings.

Good, thought provoking topic, but highly speculative. My answers here are clearly only Theistic opinion and speculation, but....I cannot answer these empirically. Not without citing some "life after life, comeback from the dead" studies, and I am no expert on those.

Also, the Sermon on the Mount and the Beattitudes catalogue the actions and attitudes that will help a person find purpose in light of eternity, beyond the world's creedo of: "he who dies with the most toys, wins".

That alone could be the subject of another topic!

[Divine Insight]

"Love" , love is the purpose. From this Theist's pov: God loves us, and the redeemed of God, love Him.

There is no need for a God to have "Love". So if love is them meaning and purpose of life then no God is required to give life meaning or purpose.

[Elijah John]

"Love" , love is the purpose. From this Theist's pov: God loves us, and the redeemed of God, love Him.

There is no need for a God to have "Love". So if love is them meaning and purpose of life then no God is required to give life meaning or purpose.

No need, but that is His nature. His nature is giving.

[Zzyzx]

.

"Love" , love is the purpose. From this Theist's pov: God loves us, and the redeemed of God, love Him.!

EJ, If the meaning and purpose of Christianity is "Love", the religion / belief is unnecessary because love exists without involvement of God (or the religion that purports to represent "him").

However, some people apparently need to visualize divine involvement in order to feel love -- but many do not.

Could it be that those who need God beliefs to feel love (or purpose or meaning or moral guidance, etc) gravitate toward religion, and those who have no such needs find no benefit (or love or meaning) in religion?

[RonE]

[Replying to post 6 by Elijah John]

"Love" , love is the purpose. From this Theist's pov: God loves us, and the redeemed of God, love Him.

There is no need for a God to have "Love". So if love is them meaning and purpose of life then no God is required to give life meaning or purpose.

No need, but that is His nature. His nature is giving.

I find it quite amazing that people are so willing to humanize and accept a god for who there is no credible evidence.

[rikuoamero]

[Replying to post 4 by Elijah John]

"Love" , love is the purpose. From this Theist's pov: God loves us, and the redeemed of God, love Him.

So what...we just walk around feeling intense love all day, every day, for umpteen trillion years?

With a Word, according to the Bible. And with the Divine tools of evolution, physics and biology...from a scientifically Theistic pov..

Okay...but since the Bible is not authoritative in this forum, I don't have to take your first sentence there.

God is an eternal being, and that means eternally pre-existent as well. He lives in a dimension that transcends time, and we will too, and partake of his eternal nature. What is necessary for us to know, will be revealed...or as Paul says.."we see now a through a glass darkly.." Presumabley, things will be much clearer in the afterlife.

Explain how one can 'exist' without time? When I talk about something that exists, it exists within space-time. The word exist doesn't have the same meaning at all if you now talk about a timeless dimension, for which you provide no evidence.
In fact, when I try to picture a 'timeless dimension' (or one that transcends time, as you say), I can picture only something that is instantaneous. As in, we wouldn't have linear time as we experience it now, but all of that dimension's eternity would flash by in an instant. That, or it's frozen, like a paused DVD.

Whatever is good and enjoyable on earth, is only a shadow of the good that is in Heaven. Why would things be any less enjoyable in Heaven? Implicit in the belief that God is Good, and the source of all that is Good, is that He will be clearly present with us as the recognizable source of all our good activities, "up there". And there will be a continual atmosphere of thanks and praise, even if "unspoken".

So direct, unquestionable knowledge of God will be there, not just the faith that Christians have here. Makes me wonder just what the heck God is doing with this faith here on Earth...
Yeah and a continual atmosphere of thanks and praise? Couldn't have turned me off the idea any quicker.

Hedonism is completely self-directed and self- absorbed, and hedonistic interactions with others are only for using them only for one's own purposes,,. And Hedonism always has painful negative consequences, eventual if not immediate.

Can't this apply to God? He's using us for his own purposes, and why would love be excluded from that?

Heaven, on the other hand, is shared love with the Source of all good, and we will love the Source even more than the blessings.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm EXTREMELY wary of being told I WILL love someone or something, as if I don't have a choice in the matter.

Not without citing some "life after life, comeback from the dead" studies, and I am no expert on those.

Perhaps that would be because such studies simply do not exist? We have no people who have come back from death. We've had people who had near death experiences, and people who were misdiagnosed but no-one who was clearly actually dead.

[marco]

With or without God, it still seems to me that each of us has to find his own meaning and purpose in this life. What is the point of 'paradise?' Is it no more than a hedonist's dream?

Christianity simply offers SOMETHING as opposed to nothing. The Christmas Christ dozing by the donkey, the bored wedding guest miraculously producing bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chablis, the poor soul sweating drops of blood in a garden and the conversations on a cross with thieves - they offer a little more than Hollywood. Heaven is something Christians cannot imagine, though it seems to be loud in angelic incantations every hour of the heavenly day.

Muhammad, catering for dusty, red-blooded desert warriors, made heaven a more physical oasis with your actual clean water and specimens of edible fruit (all varieties) as well as compliant virgins waiting to serve the recently deceased MEN. I read somewhere that Muhammad said men would enjoy sex 100 times a day, and never tire - so heaven is a continuation of earthly carnality... at least for male believers.

It is not clear what Christians do in heaven and it sounds rather dull if the main entertainment is hymn singing. Eye hath not seen.... and it is probably the best way to put it, since we can judge if and when we get there. Of course we have the chilling statement that millions will queue up but there is very limited seating, which sounds rather like more of the same treatment we get on earth.

My own view is - if there is some sort of continuation after death, it will not be anything like religionists suppose.