The Purpose of Life

Dennis Diehl just posted an article titled The Danger in "The God Given Purpose" on the Banned by HWA blog, and I highly recommend that everyone read it. Unfortunately, I know all too well that there will be a few narrow-minded readers who will automatically dismiss whatever Dennis has to say because he is an atheist (I've experienced the same phenomenon because of my homosexuality). Oh well, it is as they say, "they don't know what they are missing!" Scripture tells us that it is dangerous to be without counsel, and that wisdom is to be found in a multitude of counselors - suggesting a variety of perspectives and opinions (Proverbs 11:14). In other words, you don't have to embrace everything that I, Dennis, or anyone else has to say on some subject, but you might find something useful in formulating your own perspective on the topic.

Dennis began his post with some quotes from another counselor:

"Isn't it fantastic that if there is no purpose you have nothing to fulfill. You can just live. But no. You want a purpose and not just a simple purpose, but a God given purpose. It's very dangerous. People who think they have a God given purpose are doing the cruelest things on the planet. They are doing the most horrible things. And they have always been doing the most horrible things. Because when you are given a God given purpose, life here becomes less important than your purpose."

Dennis then proceeded to summarize his own spiritual journey - beginning in the Dutch Reformed Church, followed by his experiences in Herbert Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God and ending in the rejection of all manmade religion. He then concluded by agreeing with those quotations that he began with, and "The purpose in life is to live."

Now, interestingly, those who profess to be disciples of Jesus of Nazareth would come up with all kinds of answers to the question: "What is the purpose of life?" For many more traditional Christians, the answers might involve anything from the Great Commission, being kind and compassionate to others, or getting to heaven someday. For most Armstrongites, the answer would be becoming a priest-king in God's Kingdom and/or becoming God! For me, the Scriptural and obviously natural answer is much closer to the answer provided by the guru and Dennis!

If we look at the natural world around us, we see that ALL of the life on this planet is preoccupied with the perpetuation of itself. Both instinct and cognition impel us to avoid hurt and death. Even the process of evolution is defined by the adaptation of life to whatever environment it inhabits! Moreover, every species of life on this planet has the ability to reproduce - to perpetuate itself. Plants produce seeds, and animals produce offspring. What's more, EVERY system (respiratory, circulatory, digestive, etc.) within this organism we call "human" is designed to sustain its life! Hence, we see that the most profound and reasonable answer to our question about the purpose of life is the perpetuation of ourselves! Too simple and mundane for you? Let's look at some Scripture on this subject.

In the first chapter of Genesis, it is revealed that God created life and gave it the ability to reproduce. And, notice the very first instructions which God gave to the first humans: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth!" (Genesis 1:28, ESV) In the very next chapter, it is revealed that one of the trees which God placed in the Garden of Eden was referred to as the Tree of Life (Genesis 2:9). Interestingly, we are told that the humans had access to this tree (Genesis 2:16). Indeed, the only one that they were forbidden to eat of its fruit was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:17) - the one that would lead to DEATH! Then, at the end of the third chapter, we read: "Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—' therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." (Genesis 3:22-24, ESV)

What follows, in both the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, is the story about how God gets mankind back to LIFE! In Torah, we read that God told the Israelites: "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it." (Deuteronomy 30:15-16, ESV) Continuing, the thought concluded with: "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring may live." (Deuteronomy 30:19, ESV) Clearly, God's purpose was the perpetuation of LIFE!

In the Greek New Testament, we read: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16, ESV) A little later, in the same Gospel, we read that Jesus said: "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10, ESV) Likewise, Paul wrote to the saints at Rome (a favorite of Armstrongites): "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23, ESV) He also wrote to the saints at Corinth on this wise: "The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual." (I Corinthians 15:45-46, ESV) He went on to explain: "For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'" (I Corinthians 15:53-55, ESV) Finally, the author of the epistle to the Hebrews wrote: "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." (Hebrews 2:14-15, ESV)

Now, it is inevitable that someone will ask: "Who wants to live forever?" (The Queen song from Highlander is playing in my mind as I write - great song) But isn't that really a question about the quality of life - NOT its purpose? In other words, would your answer to that question be different if you didn't have to worry about your health, losing loved ones, war, pollution, over-crowding, starvation, crime, etc.? In the book of Revelation, we read about a new heaven and earth where God "will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:1-4, ESV) Afraid of getting bored? What if you were always preoccupied with the perpetuation of life?

Nevertheless, Dennis makes a valid and an astute point about folks wasting this life in pursuit of their purpose - another point which gets us back to the issue of quality of life. I think that this is best answered by something written long ago that was attributed to the wise King Solomon: "I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also, that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man." (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13, ESV) In other words, we should be enjoying what we do in this life! As for purpose, he had this to say: "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, ESV) 

Finally, while Jesus certainly instructed his disciples to make the Kingdom of God a priority in their lives, he also said: "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matthew 6:34, ESV)

"The purpose in life is to live." I think that's just about right!