This blog is a continuation in a series dealing with questions internationals have asked at AIF. If you scroll down far enough to the blog titled “You Want Purpose,” you will find another discussion of this topic.
Q: Proof that God Exists?
A: I have been addressing this question for several blogs, and we have discussed topics like the beginning of the universe, the apparent design in the universe, morality, human rights, the existence of a religious desire in human nature, and the legitimacy of reason itself. Today, we will add another topic to that list: your desire for purpose.
Keep in mind that nothing I have said or will say is a proof in the strict sense. Neither theists nor atheists can prove their case, but everything I have said is more like a clue that seems to point us in a certain direction. Life itself smells as if there is a God. Today is no different.
You want purpose. You do. You do not want to live a meaningless life just so you can die. And if you are perceptive, you see that the quest for money and stuff is a meaningless life. You also see that the survival of the species cannot be a real purpose, for if materialism is true and if in the end our species survives, who cares? What is the purpose of our species? Just to survive? That’s not a purpose, and you know it. There has to be some other purpose.
But just because you desire a deeper purpose doesn’t mean that earth has one. Maybe we are all atoms. Maybe our desire for meaning is an illusion. Maybe people invent purpose because they want it.
Maybe. But doesn’t it seem strange that atoms would care about meaning? If materialism is true, then you and I are nothing more than some carbon, some hydrogen, oxygen, a little magnesium, and so on. Why would such chemicals desire meaning? But if God exists, we have a purpose. And if we have a purpose, it makes sense that we should desire one.
The atheist may say that we invent purpose because we want it, but he has a harder time explaining why we want it.
Of course, when we deal with purpose, we must talk about events that seem senseless — the suffering of children, the death of a loved one, the rise to power of evil men. Why? If there is a purpose, why do these things happen?
I don’t know. I’m not God. But I should point out that if you believe there is a purpose, you can find comfort in the midst of these events. You may not understand why, but you know there is a why. If, however, there is no purpose, then there is nothing particularly wrong with these events. If there is no purpose, then you have no purpose, the suffering child has no purpose, being good has no purpose, and being evil has no purpose. Purpose doesn’t exist. Everything is just an event. Torturing a child is just an event. Hitler simply was. The problem with this way of thinking is that even the atheist recognizes that we should not torture children. But if there is no purpose, he can’t explain why, except to say, “It’s just wrong. It just is.”
But why is it wrong? How is kindness different from torture in a meaningless world? In the end, a consistent atheism has no ground to stand on to protest torture, evil, or other “meaningless” events. And in the end, atheism offers no comfort in the face of suffering.
Doesn’t it seem as if your desire for purpose points you to — well — purpose?
