[WHEELER4]

Everything is Nature is there for a purpose; i.e. pigeons, ants, rats. They all have a purpose. Theirs is to clean up the environment. They are the cleaners. I have yet to find a purpose for Mosquitos but then .... maybe their purpose is to spread disease to check otherwise uncontrollable populations.

Everything in Nature has a purpose. Every Human being has a purpose. First, it is "to be". To have being. To have being is Good. How can we have spiritual immortality if we don't have physical existence first? That is kind of hard isn't?

My big toe doesn't say, "I am not the Brain or the Heart or the eye so I am just going to off meself". The body needs the big toe. Everything we have we need; even the tiniest insequential part. One can say that One blood cell is unimportant but if all the cells thought so, then where would we be--dead.

Life is hard. That is a famous ancient Greek saying--"The good comes through the Hard". The Hard life makes us better. The law of Thermodynamics is just as valid in the human sphere as it is in the physical realm. Only by putting "energy" in does the world turn, once energy stops, then entropy sets in.

Us, humans are both physical and spiritual. It is the higher ideals that give us meaning and it takes struggle to reach the higher ideals. The True, The Good and the Beautiful.

[Dades]

Buddy, maybe you should change your name to WHEELER3 because I think one of your wheels is missing.

[WHEELER4]

What is the meaning of life? It is to have communion with God. God created us to have community with Him. To enjoy the good life.

All human beings are immortal. Death is only a door. Only Christianity explaines this thoroughly.

God is Good. Nothing evil lives with Him. Through envy of the devil, us, humans entered into a path of corruption and evil, thus seperating us from God. We are truly homesick and homeless without God. Our nature is fallen. Jesus is the door to return to this community with God. Our meaning in this life is to experience and build the community of God.

Nature is beautiful. Nature is evidence of the nature of God. God is beautiful and in this he created us to share in His life.

[doonothing]

whoa..
i didnt realise christianity explains it thoroughly...
*runs to change entire belief system*

[trinitylucan]

I take it this is a genuine question and though you might feel corny asking it, it is in fact the most common base question of humanity. Most people do not sincerely address the question and prefer to sidestep it with facetious responses or cynicism.
Theres lots of distractions in life to avoid addressing this question - and many of them are good in of themselves, like snowboarding or travelling, and others are necessary like working or cooking. Then theres the spaces in between. These can usually be filled with some other noise to avoid the question such as the TV or 'talking ****e' as we say in Irl But the question remains
Did you ever see the enthusiasm of a greyhound chasing the rabbit on the track? Running with boundless zeal! And for what - a mechanical replica of another animal. Pathetic?
But what drives us - at the end of the track will you be left disappointed with the prize?
The fact is there is only one lasting reason to life, to our existence. THere is only one shape that fills the vacuum and the longer we spend focussed on perishable pursuits like work or travel or art or even relationships the more is will seem to fail to satisfy and feel like you are chasing the wind.
The answer is a reality to me but is so surrounded with gunk and rejectable nonsense that it is often quickly dismissed.

This is my first ever visit to a boards enviornment or chat room = I think I'll shut up for now and see if I'm making any sense!

[Dades]

Originally Posted by trinitylucan

This is my first ever visit to a boards enviornment or chat room = I think I'll shut up for now and see if I'm making any sense!

Congratulations to you! Welcome to the snake pit.

Most people do not sincerely address the question and prefer to sidestep it with facetious responses or cynicism.

The problem here is you are assuming that because the question exists, so must an answer.

Many posters including myself see the question as knee-jerk human concept. A need to think that our lives are not as fleeting and meaningless as a light that blinks on and off in the night. IMO a "meaning" to our existence exists in people's minds in the same manner a belief in an afterlife does. It's a comforting concept.

But seeing no meaning in the human sense of the word does not have to leave you cold. It can leave you freer to use your existence to the best you can. To make it better for others while you're here, and ideally for those that follow you.

And if you do not believe in an afterlife (as you have to realise - many do not), then all we are left with are "perishable pursuits like work or travel or art or even relationships". Well, I'll happily concentrate on perishable pursuits, content in the belief that our time as bi-peds is the one shot we'll ever get at anything.

The fact is there is only one lasting reason to life, to our existence.

Speak up then. Surprise us!

[Tar.Aldarion]

Originally Posted by WHEELER4

Everything is Nature is there for a purpose; i.e. pigeons, ants, rats. They all have a purpose. Theirs is to clean up the environment. They are the cleaners. I have yet to find a purpose for Mosquitos but then .... maybe their purpose is to spread disease to check otherwise uncontrollable populations

lmfao lol! those poor people who clean for a living, how do you treat them?
and how about that one rat in a million that decides to take a different life choice and not exist solely for the use of humans?
wheeler2

[solo1]

have yet to find a purpose for Mosquitos but then ....

The "purpose" of mosquitoes is analogous to the purpose of every other living thing: to make little mosquitoes. To discuss the "purpose" of any living thing as though there were some over-arching plan into which each creature would slot their respective abilities fails to address the realities of evolution - the only goal of evolution is survival.

[Thrasher]

Originally Posted by WHEELER4

The meaning of life, "Life is War". It is about survival. Who survives and who dies! Life is a battlefield. Nature kills off the losers. Nature rewards the winners.

All joking aside, isn't it true that Hitler had the same philosophy?

Originally Posted by WHEELER4

Stupid and deceived people get killed and disappear from the face of the earth. Wise and righteous and knowledgeable people survive and receive immortality.

Also a Nazi ethic. Let me ask, who should be enforcing the rules of this battlefield? What about the vast majority of people (throughout time - even before Christ) who have been brought up with a different belief system. Are they responsible in being "deceived"?

Question: I'd genuinely like you to think about this WHEELER4, how do you know with certainty that you are not deceived?

[fragile]

Originally Posted by WHEELER4

What is the meaning of life? It is to have communion with God. God created us to have community with Him. To enjoy the good life.

I am enjoying the good life just fine without the interference of any God

Originally Posted by WHEELER4

All human beings are immortal. Death is only a door. Only Christianity explaines this thoroughly.

So a baby that is born with a terminal disease is immortal huh

Originally Posted by WHEELER4

God is Good. Nothing evil lives with Him. Through envy of the devil, us, humans entered into a path of corruption and evil, thus seperating us from God. We are truly homesick and homeless without God. Our nature is fallen. Jesus is the door to return to this community with God. Our meaning in this life is to experience and build the community of God.

If you are right and there is a God, then evil does live with him, the evil of apathy for the needless suffering of millions of humans

Originally Posted by WHEELER4

Nature is beautiful. Nature is evidence of the nature of God. God is beautiful and in this he created us to share in His life.

So you are saying that the Tsunami disaster in Asia is evidence of the nature of God? only somebody completely devoid of reality could claim to call that beautiful

[solo1]

Well, you are aware of all the fornication going on in Indonesia and Thailand.

[Cast Away]

Religion made life so much easier. I was born and raised as a Christian. Until not to long ago I believed whole heartedly that when I died I was going to go to heaven.

The delusion is so easy. I envy people like Wheeler4 that hold on to it. How great is it to honest believe that when you die you're going to heaven. To not fear death.

Some of you will say, this isn't great at all. For some people, this may very well be the case. For me, I personally have spent years now trying to cope with the fact that I do know the truth and it is this...

The universe was created on the day I was born, and it will cease to exist on the day that I die.

Cast Away

[egon spengler]

there is no reason other than being programmed through natural selection with a desire to live

[egon spengler]

Originally Posted by Cast Away

Religion made life so much easier. I was born and raised as a Christian. Until not to long ago I believed whole heartedly that when I died I was going to go to heaven.

The delusion is so easy. I envy people like Wheeler4 that hold on to it. How great is it to honest believe that when you die you're going to heaven. To not fear death.

Some of you will say, this isn't great at all. For some people, this may very well be the case. For me, I personally have spent years now trying to cope with the fact that I do know the truth and it is this...

The universe was created on the day I was born, and it will cease to exist on the day that I die.

Cast Away

I agree, Id be happier to live with a benign delusive religious belief (by benign I mean not infringing upon anything outside my own context, that includes people, science etc). But God or whatever, is comparable to the existence of Santa Claus (the fictional coke figure, not the real dude) who comes down chimneys in one night across the world. One way I guess that I can (though I dont want to) reconcile myself to my own non existence is the fact that I am a computational outcome from the big bang and hence I am not distinct from the universe but a part of it, so that when I die I will be re-absorbed into the unconcious processes of the universe as a non entity, but at least part of a larger one which is far greater than the grandeur which inheres in any human mind. The other way I can avoid this terrible thought of non existence is in this-genetics are rapidly advancing, 20 years from now therell be organ replacements grown from your own stem cells and maybe anti ageing drugs, so that by the time I reach 200 years of age, therell be another advancement to make me live another 200 and so on ad infinitum.

heres something to dwell upon in relation to gods existence

how can he be both omnipotent and omniscient if knowing what youre going to do leaves you with no choice and hence youre no longer omnipotent (of course god transcends logic and can just do crazy weird stuff which makes us go wow)

[Calibos]

Originally Posted by CerebralCortex

That's purely opinion and personal perspective. Believing there is a void of non existence after we die makes experience of anything pointless.

Nonsense. The void of non existence that I resided in for the 15 billion years before I was concieved has not affected in any manner shape or form, my ability to enjoy and find value in my experiences of life. Why would the void of non existence that I will reside in from about 2070 onwards for the next 15 billion years have any affect on the point or pointlessness of my current life.