HoHum:
A. What would happen if a “miracle” had occurred where the hand that had written the Word had sponged out of our Bibles every syllable they contained, and thus reclaimed the most precious gift that Heaven had bestowed to mankind. Without the Word we would lapse into despair. The whole world would be plunged into the blackest darkness.
Now there have been times in the history of the world when there was a literal famine for the Word of God. King Josiah found Deuteronomy and made a lot of changes. Lisu people now have a new Bible and they want to get it into many families hands. However, this is not quite what Amos is talking about.
Amos is saying that the Word is out there but few are reading, studying, listening to it. Curious times, these. There is a glut of the word of God. We have every translation of the Bible you can imagine – the NIV, the NASB, the KJV, the RSV, ESB, the preacher’s bible, the worshippers bible, the spirit-filled believers bible, the left handed bald gypsy fiddler’s bible, with versions for the nearsighted and the farsighted. (The last was made up).
At the same time there is a famine of the Word. 19% read it every day; 26% few times week.
WBTU:
I was at talk this past week that discussed connections between chemicals in brain and faith in Jesus Christ. Interesting! However, one thought stuck with me. The speaker said that mankind generally is pessimistic. This pessimism leads to despair. Think about how pessimistic we would be without Jesus Christ?
We see a rise in atheists in our day. More alarming is the rise in agnostics. What is an agnostic? An agnostic is a person who believes that there is a God but we cannot trust the Bible to tell us about him because He is unknowable.
But if we adopt this idea or much of this world’s ideas about life and God, where will this lead us? Like was said before it leads to pessimism and pessimism leads to despair. Despair is a total loss of hope. This stems from an absence of purpose or as Ecclesiastes would say, “Meaninglessness.” There is no reason why man exists. He just does.
Thesis: Since people do not turn to the Bible for meaning and purpose, where do they turn?
For instances:
Science gives meaning to life
The pursuit of knowledge through science gives life meaning. Now, it is good to learn about our world through science. However, science is powerless to resolve understanding of human existence. Even if a scientist could give a complete, mechanistic explanation of human life, if he could construct explanations for all human activity in terms of electrons, protons, and so on, would this give us a better understanding of our existence, why we are here?
Ecclesiastes says pretty much the same thing (1:13, 17-18): “I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men!” “Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.”
Why? The scientist eats, drinks, lives his/her life, learns a few things about our universe, but ultimately dies, just as other people do. When facing death, the scientist must question the meaning of all activities, including the meaning of science itself.
Listen to Ecclesiastes 3:19-20: “Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.”
Thrills, pleasures give meaning to life
Another word we could use here is adventure. However, the feeling of adventure arises from the way I feel about the events that I have experienced. Many times events bring adventure because of the people I am with and the emotions they bring.
Adventures, thrills, and moods alone cannot provide a meaningful world. The search for adventure is merely another attempt to project the illusion of meaning on something external. If there is no significance to human existence, there can be none attached to human adventures or pleasures.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-3, 10-11: “I thought in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. “Laughter,” I said, “is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?” I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly--my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worth while for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.” “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labour. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”
Love gives meaning to life
Problem with love without meaning is that it is so focused on sensuality. Sensual encounters, after they lose their thrill, become mechanical and dull. People don’t just want physical encounter, to satisfy their animals lusts, they want something much deeper. They hope to find real love, but alas without meaning it is not possible. Never find. God is love- 2 X 1 John 4
Each person, knowing deep down that he or she is truly nothing, desperately seeks to attain some kind of “status” in the eyes of others. In “keeping up with the Joneses,” each one is engaged in a struggle to get from others the recognition that he or she is “somebody.” The more a woman feels she is really a nobody, the more she craves this esteem in the eyes of others (men). Even her unselfish acts are really designed to prove that she is “better” than others. When talking about love without meaning, this attempt to make oneself something at the expense of others is most corrupting.
In a world without meaning, where a human being is nothing, love can be nothing else but a desire to use another. Love cannot be genuine giving, sharing, and communion if humans possess nothing of value to give or to share. If one cannot stand oneself, then that one will certainly not honor someone else. They will strive pitifully to extract from others a recognition, a proof that they are somebody.
Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
IV. Doing good for mankind gives meaning to life.
Ecclesiastes says something like this (3:12): “I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.”
This gives many people meaning to their lives. If I can make a difference in this world, then my life will not be lived in vain. Make this world a better place than I found it.
However, this is possible only on the idea that humans are significant and possess worth. This idea assumes that human existence is meaningful. This world’s view is that mankind is not.
Two problems:
1. It is easy to love mankind , but difficult to love individual people. Who wants the grief, the pain, the distress, the discomfort? As Charles Schulz quipped through the Peanuts character Linus, “I love humanity; it’s people I can’t stand.”
2, People might take our good and use it for evil. Alberto Santos-Dumont was the pilot and designer of first flight of an airplane to be witnessed by the European press in 1906. He did a lot for the field of aviation. However, in 1932 he committed suicide because he was so upset that people were using airplanes in warfare.
“I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.” Ecclesiastes 2:18, 19, NIV.
Conclusion and invitation:
Albert Camus said in one of his books that the only true significant issue is that of suicide. Why should I not snuff out my life? Why should I make the effort to go on living? Some people do not “just go on living.” A few, every day, somewhere in the world, end their lives by their own choice. Others go on living, not because they have a reason for living, but because they are scared of suicide and dying. Everyone who is truly grappling with the meaning of his own existence must face the reality of death. The world in its despair says, Is there any reason why living is superior to dying?
“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” Deuteronomy 30:19, NIV.
There are negative things in the Bible. However, it is never a book of despair. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11, NIV.
