My idea is that the meaning of life is to gain character through toil, it has always seemed to me that we were put here in order to suffer, at least some of the time, and learn from our toils.
where am i going wrong with this?
(please be serious)
2006-07-22 20:52:55 · 11 answers · asked by Greshymn 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
I think the following is one of the best answers I've ever heard:
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my
body--but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal of God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life.
The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the
toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good for which you can thank God.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain."
But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of
thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.
It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For
instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with
before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do...
II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism?
Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better.
God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more
interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
2006-07-22 21:06:05 · answer #1 · answered by love_2b_curious 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Broaden your perspective of "toil." It is a noble way to gain insight into the meaning of life, but I feel that suffering is optional. I grasp another component to that elusive "meaning of life" just today, and it wasn't anything like suffering. I have this really good idea that I would like to implement in regards to the type of business that my dad has. While I was trying to work out the kinks, it occurred to me the potential that my action could have in lessening the gap between us and the meaning of life. This sucks, but that is all that I can tell you about that, but the reason that I bring it up, is that suffering is not always necessary I assure you. I hope that you believe me.
2006-07-23 08:59:46 · answer #2 · answered by lisa l 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, the problem with your theory is that at the end of it you die, and all that "character" you accumulated disappears without a trace.
Better to place the meaning in the toil itself.
2006-07-24 12:15:05 · answer #3 · answered by Keither 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
different religion propagate different purpose for life, but all those religion were formed with contemporary knowledge mankind had at the time of forming the religion.
but today with the knowledge we have we can presume that life is like an eternal tree and we are like leaves on that tree of life. the purpose of the leaf on the tree is to grow drawing nutrition from the tree in to a healthy leaf and then create and give so much nutrition to the tree so that when the leaf falls tree is healthier than before.
2006-07-23 06:32:38 · answer #4 · answered by mukesh padhya 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The meaning to life is one of the core questions we face. The ultimate answer to this question will reflect how one has concluded what the real state of reality is and therefore how we should adapt to it. However there are a few universal truths that seem to be deeply placed withi us as human beings. These are:
To live - The desire to survive
To love and be loved - The desire to have community
To learn - The desire to understand, know, and create
To laugh - The desire to experience joy
To leave a legacy - The desire to impact the world after we die
These five desires seem to reflect the meaning of life for most people unless they have been so wounded physically and/or emotionally that they have lost hope or inner balance. For a functional human being these seem to normally become their purpose for life.
As I Christian I take these five values and see them reflected in my world view.
To live is to have this life as a gift and eternal life in the kingdom of heaven
To love and be loved is to know family and friends here and a divine love as well in the person of Jesus Christ
To learn is to study the two books of God, one the creation and the other the scripture to strive to understand the mind of God and conform my thinking and actions to His. I am to think God's thoughts after Him.
To laugh is to enjoy the goodness of creation within the framework of God's law and to know the heavenly joy of God within my own heart
To leave a legacy is to find my calling and accomplish it during my life time. This will help build the kingdom of God on earth. I will be rewarded forever for a faithful legacy lived by a life of love on the earth.
Now many will disagree with the Christian application of these five desires. But the meaning of life would seem to have to address all of these issues regardless of the various world views which would strive to answer them. One way to evaluate a world view would be in its ability to provide a meaning for life based on these five needs of our humanity.
2006-07-23 04:20:53 · answer #5 · answered by normwiselwc 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Biologically speaking - we're only here to reproduce and ensure that our species will continue. That is the only point to life.
Yay.
2006-07-23 03:56:34 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
life is a test.
if you pass the test (by acting in good faith) you go to heaven
if you fail you go to hell
2006-07-23 05:00:08 · answer #7 · answered by rimrocka 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To be here - to build, to create.
2006-07-23 04:04:51 · answer #8 · answered by Sun Sonic 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you must learn to live life.
2006-07-23 04:00:37 · answer #9 · answered by somasundram c 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
everyone has their own beliefs. any person with a religious outlook is going to tell you it's to please god. i personally believe it's to prepare the next generations... for what.. i don't know.
2006-07-23 04:03:51 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋