The Big Questions
By Dr. Laurence B. Brown
http://www.leveltruth.org/articles.asp
At some point in our lives, everybody asks the big questions: "Who made us,"
and "Why are we here?"
So who did make us? Atheists speak of the Big Bang and evolution, whereas all
others speak of God. Those who answer "I don't know" are atheist for all
intents and purposes, not because they deny God's existence, but because they
fail to affirm it.
Now, the Big Bang may explain the origin of the universe, but it doesn't
explain the origin of the primordial dust cloud. This dust cloud (which,
according to the theory, drew together, compacted and then exploded) had to
come from somewhere. After all, it contained enough matter to form not just our
galaxy, but the billion other galaxies in the known universe. So where did that
come form? Who, or what, created the primordial dust cloud?
Similarly, evolution may explain the fossil record, but it falls far short of
explaining the quintessential essence of human lifethe soul. We all have one.
We feel its presence, we speak of its existence and at times pray for its
salvation. But only the religions can explain where it came from. The theory of
natural selection can explain many of the material aspects of living things,
but it fails to explain the human soul.
Furthermore, anyone who studies the complexities of life and the universe
cannot help but witness the signature of the Creator.* Whether or not people
recognize these signs is another matteras the old saying goes, denial isn't
just a river in Egypt. (Get it? Denial, spelled "de Nile"
the river Nile
oh, never mind.) The point is that if we see a painting, we know there is a
painter. If we see a sculpture, we know there's a sculptor; a pot, a potter. So
when we view creation, shouldn't we know there's a Creator?
The concept that the universe exploded and then developed in balanced
perfection through random events and natural selection is little different from
the proposal that, by dropping bombs into a junkyard, sooner or later one of
them will blow everything together into a perfect Mercedes. In the color and
trim of our hearts' desire, no less.
If there is one thing we know for certain, it is that without a controlling
influence, all systems degenerate into chaos. The theories of the Big Bang and
evolution propose the exact opposite, however - that chaos fostered perfection.
Would it not be more reasonable to conclude that the Big Bang and evolution
were controlled events? Controlled, that is, by the Creator?
The Arabs tell the tale of a nomad finding an exquisite palace at an oasis in
the middle of an otherwise barren desert. When he asks how it was built, the
owner tells him it was formed by the forces of nature. The wind shaped the
rocks and blew them to the edge of this oasis, and then tumbled them together
into the shape of the palace. Then it blew strands of sheep's wool together
into rugs and tapestries, stray wood together into furniture, doors,
windowsills and trim, and positioned them in the palace at just the right
locations. Lightning strikes melted sand into sheets of glass and blasted them
into the window-frames, and smelted black sand into steel and shaped it into
the fence and gate with perfect alignment and symmetry. The process took
billions of years and only happened at this one place on earth - purely through
coincidence.
When we finish rolling our eyes, we get the point. Obviously, the palace was
built by design, not by happenstance. To what (or more to the point, to Whom),
then, should we attribute the origin of items of infinitely greater complexity,
such as our universe and our lives?
Another classic argument for atheism focuses upon what people perceive to be
the imperfections of creation. These are the "How can there be a God if
such-and-such happened?" arguments. The issue under discussion could be
anything from a natural disaster to birth defects, from genocide to
grandmother's cancer. That's not the point. The point is that denying God based
upon what we perceive to be injustices of life presumes that a divine being
would not have designed our lives to be anything other than perfect, and would
have established justice on Earth.
Hmm
is there no other option?
We can just as easily propose that God did not design life on Earth to be
paradise, but rather a test, the punishment or rewards of which are to be had
in the next life, which is where God establishes his ultimate justice. In
support of this concept we can well ask who suffered more injustices in their
worldly lives than God's favorites, which is to say the prophets? And who do we
expect to occupy the highest stations in paradise, if not those who maintain
true faith in the face of worldly adversity?
I would hope that, by this line of reasoning, we can agree upon the answer to
the first "big question." Who made us? Can we agree that if we are creation,
God is the Creator?
If we can't agree on this point, there probably isn't much point in continuing.
However, for those who do agree, let's move on to "big question" number two -
why are we here? What, in other words, is the purpose of life?
The Purpose of Life
The first of the two big questions in life is, "Who made us?" We addressed that
question in the previous section and (hopefully) settled upon "God" as the
answer. As we are creation, God is the Creator.
Now, let us turn to the second "big question," which is, "Why are we here?"
Well, why are we here? To amass fame and fortune? To make music and babies? To
be the richest man or woman in the graveyard for, as we are jokingly told, "He
who dies with the most toys wins?"
No, there must be more to life than that, so let's think about this. To begin
with, look around you. Unless you live in a cave, you are surrounded by things
we humans have made with our own hands. Now, why did we make those things? The
answer, of course, is that we make things to perform some specific function for
us. In short, we make things to serve us. So, by extension, why did God make
us, if not to serve Him?
Our purpose, then, is to serve God. We receive this message from the prophets,
as well as from scripture, but nowhere more clearly than in the Qur'an, the
holy book of Islam: "And I [God] did not create the jinn and mankind except to
serve/worship Me." (TMQ 51:56).
Which brings us to the next point. If we acknowledge our Creator, and that He
created humankind to serve Him, the next question is, "How? How do we serve
Him?" No doubt, this question is best answered by the One who made us. If He
created us to serve Him, then He expects us to function in a particular manner,
if we are to achieve our purpose. But how can we know what that manner is? How
can we know what God expects from us?
Well, consider this: God gave us light, by which we can find our way. Even at
night, we have the moon for light and the stars for navigation. God gave other
animals guidance systems best suited for their conditions and needs. Migrating
birds can navigate, even on overcast days, by light polarization. Whales
migrate by "reading" the Earth's magnetic fields. Salmon return from the open
ocean to spawn at the exact spot of their birth by smell, if that can be
imagined. Fish sense distant movements through pressure receptors that line
their bodies. Bats and the blind river dolphins "see" by sonar. Certain marine
organisms (the electric eel being a high-voltage example) generate and sense
magnetic fields, allowing them to "see" in muddy waters, or in the blackness of
ocean depths. Insects communicate by pheromones, the trail of which guides them
to food, and then home again. Plants sense sunlight and grow towards it
(phototropism); their roots sense gravity
and grow into the earth (geotropism). In short, God has gifted every element
of His creation with guidance. Can we seriously believe he would not give us
guidance on the one most important aspect of our existence, namely our raison
d'etre - our reason for being? That he would not give us the tools by which to
achieve salvation?
Of course not. Hence, revelation.
Think of it this way: Every product has specifications and rules. For more
complex products, whose specifications and rules are not intuitive, owner's
manuals are provided. These manuals are written by the one who knows the
product best, which is to say the manufacturer. A typical owner's manual begins
with warnings about improper use and the hazardous consequences thereof, moves
on to a description of how to use the product properly and the benefits to be
gained thereby, and provides product specifications and a troubleshooting guide
whereby we can correct product malfunctions.
How is that different from revelation?
Revelation tells us what to do, what not to do and why, tells us what God
expects of us, and shows us how to correct our deficiencies. Revelation is the
ultimate user's manual, provided as guidance to the one who will use us -
ourselves.
In the world we know, products that meet or exceed specifications are
considered successes whereas those that don't are
hmm
let's think about
this. Any product that fails to meet factory specifications is either repaired
or, if hopeless, recycled. In other words, destroyed. Ouch. Suddenly this
discussion turns scary-serious. Because in this discussion, we are the product
- the product of creation.
But let's pause for a moment and consider how we interact with the various
items that fill our lives. As long as they do what we want, we're happy with
them. But when they fail us, we get rid of them. Some are returned to the
store, some donated to charity, but eventually they all end up in the garbage,
which gets
buried or burned. Similarly, an underperforming employee gets
fired. Now, stop for a minute and think about that word. Where did that
euphemism for the punishment due to an underperformer come from? Hm
the
person who believes the lessons of this life translate into lessons about
religion could have a field day with this.
But that doesn't mean these analogies are invalid. Just the opposite, we should
remember that both Old and New Testaments are filled with analogies, and Jesus
Christ taught using parables.
So perhaps we had better take this seriously.
No, I stand corrected. Most definitely we should take this seriously. Nobody
ever considered the difference between heavenly delights and the tortures of
hellfire a laughing matter.
The Need for Revelation
In the previous two sections, we answered the two "big questions." Who made us?
God. Why are we here? To serve and worship Him. A third question naturally
arose: "If our Creator made us to serve and worship Him, how do we do that?" In
the previous section I suggested that the only way we can serve our Creator is
through obeying His mandates, as conveyed through revelation.
But many people would question my assertion: Why does mankind need revelation?
Isn't it enough just to be good? Isn't it enough for each of us to worship God
in our own way?
Regarding the need for revelation, I would make the following points: In the
first part I pointed out that life is full of injustices, but our Creator is
fair and just and He establishes justice not in this life, but in the
afterlife. However, justice cannot be established without four things - a court
(i.e., the Day of Judgment); a judge (i.e., the Creator); witnesses (i.e., men
and women, angels, elements of creation); and a book of laws upon which to
judge (i.e., revelation). Now, how can our Creator establish justice if He did
not hold humankind to certain laws during their lives? It's not possible. In
that scenario, instead of justice, God would be dealing out injustice, for He
would be punishing people for transgressions they had no way of knowing were
crimes.
Why else do we need revelation? To begin with, without guidance mankind cannot
even agree on social and economic issues, politics, laws, etc. So how can we
ever agree on God? Secondly, nobody writes the user manual better than the one
who made the product. God is the Creator, we are creation, and nobody knows the
overall scheme of creation better than the Creator. Are employees allowed to
design their own job descriptions, duties, and compensation packages as they
see fit? Are all citizens allowed to write their own laws? No? Well then, why
should we be allowed to write our own religions? If history has taught us
anything, it is the tragedies that result when mankind follows its caprice. How
many who have claimed to banner of free thought have designed religions that
committed themselves and their followers to nightmares on Earth and damnation
in the hereafter?
So why isn't it enough just to be good? And why isn't it enough for each of us
to worship God in our own way? To begin with, peoples' definitions of "good"
differ. For some it is high morals and clean living, for others it is madness
and mayhem. Similarly, concepts of how to serve and worship our Creator differ
as well. More importantly and to the point, nobody can walk into a store or a
restaurant and pay with a different currency than the merchant accepts. So it
is with religion. If people want God to accept their servitude and worship,
they have to pay in the currency God demands. And that currency is obedience to
His revelation.
Imagine raising children in a home in which you have set "house rules." Then,
one day, one of your children tells you he or she has changed the rules, and is
going to do things differently. How would you respond? More than likely, with
the words, "You can take your new rules and go to Hell!" Well, think about it.
We are God's creation, living in His universe under His rules, and "go to Hell"
is very likely what God will say to any who presume to override His laws with
their own.
Sincerity becomes an issue at this point. We should recognize that all pleasure
is a gift from our Creator, and deserving of thanks. If given a gift, who uses
the gift before giving thanks? And yet, many of us enjoy God's gifts for a
lifetime and never give thanks. Or give it late. The English poet, Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, spoke of the irony of the distressed human appeal in The Cry
of the Human:
And lips say "God be pitiful,"
Who ne'er said, "God be praised."
Should we not show good manners and thank our Creator for His gifts now, and
subsequently for the rest of our lives? Don't we owe that to Him?
You answered "Yes." You must have. Nobody will have read this far without being
in agreement, but here's the problem: Many of you answered Yes, knowing full
well that your heart is not in the Bible. Or perhaps it is in the Bible, but
not entirely. You agree we were created by a Creator. You struggle to
understand Him. And you yearn to serve and worship Him in the manner He
prescribes. But you don't know how, and you don't know where to look for the
answers. And that, unfortunately, is not a subject that can be answered in an
article. Unfortunately, that issue has to be addressed in a book.
On the other hand, the good news is that I have written this book, and its
title is The First and Final Commandment (soon to be republished under the
title, MisGod'ed). So if you like what you've read here, I invite you to read
what Ive written there.
*To this end, and leaving all of the author's religious inclinations aside, I
heartily recommend reading A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill
Bryson.
------------------------------------
Copyright © 2007 Laurence B. Brown.
The author can be contacted at [email protected]. He is the author of The
First and Final Commandment (Amana Publications) and Bearing True Witness
(Dar-us-Salam). Forthcoming books are a historical thriller, The Eighth Scroll,
and a second edition of The First and Final Commandment, rewritten and divided
into MisGod'ed and its sequel, God'ed.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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