The Despairing Man
I read through Ecclesiastes a week or so ago, and am going through it for a Bible Study, and the despair of Solomon leave me with many questions. His soul sought satisfaction in wisdom, in the sensual, in fortune, and found everything apart from the Lord as "meaningless, a chasing after the wind." If a man who knew God came to find life grievous, what does the atheist do? What defines his life and gives him direction?
I find God so necessary, that I'm finding it difficult right now to understand the atheist view. Without God, there is no culmination. Life leads no where, there is no ultimate goal, or at least one that is unforseeable and so far in some distant future that one will lose himself in it.
And who does the godless thank for the good things in life? Who receives credit for the sun set? For the rustling of the wind between tree leaves? What is love? We cannot be awe-inspired without the Lord. One could argue that chance/evolution should be credited with these things, and we should just appreciate these objects in and of themselves and not seek a higher being. But if we are all truly offspring of an evolutionary process, then we would have no such thing as aesthetics. We would define things as good or bad depending on their immediate usefulness. And a sunset is not useful. The mountain range is not useful. The crashing waves are not useful.
We must all worship something or thank something for the beautiful wonders we find in this life. If not God, what?
posted by Dan Reiter @ 2:48 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I don't believe in atheists.
umm, not sure I can formulate an intelligent response. I am, however, thankful that you have such a beautiful heart & soul. I know there is a God, He sent me His son, and He blessed me with a son like you.
In one of Billy Grahams' older services he talked about a man that told him, "When I look in the mirror I can't believe I'm saved; when I look at Jesus how could I ever be lost?" {sigh}
Oh, and I heard this quote a few weeks ago, have no idea whose it is but it goes like this, "We're not human beings on a spiritual journey, we're spiritual beings on a human journey." I liked that.
I love you. {hugs} Mom
First off, your mom is cute Dan. That was very sweet of her. Secondly, its actually pretty simple in my view. Atheists aren't looking for definition, for a goal in life for some direction to be headed towards. They don't feel that they need to thank someone for the sun setting and for the rustling of the wind. It's just apart of the world that they see with their eyes and that's all they believe in. As far as the future is concerned, they need it not, for they are fixated on the now, how they feel now, what makes sense to them now. They can't possibly comprehend a God with such awe and power and majesty to control things that they themselves have no power to control. If they don't why should anyone else, or how could they? What makes God God? this is their basic question and query and their reasoning behind their views. I don't blame them or pity them, but instead I wish to show them the error of their ways and how fleeting life is. Otherwise, people set in their ways will stay that way until it is too late. Isn't it our job to not question their view of life, but to help them understand our own so that they might see a spark of God through us and follow him? That's my opinion anyway, but yeah you've got great points, man. I really enjoy reading your blog and having these discussions with you. You rock Dan Reiter!
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