Ultimate Questions

There are pictures in which we cannot identify whether the person shown is crying in the midst of a great belly laugh or in the throes of agony. In one, a man holds his head with one hand and wipes his eyes with the other. He is in a suit and appears to be in a pew or row of some sort – perhaps at a funeral? However when the rest of the picture is revealed, there are people all around him in a theater, looking toward some stage, their faces wreathed in laughter. Obviously, how we interpret such pictures depends heavily upon our own frame of reference and expectations.
The same thing happens when it comes to answering such “Ultimate Questions” as “Why do we humans exist?” “Why are we here?” Just as the mentioned pictures can express both great happiness or great despair and therefore need some frame of reference by which to interpret what is seen, so also we need some perspective from which to make sense of these “Questions.”

Fatalism

On the one hand, in our culture there is the perspective of fatalism, which is prominently found in the philosophy of evolution. Evolution insists that we are merely happenstance – there is no point, no purpose, no value, no destiny, no hope for humans. Live and disappear, and nothing in the universe will notice. There is nothing to which to look forward. Even when the universe itself “disappears” one day, not even its demise will be noticed. Every achievement, every accomplishment, every advancement, every evolutionary milestone is simply a nothing in the end – and nothing could care less. Despite its proponents’ “wise” words, their knowledge is ultimately nothing, their “glory” is nothing, they are nothing – indeed their “noble cause” is merely a fool’s errand.

So if evolution does not care about progress up or down, nor whether you or I have ever existed, nor that mankind nor even that the universe has ever existed, is it any wonder that “the lack of self-esteem” is such a problem in our society!? Yet it provides the “comfortableness” of having no need for accountability toward God, which for fallen human nature is quite attractive. It is a viewpoint that really is of hopelessness and despair, one of utter meaningless in the total scheme of Life, however, many in our culture seem satisfied to see themselves and the universe in such emptiness. Indeed, “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die'” [I Corinthians 15:32].

God Created

On the other hand, the Bible lays out the heart and mind of God in which it identifies that He created the whole universe first of all because of His Love – it is to be a Creation in which He could take delight (however we also are to enjoy it). Although He chooses to be invisible, Creation is to inform us about its Maker:
what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and deity [Romans 1:19-20].
The Universe has key indicators – “Signs” [Genesis 1:13] – by which to direct our attention to His work and to our connection to Him. His motivation for creating was not in some sort of greed for recognition, but rather, in spite of what He knew it would cost Him, it was a joy that came from His heart [Hebrews 12:2] – a genuine self-giving Love was (and still is) at the root of His activity.
Still, when Creation in turn wants to catch a glimpse of its Maker, where is it to look?