How many times have have you heard a theist make the assertion that without a belief in god, life has no purpose, no meaning. They say that if god didn't exist, our own existence means nothing, and we might as well all resort to hedonism. They believe that their god has a plan for us, our existence has a reason, and thereof life is not pointless. However, I would like ask a few questions here:
1. How can life be meaningful if we are merely robots, following a predetermined path set up for us by some all knowing man in the sky. What meaning is there in life when your choices are already made, your decisions predetermined?
2. What about that special person, who does so much good in the world, helping people, volunteering, etc. yet does so without the belief in a god, is that person's life meaningless?
3. What does make life meaningful? How does one create purpose out the chaos that is life?
The first question, at least from my perspective, is unanswerable. While Christians love to tout how full of meaning and purpose their life is, they fail to see the irony of the situation. What meaning is there in following a path that is already been laid out for you?
In terms of the second question, I would argue that that person's life is full of purpose and meaning. They are helping their fellow human being, being a "good" person, and in general making the world a better place. If that isn't a way to make your life meaningful, I don't know what is. Why does it matter that a person must believe in a higher power to live a "meaningful" life? Why does one have to believe in, say, the divinity of Jesus in order to find meaning and purpose in the things that they do? Religion has created a monopoly on purpose and meaning, selling these things as only attainable through the belief in god.
The third question is the most important of all. How does one live a meaningful life? Of course, we will all have different definitions of meaning, but what really is significant here, in my opinion, is the intent, and because of this, I think the lives of non-theists can in fact be much more meaningful than those of theists. If you enjoy doing things for other people, such as volunteering, that is an act in which the intent is to create a better world for other people. For Christians, doing good deeds is seen as necessary for salvation and to get to heaven. I'm sure there are plenty of Christians who truly enjoy and appreciate helping out people in need, but the overall intent there is to be subservient to god, and in doing so achieve eternity in heaven. I believe that a person's intent is a major factor when considering the meaning and purpose in their life.
However, what is perhaps most important of all is that meaning is created by the individual seeking it, and it is therefore a personal component of life. Theists often assert that for an atheist, life is meaningless because, as many atheists believe, in X number of years the universe will suffer a heat death, and all life as we currently know it will cease to exist, and the theist claims that this makes everything we do meaningless, because at that point in time, "nothing that we ever did will matter".
But I would say that they have this backwards. Meaning is not something that is judged from the future, but it is constructed at the present. A good deed is not deemed "good" 1000 years in the future when it is recognized, but it is good at the time when it happened. Meaning is something that is personal to each of us. It does not matter that in 500 billion years nobody will ever know that we existed. What matters is that we can create purpose in our own lives now, and that is what makes them meaningful. The relationships we have with other people are often the key to meaning in one's life; family, friends, loved ones, these are the people we spend our lives with and find meaning with. I don't sit back and say "well, I would like to be friends with you, but eventually I will die and nothing will exist, so we might as well not bother". This would be ridiculous, and it specifically highlights what is wrong with the notion that theists have about atheists. All that matters is that at sometime, somewhere, something was meaningful to you, and it gave your life purpose, and that is all you need.
10 hours ago
