The Purpose of Life

Slaving away the hours of your childhood and teenage years - confined to the oppression of bosses in your midlife, learning to sit back and relax before you die in your old age... where is the purpose? To what end do these things seek? It is undeniable that much time is spent in a way no one would like it to be -- fighting wars, killing innocents, starving in one's own home... but where are we to go to change it all?

Life can be looked at from two distinctly different perspectives: that which searches for a defined end ("happiness", "utility", etc.), or that which seeks an indefinable end - one that we progress to.

How can an end be indefinable? How would you know where to step your feet? I will tell you: God's word. It can be no other way.

That you make steps is the surest evidence of God on Earth. You can't know where you're stepping (see Problem of Induction), yet you step in the right place - or, at least, a relatively "right" one - every time. Furthermore, you know the results of your steps before you step there, with at least some probability.

What is right and wrong, what is good and evil? I will tell you: The former is listening to the commands of God, the latter is listening to the dictates of your own conscience.

What do I mean by this? That the better decision is to choose according to God's will than to choose according to your own. That is to say, while each of us has a good/evil indicator within ourselves, it is nothing compared to that of the Lord's - who is all knowing.

The humble-less man takes into account only what he believes to be right - which is paradoxically not the right thing at all, nor could it ever be. He establishes his own "good" - then determines the right thing to be adhering to this good. But the truly right decision is the good determined by God, which is better than any good.

I do believe that there are many times when the veil will be thin in our lifetimes. That is to say, there will be many times when the Lord God reveals his plan to mankind, or shows them insights according to the future of things. It is crucially important at these times - when inspiration draws near - that one be closely in-tune with the Lord.

The Lord's voice is always present. It is always known. It cannot be rebuked - only ignored.

To say that every man will be saved from the depths of Hell is to acknowledge his ability to listen to the Lord at all times and in all places. That is, we acknowledge his or her knowledge of the Lord's voice in all things. Those who know not the Lord know not one single thing, and so they know the Lord, for the Lord is he who dispels our unknowing in the face of knowledge.

That is to say, in a world without the Lord, an omniscience, there would be no knowing. Thus, the Lord must be.

It is hard to attach these concepts to a structured life. One can say things he should or should not do at a time, but what if the Lord calls him to something else? What is one plans to rake the leaves off another's porch, but the Lord demands, soon as the moment arrives, that he be in Las Vegas? There are too many factors for the Lord to consider over man that man should ever be able to guarantee his actions, when in tune with the Lord, which is not to say he need be, but that he is better off doing so.

What of the man who is told to kill by the Lord?

Do we not remember Abraham?

Abraham dutifully obeyed the Lord's command in the face of extreme trial. When asked to do that thing which most all men would lean back and be repulsed by, Abraham went forth and accomplished the needed task. He valiantly strove to accomplish the Lord's work in the face of what he saw to be the greatest evil, for is not the man to love his own son even more than himself?

It is too quick for one to say that Abraham would not kill Isaac in that opportunity because he knew the Lord would stop his hand. Maybe. Maybe not. But if the Lord asked one to go through with it who had no such knowing before his hand would stopped, could not it have been the soul so great as Abraham, and would he not be right to go through with the act?

There is a fortunate side to this tale - indeed, an infinitely fortunate side to all tales - for all tales are of the Lord God who is all-knowing and omnibenevolent. It is that man is not asked to do that which he cannot bear. The thought of killing another - much less one's son - is a sickening thought. Only to those who would not burn their own minds at the very consideration could the Lord ever call - and only those so valiant to His command would the Lord ever bless with the not-needing to follow through. Thus, no man is killed - no innocent man - by the Lord's hand - and every man knows this. For it is a commandment that we should not. If the Lord is to stop the hand of Abraham in that last hour, we are to stop ourselves in the first, for none of us is so strong as to follow the example of Abraham in our own lives.

Consider what this means for all of us; it is everything. Everything that matters or ever could matter is rooted in the Lord's command. He who knows it not knows nothing save the dictates of his own unknowing conscience - save a voice in his head that he produces himself and teaches him nothing. What is this great lie before men that there is another way? What is the option that satisfies the criterion: do not every disobey, do not ever stray, do always likewise, receive the ultimate reward? It is unthinkable that there would be something else - something cogent and comprehensive, much less admirable!

There is only one way to the Lord's house, and that is by his voice. There is no alternative. There never can be.

But do not cry at the knowledge of your unknowing, of the strength of your weaknesses - for the Lord is knowing of them and considers them even as He directs you. Do not consider that your life may be at stake, for the only life that matters is renewed in the Lord.