Meaning-Less

Looking back on the notes for my dissertation this year I found the following:

What is love? What is meaning? What's the point of life?

"The more the universe seems to be determined, the more it seems pointless." - Steve Weinberg

“Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear. . . . There are no gods, no purposes, no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end for me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning to life, and no free will for humans, either.”
- William B. Provine, professor of biological sciences, Cornell University

A study by the Prince Trust in England showed that 10% of 16-25 year-olds agree with the statement “life is meaningless and is not worth living.”

Most people think that there is more to us than the 1-2-3 lbs of meat sitting inside the oblong bone box above our necks. There is very deep rooted intuition= at a very young age. Most think of being human as more than just physical. There is some sort of deeper reason, deeper self, deeper meaning. If neuroscience continues on its present trajectory – that of mechanism – then everything, from love to loyalty to right and wrong, and everything you belief will be one day thought to live only in the gears of the machine. Free will.

We are very wonderfully physical mechanism. But are we anything more than that? If not, does that contradict the world of religion? Moral and legal responsibility – if everything I do is caused by the physical processes in my brain, can I be blamed for the genes I was born with? “My brain made me do it!” is the final excuse. If all we are is physical stuff, why should I care about you? About poverty? About hunger? About abuse? About anything other than me, for that matter?
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Contrary to this present “the Universe is a random accident and your meaningless life is not much more” worldview, the Bible gives us identity, worth, and a role to play in the greatest love story of all time.

The Bible shows us the God who created it all. The God who came again and again through the prophets, priests, shepherds, and kings. The God who finally, at the fullness of time, came in flesh through the obedience of a peasant girl and the power of the Holy Spirit to walk among us. The God who came in love, in grace and truth to rescue a loved but lost people. The God who abandoned it all for our sake, then was abandoned by the very people he came to save. The God who went silently to the beating, the cross, the grave for the lost, lost love he came to save. The God who went to hell for us so we wouldn’t have to. The God who went through hell to bring us to our home.

You can have your choice of stories and life philosophies. I choose Jesus. Everything else is looking like it's just rather... meaning-less.