Is There a Creator That Cares About You?/Chapter One - Continue with What Can Add Meaning to Your Life?

True, some people  are preoccupied with caring for their family, earning a living, traveling, or other personal interests because they know of no other meaning to life. Albert Einstein once said:  "The man who regards his life as meaningless is not merely unhappy but hardly fit for life."  In line with such thinking, some seek to put meaning in their life by pursuing the arts, scientific research, or humanitarian efforts to curb suffering. Do you know some like that?

It is understandable that basic questions about the meaning of life arise. How many parents after seeing a child die from malaria or another disease ask, Why such suffering?  Is there meaning  to it?  Similar questions puzzle many  young men and women who observe poverty, disease, and injustice.  Brutal wars often lead people to wonder whether there can be meaning to life. Even if you have not experience such misery, you might agree with Professor Freeman Dyson, who said: "I stand in good company when I ask again the questions [that the Biblical character ] Job asked> Why do we suffer? Why is the world so unjust? What is the purpose of pain and tragedy?  You too might want the answers. 

Finding satisfying answers would surely make a difference. A professor who endured the horrors of Auschwitz concentration camp observed: "There is nothing in the world . . . that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one's life."  He felt that even one's mental health is linked to this search for meaning. 

Over the centuries, many have sought answers through religion. After Gautama (Buddha) was exposed to the sight of a sick man, an old man, and a dead man, he sought enlightenment, or meaning, in religion but without belief in a personal God. Others have turned to their church. 

What, though, about people today?  Many focus on science, dismissing religion and "God" as irrelevant. "The more science progresses," comments Religion and Atheism,  "the less room that seems to be for God. God has become a Displaced Person." 

Next time:   Doing Without a Creator -Why? 

From the book Is there a Creator That Cares About You?