Brad Alles

What are you? Are you a unique creation of a loving God, or a random collection of molecules? If you consider yourself from the viewpoint of creation or evolution, you will come out with very different perspectives. The meaning of anything comes from its origin; to understand it, you must grasp the origin. For instance, Spider-Man’s origin is vital to understanding what compels him to be a superhero—“with great power comes great responsibility.” Likewise, our meaning stems from our origin. To understand ourselves, we must grasp if we are divinely created or random accidents. Remember that the worldview tells you what is philosophically real, so if evolution is true, and no God exists, you are no more than an accident. This is stated bluntly in the comic book entitled Watchmen by Alan Moore. “Life’s so fragile, a successful virus clinging to a speck of mud suspended in endless nothing…The horror is this: in the end, it is simply a picture of empty, meaningless, blackness. We are alone. There is nothing else.”

Now that is being brutally honest about what we are if the worldview of Secular Humanism and evolution is correct. It isn’t pretty, but that is exactly what Dr. Provine stated in his debate with Dr. Johnson regarding the philosophical implications of evolution.  Dr. Provine said if evolution is true, then there were no gods, no life after death, no ultimate foundation for ethics, no free will, and no ultimate meaning in life.

Yet purpose in life is one of the key elements all people seek. We all wonder, “Why am I here? What is my purpose in life?” This fundamental question is one that all worldviews have to answer, yet it is woefully absent here. Is it any wonder that today people have turned to anything that will give that some reason to continue—some purpose to find meaning in life? Some turn to relationships, some to money, some to escapism like drugs and alcohol. Yet many are still unfulfilled. Why is this?

The reason people are unfulfilled is that they don’t understand that they were created to have a relationship with God that only He can satisfy. He created us because He loves us, since 1 John 4:8 says, “God is love.” Just like parents have children because they love them, so God “had” us because He loves us. God also created us for a purpose. From Genesis 1:31, God made Adam and Eve and saw that they were “very good.” We are not accidents—Revelation 4:11 says that God created all things, and by His “will they were created and have their being.” His will and purpose allow us to exist, not accidental happenings.