There are two answers to the purpose of life. If you believe in God, you have hope. If you don't believe in God, then you fear that death is the end.
1. If you believe in God, then one purpose of life is to learn and grow through experiences. You believe that there are consequences to our actions, and a reward or punishment in the afterlife.
2. If you don't believe in God, then
a. You believe that the purpose of life is what you make of it, but when you die, you cease to exist. This sounds like despair to me.
b. If there is any kind of life after death, then after you die, you either can't, or suddenly don't care about letting your friends and loved ones know about it. But if this was the case, wouldn't you want to know now the truth about what happens after you die?
If you haven't figured it out yet, it's time to find out what the truth is. We'll discuss how you can learn the truth.
Regardless of your belief in God, you have to admit that there is a difference between right and wrong, good and evil, truth and lies.
How do we learn truth? There are two ways. We can learn from our own experience, or we can rely on experts. When we learn from our own experience, our depth of knowledge and breadth of understanding is much greater than if we just listened to the words of an expert. Even children learning their multiplication tables understand this. If they ask what six times six is, they may easily forget the answer. But if they knew how to get the answer, they would have a much better understanding. Even if they forgot the answer, they could re-calculate and find the answer again.
Life is similar. We gain a deeper, broader understanding by experiencing life ourselves.
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
But first we need to hear the word so we know what it is. Then we can do. To hear the word of God, we have prophets. A prophet of God will always teach in harmony with good and righteous principles.
By their fruits ye shall know them.
To learn truth, first consult the experts. This is done by reading scriptures and the words of the prophets. The prophets are the experts who have first hand knowledge of God. Beware of false prophets. Remember "by their fruits ye shall know them". Since God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, true prophets will teach consistent principles. The second part of learning truth is to practice the principles taught by the prophets. This is the "learn by doing" method.
We have the freedom to choose good or evil, and with that freedom, we can improve ourselves.
In my personal opinion, I believe the main causes for not believing in God are
1. An exaggerated fear of the punishment for sin, or a lack of confidence to be able to repent, or a lack of faith in ability to gain forgiveness for sin.
2. A false belief that life will be easier or happier if they continue to break the commandments of God; or a desire to live contrary to God's commandments. One problem here is that they may believe false things about God and His commandments, causing them to lose faith in God.
Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Since righteous living is universally accepted in the whole world, it does absolutely no harm to give righteous living a try to see if you can find out for yourself if God exists and if there is life after death. As with other pursuits of worth, you must put forth effort.
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Originally posted February 18, 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment