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_-_The_Purpose_of_Life_001.jpg) The first of the two big questions in life is, “Who made
us?” We addressed that question in the previous article and (hopefully)
settled upon “God” as the answer. As we are creation, God is the Creator.
Now, let us turn to the second “big question,” which is,
“Why are we here?”
Well, why are we here? To amass fame and fortune?
To make music and babies? To be the richest man or woman in the graveyard
for, as we are jokingly told, “He who dies with the most toys wins?”
No, there must be more to life than that, so let’s think
about this. To begin with, look around you. Unless you live in a cave, you
are surrounded by things we humans have made with our own hands. Now, why did
we make those things? The answer, of course, is that we make things to perform
some specific function for us. In short, we make things to serve us. So, by
extension, why did God make us, if not to serve Him?
Our purpose, then, is to serve God. We receive this
message from the prophets, as well as from scripture, but nowhere more clearly
than in the Quran, the holy book of Islam:
“And I [God] did not create the jinn and mankind except to
worship Me” (Quran 51:56)
Which brings us to the next point. If we acknowledge
our Creator, and that He created humankind to serve Him, the next question is, “How?
How do we serve Him?” No doubt, this question is best answered by the One who
made us. If He created us to serve Him, then He expects us to function in a
particular manner, if we are to achieve our purpose. But how can we know what
that manner is? How can we know what God expects from us?
Well, consider this: God gave us light, by which we can
find our way. Even at night, we have the moon for light and the stars for
navigation. God gave other animals guidance systems best suited for their
conditions and needs. Migrating birds can navigate, even on overcast days, by
light polarization. Whales migrate by “reading” the Earth’s magnetic fields. Salmon
return from the open ocean to spawn at the exact spot of their birth by smell,
if that can be imagined. Fish sense distant movements through pressure
receptors that line their bodies. Bats and the blind river dolphins “see” by
sonar. Certain marine organisms (the electric eel being a high-voltage
example) generate and sense magnetic fields, allowing them to “see” in muddy
waters, or in the blackness of ocean depths. Insects communicate by
pheromones, the trail of which guides them to food, and then home again. Plants
sense sunlight and grow towards it (phototropism); their roots sense gravity
and grow into the earth (geotropism). In short, God has gifted every element
of His creation with guidance. Can we seriously believe he would not give us
guidance on the one most important aspect of our existence, namely our raison
d’etre—our reason for being? That he would not give us the tools by which
to achieve salvation?
Of course not. Hence, revelation.
Think of it this way: Every product has specifications
and rules. For more complex products, whose specifications and rules are not
intuitive, owner’s manuals are provided. These manuals are written by the one
who knows the product best, which is to say the manufacturer. A typical owner’s
manual begins with warnings about improper use and the hazardous consequences
thereof, moves on to a description of how to use the product properly and the
benefits to be gained thereby, and provides product specifications and a
troubleshooting guide whereby we can correct product malfunctions.
How is that different from revelation?
Revelation tells us what to do, what not to do and why,
tells us what God expects of us, and shows us how to correct our deficiencies. Revelation
is the ultimate user’s manual, provided as guidance to the one who will use
us—ourselves.
In the world we know, products that meet or exceed
specifications are considered successes whereas those that don’t are … hmm …
let’s think about this. Any product that fails to meet factory specifications
is either repaired or, if hopeless, recycled. In other words, destroyed. Ouch.
Suddenly this discussion turns scary-serious. Because in this discussion, we
are the product—the product of creation.
But let’s pause for a moment and consider how we
interact with the various items that fill our lives. As long as they do what
we want, we’re happy with them. But when they fail us, we get rid of them. Some
are returned to the store, some donated to charity, but eventually they all end
up in the garbage, which gets … buried or burned. Similarly, an
underperforming employee gets … fired. Now, stop for a minute and think about
that word. Where did that euphemism for the punishment due to an
underperformer come from? Hmm … the person who believes the lessons of this
life translate into lessons about religion could have a field day with this.
But that doesn’t mean these analogies are invalid. Just
the opposite, we should remember that both Old and New Testaments are filled
with analogies, and Jesus Christ taught using parables.
So perhaps we had better take this seriously.
No, I stand corrected. Most definitely we should
take this seriously. Nobody ever considered the difference between heavenly
delights and the tortures of hellfire a laughing matter.
Copyright © 2007 Laurence B. Brown.
About the Author:
The author can be contacted at BrownL38@yahoo.com.
He is the author of The First and Final Commandment (Amana
Publications) and Bearing True Witness (Dar-us-Salam). Forthcoming
books are a historical thriller, The Eighth Scroll, and a second edition
of The First and Final Commandment, rewritten and divided into MisGod’ed
and its sequel, God’ed.
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