Estimated reading time: 8 Minutes.
We all long for a life of meaning and purpose. What if that meaning is not something we have to create for ourselves, but something we discover in knowing our Creator?
Contents:
- Where Does Meaning Come From?
- Meaning We Create
- Does Meaning Require an Ultimate Foundation?
- Questioning Our Assumptions
- Truth is More Than an Intellectual Question
- A Different Foundation for Meaning
- What If You Are Still Searching?
Does Life Have Meaning Without God?
For many people, an early rejection of belief in God is not the result of a dramatic intellectual rebellion. Sometimes God simply seems unnecessary.
Our attention is often focused on ordinary concerns: friendships, experiences, belonging, personal goals, and the approval of peers. Spiritual questions may not be part of our family or social environment. Christianity can seem distant or unfamiliar, sometimes viewed primarily as a source of psychological comfort for people who find it helpful.
We all encounter questions of meaning and purpose at some point in our lives. Why are we here? What makes our life truly meaningful? Is there a larger purpose to our existence, or is meaning something we create for ourselves?
For some, these questions remain in the background for years, crowded out by the ordinary concerns of everyday life. That was true for Dr. Charles Murray. Despite a life shaped by intellectual inquiry, he acknowledged giving little thought to some of life’s deepest questions. Over time, however, questions of meaning, purpose, and ultimate reality became harder to ignore, prompting him to consider whether there might be more to reality than the world we can see and measure.
Do our lives have any real, objective meaning?
If there is no God, what ultimately gives our lives significance?
These questions go beyond whether religion is useful or comforting. They ask whether meaning, purpose, and value are simply things we create for ourselves, or whether they have a foundation beyond us.
Where Does Meaning Come From?
We don’t simply experience life as a series of events. We experience love, beauty, suffering, responsibility, morality, and purpose. We naturally sense that some things matter more than others.
So where does that sense of meaning come from?
That question is worth considering whether you believe in God, reject belief in God, or simply aren’t sure. We can find deep and genuine meaning in family, friendship, creativity, work, love, or serving others without believing in God. These things can make life rich and worthwhile.
But there is a deeper question: What makes these things ultimately significant?
If there is no God, is anything objectively meaningful? Or does meaning ultimately depend on what each of us chooses to value?
Meaning We Create
We all answer these big questions of meaning in different ways depending upon how we see and understand the world. Jean-Paul Sarte saw these questions through the lens of existential philosophy. In his view, if there is no God and no transcendent purpose built into reality, human beings are free to create their own meaning.
Purpose, in this view, is not something we necessarily discover, it is something we construct through the choices we make and the lives we live. There is an intellectual appeal to this position. It takes human freedom seriously and refuses to claim that the universe has provided answers that cannot be demonstrated. It also places responsibility for the direction of our lives firmly in our own hands.
But it raises difficult questions of its own.
If meaning is something we create, what makes one meaning more significant than another?
What happens when the purpose we have created no longer satisfies us?
And if the universe itself is ultimately indifferent to human existence, where does the weight of our deepest longings for love, significance, justice, and purpose come from?
Existentialism offers one way of understanding the human search for meaning. But does it fully explain why we experience certain things as more important than merely our subjective feelings about them?
Is meaning something we create, or something we discover?
Does Meaning Require an Ultimate Foundation?
If God does not exist, our lives can still be rich with meaningful moments. We can love, create, pursue worthwhile goals, and make a difference in the lives of others. But a deeper question remains: Is there an ultimate purpose for our existence beyond ourselves?
Our accomplishments fade, our relationships end, and our lives are finite. Creating our own purpose does not necessarily answer whether our lives have a purpose beyond the meaning we give them.
Christianity offers a different answer: perhaps our lives matter not simply because we assign them meaning, but because they have real meaning grounded in the One who created us. Without God, we may be able to construct purpose for our lives, but there is no ultimate purpose for our lives and that deeply affects how we see ourselves and our lives.
Questioning Our Assumptions
We all approach the world through a particular framework. We have assumptions that are rarely questioned about what exists, what counts as evidence, what is possible, and what explanations are reasonable. We call this our worldview.
That raises an important question:
What if our worldview itself deserves to be examined?
What is your worldview? How do you answer the big questions about your life? This isn’t about abandoning critical thinking. It is about applying that same critical thinking to the assumptions that shape how you understand reality.
Does your worldview adequately account for everything you experience, including our longing for meaning, morality, truth, and purpose? Being open to the possibility that God exists is not the same as deciding that God exists. It simply means refusing to rule out a conclusion before the investigation is complete.
For anyone genuinely seeking truth, as in the case of Charles Murray, that kind of intellectual openness matters.
Truth is More Than an Intellectual Question
Seeking truth often means gathering evidence, weighing arguments, testing explanations, and looking for the worldview that best fits reality. Those things matter.
But human life is more than a collection of propositions.
We experience love, grief, beauty, guilt, hope, suffering, and longing. We ask not only “What is true?” but also “What does that truth mean for my life?”
If Christianity is true, its claims are not merely philosophical. Christianity presents a God who not only explains reality but also knows and relates to human beings personally.
If God exists, you can know that you are infinitely loved and valued, that your life has deep and lasting meaning and purpose. And, we can have confidence that God exists through searching for truth and answers that best explain reality around us and in us.
Our questions do not require abandoning skepticism. They invite us to keep investigating, follow the evidence, and consider whether Christianity’s central claims of Jesus deserve serious examination. (Take a listen to Dr. Kathleen Milani’s story in podcast episode #107.)
A Different Foundation for Meaning
Christianity offers a different way of understanding human existence.
If God created us intentionally, then human purpose does not depend entirely on our changing preferences. Our lives have significance because they are grounded in something beyond ourselves. Christianity ultimately locates that purpose in knowing God and being rightly related to Him, the source of goodness and love.
This also raises an important philosophical point, as the search for meaning does not necessarily require an endless chain of explanations, with every purpose requiring another purpose behind it. The question is whether there is an ultimate reason that brings the search to its proper conclusion.
Christianity’s answer is God Himself.
If God exists, our longing for significance may not be an illusion. It may point beyond ourselves to the One for whom we were made.
What If You Are Still Searching?
You may be an atheist, an agnostic, or simply unconvinced. Perhaps you’ve examined Christianity and rejected its arguments. Or perhaps you’ve never seriously investigated its claims.
Wherever you are, consider remaining open to the possibility that reality is bigger than you currently understand. That doesn’t mean lowering your intellectual standards, it means being willing to examine your assumptions honestly.
If you’re searching for truth, start with the person at the center of Christianity. Read one of the Gospel accounts of Jesus and consider what he taught and the claims he made.
Who is Jesus?
If Christianity is true, that question changes everything.
Perhaps the search for truth is not simply about finding the right idea, philosophy, or explanation. Perhaps it is about encountering a Person. A Person whose life, claims, and resurrection deserve serious investigation.
And if those claims are true, he calls for more than our consideration, he calls for our response.
What Is Christian Apologetics?
Christian apologetics is the thoughtful examination of the reasons, evidence, and arguments for and against the Christian faith. It doesn’t ask people to turn off their questions. It invites them to follow those questions wherever the evidence leads.
eX-skeptic offers a safe and credible place to consider how and why skeptics come to believe in God and Christianity. This article is written for educational and exploratory purposes and is intended to encourage honest, thoughtful conversation.
