In this 200th year after the birth of Charles Darwin, it is helpful to ask what evolution, if it were true, would lead us to. If life is nothing more than random chance, natural selection, survival of the fittest, and a series of meaningless biochemical interactions, then what do we have to live for?If Darwin's theory is correct, then we are absolutely alone in this universe. If he is correct, then life has no higher meaning. If Darwin had life figured out, then life has no meaning whatsoever. We are a mistake that begins when we are conceived and ends when we die. Our lives have no significance at all.
If Darwin is right and life is meaningless, where does this leave us? When our circumstances are going well and life is relatively easy, then we might be able to ignore the insignificance of our existence. But what about when things go badly?
When our lives take a turn for the worse and we lose our job, a loved one dies, we get sick, our spouse runs away with someone else, we go bankrupt, etc., what then? If Darwin was right, then we have no hope outside this world. Evolution automatically demands that we are living a meaningless life. This is a life that has no hope of getting any better based on the influence of any higher power. Therefore, at the most basic level, when things go badly for us we have no hope of things getting better unless someone here rescues us. What do we do if we have no one here who is powerful enough to help?The combination of the meaninglessness of life and the lack of hope should logically lead to abject despair. Abject despair ought to logically lead to suicide. This may sound like an overstatement to some readers, but it appears to me to be the logical endgame of evolution.
Evolution is part of a worldview that has no hope.
As Christians, we have hope. This hope is based not on desire or dreams, but on fact. The fact is the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our hope also rests in the fact that Jesus is going to return. Titus 2:13 tells us, "...waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ."Let us continue the discussion with evolutionists. May we proclaim the truth in love. We have the facts on our side.
We also have hope.
4 comments:
Eric,
I'm sorry, but I think this argument is meaningless. It's very emotion, i.e. illogical. From what I read the brunt of your post was this: The combination of the meaninglessness of life and the lack of hope should logically lead to abject despair. Abject despair ought to logically lead to suicide. This may sound like an overstatement to some readers, but it appears to me to be the logical endgame of evolution.
There is one HUGE flaw in this argument. An evolutionist would merely say that we have evolved to not allow meaninglessness lead to despair to suicide.
Most importantly, about this argument, the realization of a meaningless life is a horrible justification for seeking meaning. In fact, some famous evolutionists have said that our brains have evolved to deal with meaninglessness by creating fake religions that we can hold onto. Many are now saying that we have evolved to no longer need those fake religions - we can now cope with meaninglessness.
It's nice to know that there is a creator who gives us meaning, but if there wasn't, that wouldn't necessitate suicide or despair.
God's Glory,
Lew
Lew,
It's good to hear from you. I agree with you that an evolutionist may have an evolutionary response to this argument. I doubt I would be able to convince an evolutionist by using this argument. The point is just simply this: meaninglessness ought to lead to despair, which logically ought to lead to suicide. I certainly do not expect evolutionists to begin killing themselves in large numbers (nor do I want this). However, I think it would be consistent for them to do so.
Eric,
One of my closest friends is a practice atheist (in the agnostic sense). He does not believe in God, but knows he could be wrong. Further, he does not believe in Evolution. And would probably say he lives functionally in the "life is meaningless" category. We love to talk about this stuff together - in fact, we use to spend hours walking the streets discussing philosophy. I'll ask him why he doesn't just kill himself. It is an interesting question.
Lew
Lew,
I'd be interested to hear his answer.
One time I did ask an atheist about this. He told me that he gave meaning to his own life. That made no sense to me, but we were not in a situation to discuss it further.
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