General Sam Damon, a character in one of my favorite novels, Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer,
says in the novel, "You can't help what you were born and you may not have much to say about where you die, but you can and you should try to pass the days in between as a good man."
Albert Schweitzer once said, " I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know, the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."
A few weeks back, I heard Christopher Hitchens interviewed about his book, God is Not Great. He thinks that religion is man's wish, causes sexual repression, and distorts our orgins. Further, he thinks religion has caused great harm over the centuries. I enjoy reading a lot of Hitchens' writing and hearing him discuss his views, especially regarding Michael Moore's movie Fahrenheit 9/11, and his views on the war against terrorists, especially the Iraq War. However, I simply cannot accept or understand his views regarding God, religion, and all the "harm" he says religion has caused. Listening to his interview, I could not help wondering what purpose Hitchens thought he had being here, if any, and why at this point in history. Does he really believe he is just some blob of cells that just happened to be in this place, at this time, and all by some accident?
I concluded when I was young that there was a God who created the universe and gave us life. Life just did not happen; that never made any sense to me. I did not need some proof in hand, but could accept it on faith. Later in life, I more clearly understood we must have been created for a number of purposes--to worship God, to help others find God/Jesus, and to assist others,
be they family, neighbors, or strangers. And maybe there are other purposes or fewer; I am not a theologian. I believe we should live in such a way as to depart this life having made a difference. That difference is not to gain material wealth, power, or a bigger ego, as much as we humans like and/or enjoy those things. However, they normally do not satisfy over the course of a lifetime, while service in a cause or causes bigger than self always brings personal satisfaction.
Many people muddle through life seemingly without a purpose. I fail to understand how anyone can lead a truly satisfying and/or fullfilling life unless he/she concludes we are here for some purpose greater than ourselves.
Copyright 2008 by Don Emerson
Favotite Websites
Favorite Movies
- A Walk in the Clouds
- Amen
- August Rush
- Bella
- Cinema Paradiso
- Diary of Anne Frank
- From Here to Eternity
- Love Comes Softly series
- Somewhere in Time
- The Christmas Card
- The Ultimate Gift
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Favorite Books and Musicians
- Any book by Allen Drury
- Any book by David Baldacci
- Any book by Karen Kingsbury
- Any book by Nicholas Sparks
- Any book by Richard Paul Evans
- Any book by Taylor Caldwell
- Any book by Vince Flynn
- Any book by W.E.B. Griffin
- Music of Andrew Lloyd Weber, Il Divo, Andrea Bocelli, Neil Diamond, Eddy Duchin, Ennio Morricone, Boublil-Schonberg, and Josh Groban
- Once an Eagle by Anton Meyer
- The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall
Labels
- Addition to The Weavers Blog (1)
- Divorce Problems (1)
- Energy Crisis (1)
- Ex-President Carter's latest move (1)
- Health Care and Government (1)
- Legacy To My Children and Grandchildren (1)
- My Brother (1)
- Olympic Restrictions on Athletes (1)
- Patriotism - July 4 (1)
- Playing God? (1)
- Population and the Environment (1)
- Purpose in Life (1)
- Re: The Weavers blogs (1)
- Support In Time Of Need (1)
- The Weavers - Erik Darling (1)
Blog Archive
About Me
- Don Emerson
- McKinney, Texas
- Married, two children, four grandchildren, two step grandchildren, one step great grandchild. Retired high school and college teacher. Taught various subjects over the years but primarily speech and theatre. My Christian faith, my family, my frieds, and my country are all important to me. I love music, reading, theatre, movies, writing, politics, and spending time with our grandchildren. E-mail - dasemerson@sbcglobal.net
1 comments:
Your idea about this desire in human beings to search out meaning and purpose beyond themselves has a lot of value. I can even remember reading about those who theorize about a "God gene" that supposedly we all have and that can only be filled by someone else someone greater than ourselves. I think another helpful way to think about it is that every single person has a god or God whether they recognize or not. that god could be money, other people, possessions, power, position, a creator god, a savior god, a god man and the like. Something in us realizes that there has to be something more in the this life.
Purpose is important for eveyone because purpose gives us a context to understand who were are as individuals and as human beings in general. The Christians purpose or calling all results from Jesus last words to his disciples when he charges them with making disciples of all nations...a task that I believe we are still charged with today. We do not have to be a professional church worker or missionary to accomplish this we simply need to live out our calling in our various roles whether that be as father, sister, employer, son, friend and the like. The challenge is to remind ourselves that in everything we are simply living out our faith through relationships that we develop that allow us the opportunity by the power of the Spirit to share Jesus.
Post a Comment