Meaning: Either it’s there or it isn’t

One of the most appealing aspects of the Judeo-Christian understanding of reality is the idea of meaning and purpose: everything — including my life — has both meaning and purpose. Unlike an atheistic understanding of reality, my worldview doesn’t require that I live a fiction: instead, I get to live my life exactly as it is: with a meaning and a purpose.

Let me unpack that a bit.

One of the great tragedies of contemporary American culture is that despite the abundance of material wealth and leisure time which the vast majority of us have, many of us are profoundly unhappy. There are many causes for this malaise, among them a sense of purposelessness and a lack of meaning.

To overcome both, some people try to maintain a state of perpetual distraction, while others throw themselves into their work, hobby, or something else which at least gives their life the appearance of meaning.

The conundrum is this: if the atheist is right and there is no God, then life has no meaning, and any attempt to give it meaning is fictitious. While the average atheist may not have thought this through, the more intellectually-serious and -coherent atheists have (e.g. the twentieth century British philosopher Bertrand Russell, as I discussed in this post).

On the other hand, the Judeo-Christian account of reality says that yes, my life has meaning, every circumstance I encounter has meaning… indeed, everything in existence has meaning.

Instead of living either a lie — pretending there is meaning where there isn’t — or a life of “heroic despair” — acknowledging there is no meaning and soldiering on anyway — I get to live an adventure: first, discovering the meaning of my life, and then living it to the fullest.

I’ll take the latter option, and twice on Sundays, thank you very much.

So… what’s the meaning of your life?

Additions to the Q&A

an angry sky god?

I’ve made some additions to the Ultimate Q&A outline (see the entire work-in-progress here). Additions are in italics…

  • 1.1.2. Are you open to the possibility that God might exist?
  • No.
    • 1.1.2.1. Why not?
      • I don’t want someone telling me what to do
      • I don’t like the idea of someone always watching everything I do

Again, feel free to propose additional questions and/or answers in the comments…

The Ultimate Catholic Q&A

Raphael, Transfiguration, 1516-1520

One of my long-term projects for Cruciform is an outline of sorts laying out the reasonable case for Catholicism. I’d like it to be in a flowchart format, but for the time being, it’ll have to be an outline. I’ve made this a Page that you can click on in the upper right as well.

Here’s the beginnings of the outline… feel free to add any questions in the comments.

  • 1. Do you believe there is a God?
    • What do you mean by “God”?
      • Great question! In short, by “God” I mean the Creator of the Universe spoken of in the Bible who is also the Uncaused Cause written about by the ancient Greek philosophers.
    •  Yes, I believe in that God.
      • Great, proceed to question 2.
    • No, I don’t believe that that God exists.
      • 1.1. Do you believe that any gods exist?
        • Yes, but not that one.
          • 1.1.1. Which gods do you believe in?
        • No, I don’t believe that any gods exist.
          • 1.1.2. Are you open to the possibility that God might exist?
            • No.
              • 1.1.2.1. Why not?
            • Yes, but I don’t believe that that God exists because…
              • there is no proof that that God exists
              • belief in God contradicts science
              • pain & suffering prove that that God doesn’t exist
  • 2. Do you believe that Jesus of Nazareth is God?
  • 3. Do you believe that Jesus founded the Catholic Church?

“Reading” the Newspaper

 

It’s at a minimum interesting — and usually instructive — to “read” a newspaper, i.e. to be attentive to the kinds of stories that the editors present, and what that tells us both about them and about us.

When it comes to the cultural analysis that I call being a movie “critic”, one of the forms that I find particularly fascinating is to “read” the newspaper.

The quotation marks there are important, of course… I’m not talking about just reading the stories found in a newspaper, but about stepping back and being attentive to the nature and number of stories the paper contains.

In this post I’ll explain what I mean by this, give some examples about how to “read” a newspaper, and then explain why it’s important to “read” a newspaper.

Continue reading ““Reading” the Newspaper”

Why Not?

If we can’t explain our moral code, we’re building houses on sand for ourselves, our families and our local and national communities.

In this and some upcoming posts I’d like to take step back from Obergefell and its immediate fallout and look at some of the deeper issues which it raises about our society and culture. In this post I’d like to look at the rationale behind our morals, or more precisely, at the need to be able to articulate the rationale behind our morals.

Continue reading “Why Not?”

Living the Joy of the Gospel in Our Marriages & Families

 

Every single Christian couple has an opportunity to be a culture-maker, a culture-builder, insofar as they live vibrant, joy-filled, attractive marriages and family lives.

Friday’s Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v Hodges, which legalized marriage between two people of the same sex across the country provides an opportunity for me to unpack the second facet of Cruciform’s exploration of the intersection of Christianity & culture, namely, culture-building.

Continue reading “Living the Joy of the Gospel in Our Marriages & Families”

Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled

 

Among the many gifts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, one which is it greatest need in our world today this this: the gift of peace. For despite the great power we possess, power which allows us to order and control so much of our life, we still recognize that that power has limits, and with that recognition comes worry, fear and anxiety.

Into that world comes Jesus Christ, Who says to us what He said to His Apostles one week after the Resurrection: “Peace be with you.”

In this post I’d like to briefly sketch the anxiety of our age and its antidote: the Peace of Jesus Christ that surpasses all understanding.

Continue reading “Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled”

The Goal of Christian Morality: Our Happiness!

 

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Saint Teresa in Ecastasy, 1647-52

 

One of my favorite topics in moral theology is the the place of happiness in Catholic moral thought, and in this post I want to dive a little more deeply than normal into some theology, but bear with me…

There is an unfortunate tendency today among many — even among some committed Christians — to believe that Christian moral norms are apparently arbitrary whims imposed on us by God and/or by our Church leadership.

Continue reading “The Goal of Christian Morality: Our Happiness!”

Why Do You Persecute Me?

 

Caravaggio, Conversion on the Way to Damascus, 1601

One of the most compelling Scripture passages is found in chapter 9 of the Acts of the Apostles: the conversion of St. Paul on the road to Damascus. Among the many fascinating aspects of this narrative is the connection Jesus makes between Himself and His Church. His first words to Paul are, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” and when Paul asks who He is, Jesus replies, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Obviously, Paul was not literally persecuting Jesus, in that He had already ascended into Heaven. However, he was persecuting Jesus’ community of disciples, and so from Jesus’ words to Paul, we find a certain kind of identity between Jesus Himself and His Church, to such a degree that to attack the one (the community of disciples) is to attack the other (Jesus Himself).

Continue reading “Why Do You Persecute Me?”