Interactive Gospel
- Human Significance -
by Paul Hazelden
1. Summary
We believe human life has eternal significance.
When we start to consider human life, one of the biggest
problems we face is 'nothing buttery' (otherwise known as
'ontological reductionism'). It is the confusion we
experience between 'is' and 'is
only'. For example, it is clearly true
to say the Mona Lisa is a collection of pigments on a canvas
backing. But to say the Mona Lisa is nothing but a
collection of pigments on a canvas backing is quite another thing.
A similar trick is often played when talking about
people. That the human race is a species of naked
ape can hardly be denied, but this does not
mean the human race is nothing but a species of naked ape.
We agree that all the things the scientists tell us about
ourselves are true, but we do not believe this exhausts all that
can, or should, be said. We believe that people are
more than just collections of chemicals. We believe
that people are more than machines produced by strands of DNA.
We believe that people matter. We believe
that the things you do, your hopes and fears - they have
significance. One day, this world will be destroyed,
but nevertheless, your life and what you choose to do with it,
matters today, and will continue to matter in the
future. You are important!
- I'll go along with that
- Please explain further
- I object to what you've said
- What are the alternatives?
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2. Further Details
We believe you are important - your life is important - because
God says you are important. You don't have to do anything
to become significant. It does not depend on your
intelligence, your money, your parents, your class or your country -
it depends on God.
Clearly, this is a more solid base for believing that human
beings have value than many of the alternatives. It is
arguable that without a God nothing is
significant, so nothing can give your life significance.
We talk about 'eternal significance', but when you think about
it, if something is to have real significance, it must have
eternal significance. If something is unimportant, what
difference does it make if it becomes unimportant in the next five
minutes, five years, or five million years? In the long
run, it's all the same.
In the end, whatever you care about, it must last for eternity,
or it is pointless. So, if human life - your life - is to have any
real significance, something that is the essential you must last,
or at least have the possibility of lasting, into eternity. This
is what we call the 'soul'.
It is important to distinguish between the Christian concept of
the soul and the meaning in religions such as Hinduism. In
Christianity, the soul is individual, personal. In Hinduism, the
soul is more like an impersonal substance out of which people are
formed. In Hinduism and Buddhism, the soul may survive death and be
re-incarnated, but the individual - the person - who died is gone
forever.
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3. Objections
Some people object that the ideas put together here do not
necessarily depend on each other.
- I don't believe in God
- I don't believe in a soul
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3a. I don't believe in God
Many people say that their life has value, even though they
don't believe in God. Anybody can say it, and almost
anybody can believe it, if they try hard enough. But very few
people can point to any reason for believing it.
If there is no God, what can possibly give life any value, any
purpose, any meaning?
The common claim is that human relationships, and in particular
children, give life meaning. They certainly provide something
vital. But the chances are that a hundred years from now, you and
your children will both be dead. Two hundred years from now, who
will even remember that you ever existed? Ten million years from
now, what will be the value of your life?
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3b. I don't believe in a soul
This used to be quite popular in certain circles - the
existentialist position: "I have no reason to believe that
life has any value, but I will believe it nevertheless." Or,
sometimes, I will act as though it has value, while believing this
to be untrue. The obvious question in reply to all this
is... why?
What is the point in pretending that life has value when you
'know' it really has none? What is the point? Basing your actions
on what you know to be false is hardly 'authentic' - and why is
being authentic a value for existentialists, when you believe that
nothing has any value? It is not so much a philosophy as a refusal
to engage in philosophy.
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4. Alternatives
Clearly, the only alternative is that human life has no eternal
significance. We are nothing but complex collections of
chemicals. We are machines produced by DNA, but that DNA
itself has no purpose and no significance.
I have met many people who have claimed to believe this - at
least, they made this claim at the start of a conversation. I only
recall one person who continued with this position when I started
to ask about it. When you think about it, this is an incredible
position: everything you do is meaningless; everything you achieve
is pointless; your whole life, whatever you may do, has no value.
I do not believe that anyone can live consistently with this
belief.
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