what's the point? part 2

part 1 was about why i am writing a blog. the next question ought to be this: why should you care for what i have to say? if that reflects your thoughts, then i agree with the questioning. time is important and no one ought to spend it reading or doing things that don't matter-when they could be using it in another, more profitable way (what is profitable? yet another great topic!). so, my responsibility in these first two posts is to explain why you should come back to read again. what do a feeble 22 year-old's musings have to do with life, goodness, truth, reality, and the rest of the world? but if what i say matters (you think we ought to have a criteria for that one!?), then it ought to be at least thought about. i'm not anything special-not a genius or a scholar. i simply love to think hard about life and ask the right questions. here is why i think you should care...

1) because in a sense, we are all ignorant. no one, not the greatest minds nor the most successful men are so wise to think that they have nothing to learn from even the smallest child. i have much to learn from any who read this blog-educated or uneducated, young or old. in turn, you have something to learn from me. we are all capable of self-deception and faulty reasoning, so we ought not ignore what others have to say simply because they are of a lower "status".

2) because everyone has questions. you and i are alike in that we are both alive and forced to make sense out of his world. where are the answers? i seek to ask the right questions and to point to what i believe are the correct answers to life's greatest questions:
- who am i? how do i relate to God, the world, and to fellow man?
- why are we here? do we have purpose? is it all for nothing? what's worth living and dying for?
- what happens after death?
- is there morality and how do we know? how should we live? how can we have true happiness?
- what's true?
these questions are inescapable, and how you answer then determines who you are and how you live.

3) because everyone experiences suffering. hopefully this isn't news to anyone. how do we explain evil? are belief in God and evil-when held simultaneously-incompatible? why would God allow evil? how could God be omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent, yet allow evil?

4) because everyone is, whether you know it or not, in a search for true answers. we can have an answer, but how do we know it's true?

5) because everyone must trust in something. we cannot live one day without trusting in things. when we drive, we trust in the driver on the other side of the road to obey the rules of the road and stay on his side. at restaurants, we trust cooks to prepare good food, rather than poisoning us. we trust chairs when we sit-that they are able to hold us. but we don't just trust in little things like airplanes, chairs, drivers and cooks. we ultimately put our trust in something or someone to give us true answers to life's big questions. therefore, what we trust matters immensely! if am to ride an airplane i must be justified in trusting that airplane ot bring me safely to my destination. among others, i must have good reason (justification or warrant) in believing that the pilot is sober, well-educated, well-trained and well-rested; that the plane has been fueled, and all systems are properly functioning. if i don't have good reason to believe those things, then i will not ride the plane. if trusting a plane takes such work, then how are we approaching life's questions (if at all)? what are we trusting in for the answers to questions that are much bigger than airplanes?

6) because deep down everyone desires true happiness, joy, goodness, beauty, truth, flourishing, etc. but we cannot attain these unless we can define them and know how to get them. for without defining our end, we pursue wrong ends. and if we never know how to get to the right end, then our means are accompanied by mere good intention and we fail to reach the truly happy end. is happiness a feeling or a state? is it a knowledge or a status? is it a fulfillment of a desire or a performing of a function? how can we be happy if we don't know what it is? the apostle peter, david hume, hillary clinton, barack obama, and all others who have walked this earth wanted the same thing: true happiness. what isn't the same for us all is the definition and the road map. obama has different ideas and beliefs on how to get there. what ought we do with this difference?

all six categories and more will be addressed in one way or another in this blog. i invite you to come, listen, think, and ask. but not so that we can be intelligent for the sake of being intelligent. but so that you may learn, understand and live well.

note: hopefully, you are at least on the road to becoming someone who "thinks hard" and asks the right questions. i can't do it for you.

wesley a chambers