God created us so that we ‘may come to share in the divine nature’ and return to Him
By Deacon Bob Hunt
Is there meaning to our lives? There are some who insist that life comes with no meaning. Any meaning to our lives is only given to our lives by ourselves. Dr. Richard Dawkins, the world’s most famous atheist, wrote in his 1995 book, River Out of Eden: “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.”
If Dawkins is correct, there is no meaning to our lives. There is no God. There is only the universe, and the universe doesn’t care about us. The universe is a material object. It is a grand, majestic, spectacular material object. But still, a material object, with no will, no emotions, no idea that we exist, much less any concern for our existence. At the very best, the only meaning our life has is the one we create for it. This makes perfect sense for an atheist. Because there is no God, there is no one who created us. Because there is no one who created us, there is no one to assign meaning to our lives, except ourselves.
But neither did we create ourselves. After all, I’m not responsible for my being here. Since I didn’t make me, how is it that I’m empowered to give my life its meaning? I am empowered, of course, to give my life a meaning, because I’m a conscious being and I’m free. But the fact that I’m not responsible for my own existence prompts the question: Why am I here? Is there a purpose to my life beyond the meaning that I give it? Is there an intrinsic meaning to my life, one that I possess simply because I exist?
Our experience suggests that there is. We seem to be wired for purpose. We desire meaning for our lives, which is why we try to give our lives meaning. This is supported not only by theology but also by psychology and biology. Dr. Viktor Frankl, author of the classic text Man’s Search for Meaning, claimed that what motivates people more than anything else is not the search for power or for pleasure, for fame or for fortune, but the search for meaning for their lives.
But this recommends that there is a meaning to our lives that is beyond the meaning we give it, or why would we be so naturally consumed with the idea of giving our lives meaning? After all, there is an object behind every other natural desire we have: thirst, hunger, sex, breath, etc. It wouldn’t make sense that there is this natural desire for meaning for our lives if there were no object to satisfy that desire. But the object to satisfy the desire for meaning can’t simply be the one we give it, because we didn’t create ourselves. We are not the reason we are here.
Consider: we are thinking creatures. We have minds. Our minds are often employed in the work of making things. We make things for many purposes, but we never make things for no purpose whatsoever. Even if what we make is made simply to occupy our minds for a while, such as whittling a piece wood or doodling with no purpose other than to kill time, even still it has a purpose. We don’t create things for no reason whatsoever. We create things for a purpose.
The same is true in nature. Birds make nests to carry their eggs and their chicks. The great variety of birds make a great variety of nests, but the purpose for each is the same: to carry their eggs and their newborn chicks. No bird ever made a nest and then flew away, having made the nest for no reason. The same could be said for rabbits and their burrows, spiders and their webs, beavers and their dams. You get the picture. Every mind that creates does so for a purpose. Whatever it creates, it has in mind a purpose for that object to fulfill.
If this is true for every mind within the universe, could it be true for the mind of the universe itself? No. Why? Because the universe is a material object, with no more mind than a rock. On that score, Dawkins is right. The universe did not create us, and it cares nothing for us. But if not the universe, and not ourselves, then who or what created us? We must conclude that, because we possess an intrinsic meaning to our lives, there is a mind behind our having been created; a mind that is responsible for our existence, and who created us for a purpose. And that mind, as St. Thomas Aquinas might say, “everyone understands to be God.”
If God created us with a purpose, what is that purpose? What is the meaning of our lives? Here I turn to 2 Peter 1:3-4: “His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and power. Through these, He has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.”
Let’s break this down: “His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion…” As baptized members of the body of Christ, all that we need to live a true life of devotion to God has already been given to us. We need not search anywhere else. How has this been given to us? “… through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and power.” Through knowledge of Christ, we have all we need to live the true purpose of our lives. And what is that purpose? “Through these (Christ’s glory and power), He has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature.” And there it is!
We came from God, and our purpose is to return to Him, fully realized in our humanity, fully caught up in the nature of God, which is love. Our disobedience separated us from God, introducing sin and death into our world. Christ’s life of perfect obedience even unto death, ends the reign of sin and death, breaks our chains, and empowers us to return to the one who is the fulfillment of all we were meant to be in the first place. God extends His grace to us. If we open our hearts and receive that grace, we are empowered to live a life in union with Him, both now and in the life to come.
What is a good pen? A pen that writes. Why? Because the pen that writes fulfills the purpose for which it was made. What is a good person? A person who is in union with God, whose nature is love. Why? Because the person in union with God fulfills the purpose for which he or she was made.
Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.
Deacon Bob Hunt is a husband, father, grandfather, and parishioner at All Saints Church in Knoxville.