Asking Questions
At a school morning assembly, the head-teacher made this important announcement.
“The purpose of life is to discover the purpose of life and then to make this the purpose of your life. Yet history shows how few people will do this.”
That same day another teacher asked his sixth form class these questions:
1. Where do our innate values come from that people of all nationalities and religions cherish? Are love, kindness, honesty and integrity artificial man-made values or are they real? Why do we all feel that that there is a thing called ‘the truth’ and that our use of logic is valid? These essential aspects of humanity cannot be derived from chemical processes in our brains. Could we really be made in ‘the image of God’ as the Bible teaches?
2. How did the DNA memory system come about? Each cell contains more information than all the twenty volumes of Encyclopaedia Britannica put together. This information can be replicated or passed on. Who invented the sophisticated DNA code that designs proteins for their specific roles. Can all this have happened by chance?
3. We know that matter is composed of atoms of various elements such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and the like. All atoms are all made up of a central nucleus of protons and neutrons with electrons free around this core. Atoms join together to form molecules. Science has proved that the formation of molecules is only possible because the mass of a proton is exactly 1836 times that of an electron. If this constant had not been not precisely fixed, molecules could not form and our existence could not have happened. The fixing of this constant must have happened right at the beginning of the universe, before molecules could form. How could this have happened?
4. Who was Jesus? Did he really exist? Why is there so much reliable information about him, written by sceptics as well as followers. What do you make of those 330 prophecies, written between 500 BC and 1400 BC that give details about the Messiah that God would send into his world. He would be a direct descendant of King David, be born in Bethlehem, perform extraordinary miracles, die by crucifixion and then see life again. What caused Jesus’ disciples to spend their lives telling the world about him if they were not convinced themselves?
The class had to admit that they had not looked for answers to questions such as these.
Unfortunately too few people try to find answers to the big questions of life. Why are we here? What happens when we die? Will we face God in judgment? How can I get right with God? Who is Jesus? The search for answers is very important indeed and answers can be found. Jesus himself said,
“Ask and it will be given to you; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7
It is the truth that sets us free. We will all pay for the consequences if we aren’t bothered to sort out why we are here.
BVP
