Finding answers to life's questions

Coming soon...more questions - 'Why is the world in such a mess?', 'What has God done about it?' and much more!

What's the point?
'Jim worked hard all his life. He'd just retired and we were looking forward to enjoying ourselves now he is dead. What's the point of it all?'
'We brought this child into the world. He goes his own way - never says thank you - now he's in trouble with the police. What's the point of it all?'
'I've been married two years. We were saving up to get our own place. I thought everything was fine - now my wife has cleared off with another man. What's the point of it all?'
'I've worked hard at school, got my qualifications and can't find a job. What's the point of it all?'
'It took us eight years before we could have a child and now our little girl has got cancer. What's the point of it all?
'The way things are going we are all going to get blown up anyway. What's the point of it all?'
'I go to work, come home, eat, sleep, go back to work. Life is one dreary bore. What's the point of it all?'
What is the purpose of life - why am I here? Is there a God, and does He care?
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Who am I?
There is so much about life that is unreal and dreamlike. Moments come when we find ourselves asking the questions: Who am I?, What is life all about?, Why am I here? I feel so small and insignificant, and wonder deep down if I matter. In the eyes of the state I am just a number, one among millions. How can I be of any importance? I look in the mirror and am sometimes startled by the stranger who seems to be staring back at me.
I am alive - I must be - I go to work, I talk to people, I eat. I go to bed and sleep, and then wake up the next day. It all suddenly seems so pointless and empty. Time rushes by. Birthdays come and go and I wonder where the years have gone. Where do I fit in all this? I seem to be going nowhere fast.
The universe is so vast. The endlessness of space is so frightening. Even our Earth looks a mere speck as we hear of stars and galaxies millions of light years away. Yet here on Earth for the first time in human history we have the ability to blow it and everythint in it to pieces. The whole thing seems like a sick and senseless joke.
We go to the funeral of someone we know, killed on the road. We hear of a friend struck down with cancer in the prime of life, and we suddenly think, 'That could be me.' We wonder if there is anything after death - or is that the end of me?'
Most of the time we try to sweep all these thoughts away as we slip back on the merry-go-round of life with all its passing attractions. But the fears and aches and uncertainties will not go away. All the time they are still lurking just below the surface.
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What is the purpose of life?
'All I want is to be happy. As long as I have a home, a family and friends, and enough money to do what I like when I like, life is good. I am fine.'
But deep down we know these things do not satisfy. We try to shut from our minds everything unpleasant. We don't want to look too closely at ourselves for fear of what we might fine. And so the days and weeks and years of our life drift by with ever increasing speed.
Then some tragedy strikes. You lose a job. A close relationship goes wrong. Someone you love dies and your world comes crashing down.
'Oh God!' we cry out, but we are not sure if there is a God who hears and cares, and we feel lonely and empty. The happiness we long for vanishes like the morning mist.
'What's the Point' has been written so that you can know that there is a God and that He does care for you and has a purpose for the whole of life that is slowly and surely being worked out.
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How do we know there is a God?
Some people say, 'There isn't a God because I can't see Him.' There are many things in everyday life we cannot see, yet we know they are there.
We cannot see the wind. We know it is there because we can see it blowing the washing on the line and the leaves in the trees.
We cannot see electricity. We know it is there when we switch on the light.
We cannot see air. We know it is there because we couldn't live for a minute without it.
We cannot see love. We know it is there in those who care for us.
We cannot see God. We know He is there because of the wonderful world all around us. It is full of beauty and colour and amazing designs, from the tiniest insect to the vast unending universe.
Things do not happen by chance. With a book, the words do not fly through the air and happen to land in the right order. Someone has to put it all together to make sense. So a book must have an author: someone must write it. A painting must have an artist: someone to paint it. A building must have an architect: someone to plan it.
So too with our world. It did not all happen by chance. Someone planned it, put it together. This great Designer, Architect, Creator, we call God.
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Who made God?
God is the name we give to the great and wonderful Creator: the One who made the whole universe, the One who alone gives life. We live in time so we have a beginning and an end, our birth and our death. Because we are like this we think that God must be like this too. But He is different. The Bible tells us that God has no beginning and no end. He is not limited by time - hours, days, weeks and years - as we are. If someone had made God, then that someone would have to be greater than God. But God is all-powerful, almighty. Who made God? Answer: no one. Think of space. It has no beginning and no end. God is eternal: He has no beginning and no end. He is far greater than our little minds can ever take in. We live in a world of change. Fashions changes, politicians rise and fall, heroes of sport and the music world are at the top one year and forgotten the next. We change too: our friendships, our habits, our bodies. God never changes. His love and care never change. He doesn't love us one day and ignore us the next. He is the only One we can trust who will never let us down. No one made God. He has always been there. He never grows old or weak.
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What is God like?
By studying a book or a piece of music you can discover something about the person who wrote it. By looking at creation and the world in which we live, we can learn something of the Creator. We can see that the Creator loves beauty and colour. We can detect His care for the tiniest detail. He is a master engineer and architect. The working of the human body is a masterpiece of design and function. The size and power of the mountains and seas and the vast distances of space all tell us something about the almighty power of this Creator God. But what is God like? To know Him for ourselves we have to wait for Him to reveal Himself to us. We can discover what God is like in the Bible. He tells us that 'God is a Spirit.' But what does this mean? We  have a body for living here on earth. A fish has a body for living in the sea. God lives in heaven, so He is Spirit. This does not mean that God is an eerie ghost. He has a will and a mind. He is able to be everywhere, see everything, know all that is going on. He is able to love us, guide us and protect us. He is far too wonderful for us to understand fully. So He decided to come in person to earth and show us what He is like in a way we can understand. He came as baby. His mother was a country girl called Mary. He was born as we were - and yet His birth was different because God was His Father. Jesus was fully human - and yet He was also fully God. He was a normal human being, but He was also God, living among us. Because He is human, He knows the sort of problems we face. Because He is God He is able to help us. Jesus said, 'He who has seen Me has seen the Father.'
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How did it all begin?
Scientists tell us it took millions of years for our earth to be as it is today. They can work out the age of the rocks fairly accurately. But when we turn to the Bible and to the first book of Genesis, we are tole that the world was made in six days. Isn't this all a glaring contradictoin in terms? We must remember that the Bible is not a book on science and it is not written in scientific language. In fact, the Hebrew work for day can mean not only twenty four-hours but aso an age or period of time. So when we read Genesis chapter 1 we can see the story of creation in a new way. We can see not just how it happened but why it happened. Behind all the activity in creation we can see God slowly but surely working out His plan for all living things. But what was His purpose and why are we here? We have been made in God's likeness. This does not mean God has a huge human body. It means that, like God, we are able to love and choose, to think and make rational decisions. We have a mind and a will. We have been made to have a special relationship with Him: to know Him and love Him, to belong to Him and be His children. We have been made to worship God. Even the most primitive man has this inbuilt desire to worship a god. We have been made with very great creative skills in music, to invent and explore. Where we see all these skills being creatively used we see God at work, whether He is acknowledged or not. For He is not only the giver of life in all its variety and richness, he is the very source of life.
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What has gone wrong?
Everything about the world God had made was good. There was plenty of food and drink for every living creature. In this lovely setting the first people lived. God wanted them to be His friends and look after earth and everything in it. God gave to them a precious gift: free will. He did not make them like robots or machines so that they would have to love Him and obey Him. It is impossible to make someone love another person. Love must come freely and naturally. The gift of free will was one of the main differences between humankind and the animals. It meant that men and women could choose between right and wrong, good and bad. They could choose to love each other or not. They could choose to love God or not, to do what He wanted or what they wanted, to live for God or for themselves. Sadly, they chose to disobey God. They preferred to please themselves rather than God. Why did they do this? What went wrong? All eveil and wrong come from the devil. While everyone today believes that evil exists, belief in a personal devil has declined. Isn't he just a comic figure with horns and a curly tail? The Bible tells us to take the devil seriously. It tells us that, far from being a comic figure, he was once a glorious angel in heaven. His name was then Lucifer, which means 'one who bears light'. He became proud and jealous, wanting to be like God. He was banished from God's presence and now does all he can to turn men and women against God. It was the devil, or satan (a name which means 'the deceiver'), who tempted the first man and woman to choose wrong and disobey God. So it was that sin and wrong entered into our world and so into human life. Itis the devil who has gone on tempting people away from God right from the beginning. Because people listen to the devil's lies, they go his evil selfish way. It is this that causes all the crime and wrong and suffering in ghe world. This is why there is so much evil, so many broken relationships, so much selfishness and greed. We are all by nature self-centred rather than God-centred. It is a disease we all have and it affects not just us, but everyone we come into contact with. The Bible calls this 'sin'. This is what is wrong with the world, and that means you and me.
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Why do we do wrong?
Why is it that we all find it easier to do wrong than right? We don't have to teach children to be selfish and naughty; it just seems to come naturally, and we have to teach them to be good. There is within every one of us a desire to do what we want. Evil and wrong are there in the life of every single person born into this world. We see it in all the hatred and violence, the selfishness and broken relationships in the world. The news on radio and television is one never-ending list of all this. We see it as people stand up for their rights regardless of others. We see it as we look at our own lives, if we are really honest with ourselves. We all want our own way, and this is what the Bible calls 'sin'. Many people do not like the word 'sin' and try to think up another. So they call it faults or failings. You can change the label, but you can't change what is inside. For a chemist to remove the label 'poison' and replace it with another is not only foolish but very dangerous. The Bible keeps to the true label, 'sin'. Sin is not just killing, stealing or telling lies and committing adultery. I sin when I do what I want, when I want my own way. This is the root cause of all our troubles, unhappiness and quarrels. I sin when I cannot be bothered with God. He has made me and given me everything I have: my health, my body, my mind, my abilities. I didn't give amy of this to myself. I belong to God who gave it all to me. I sin when I say: 'I'm the boss of my life - it's mine - I can do what I like with it.' This is sin. I sin when I do not love God with all my heart. Jesus said the greatest commandment of all was: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Not one of has has loved God like this. We have all broken the greatest commandment. We are at heart self-centred rather God-centred. This is the real problem with us all.
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