Great thread. I love to talk about the deep things of life, but it seems that most people are more comfortable living on the surface. I love to hear others' viewpoints and enjoy looking at the world through their eyes for a moment to see how they have come to their conclusions and questions.
I personally have never had a doubt that there is one God, a supreme all-powerful awesome being worthy of all praise. If there is no God, then we are living on a huge spaceship that flies around the sun every year with no pilot. There is too much order for me to believe that there isn't an author to the order. I haven't known who that God is, but I've looked for him my whole life. I've always felt that God cares about right and wrong, and would judge each of us when this life is over. A few years ago I read much of the Bible and decided that I had enough faith to believe it was true. At the end of the day and with many questions, I decided that it just didn't seem made up to me. It seemed to answer much of my heart's longings, and provided answers as to why there is so much suffering and evil in this world. The biggest thing that struck me was the God of the Bible is a just God, but that he is merciful to any and all who admit that they need mercy. He doesn't turn any away that come to him with a soft heart, seeking forgiveness. The thief on the cross looked at Jesus and said yes to him, and that was enough. No good works were necessary to be accepted by God.
These days, I go anywhere from being 10% to 90% sure of my faith throughout the course of a day. But we all have to go all in on something. I've had more than my fair share of disappointment and pain in life, and I'm not really happy. But even for most happy people, life moves so fast and is full of so much responsibility and trivial work......we blink a couple of times and then we're dead. I look at Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. They have all that a person could want in life and aren't content. Jordan can't live without competition and still can't come to terms with the fact that he is a has been and never will be able to get back the things he has lost. Tiger had all the money in the world and a beautiful wife and family, yet threw it all away seeking excitement.
I think I would say that our purpose in life is to be content while we wait for the ultimate glory to be revealed. Where we are restored to live with God and enjoy his fellowship forever, free from pain, selfishness, greed, and everything else that is troublesome about life here in this cursed world. We can't be 100% certain, but hope keeps even the most broken man treading along with eagerness, waiting for his longings to be fulfilled.
