THE PREMISE FOR MEANING

To answer the question; what is the meaning of Life? One has to first establish the premise for meaning. What does it take for this Life to have meaning?
For this Life to have meaning, Some basic essentials must be in place. These I believe are:

1) Absolute/Objective Truth
2) Immortality
3) Origin

Origin:
In Africa, the greater majority believe that in the beginning God created the universe, as against the opinion in the west that Evolution is the source of origin. This author won’t fail to add that evolution by itself has not been proven to be empirically plausible. Science has not proven the inexistence of God and statistical evaluations lean heavily on an intelligent creator than on life being a product of time, chance and matter or of soil and blood as the Nazis put it.

On the other hand, God explains immortality, origin and the basis for truth or moral consciousness. God is the Moral law giver (objective truth) and He promises immortality (this is a view held by most people that believe in God).
But as said earlier, Truth by definition is exclusive. Logically, it makes more sense to say that all religions are wrong than to say that they all are ways to God! Two mutually exclusive opinions cannot be true at the same time and all religions (essence of culture) all possess a point of exclusivity, essential areas in which differences become irreconcilably. i.e. a premise where I cannot believe yours if I truly believe in mine. Though we must learn to tolerate each other’s religion and beliefs for peaceful co existence, this piece is written for an honest inquirer who desires to know the Truth.

Before I make my case for Jesus Christ as the way, let me say that no religion should be judged by its abuse. So it is not so much about religious excesses by man but the essence of each belief. E.g. one can point at violence in a particular world view as a reason for denying it. Such I believe can only be tenable if these questions are asked; does that world view rend itself logically to such a point? Or is the observable an issue of abuse? Thus it is an enquiry on the essence.

The Nature Of man
The problem with man seeking for God is to understand His nature. Volumes have been written on the nature and personality of God, diversity of world views abound for this singular reason. But the nature of man is well known to us: there is something bad about man, in an Aso villa, in a white house, place man in a position of power, starve him of it. Give him too much food, starve him, marry him, be his best friend, be his worst enemy. Anyway you relate to man you can feel and see his hideousness. But then it is a fault he is aware of and knows it is bad!

The heart of man is sinful! Man is lost; he cannot help himself no matter how hard he tries.
Man’s heart is evil, take a look around. Man’s heart is not that it is unethical but that it is lost in sin.

The heart of man is sinful! Man is lost he cannot help himself no matter how hard he tries. Ethics has and cannot change the nature of men. Send him to a University, train him on the law and ethics, of morals, give him ten commandments or a thousand, punish him for disobedience, even when the punishment is death or amputation Man would still dare to sin! Man cannot help himself, He can’t! My best example is yourself, take a good examination of the thoughts that throng your heart and answer the question: WHO IS without SIN?

In the light of God’s Holiness and righteousness, in light of His amazing Love and indignant judgment, sin becomes utterly sinful and there is the awareness of a dreary judgment. We are all guilty, you and I regardless of tribe, religion or color!
What does this man need? Man needs a savior,

Have you struggled or are struggling with an addiction? Have you had to deal with guilt, immense guilt? I bet you’ll understand me better. In the light of a man’s inner struggle, commandments, even Godly commandments seem irrelevant. The weakness of man is all around you. What does man need?

He needs a savior!
And this is the biggest news in town, Man has got one, and of course the savior isn’t of the nature of man, the savior ought to be different from the saved, and He is. He ought to be without sin, and He is. The savior has to pay the price for man’s sin and He did! The salvation shouldn’t be impersonal and He isn’t. The savior should be capable of filling man’s need for love and He did! It wasn’t for man’s effort, it is free. The Price was heavy, He loved!

Man’s need for Love and Thirst for immortality

The greatest of all ethics is love and the greatest of all human need is Love. Man is created to be loved and there is an inner ache in you and I that even human love cannot fill. Man has tried to fill this need in many ways; sex hasn’t. Money couldn’t and fame won’t, even being a good individual cannot fill this need for communion. Only a personal not impersonal knowledge of God can fill this; Love is personal.
Man in his experience yearns for immortality but is faced with a stark reality of death and the cosmetic industry illustrates this point in graphic details. 88

In the person of Jesus Christ we find:

a. God
b. A Personal God that loves
c. An answer to the source of Man’s hideousness
d. A Savior: the difference between all other religious founders and Jesus Christ is not that He came not to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive! He provides the certainty of being forgiven.
e. Atonement for Sin: Christianity alone offers a cross and a Savior, God died! For many this is unthinkable, but it proves the nature of God (LOVE) and the gravity of Sin
f. Power to overcome sin
g. Righteousness; not of human efforts, as sinful man by his actions which are sinful cannot make himself clean!
h. Human dignity; A God that loved us as individuals, with no distinction between male and female
i. A case for immortality: resurrection from the dead.” Because I live, you will live also”
j. The Meaning of Life: the nature of reality (The knowledge of God)
k. An answer to human suffering
l. A God that didn’t need to create to love (the love in the Trinity)

Jesus answers the question of the nature of sin, the question of suffering, the nature of salvation and the nature of reality.

It is not in religion, it is not in money, it is not in sex or romance, it Is not in learning, it is not in fame or in titles, Meaning is found only in the person of Jesus Christ

Forgiveness
She came to my desk with a quivering lip, the lesson was done
Have you a new sheet for me dear teacher, I’ve spoilt this one
I took his sheet all soiled and blotted, gave him a new one all unspotted
Into her quiet heart I cried, do better now my child
I went to the throne with a trembling heart, the day was done
Have you a new day for me dear master, I’ve spoilt this one
He took my day all soiled and blotted, gave me a new one all unspotted
And Into my tired heart He cried, do better now my child

When I gave Him my Life, on the floor of my hostel room in 2003, tired of trying to be good and failing, of running. I wasn’t a bad man becoming a good man or a good man becoming better; I was a dead man receiving Life! I’ve bowed my knees to Him and I’ve found in Him everything

Okwonna Nelson
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