Atheists are purposeless

If there is no Creator God, and if atheists are right, there can logically be no purpose for our human existence. I hold that only the Creator could have a purpose in mind for his human creations; if there is no Creator God, there can be no purpose either for the whole universe to exist or for our human life. Atheism therefore has no answer to our deep desire to find the reason for our existence. No God, no purpose. Atheists have no ultimate reason for living; they may seek to do what they think is right and good, or they may give themselves over to a hedonistic lifestyle to get the maximum of pleasure before they die; but it is all meaningless, utterly without any overarching scheme or goal.

We don’t, however, believe in God’s existence as our Creator because of this kind of argument, but because God sent his Son into the world that we might hear his truth on the important questions of our existence. Jesus told us God is our Creator; that is an essential truth that we must take on board.

God’s purpose for our lives is profound. In Genesis chapter 1, as I have mentioned, the basic tasks God gave humankind are to multiply (have families) and to govern the world under his guidance. This means that both family and work are instituted by God and blessed by him, though he also insists, in that same chapter, on the importance of periodic rest from work.

Human work takes many forms: it includes developing our natural God-given talents, in study and education, in the affairs of men, business, politics and economics. It includes cultural activities like writing, composing, singing and dancing, music and art. From the start it involved cultivation, care for animals, agriculture and care for the planet, and developed in so many areas to beautify life, including bringing up children and caring for people, and much more.

All good works are thus ennobled, valorised and blessed in God’s good purposes, and we find satisfaction both in work and in family life.

All this leaves unsaid the most important aspect of the purpose of our lives: “all things were made by God and for God. He was before all things, and he maintains all things in existence”. That is what the New Testament says and it provides the key to God’s real deep purposes for our lives. We exist for God. He made us for himself. We find fulfilment only when we are in contact with God. That is why our hearts are so desperate for love, meaning, understanding, and true fulfilment: it is also why human societies everywhere are religious – there is a “God-shaped void” in our existence. We somehow know that he must be there, but we reach out after him in vain so much of the time, or we just follow the religious traditions into which we were born. The principle remains, however: if we are not in meaningful relationship with our Creator, the God who made us for himself, we will be forever frustrated, and that is the sad experience of so many people.

Atheists may seek all the pleasures this world affords, yet they still miss out on that which alone satisfies the human heart – a friendly relationship with the God who made us for himself. Indeed, their very refusal to envisage such a relationship damns them to a life of profound dissatisfaction – unless they think again.

Clive Every-Clayton