Science
The End of Time
07/31/08 00:15
We know that one day the universe will end. This is not just the theological conjecture of someone who has read the book of Revelation. It is more or less an undeniable fact of physics. So, knowing that there is an end to the universe, that has some serious implications at how one looks at life. Assuming one is a theist, and more so a Christian, this thought may not be so alarming. Most Christians expect some sort of an end to come with the return of Jesus to setup the full-blown Kingdom of God. At that time Christ will judge everyone (though I will not speculate into the specifics of that judgment now). Essentially, the hope in another life, another world, that Christians have is crucial to looking forward to the end of time. We hope, trust and believe that there is a heaven - there is another place for us to go, and it is going to be even better than this beautiful earth.
The problem that I envision for the certainty of the end of time is that of the conundrum set before atheists and deists who do not think that God cares about us at all. For, due to this inevitable end, what meaning does life have? Not only is it hard to live everyday knowing that humanity has the capacity to blow itself to smithereens with a few nukes, but now we know that even if we manage note to blow ourselves up, it will all come to an end nonetheless! This is a very deep question on a great number of levels: it forces us to ask what life is all about. Not only in the very pragmatic sense of what legacy one wants to leave behind, or engaging in that most pedestrian need to propagate one’s genes (to put it... bluntly?), but in the philosophical and theological senses of purpose. I suppose what it really breaks down to is a question of ethics: How should we live knowing what we know?
This is a not a new question of ethics, but it is a different question than one asked in the millennia before us because now we know that there is an end. No longer does the humanist-modernist idea of perfecting humanity matter. Even if we gain perfection, it ends. No longer does the arrogant quest for immortality matter (it is still very much alive), because there is an impenetrable end to immortality.
Oddly enough, this question is one that was entertained in Scripture. Qohelet, the author of Ecclesiastes, came head-to-head with this very question. His conclusions are not necessarily for enlightening, but they definitely ring true: Hevel hevel, everything is hevel. Hevel is often translated meaningless, but it could mean so many things! It could mean wisp, or fleetingness, or a breath... The point being that even this writer from at least a score of centuries ago was able to realize that what we do on earth, but for very few of us, will have little lasting impact. (However, what we all do together can have a great lasting impact - such a global warming or deforestation, etc.). My point is this: the purpose of living life cannot be found in anything other than living it. That is, when God gives you blessings - enjoy them. When God allows your trials, endure them. It is not for the present that they matter - they matter because who you are, and what character you have, is being created, shaped and refined by those experiences. Life is lived best because who you are is eternal, and what you do now does affect who you are in that eternity.
The problem that I envision for the certainty of the end of time is that of the conundrum set before atheists and deists who do not think that God cares about us at all. For, due to this inevitable end, what meaning does life have? Not only is it hard to live everyday knowing that humanity has the capacity to blow itself to smithereens with a few nukes, but now we know that even if we manage note to blow ourselves up, it will all come to an end nonetheless! This is a very deep question on a great number of levels: it forces us to ask what life is all about. Not only in the very pragmatic sense of what legacy one wants to leave behind, or engaging in that most pedestrian need to propagate one’s genes (to put it... bluntly?), but in the philosophical and theological senses of purpose. I suppose what it really breaks down to is a question of ethics: How should we live knowing what we know?
This is a not a new question of ethics, but it is a different question than one asked in the millennia before us because now we know that there is an end. No longer does the humanist-modernist idea of perfecting humanity matter. Even if we gain perfection, it ends. No longer does the arrogant quest for immortality matter (it is still very much alive), because there is an impenetrable end to immortality.
Oddly enough, this question is one that was entertained in Scripture. Qohelet, the author of Ecclesiastes, came head-to-head with this very question. His conclusions are not necessarily for enlightening, but they definitely ring true: Hevel hevel, everything is hevel. Hevel is often translated meaningless, but it could mean so many things! It could mean wisp, or fleetingness, or a breath... The point being that even this writer from at least a score of centuries ago was able to realize that what we do on earth, but for very few of us, will have little lasting impact. (However, what we all do together can have a great lasting impact - such a global warming or deforestation, etc.). My point is this: the purpose of living life cannot be found in anything other than living it. That is, when God gives you blessings - enjoy them. When God allows your trials, endure them. It is not for the present that they matter - they matter because who you are, and what character you have, is being created, shaped and refined by those experiences. Life is lived best because who you are is eternal, and what you do now does affect who you are in that eternity.
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