Meaning and Purpose Among the Nones

[DaleCutler]

@T_aquaticus

When you are willing to have a meaningful discussion, please let me know.

Are you bailing?

[DaleCutler]

@DaleCutler

What is the locked-up pedophile’s meaning in life?

@DaleCutler

…or anyone’s [whose] self-defined/self-proclaimed meaning/purpose in life is unfulfilled with no hope or expectation of it being so?

@T_aquaticus

Aren’t you claiming that meaning and purpose can only exist with a creator?

You are claiming that everyone’s purpose is up to themselves… and avoiding the question.

[T_aquaticus]

@DaleCutler

Are you bailing?

You are more interested in scoring points than having a discussion. If that changes, I would be happy to continue.

[DaleCutler]

You are still avoiding.

[T_aquaticus]

@DaleCutler

You are still avoiding.

Already answered it, multiple times. You are avoiding the answers.

[DaleCutler]

Please point us to all those answers, or even one, about someone whose self-defined purpose in life is frustrated.

[DaleCutler]

@T_aquaticus

Already answered it, multiple times.

Or maybe not. Maybe you did not understand the question.

[Mercer (John Mercer)]

@DaleCutler

What unbelievers (and a lot of Christians) don’t get is that it is all about joy – joy in relationships, the archetype being the joy our unfathomable trinitarian God has in himself and that he wants to share.

That’s odd, as I would never describe anything you’ve written here as suggesting the slightest speck of joy.

[Mercer (John Mercer)]

@Ashwin_s

There are two possibilities. An objective morality exists as imposed/determined by the charecter of God or there is no objective basis for morality. I.e there is no good or bad

The are other possibilities, such as pretending that one is following an objective morality provided by God and Jesus Christ, when one is really just picking and choosing subjectively.

Here’s an example: Ashwin and @Greg and @DaleCutler, how many times have you hosted foreign strangers in your home?

What Does the Bible Say About Welcoming Strangers?

[DaleCutler]

Your joy detector is deficient. The back-and-forth of these conversations is not the most revelatory environment, either.

[DaleCutler]

@Mercer

…how many times have you hosted foreign strangers in your home?

Is there a passing grade?

[Mercer (John Mercer)]

@DaleCutler

Is there a passing grade?

Clearly the Bible is telling us that zero is a clear moral failure, no?

There’s a lot more in the Bible about showing hospitality to foreign strangers than there is about abortion and homosexuality combined, correct?

[DaleCutler]

@Mercer

Clearly the Bible is telling us that zero is a failure, no?

There’s a lot more in the Bible about showing hospitality to foreign strangers than there is about abortion and homosexuality combined, correct?

Clearly the Bible is telling us not to be pharisaical, either. I could give you a list of instances when I personally or my wife and I have helped strangers, but would it accomplish anything except to look like I was parading my presumed righteousness?

The first time I read through it, Ezekiel 16:49 was almost startling. (The next verse is not just incidental, however.) Or maybe you have missed my references to Rich Stearns’ book, The Hole in Our Gospel, in other conversations.

[DaleCutler]

Isaiah 58 is massive. The whole chapter. See The Laws of Love.

[Mercer (John Mercer)]

@DaleCutler

I could give you a list of instances when I personally or my wife and I have helped strangers, but would it accomplish anything except to look like I was parading my presumed righteousness?

Straw man.

I’m not asking for a list. I’m asking why you emphasize abortion over far more clear and emphatic moral teachings, if you truly believe them to be objective.

And isn’t the Bible not referring to mere strangers, but immigrants and refugees?

@DaleCutler

Isaiah 58 is massive.

Verse 7:
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;

I don’t go that far. Do you? That demands a whole lot more than “helping strangers,” wouldn’t you say?

I draw the line at volunteering for Faith Family Hospitality, when we bring four homeless families into our church. But then I’m not bragging about my morality being objective.

[Ashwin_s]

@Mercer

The are other possibilities, such as pretending that one is following an objective morality provided by God and Jesus Christ, when one is really just picking and choosing subjectively.

The point of an objective morality is that it will not change irrespective of how well people follow it.
I believe in a day of Reckoning where all of us will have to answer for our actions. My confidence with respect to such a day is not based on my actions. It’s based on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. I have no doubt that I will be found lacking in several aspects (known and unknown) on the day of judgement.
That’s why all of us need the grace that Jesus brings us through his sacrifice on the cross.

@Mercer, if I remember correctly, you identify as a Christian. Do you consider yourself as morally perfect?

[DaleCutler]

@Mercer

I don’t go that far. Do you?

Actually, I have.

[Mercer (John Mercer)]

@Ashwin_s

The point of an objective morality is that it will not change irrespective of how well people follow it.

That’s a lame dodge. My point is that you are making excuses for selectively rejecting the objective morality you claim to follow.

@Ashwin_s

My confidence with respect to such a day is not based on my actions.

If it isn’t based on your actions, why are you arguing for objective morality, and what is the purpose of this?

Matthew 25:
35For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

[Mercer (John Mercer)]

@DaleCutler

Actually, I have.

Good on ya.

[Mercer (John Mercer)]

@Ashwin_s

@Mercer, if I remember correctly, you identify as a Christian. Do you consider yourself as morally perfect?

That’s a pretty stupid question, given my post above it, don’t you think? Again, I’m not the one claiming to follow an objective morality. You’ve just thrown it out the window, in addition to not bothering to read what I wrote.