Purpose of Life

[RubySera_Martin]

Umm Salamah, I scanned your posts and they look interesting. I will look more closely at various parts and comment as I go.

They say that a fool lives to eat and a wise man eats to live. But then the question remains: for what purpose does the wise man live? Living is not an end by itself. There has to be a purpose for man to live for. So what is this purpose?

QUESTION: Why must we know why we are here, where we come from, and where we are going? Is this attempt to know the unknowable not an attempt to transcend our human condition and become gods?

I came not knowing from where, but I came.
And I saw a pathway in front of me, so I walked.

I think this is good. He accepted things the way he found them.

This feeling of doubt and confusion about the presence of a Creator and whether He sent messengers and prophets to guide mankind must be quite painful because it deprives the Atheist and the Agnostic of tranquility, security and peace of mind.

I think quite the opposite. There is serenity in the calm and unquestioning acceptance of the human condition as it is. Not all Atheists and Agnostics live selfishly. Like believers, they derive joy and meaning of life from serving others and contributing positively to the general welfare of humanity as a whole. Perhaps Japan is not the best example of Atheists and Agnostics. If I understand correctly, Japan focusus very intensely and intentionally on material success. I would suggest that it is this unbalanced materialistic focus that causes the many suicides rather than the absence of belief in God.

Since time immemorial, man believed that he was not created simply for this life

I do not claim that this speculation is correct, but I think it is an idea we must consider. It has been argued that the sense of the divine is created by the human psyche under certain conditions. If this is the case, the argument goes, we may look upon the move away from religion as progress in human evolution. In other words, humans have become aware that "god" is but an extension of the human psyche just as humans have learned that, even though the sun seems to circle the earth, it does not in reality do so. At this point, this argument cannot be proven either true or false, but I think it is one we must take into consideration as we contemplate the divine and the meaning of life.

A major reason for this in the last century was the so-called theory of evolution by Darwin...Although this theory has no academic or scientific substance

Perhaps your religion and/or the school at which you are studying does not acknowlege the scientific evidence of evolution but the evidence exists in large quantities. Thus, the theory of evolution holds major academic and scientific substance. Major institutions exist to the present day that do not acknowledge this substantial evidence but that does not refute the evidence in itself. It exists. Some say God put it there; some say the devil put it there. But in all cases, it exists.

it gained favor with so many people because it appealed to the doubts they had about the God that they were told to believe in.

Again, this is only a partial truth. For many people the theory of evolution appeals because it makes sense. Some people accepted it only after confronting the painful fact of its existence. I did not question the existence of God because I was told to question it. Quite the opposite. I was commanded to believe in the existence of God under threat of condemnation if I do not do so. The way believers lived and treated each other made me question the existence of God. Believers often overlook or reject this fact.

I agree with you regarding some major Christian doctrines.

The Quran is basically a book of divine guidance in areas that cannot be covered by the human senses or intellect, such as faith, acts of worship, a moral code and a code that governs the transactions between people. These are the four basic foundations of religion, an area in which man always needs divine guidance.

Due to the observation that all humans know right from wrong, regardless of religious belief or lack thereof I am convinced that humans have inherent knowledge of these things and do not require divine guidance. I have watched a person seek his own moral values in the absense of parental and divine guidance. His search led him to embrace many of the same values held by religious people i.e. honesty and unselfishness.

The Quran mentioned the expansion of the universe before man even learnt to build a telescope!

Did not the ancient astronomers of Greece and China have telescopes three thousand years ago?

The Quran is available for scrutiny and investigation by any person to try to find even one error or contradiction in it. In fact this test must be applied to any other scripture that claims it is the word of God.

I know people who have done this and they have found errors in both the Quran and the Bible. I have seen the arguments you make for iron and other things before this and they were refuted by a scientist.

It is evident that you have given much thought and study to these issues and that in itself is admirable. I am merely providing another side of the issues that you may wish to explore to further test your theories and beliefs.

[I, Brian]

Sorry for hacking this thread, but we don't allow people to simply enter CR to post in proganda articles from other sites to promote themselves.

The entire thread would have been removed along with the others pasted in to promote Islam, but as Ruby Sera has taken time to reply, I'll simply remove umm salamah's original posts, and allow him to reply to Ruby's own patient reply.

[RubySera_Martin]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

Sorry for hacking this thread, but we don't allow people to simply enter CR to post in proganda articles from other sites to promote themselves.

The entire thread would have been removed along with the others pasted in to promote Islam, but as Ruby Sera has taken time to reply, I'll simply remove umm salamah's original posts, and allow him to reply to Ruby's own patient reply.

Thanks for this explanation. I did not understand why my post was first in a thread I did not start. The index said you had posted last so I scrolled down to see if that fits in with reality as I know it. Behold! it did.

I guess I haven't been around long enough because I did not realize that article was against the rules. I could see right off that it was very different from most posts but I assumed it must be okay. I had never before seen articles promoting Islam, and I was surprised that most of the high points were identical with those that Christianity claims when promoting itself. This allowed me to comment on some issues to which I have given considerable thought. It is very kind of you to let it stand. Next time I'll know it when I see a promo bit.

Ruby

Edit: Most readers probably don't understand what I mean by having to scroll down to see the last post. I was born with very low vision and need to enlarge the screen about four times in order to read with comfort. Thus, I cannot see all the posts at once.

[mee]

The purpose of lifeThe conclusion of the matter, everything having been heard, is: Fear the [true] God and keep his commandments. For this is the whole [obligation] of man.
Ecclesiastes 12:13.