What IF...There Is More To Life Than Just THIS?

As we dive into our What IF series, I want to start us off with a question that you can't answer...but you can.

What I mean is this.

There are some questions in life that you can answer with precision.  

When you measure the size of a marble with a micrometer caliper, you gain precision.  

You can tell me, "This marble is _______ millimeters."  

When you look at your watch you can tell me what time is, often to the very second.

But in many areas of life - often the most profound areas - we lack the ability to give answers that are verifiable in this fashion.  The big questions of life and death and morality - the answers to these questions are arrived at in a different way.  

Let me note here that this does not mean there is no science or mathematical analysis when it comes to big life questions.  There most certainly is.  When we ask about the creation of the universe, the scientist is not left at the door of the discussion.  There ARE elements of science and research that can help us answer these questions.  But science and research ALONE cannot give us answers to the most profound questions that we all ask at some point in life.

Here is my question: What if there is more to life than just this?

More than what we perceive with our 5 senses.

More than just the physical and natural world.

More than just blood and flesh and soil.

Aren't there situations where you say to yourself, "Because of this experience, I just know that there's got to be more to life than just living as an animal and then dying."

Here's one of the reasons I'd argue I know there is more...

This is my son Hudson. 

He is not an apologetic for the existence of God in the same way that reading the Cosmological Argument is, but he is none the less an apologetic for something grand.  How is it that from his birth on - though he can do nothing for me as far as making my life physically easier by mowing the lawn or bringing money into the family bank account - despite all of his limitations as a three year-old, I would give my life for him in an instant.  His life makes me look and say, "The way I feel toward him - this tells me that there is something profound and literally awesome to life."

Perhaps you don't have children.

What about experiencing images like these?

  

Doesn't nature speak to you in some way?  

Perhaps you aren't an 'outdoors person' like I am.  Fair enough.  But haven't you had some moment in life when you were struck with wonder at the grandness of life and/or nature?  

Perhaps it was art.  

Perhaps it was a poem you read. 

Haven't you had an experience in life that screamed into your soul, "You are alive!"  

What is that about?  

What IF that is something that is hard-wired into you - an understanding of the profound nature of existence itself.  

Does this make you a devout religious person?  Not necessarily.  Even Neil deGrasse Tyson, the American astrophysicist and agnostic, is amazed by the wonder of the stars at night.  

At this point, we aren't asking anything about agnosticism.

We are just asking What IF there is more to life that just the ho-hom, day-to-day existence that leads us from birth to death with nothing wondrous and profound.  

If you have experienced wonder - in any form - a grasping that yes, you exist - well then you and I are kindred spirits.

- tC  

Living In A Sound Bite Culture

                   

(Photo by cooldesign - FreeDigitialPhotos.net)

We live in a sound bite culture.

By this I mean that we live in a culture that wants answers given in usually under two minutes.  Think about how this plays out even when you are using your smart phone to watch or download something.  It doesn't really matter that the download could be coming from the other side of the planet - if it takes more than 15 seconds, we are usually feeling like it's taking (as we often say) "forever".

We can discuss and philosophize about why our culture is this way (changes from the Age of Industrialization and growing specialization, massive shifts and advances in technology), but I'd rather focus on the impacts.  Here are 3 ways our sound bite culture influences us, particularly around issues of faith.

1. People don't have time to discuss the tough questions about God, faith, the Bible, and more.  People want answers now and oftentimes the assumption is that if you can't give a short and convincing reply in a minute or two, then it's probably not true, or at least probably not worth taking the time to listen.

This is dangerous because if we are honest not, much in life comes quickly.  Completing a degree, gaining physical strength, improving one's health or marriage - these don't happen overnight.  These kinds of life-altering changes take time, and so to assume that answering questions about the Creator and Sustainer of all things will happen quickly - it's just not reasonable.

2.  Reading has often become skimming.  While Barnes and Noble isn't going out of business, it is clear that the kind of reading most people do is in short snippets, reading from social media, light-weight papers, and the like.  Again, in wrestling through deeper issues of life, most authors take time to build an argument after laying a solid foundation.  But with deep and pensive reading becoming more and more rare, deep thinking is also becoming rare.

3. Christians are settling for merely a 'devotional time' and are not studying the Bible.  Reading any Scripture is helpful and life-giving (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17), but the fact that many Christians don't have time or interest in the study of Scripture has massive implications.  Training for battle by doing 10 push-ups and then speed-walking for 20 minutes a day will not cut it, and nor will a brief reading of 2-3 verses and then moving on with your next 23 hours and 56 minutes.  We need to steep in the Scriptures but the culture tells us that if it means sitting and thinking and praying, you're wasting too much time.

Pressing back against a sound bite culture is hard work, but it is vital - especially for the Christ-follower.  God has ordained the world to work in such a way that significant changes rarely come quickly, but instead through extended time and effort.  God could have written the Redemption Story in a few years but instead we are a part of the story thousands of years later.  I'm glad God didn't rush it, aren't you?

- tC