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"our purpose is to know God, to love God, and to serve God. The meaning of life is really that simple."
What is the meaning of life?
***Spoiler Alert for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ***
“The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” is a satirical science fiction novel by the late Douglas Adams. The book takes great delight in poking fun at human nature. One of the major plot points of the story is the answer to the meaning of life, or as the Adams put it, “the answer to life, the universe, and everything.”
To answer this question a large computer named “Deep Thought” is constructed. The computer is as large as a city and so sophisticated that it becomes self-aware. It tells its programmers that it can answer the question but it will take seven and a half million years.
Generations later, the descendants of the original programmers eagerly await the answer. Right on time, Deep Thought reveals the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything, to be “42.”
The problem, the computer then goes on to tell them, is that they never really defined the question.
***End Spoiler Alert***
Is there a simple answer to life the universe and everything? Is there an easy-to-understand purpose that gives our lives meaning? There is, and it both sublimely simple and incredibly complex.
For simplicity we need look no further than the old Baltimore Catechism. To the question, “why are we here?” or “what is our purpose?” the answer is that our purpose is to know God, to love God, and to serve God. The meaning of life is really that simple.
There are many ways to know God, We can know Him through the world He has created and the Word He has sent to us. And the more we come to know God the more we love Him. The more we love Him, the more we want to do things for Him, the more we want to serve Him. And we serve God best by serving our brothers and sisters.
But we can go even deeper. Because ultimately, the meaning of life is about a relationship. Without that relationship there is a void in our hearts.
The Dawn of Reality Television
Continued below.
Answering the Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything — The Way of Beauty
What is the meaning of life?
***Spoiler Alert for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ***
“The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” is a satirical science fiction novel by the late Douglas Adams. The book takes great delight in poking fun at human nature. One of the major plot points of the story is the answer to the meaning of life, or as the Adams put it, “the answer to life, the universe, and everything.”
To answer this question a large computer named “Deep Thought” is constructed. The computer is as large as a city and so sophisticated that it becomes self-aware. It tells its programmers that it can answer the question but it will take seven and a half million years.
Generations later, the descendants of the original programmers eagerly await the answer. Right on time, Deep Thought reveals the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything, to be “42.”
The problem, the computer then goes on to tell them, is that they never really defined the question.
***End Spoiler Alert***
Is there a simple answer to life the universe and everything? Is there an easy-to-understand purpose that gives our lives meaning? There is, and it both sublimely simple and incredibly complex.
For simplicity we need look no further than the old Baltimore Catechism. To the question, “why are we here?” or “what is our purpose?” the answer is that our purpose is to know God, to love God, and to serve God. The meaning of life is really that simple.
There are many ways to know God, We can know Him through the world He has created and the Word He has sent to us. And the more we come to know God the more we love Him. The more we love Him, the more we want to do things for Him, the more we want to serve Him. And we serve God best by serving our brothers and sisters.
But we can go even deeper. Because ultimately, the meaning of life is about a relationship. Without that relationship there is a void in our hearts.
The Dawn of Reality Television
Continued below.
Answering the Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything — The Way of Beauty
