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Why are we here?
Society
-
facing its most pressing problems
in al/ history
-
urgently needs answers to
the real/y big question of life.
1
s
THERE
any designe<!, thought–
out
purpose
for our lives? Or
are we and our modern, com–
plex civilization merely the happen–
stance result of purely accidental
forces?
Scientists, philosophers and theo–
logians have pondered these issues
for untold centuries. But none has
produced an answer whích all can
agree upon.
Why have solíd answers proved
so elusíve? Why have endless argu–
men ts, discu ss ion
s
and dis–
agreements faíled to settle these
most crucial of all questions? Could
it be that we are looking to the
wrong sources for the foundational
truths of life?
The Knowledge Explosion
Our modern societies hold knowl–
edge and education in great esteem.
Centers of research and hígher
learning dot the landscapes of na–
tions worldwide.
Thís international preoccupation
with learning led to the doubling of
man's total fund of knowledge dur–
ing the s ixties. Today's rate of
knowledge production is even
greater. Generations of computer
technology and multi-billion dollar
space ventures have combined with
countless other scient ific and tech–
nological feats to pump massive
quantitíes of fresh information into
the mainstream of society.
But nowhere in this expanding
knowledge fund have recognized
PLAIN TRUTH September 1973
by
Richard
C.
Pe terson
answers been found to the founda–
tional questions: Who are we?
Where are we going? Measurements
and calculations of the universe
have failed to show us why it exists
and where we ultimately fit into it.
Even brilliant advances in computer
technology have yet to duplicate the
feat of reproducing the human mind
that invented the computer in the
first place!
Has Science Gone Too Far?
During the last century, it became
fashíonable in many scientific circles
to question the validity of belief
in
a
personal God. A process of "higher
criticism" of biblical revelat ion, in
which scholars stood in lofty judg–
ment of the biblical record of cre–
a tion, gradually carne into vogue.
Men such as Lamarck, Darwin
and Huxley claimed that life may
have gradually evolved from non–
life. Traditional theology, long
steeped in its own assumptions
about God and the Bible, could
only counter with appeals to emo–
tion - not the logic demanded by
science.
As a result, evolution soon be–
carne ingested as an accepted doc–
trine, not only of science but also of
sorne major religious movements as
well. The Genesis account of a spe–
cial creation was thrown out the
window by "rationalists," with even
many church fathers looking the
other way. Though never proved,
evolution was gradually accepted
because the.only recognízed alterna–
tives were the often confused inter–
pretations of the biblical record by
religious scholars.
However, in following this rea–
soning, we have only traded one
form of con fusion for another.
Though evolutionary science and
education have raised countless
questions about man's true origin
and destiny, they have not answered
those questions! Their proposals
and postulates are built upon a
foundation of matter and energy
al–
ready in existence.
They are unable
to explain the myriad, inexorable
laws which regulate the universe.
The Perspective of History
This is not merely a modern prob–
lem. The ancients, in fact, found
themselves in a similar quandary.
The aocient
G
reeks, as we do,
prized the acquisition ofknowledge.
But - and note the striking parallel
with today - the more knowledge
they accrued, the more
confused
their society became.
In Athens
I
recently visited the
site of the ancient Areopagus,
known also as Mars' H ill. Many
centuries ago this rocky knoll, set in
the looming shadow of the mighty
Acropolis, drew scholars and philo–
sophical thinkers from all over the
known world to discuss the meaning
of life.
History records an encounter
there in the first century of our era
between a number of Epicureans
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