On Purpose and Meaning

My first rambling comes from a conversation I recently had with my mom and sister Kristin. We talked a lot about the nature of God, sin, justice, salvation, etc.- not at all an unusual topic in our family, but still one that peaked my interest and got me thinking quite a bit (a sign of a good conversation, in my opinion). I have had for some time now my theory explaining the purpose of life, the nature of good and evil, and our ultimate purpose, and I wanted to put it in writing as best as I could so as to organize my own thoughts about the subject, as well as provide some insight into what I believe, and more importantly, why I believe it.

To me, the plan of salvation, as it is often referred to by Mormons, is the single greatest teaching revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith. It is so transcendent in explaining and revealing the nature of life, of God, and of our purpose here, that I take it as one of the definite proofs that Joseph was indeed a prophet. The assumption among Christians in his day (in varying degrees of absolutism) was that God, 6,000 years ago, made the world and everything in it, including Adam and Eve. Before that, there was only empty space, and God, who is both everything and nothing (mimicking the Platonic philosophy that seeped in around 400 AD). Joseph’s account was radically different- before the world, there was an existence much like the paradisiacal Garden. In it, we progressed in knowledge and in our ability to act as a moral agent. Our intelligence, though somewhat a vague concept, even pre-dates our “spirit birth,” having always existed. Therefore, we have always, in some capacity, existed, though the quality of our existence has changed and will forever change. This exonerates God from the “problem of evil” that is widely used as a proof that God does not exist. God, following eternal laws, cannot violate one eternal principle- that of moral agency. We, having always existed, have always had the right to choose our own path. It was in this context that we decided to choose to come to this mortal existence. Now, as to whether we knew exactly what status or position we would enter into in this life I do not know, suffice to say that I believe God met all “informed consent” standard that we would apply. Thus any problem or difficulty, pain or sorrow, happiness or misery that we experience in this life is a result not of a fiat act of God, but of our conscious choice to improve upon our situation from the pre-mortal life. This notion flew in the face of traditional Christianity and was ridiculed at the time, but I can find no other rational way to make sense of the disparity of life and ever present evil that surrounds the world- to say that God created it along with everything else is ludicrous to the extreme.

Now, the argument against what I said is fairly simple- it wasn’t God, some would argue, who created evil in the world, but Adam and Eve who brought it here by taking the forbidden fruit. But the counter argument is equally as simple- why in the world did God allow for the fruit to be in the garden in the first place? If he was creating everything from scratch, why not just make a perfect Heaven environment for all to enjoy? What, in essence, is the purpose of life? Why did God create the world in the first place? All of these questions remain the “mystery” behind God, something that he chose not to reveal. But I cannot imagine a loving Father that would just let us float here in space for no reason, and then if there was a reason, not tell us. Enter the Prophet Joseph. Though blasphemous to any other religion, the belief that man can become a god (always under our God, the Father), and eventually become perfect just as he is perfect, and do and create and he does, is transcendent and powerful. Through, and only though, the Atonement of Christ, we can become perfect. Now, as pertaining to the discussion that I had with Mom and Kristin, I have no idea exactly how that takes place, save that it does require our hearts. Our actions are tokens of what we truly desire, be it Christ and forgiveness or Satan and misery. Regardless, the knowledge that there is an eternal reward greater then that of the life that we lived before offers the most comfort that I can take away from Mormon doctrine, for in it lies the sum and whole of God’s work and our purpose- to continue to bring about the immortality and eternal lives of Man, to continue to do the work of a god, to continue to bring life and order to a universe otherwise in chaos. This is the only thing that can make sense. Without progression, there can be no purpose; without purpose, there can be no meaning; and without meaning, there can be no God, for it would not be possible to have faith in a God who arbitrarily makes rules and life without any semblance consistency.

A discussion of how and why I believe what I believe will be forthcoming, but suffice it to say this knowledge is of great comfort to me, despite the goal being a very, very long way off. Thank you for reading, and your comments are welcome.