Monday, November 14, 2005

Purpose in a Floundering World

I pirated this from John Armstrong's blog.  You can find it here. 
 
 
I often find myself differing with him and sometimes have no idea what he is saying, but, this is one of the strongest things he has ever written.  People are wandering about without purpose, and the purpose of life is right before them.
 

Purpose Makes the Difference

If history is to have real meaning it must have purpose. It must be going somewhere. If no specific end is in view then all things loose their meaning and life becomes pointless. Humans have known this from time immemorial. And Christians, of all people, need to remind the modern world of this regularly. If all we do is live and die then the work of our hands has no long term importance and all is vain.

The famous Henry Ford once concluded that "History is one damned thing after another." He's right, if Christ did not rise. Resurrection gives meaning to all things. If the grave is the end then history doesn't matter. My story is bunk and so is yours.

The Greeks called this telos, or purpose, the end for which something was made or existed. The Christian faith sees Christ as the true telos, the goal and end of all history. If we would live well, we must stay focused on Christ as the telos of all things. Only then will history not become "one damned thing after another."

 

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