That Great Riddle: Why Are We Here?

In the Babylonian creation story, man was made of the blood of Kingu who was a troublesome god who was killed for the purpose of his blood. He was created primarily in order to serve the gods and free them from the need of working for their “bread.” In the Genesis creation story, man was made to rule over the animals and creatures of the earth. In the Sumerian creation story of Enkidu, it is said that he was created solely for the purpose of balancing Gilgamesh out so Uruk could finally have peace. “The people suffer from his tyranny, the people cry out that he takes the son from his father and crushes him, takes the girl from her mother and

Why are humans here? Where did they come from? What is consciousness? Do animals have it? Are there aliens? What are they like? What is God like? Does He really understand humans? Is there free will? Is reality just an illusion? Why do humans long for order? Does evil always win? Does fighting monsters inevitably lead to becoming a monster? Are humans fundamentally good or evil? These are merely a few of the various questions that run, nay, race, through the mind of a child. There is beauty in the simplicity of curiosity on impulse, before the following of simple desires such as curiosity is exchanged among countless other treasures for security and convention. The entire relationship between childhood and adulthood is so complex and profound that it has spawned its own type of book. Bildungsroman is a German word meaning a book wherein the protagonist grows up, both in worldview and in physicality. There is an immense number of these Bildungsromans, yet almost all are, by nearly all standards, bested by the classic of American literature Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird is the predictable story of an archetypical southern kid, with one key difference: Atticus Finch. While Scout and Jem appear, at first glance, to be normal southern kids that will grow up into racist adults, swinging on the porch drinking sweet tea, this thought is inherently constrained by the innocence of the children. Jeb and Scout are too innocent to be condemned to what is, by

In “The Purpose Driven” God says “Every human on this Earth has a purpose.” Nobody was put here by accident. Not all parents get to plan when they have their children, but God was ready for his creation to come alive. The Bible states “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.” He knows exactly how he wants his people to look. He also creates every individual's uniqueness and personality. The Bible states “You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.” Before

The question, “What is the meaning of life” has been pondered by many philosophers and theologians for centuries. There has been no definite answer for this question. Almost no one would argue that there is no meaning. However, in his book, The Achievement Habit, author Bernard Roth does just this. In his book, he directly states, “meaning isn’t inherit in an object or a person” (Roth 18). Roth draws on the ideas championed by the famous philosopher, Aristotle, in his Rhetorical Triangle when he continues to argue these points. Roth’s claims, while incorrect, are soundly based, ethically, emotionally, and logically. Roth uses ethics to back up his claim in arguing that nothing has value, he draws on the reader’s emotions in instructing

“And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea…’ so God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:26-27, KJV).

Imagine: an application is placed in front of you, what do you see? An array of unchecked boxes categorized by gender, race, activities, goals, etc… Now, while filling out the application, you have the option to select “prefer not to answer,” but even in doing so, have you already presented to the person reviewing the application some idea of who you are? Now, imagine another scenario: you are swiping left and right on profiles, on the application, Tinder. Have you already formulated an opinion of the people you are saying yes or no to? To formally answer the question, yes, you have already labeled and categorized these people based on appearance and what they have said in their description prior to having any kind of contact with them.

The constant struggle between science and religion is immense, the constant debated question being whether the two can coexist. To this, I agree, the two can coexist if both respect each other’s opinions and do not impose their own beliefs on the others. However, questions that require answering either through science or religion are how we determine reality, how should we live in this world, and what is our ultimate purpose. Either a mixture of the two or one can be chosen, this is determined by the individual and are personal to that individual alone.

What is the purpose of life? Does everyone have a set of moral codes? In the novel, Ramayana, written by R.K. Narayan, the purpose of life and morality codes are examined and observed by the characters. This story is an ancient Indian epic and is considered to be a “sweeping tale of abduction, battle, and courtship played out in a universe thronged with heroes, deities, and demons.” This Indian myth is “one of India’s greatest literary lights” and is “an ancient treasure to be savored as much for its wisdom, spiritual depth, and insight as for its colorful portrayal of otherworldly passion and strife.” In the novel, which is originated from a poem written by the legenday Indian poet Kamban, a concept known as dharma is mentioned and examined. This concept is depicted in the novel by many characters, mostly by the main characters, Rama and Ravana. Dharma is “the supreme method for improving the quality of our human life.” It is a considered to be way of life that everyone is expected to follow throughout their life. Dharma can be considered to be the maintenance of morals and virtues depending on his or her position from birth or society. Every character in the book, Ramayana, has his or her dharma that they should intend to follow. In the Ramayana, the epic hero, Rama, followed his dharma, while the antagonist of the story, Ravana, did not follow his dharma.

Science and religious faith seem irreconcilable because they are both attempting to uncover the ultimate question of humanity, ‘What is the meaning of existence?’ Each establishment has confronted this task using very different methods and, thus far, both have yielded very different answers. Some, however, see the two disciplines as complimentary. For instance,

Probably the MVP of questions, "What is the purpose of life?", Has come across all of mankinds thought 's some time or another and for each individual, it is plausible that they pondered this topic on numerous occasions throughout their life 's. Many people find solace in their religions, others look to the ancients and the stars, while some, just trust in nature. Maybe within all of these outlooks, you can find truths about the meaning of life, but is the meaning or purpose of life the same for each individual? Within this paper I am going to touch on some viewpoints of some religions, the ancients and nature, to aid in the discussion as well as share my views on what the objective of life is.

The relationship between science and religion is not easy to navigate. On the most basic level, they are viewed as different types of thought. Religion, it seems, deals with the subjective, spiritual realm. Science, on the other hand, seems to deal with facts. It may then appear easy to separate the two realms of thought, and philosophers, theologians and scientists have from time to time attempted to do this. Both science and religion make hypotheses about the fundamental nature of human existence and the nature of the universe, however, and inevitably the claims of each come into conflict. Whether this conflict occurs on a personal level or

At the beginning of time, children were the key point to God’s plan for us, specifically for Him. Genesis 1:27 said, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male

We have read about God’s creation of man; Adam and Eve in Genesis 1-2, God’s education and punishment of both Adam and Eve in Genesis 3-4, and lastly God’s Covenant that he made with Abraham; the representative of man, in Genesis 12-22. In Genesis 1-2, God creates the first man named Adam. From Adam, the first woman is created, Eve. “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Ge. 1:27) In this passage, God creates male and female in the image of himself. While Eve was in the Garden of Eden, she was tempted by a serpent that tricked her with a piece of fruit from the tree of knowledge and life. This action of temptation leads to the banning of both Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. This is where we learn about the

One of the puzzling life questions is the origin of human beings. People are curious about their origin and concerned what happened to their ancestors (McCabe, 2010). Science through the theories of evolution and the Big Bang theory has tried to explain the origin of life. Unfortunately, the theories are associated with flaws on highlighting the source of life or the first cell. Conversely, people use religion to answer such questions. According to Christianity, the universe and human beings were made by God. Man was the Lord’s final

It can be argued that god did create humanity for a purpose, as why would he endow us with sense, reason and intellect if he intended us to forgo their use? It therefore logically follows that we must have some purpose, hidden or not that we are expected to fulfil, also why would the bible detail the creation of humans in such detail as is demonstrated in genesis 2, why would god, in this story, prioritise mankind over all others when the purpose if said entities is made apparent as animals are made to feed man, so if god endeavoured to assign a purpose to those supposedly subservient to mankind, why would he not give a purpose for mankind to fulfil, why also, according to the