The Purpose of Life

[sealybobo]

The purpose of life is happiness. "Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they should have joy." And because the Lord wants us to be happy He has made it His work to bring to pass our immortality and Eternal life.

By following the counsels and commandments we are given we become a happy virtuous people.

But don't believe in Jesus and burn in hell for all eternity. Check the sell by date on your ancient religion. How's Zeus?

How is not God's fault if you ignore everything He gives you and choose misery?

Everyone who rejects your religions made up stories isn't any more miserable then you are for rejecting Joseph smiths or Mohammads story. Are you miserable because you don't believe in Zeus? I'm happier being unbrainwashed. I'm enlightened. Reborn. Seeing things clearer now.

 

[sealybobo]

Always felt 'the meaning of life' was a pointless question. Who said there has to be meaning? But if we change the question to what's the purpose of life, when you consider life as a whole over the span of millions of years here's my answer:

The purpose of life is to help other life evolve to the point of space travel. When life can leave it's home planet and begin to explore the cosmos, it should seek out other inhabited worlds and help that life evolve like it did on our's. If we only live and exist for our own benefit, our lives are meaningless. To illustrate: if only a few people survived a nuclear war, not enough to repopulate the planet, then their continued survival is meaningless. Instead, we should live to help those who need it. Everyone should contribute a verse in the overall production of life.

Star Trek's 'Prime Directive' says not to interfere with the natural development of other cultures. And forbids making contact until they've developed warp drive (and obstensibly are gonna be encountering other space-faring civilizations anyway.) But if we abide by this, we're saying intelligent life trying to endure and continue is no more important or worthy than ants back home. If an ant hill gets wiped out, oh well. That's a pretty cold blooded policy for other sentient beings. While interacting with primitive species has its' risks, anything is better than simply 'leaving them to it.'

While I understand the concerns of prominent leaders in the scientific community about not going out of our way to reveal our existence to the local galaxy lest some hostile alien race shows up and wipes us out, if we don't reveal ourselves then it's on us to find them first. And that's a long ways off. Plus, if we don't then we're just living for ourselves with no real point to anything we do. If we don't seek to share everything humanity has learned and done and discovered all that work is meaningless. One big rock hitting the planet and we're wiped out anyway.

The planet needs to task itself with ensuring the sentient life on this planet continues, thrives, and prospers long enough that we can get off-world and find others. If we continue the current paradigm of living only for ourselves, and not ourselves as a whole species, then life's continued existence has no purpose. And as a result, no value.

You made me think about the difference in the way theists and atheists think. Theists are selfish. They only worry about themselves after they die. Do they worry about global warming or getting off this planet? Neither are a major concern as far as gods plan for us. Athiests want to make sure the planet is here for future generations and we hope humans live forever. We're not concerned about what happens after we die just living well now.

I think we would have a much better here and now if people would stop waiting for an afterlife.

 

[Steven_R]

Can someone point me in the direction of Life's mission statement?

 

[sealybobo]

I feed squirrels and birds everyday. I'm not worried about what happens to their souls when they die. I only want to make sure their lives are pleasurable and comfortable while they are here. Chances are there is no heaven waiting for them or us.

 

[Blackrook]

I feed squirrels and birds everyday. I'm not worried about what happens to their souls when they die. I only want to make sure their lives are pleasurable and comfortable while they are here. Chances are there is no heaven waiting for them or us.

You're not supposed to feed wild animals and birds. You are making them dependent on you, and when you're gone, they won't be able to take care of themselves.

So right there, you are a negative influence on the world.

 

[sealybobo]

I feed squirrels and birds everyday. I'm not worried about what happens to their souls when they die. I only want to make sure their lives are pleasurable and comfortable while they are here. Chances are there is no heaven waiting for them or us.

You're not supposed to feed wild animals and birds. You are making them dependent on you, and when you're gone, they won't be able to take care of themselves.

So right there, you are a negative influence on the world.

I don't feed them in the summer.

And they'd die without me so I'm keeping them alive. Do you have a wild dog or cat?