THE PAGAN'S DEAD END
By W. Frank Walton
Can Man Invent His Own Meaning?
Pagans Who Learned Too Late
Is There Something Better?
A modern pagan is someone who does not have a
religious belief in the one, true God. The Humanist Manifesto II
says, "There is no God to save us; we must save ourselves." So
then, "Man is the measure of all things." Also, there are many
"practical pagans" who have some belief in some sort of God, but
this belief has no practical impact on their lifestyle.
Along with paganism we find hedonism, which sees
the highest good of life as the pursuit of the most pleasure and
the avoidance of the most pain. The ancient Epicureans said,
"Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." Someone has
parodied this statement, "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow
we shall have gout, cirrhosis of the liver and wrinkles!" The
mantra of hedonism is "let your glands be your guide" and "live
hard, maybe die young, and you'll have a good looking corpse."
Paganism is philosophical immaturity. It does not
consider long term consequences of actions but is mainly
concerned with the whim of the moment. This is seeing no farther
than the end of your nose. Are we a cosmic accident? Is the
universe an accidental dance of atoms? Did man come from the
slime and not the sublime? Many have not mourned that they will
surely die but that they did not really know why they ever
lived. Paganism is a dead end street.
"The passing pleasures of sins" are fleeting,
transitory and numbing. It leaves you empty. You wake up and
say, "Is this all there is? Is this all there really is?" The
pagan sees man as a sophisticated ape, all dressed up with no
place to go. It is not that life is so short, but rather you are
dead for so very long. So, what is life all about?
CAN MAN INVENT HIS OWN MEANING?
There are "moral pagans" who believe in some type
of self-restraint, moderation, ethical treatment of others, etc.
Yet, a moral pagan may appeal to some universal standard of
proper conduct (i.e. "you ought to respect my belief system").
Moral pagans, such as "New Agers," have no real objective basis
to say it is wrong to judge others' actions or others' belief
systems as "wrong."
Let's illustrate how a purely subjective belief
system has no objective, rational basis. Katharine Tait, the
daughter of agnostic philosopher Bertrand Russell, recalls in
the book, My Father Bertrand Russell, that in childhood her
father would try to convince her of moral responsibility. She
would retort, "I don't want to! Why should I? The famous
philosophy doctor's reply was, "Because more people will be
happy if you do than if you don't." She would respond, "So what?
I don't care about other people." Her father would pontificate,
"You should!" Her innocence would inquire, "But WHY??" The
redundant rejoiner would be, "Because more people will be happy
if you do than if you don't."
Ms. Tait notes, "The reason was not convincing --
neither to us [her and her siblings] nor to him." If personal
pleasure and happiness is the supreme good of life, then such a
philosophy cannot explain why it would be morally wrong for me
to inflict pain on others, if such brought me pleasure.
However, we are not alone in the universe. The
cosmos bears the finger prints of God, the Great Designer (Psalm
19:1-3; Romans 1:18-23). We came from someplace and we are going
someplace. Man is made in God's image (Genesis 1:27), which
means he is fitted for a relationship to know God. Scripture
says that God "place eternity in their hearts" (Ecclessiastes
3:11). Each of us has an eternal dimension that yearns to
connect with immortality. Since man is fitted with the capacity
for a relationship with God, and his purpose is "to glorify Him
as God" (Romans 1:21), then "he is restless until he finds rest
in Him" (Augustine).
To create our own meaning (as preached by secular
humanism) is building a castle in the air. Solomon was the
playboy of the ancient near east. Ecclesiastes chronicles his
secular search for meaning "under the sun." (You free-thinking
pagans would do well to read this book of philosophy in the
Hebrew wisdom literature.) Solomon had it all, did it all, saw
it all. He came up empty: "Vanity of vainities, all is vanity!"
(Ecclesiastes 1:2). He had to look to God who dwells "above the
sun" for meaning and purpose. He declared: "This is the
conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His
commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. God will bring
every act into judgement, whether it is good or evil"
(Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
Morality, life's meaning, and determining right
from wrong has its basis derived from the nature of the God who
made us (Ecclesiastes 12:9). The Bible, as the revealed mind of
God, is an objective standard of religion and morality (2
Timothy 3:16-17). His Word guides man into what is good, as well
as warning and protecting him from evil. The "passing pleasures
of sin" (Hebrews 11:25) are fickled and fleeting. Living without
regard for the God who made us is blind and difficult. "The way
of the transgressor is hard" (Proverbs 13:15). God reveals true
happiness is in knowing and serving Him (Psalm 1). Jesus told
his disciples, "If you know these things, happy are you if you
do them" (John 13:17).
PAGANS WHO LEARNED TOO LATE
Listen to these atheists and agnostics who were
influential, renown philosophers and writers. Many at the end of
life, peering over the abyss of death, saw the emptiness and
folly of a purely secular worldview.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW: "The science to which I pinned
my faith is bankrupt....Its counsels which should have
established the millennium have led directly to the [spiritual]
suicide of Europe. I believed them once....In their name I
helped to destroy the faith of millions of worshippers....And
now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist
who has lost his faith" (Too True to Be Good).
RALPH BARTON: "I have had few difficulties, many
friends, great success; I have gone from wife to wife, and from
house to house, visited great countries of the world, but I am
fed up with inventing devices to fill up 24 hours of the day"
(Suicide Note).
EARNEST HEMINGWAY: "I am as empty as a radio tube,
with the current off and the batteries dead."
MARK TWAIN: " A myriad of men are born; they labor
and sweat and struggle for bread; they squabble and scold and
fight; they scamble over little mean advantages over eath other.
Age creeps upon them and infirmities follow....Humiliations
bring down their prides and their vanities. Those they love are
taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to an aching
grief. The burden of pain, care and misery grows heavier year by
year....They vanish from a world where they were of no
consequence; where they achieved nothing, where they were a
mistake and a failure and a foolishness.... - a world that will
lament them a day and forget them forever" (Autobiography, 2:37).
ROBERT INGERSOLL: "Every cradle asks `Whence?' and
every coffin `Whither?' Death is a narrow vale between the cold
and barren peaks of two eternities. We cry aloud and the only
answer is the wailing echo of our cry" (Oration at brother's
graveside).
BERTRAND RUSSELL: "Man is the product of causes which
had no provision of the end they were achieving. His origin, his
growth, his hopes, his fears, his loves, and his beliefs are but
the outcome of accidential collocations of atoms. No fire, no
heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling can preserve
individual life beyond the grave. All the labor of the ages, all
devotions, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of
human genius are destined to extinction in the vast death of the
solar system and that the whole temple of man's achievement must
inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins"
(Philosophical Essays).
"Why should you suppose I think it foolish to wish to
see the people one is fond of? What else is there to make life
tolerable? We stand on the shore of an ocean, crying to the
night and the emptiness; sometimes a voice answers out the
darkness. But it is the voice of one drowning; and in a moment
the silence returns" (Autobiography, p. 237).
KING PHILLIP III OF FRANCE: "What an account I shall
have to render to God. How I wish I had lived differently than I
had." (Last Words).
IS THERE SOMETHING BETTER?
Yet, listen to this man of great intellect and
genuine literary achievement, who endured great physical
suffering and gross miscarriages of justice. The APOSTLE PAUL
wrote, "The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the
good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day,
and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing"
(2 Timothy 4:7-8). He had discovered the secret of life.
Jesus Christ came into this world to show us the
way out. "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in
Me, though he may die, yet will he live. And he who lives and
believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John
11:25-26). It is a credible historical fact that Jesus of
Nazaeth lived and died and arose from the dead. The good news of
Jesus Christ holds the key to the true meaning of life. The
gospel reveals how to live the best life now and how to prepare
for the life to come. Jesus came back from the dead to
infallibly tell us what lies beyond. "He became the author of
eternal salvation to all who obey Him" (Hebrew 5:9).
There is evidence to back up His words, as well as
the rest of the Bible, as the unique revelation of the one, true
God who created the world and all us in it. Faith is not blind,
but it is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).
"What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called the
Messiah?" (Matthew 27:22). The choice is yours. Investigate the
evidence for faith in God and His Son. It can change your life!
"Without faith, it is impossible to please God. For he who comes
to God must believe that He is and a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).
We want to hear from you. If we can help you find
the true meaning of life in God, contact us at
WFrankWalton@juno.com.
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