Los Alamos Church of Christ
On Tuesday I will be 56. Some of the kids, like Zack, are going, "Wow, how old is that?" The teens are thinking to themselves, "That is old." But Jimmy is thinking, "He's still just a kid." I was born in 1954. I went and looked up the newspaper headlines for Feb. 2, 1954, and… not much happened that day. It wasn't a big news day. The top headline was, "Rio Grande College, scores 113 points in basketball game." To the world it was just an ordinary day around the world. But to my mom and dad and me it was a pretty special day. If I live 44 years, sort of unlikely, but not impossible, and if I my birthday became my deathday, do you think I would make the headlines of any newspaper on Feb, 2, 2054? "Timothy Stidham, famous Christian preacher, died today at 100 years old." It is unlikely.
If I spent a 100 years on this planet doing more of what I have already done for 56 years, do you think it would really make a difference? In 2154 do you think anyone will even remember that I ever lived? Maybe the Hank Dog's grandkids might remember a story of me. What about 2254? There won't be a single person alive who will have a clue about my life.
Some scientists estimate the earth is 4.5 billion years old. They say the universe is 14 billion years old. I don't know about those kind of numbers, but my 56 years is not even a molecule wide blip on the timeline of history. Our lives are less than a blink in history.
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Have you ever contemplated your "speckness"? We are just a speck in the universe. I am just one person in a town of 20,000 people. Los Alamos is just a small town in a state of 2 million, in a country of 350 million in a world of 6.5 billion. The star, I have circled 56 times, is one of 400 billion in our Galaxy which is just one galaxy among billions of galaxies. "Speck" doesn't even begin to describe how small I am. I am such an insignificant speck on the bottom of a nanomite that I make real specks look huge. If you don't believe me, go out and look at the sky tonight for yourself. We are just microscopic sub-specks in an infinite universe. Our mass, the space we take up, in the universe amounts to virtually nothing. I am insignificantly minute.
On
all sides we are bounded by the infinite.
We are surrounded by infinite time and infinite space, and that leaves me
feeling weak and meaningless and insecure.
Our lives are less than a
speck in the universe.
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Interestingly, most of us choose to ignore all that. Instead of thinking about the infinite vastness of pointlessness, we focus on our own little dilemmas. What should push us to ask the big questions about life, instead forces us to block all that out of our thinking and instead lose ourselves in the escapism of distractions.
- Materialism; How much stuff can I get? I am important if I have enough stuff.
-Relationships; How many people like me? I am significant if enough people like me. I have 120 friends on Facebook.
-Success; I am noteworthy if I accomplish something with my life.
-Fun; I am meaningful because I have more excitement in my life than anyone else!
Or the darker side, there are drugs and
alcohol, numerous sexual encounters or just watch TV; I will just satisfy myself
anyway I can! I choose not to think
about that stuff! Our lives are lived in pointless
pursuits.
------- but on the other side…
Our
lives can accomplish great
things.
Look what we have done:
Love: We do research and discover how
to make our lives better. We find
cures to diseases. We build
magnificent hospitals. We build
roads and have all kinds of transportation around our little ball; called earth.
We live in increasingly safe
places. We take care of the weak
and help the poor. We send tons of
money and food and aid to places like Haiti. It is estimated that Americans have
given close to $190 million to Haiti. We help orphans and widows and homeless
and hurting. We educate and care
for our young. We have fine schools
and universities. Our love for the hurting approaches the
infinite!
Justice: We have a sense for justice. We want to right wrongs. We have elaborate court systems and armies and police and all kinds of systems to fight wrong. Wrong infuriates us. We feel compelled to fix what is wrong with our world! That's good. We work hard to right, wrongs!
Create: How creative are we? Talk about music. How many songs have been written? I have a new hobby; playing bass. Why do I feel good when I am playing? We love music! Music is a wonderful thing and we crank out lots of it. There are 10 million songs on Amazon .com. What about art and beauty? What about architecture? Think of all the beautiful things that have been build in the world. We create wonderful stuff.
Even though we are going to be dead soon, we do great things!
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Our
lives ache for meaning. We are
wired for meaning. We don't feel insignificant. Even though you are
less than a speck on the bottom of a nanomite, we know love. We experience joy. We assume there is something more than
this life. We imagine
greatness. We are wired for
praise. Where does our praise come
from? Next week there is going to
be a game? Who's playing? Why do we want to praise football
players? Praise is in our DNA. There must be a spot on the human genome
that is the praise gene! Even
though we are gnats in the universe we explore; we ask questions; we seek the
answers. We hunt for truth. We refuse to simply "go be pointless".
We ache for
meaning.
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Our lives must exist beyond the grave. Who really believes this life is it? Who can get up in the morning if they really, really believe it is all just pointless? If this life is really all there is, then we end up in complete moral relativism, so that no act, regardless how dreadful or heinous, can be condemned; nothing matters. To live consistently with such a view of life is unthinkable and impossible. We feel that there must be something beyond the grave. Why this life, if there is nothing else?
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Which is right? When we think about how long history is, we feel like nothing. Is anything we do really going to make a lasting difference? Yet, we turn around and do great things! When we look at the universe we feel less than a speck. Yet, we just know our live is beautiful and creative! When we think about death; it's all over but the crying, yet, there has to be something beyond the grave. Which is right? How do we know? Death or Life after? Pointlessness or significance? Worthlessness or greatness? Which is it?
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Pascal's argument…
A man by the name of Pascal lived from 1623-1662. He was a mathematician and physicist. I'm sure some of you know him for that. But, he also was a Christian. He became a Christian in 1654 at the age of 31. He was writing a book entitled, "Defense of the Christian Religion" when he died at age 39. The book was later published as "Thoughts." In this book he makes an argument called the Wager Argument:
"When the odds that God exists are even, then the prudent man will gamble that God exists. This is a wager that all men must make-the game is in progress and a bet must be laid. There is no opting out: you have already joined the game. Which then will you choose-that God exists or that he does not? If the odds are even, reason is not violated in making either choice; so reason cannot determine which bet to make. Therefore, the choice should be made pragmatically in terms of maximizing one's happiness. If one wagers that God exists and he does, one has gained eternal life and infinite happiness. If he does not exist, one has lost nothing. On the other hand, if one wagers that God does not exist and he does, then one has suffered infinite loss. If he does not in fact exist, then one has gained nothing. Hence, the only prudent choice is to believe that God exists; for if you win, you win all; if you lose, you lose nothing."
What do we make of this argument? One side of me says, "Yeah, I like it." I am going to bet on God because the payout is so one-sided." But the other side of me says, "But, if I give up this life for nothing? What a waste. I need to know more." I want to know there is a God. I want to have faith, not simply bet the odds. Do you need to know more? I want to improve my odds. I want to know there is a God. I want to bet my life on a reason for hope.
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Within these very thoughts of death and infinity and being specks, is a powerful argument, which for me tips the odds and allows me to have faith. Where does our need for significance come from? Where does our feelings that we are more than a speck on the backside of a nanomite come from? Where does our sense of eternity beyond the grave come from?
We can see God in the very words our hearts long
for:
Justice: Once God is denied human life becomes worthless. Yet, we know there has to be justice. All that is within us as humans cries for justice. But if we are just chance molecules in a universe without a creator; tell me why we feel there should be justice. If it is just "survival of the fittest" than wouldn't justice just be in our way. There can be no feeling of justice without an ultimate judge!
Beauty: How can there be beauty in a world without a beautician. Where does music come from in a world void of a creator? Why art? Why do we spend so much of our time in pointless endeavors if we are not made in the image of a Creator? Where do we get creative urgings? I have an assignment for you. The next time you are watching the Discovery channel, or some show that would be on it - for the few of you who watch TV - notice the "N" word. Capital "N" nature. If you do not believe in God you end up calling Nature miraculous or creative or amazing or Mother Nature. "Mother Nature is beautifully creative." What? Give me a break. Just go ahead and say God! There can be no beauty without an ultimate beautician.
Love: Where does love come from? Why are we wired for sacrificial love?
A number of years ago, a terrible mid-winter air disaster occurred when a plane leaving the Washington, D.C. airport smashed into a bridge spanning the Potomac River, plunging its passengers into the icy waters. As the rescue helicopters came, attention was focused on one man who again and again pushed the dangling rope ladder to other passengers rather than be pulled to safety himself. Six times he passed the ladder by. When they came again, he was gone. He had freely given his life that others might live. The whole nation turned its eyes to this man in respect and admiration for the selfless and good act he had performed. And yet, if the atheists are right, that man was not noble. Rather, he did the stupidest thing possible. He should have gone for the ladder first, pushed others away if necessary in order to survive. But to die for others, he did not even know, to give up all the brief existence he would ever have, for what?
Why do we admire selfless sacrifice? There can be no sacrificial love without the ultimate lover.
Spiritually: Why do we feel a need for meaning? Why is there a sense of the spiritual? Where do you imagine spiritual longings come from? Doesn't our spiritual nature reflect the Spirit of God?
We are wired spiritual. Where does this life-view come from? We are the only creatures who ask, "Why?" We are the only creatures who ask, "Who am I?" We are the only creatures who ask, "Where am I going?" Because we are the only creatures who are created in the image of a living God!
I know I mean something. I seek justice. I appreciate beauty. I experience love. I am a spiritual being. Therefore, there has to be a source of all that! I won't bet my life that all this just came about by randomness and dumb luck.
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Odds are I won't be around on Feb. 2, 2054. I might not make in till this Tuesday. This life is amazingly short and I am amazingly small in the universe. But, I have faith that the God who gave me a sense of meaning, a sense of justice, a sense of beauty, a sense of love and a sense that there has to be more than just this life, is going to resurrect this body and I will spend eternity with That God. That is a reason for hope!
Los Alamos Church of Christ
January 31st, 2010
