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| The Brick Testament |
In the beginning, God created the earth, and He looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness.
And God said, "Let Us make creatures out of mud, so mud can see what We have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud as man sat up, looked around and spoke. Man blinked. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely.
"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.
"Certainly," said man.
"The I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God. And He went away.
A parody of Genesis 1 by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. in Cat's Cradle found in a chapter on nihilism in James W. Sire's The Universe Next Door.
This story is not a satire on theistic creation as it might first seem but instead shows the human dilemma found when God is ignored and a naturalistic view is found. Any man that can think, that includes us, will ultimately question the meaning of life (beyond '42' of course, which again is a play on naturalism and nihilism - suggesting there can be no logical answer to questions on existence and meaning). However, when the creator of the universe is simply impersonal matter, the status of naturalism, it cannot respond to such a question and we are left to manufacture purpose by ourselves. When there is no one or thing to give us purpose, we have no value but that which we create for ourselves. And is that truly value if there is no common line to measure it on?
The Bible reveals to us the purpose for man: to know God, to glorify Him and enter a relationship with Him. He is a personal God, shown by the incarnation of Jesus Christ himself, who wants nothing more than to have a loving relationship with his people.
He has done His part, He has created us, given us a purpose; He values us. Will we go on as 'mud as man', creating purpose for ourselves that has no value or will we look into this God, what this Bible claims, and work towards finding the true meaning of life.
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