For a Reason

When bad things happen--you know, unpleasant things, not necessarily immoral things--we often try to comfort people with "Everything happens for a reason." Regardless of your theology, we like to think that there is an overall purpose to things and events. In a theistic worldview, this is not a wish, but a certainty. But in today's more materialistic, humanistic, post-modern world, it's no longer very supportable.

In the "modern world" (as opposed to the "post-modern world"), the term, "modern", was intended to refer to "reason". Modernism was a philosophical view that held popularity from the late 19th century through the middle of the 20th century. It was the "age of reason", intended primarily to circumvent the earlier times of religion and mysticism. We didn't need God anymore; we had science. And with some clear thinking (instead of simple faith in a deity), we could bring about utopia. Well, at the end of the second World War, it was clear that this wasn't working. Enter the "Post-modern" era. Postmodernism denies definition. There is no overarching truth, no boundaries, no limits. It is "New Age" and "Mother Earth" and "can't we all just get along" philosophies. And we should be able to get along under this view ... because nothing is true, real, or defined in itself. Modernism believed in cause and effect; postmodernism believed in chance. Modernism preferred in-depth analysis; postmodernism sees no point. Modernism liked Natural Law; postmodernism tends pure moral relativism.

It seems obvious that a view that says "there is no truth" can't stand because it has just made a truth claim. It would seem clear that a view that argues "our view means there are no definitions" has just made a definition, a pure contradiction to the view. It would seem as if any thinking person would look at postmodernism, blink their eyes, and conclude, "How in the world could anyone hold to such nonsense?" But ... they don't. Instead, this nonsense rules our current culture.

We all used to believe (and, I think, still do, even if we don't admit it) that things have purpose. What there is, what we are, what we do, everything has a purpose. It isn't merely "there". Everything has an end, an aim. But today's postmodernism suggests otherwise. Things are nothing in themselves. They only have the value and purpose that we give them. And you may not give them the same that I do. I would contend that the Bible argues for the former while our current culture for the latter.

Take, for instance, marriage. Is marriage only of whatever value an individual places on it, or is there a natural, intrinsic purpose? We would say there is a built in purpose. Take sex. Is that whatever you make of it, or is there a natural purpose that we're ignoring?

I'm just using a couple of quick, quite obvious examples. When you think about it, though, a large chunk of today's society has decided that a large chunk of reality is purely relative in value. Does work have a purpose, or is it what you make it? Is money whatever you make of it, or does it have an aim, an end, a goal? When you go down this path, I think, you'll start to see that 1) the biblical view places purpose on everything while the world's view makes everything relative, and 2) the consequences of "no intrinsic purpose"--no natural reason--is almost always sin.