The meaning of life, the universe, and everything.

Been too busy to post anything lately because the things I want to write about are sort of huge topics and I still haven't mastered the skill of conciseness. So I figured I'd take the next 3 minutes and just tackle the meaning of life, the universe, and everything.

I stole that title from a book by Douglas Adams. He was an atheist who wrote sci-fi comedy stories. Most notably, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It turned into a whole series of stories, one of which bears the title I'm borrowing for this post. Adams' books are funny, but also sad because his conclusion is that there is no meaning to life. Fortunately for us, Adams is wrong.

God is Trinity. I won't take the time to list all the proof-texts and things right now, I'll get back to that later. But for the moment consider this. There is one God, eternally existing in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are of one essence - not only of the same essence - but of one essence. In other words, they are not three individuals all made out of the same kind of stuff, they share one essence, deity, with each other. And yet they are distinct from each other in...consciousness?...personhood?... It's hard to nail down with words because, well, it just is. But the point of all this is that at the core of who God is, in His eternal nature, there is community. The primary thing that distinguishes the 3 persons of the Godhead from each other, and the thing that unites them together, is that they love each other. God is in an infinite, dynamic state of unity and distinction that is perfectly balanced forever.

This is very important because it establishes the foundation for our understanding of what community is. It brings us down to the very simple and easy to understand, "Greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. When we do this, we are like God.

But it gets better. We are not only to be like God in our behavior, we who are united to Christ by faith are actually being drawn into the eternal love and union of the Trinity. Jesus prayed,

"I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may beleive that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them even as You have loved Me." John 17:20-23

There are many more Scriptures to quote on this point but I'll do that later. The point of all this is that the meaning of life is relationship with God and others. Why do they stick prisoners in solitary confinement? Why is that punishment? You might think that they would be happy to get away from all those other mean guys and have some time alone. But the fact is, we are so deeply wired for relationship that we go crazy if we don't have it. Love really is the meaning of life, cliche as it may sound. That's what going to church is all about.