[Music] why is it that when we look at our lives and the world around us we constantly ask is this all there is if this is it and all that there ever has been why bother even asking the question it should be instinctively self-evident for us but for some reason it isn't to say that this life is all there is is to deny a fundamental question in this all that never ceases to go away is there more to life than just this world [Music] now I wonder why people would say that were're insignificant compared to
the cosmos the Assumption here seems to be that size determines value but this seems to be grossly false we don't think that a grain of sand on the big beach is insignificant to the beach as a whole because of its minuscule size but rather because the grain of sand does not contain any special potentiality that would make a difference to the beach as a whole is our worth as human beings dependent on our size are we irrelevant because we are so small compared to the cosmos only if we are vain enough to Value this material
life over Eternal things but this world and its size are nothing more than a shadow a mirage a hologram but a mirage does not determine our worth but only those things that are real our connection to God The Good the Transcendent World relative size does not determine value if someone were to say that your newborn baby was insignificant due to its minuscule size in comparison to the universe as a whole and therefore that your newborn baby has no value you would think that person was absolutely crazy no person living on Earth truly believes that size
determines value it is most obvious when we just open our eyes and observe the world around us life experiences help us understand that the people we know and love have an inherent value through living our life and interacting with others we can see just how uninformed and inhuman the claim that size determines value really is now what about the universe as a whole take the whole observable universe which contains billions of galaxies proceeding away from us in all directions as a result of the cosmic expansion do we have any potentiality that makes a difference to
the universe yes I think so not only do we or any other similar species possess the potentiality to alter the structure of the universe in the far future but arguably much more important we also bring in a unique element missing in the universe we bring in Concepts such as love and compassion the universe is not happy and is not sad it is is not even emotionally neutral it is we the living beings that introduce these Concepts into the universe and this is indeed significant in my opinion it seems this life offers us opportunities that we
will not be able to have in heaven for example the ability to be brave is to face one's fears and overcome them to express compassion can only be done if there is sorrow but most importantly this life gives us the opportunity to uncoerced choose God to be our father savior teacher and Mentor or to reject him quite the opposite of devaluing Life the afterlife serves to enhance our Earthly existence because of the Eternal consequences this life has it places the greatest emphasis on choosing to live this life to the best of our moral capabilities heaven
for me is here and now in this life when my physical life ends of course I do expect my spiritual life to continue in that sense I'll go to the place we think of as heaven but the very thing that makes heaven so great the very thing that makes heaven heaven is simply the fact that God is there and to the extent that God is a part of my life here and now my eternity in heaven has already begun now some argue Living For Eternity would be heaven hell because we'd eventually run out of things
to do but this is the wrong view of what eternity in heaven is heaven is not a place that is about you in fact it is the opposite it is not a place like a paradise on Earth filled with self-pleasuring is a place of self-giving where we forever experience love and give our love to others and to God you don't get bored of caring for loved ones over time the love gets stronger and better that is what heaven is a place where the focus is away from yourself and on serving and loving others a place
where you are always focused on yourself filling your own self- desires and caring only about yourself that is hell it's not surprising that some people find the concept of Eternity with God unattractive because these are the kinds of people who freely choose to reject their creator and savior and would prefer to live by their own standards branding themselves God of their own life but to those who want to enter into the most fulfilling relationship imaginable then there is nothing greater that compares to spending eternity with God if this life is all there is we will
die and be forgotten and in time all we have affected will be forgotten as well one day all of Mankind's achievements will crumble to dust and life will be extinguished as the last Stars Fade Into Blackness if this life is all there is purpose has no purpose and meaning no meaning but we have been sold a lie this material existence is not all there is this Universe was not created from itself but from something someone beyond space and time this material world is derived from the immaterial and Beyond it there is another world waiting for
us a better world in contrast to the non-believer who lives life on a sensual level pleasing their desires and finds No Satisfaction because eventually everything gets boring or the non-believer that lives life on an ethical level trying to do the good but continues to fail the Christian belie that lives life on the god centered level receives a personal relationship with their creator forgiveness of sin and finds ultimate purpose that starts now I don't know anybody who's living on Earth who is completely 110% satisfied with their life because we were not made to live on earth
we were made to live in heaven with God and the reason why man is constantly pursuing a greater end something bigger than himself and constantly searching always searching is because he's looking for that something I remember CS Lewis taught being hungry doesn't prove a man will get food but surely it proves there is such a thing as food we say the material universe is evil unjust and not pleasant but if we are just products of the material Universe then we should feel right at home in it you know a fish doesn't feel wet because it's
made for the water but we do because we're not aquatic creatures if the universe is where we belong we should feel right at home in it we live in an enormous expanding universe and the rate at which the universe expands depends on the density of the universe in a crucial way in order for the universe to expand for the billions of years needed for stars to spread the chemical elements of life the universe must expand at a special rate and so consequently have a special density this density corresponds to the mass of billions of galaxies
in the observable universe and so life can only arise in a vast old Universe containing a huge number of galaxies and stars as the cosmologists Barrow and tipler pointed out an observable universe containing only the mass of our own Galaxy would only have existed for less than a month that's not enough for our existence to put it mildly ironically the vastness of the universe and the plitude of stars that made you question your significance was to cried for you to be here and do the questioning if our existence as the naturalist would have us believe
is the accidental byproduct of an aimless process the more can be said of the value of such a purposeless being you see our value is derived from our purpose and our purpose originates from God's will for us to freely choose to be with him in the afterlife this understanding not only motivates one to value and cherish one's own life but to do the same for others because God created each individual person and loves them all equally life is about love and there is no greater love than the life God gave on Calvary It Is This
Love freely given to us which truly equips us to do the good in this life because he first loved us I'm not biting my time here on Earth walking a tight RPP of Good Deeds waiting to die so I can go to heaven you see the essence of Christianity is not religious activities where you try to be good enough to get into heaven but rather it's a relationship with God Christianity does not only offer Promises of things to come but also offers one the freedom and the power to do the good and the knowledge of
one's security [Music]
