From CS Lewis to everyday heroes, Premier Unbelievable explores where true meaning and purpose are found. Pastor Bruce Miller and others reflect on the surprising lessons of Ecclesiastes, challenging us to look beyond life “under the sun” for deeper significance.
Over the years, many of the world’s greatest minds have given their own perspectives on the meaning and purpose of life on Premier Unbelievable. Theologian and Professor Alister McGrath points to the writings of CS Lewis and his repeated arguments that the Christian faith is where true meaning is found; philosopher Professor Richard Swinburne says we can look to the cosmos to find purpose; while evangelical favourite Professor NT Wright points to the Cross of Christ.
Read more:
Is there a God?
Why does God allow pain and suffering?
Ordinary people have also described their sense of purpose through their vocation, such as surgeon Mark Shrime and his work serving the poor through the Mercy Ships ministry. It’s clearly an important question.
Bruce Miller, a pastor in Texas following academic study in theology, wrote the book: “The 7 Big Questions: Searching for God, Truth, and Purpose” and begins with “Does life have a purpose?”
In an interview with Premier Unbelievable, Miller says that scripture points to answers, but perhaps not the ones expected. “I find that people are surprised to learn there’s an entire book in the Bible about this question, which is the Book of Ecclesiastes,” he said. “People are often surprised to discover that his answer was meaninglessness.”
Many people today search for purpose in money, or career, or even in intellectual learning and the pursuit of wisdom, just like the author of this book of the Bible, King Solomon. But what happens when our hopes that these quests will lead to fulfilment are dashed?
“Solomon was the wealthiest man of his day and the most powerful man, so he actually had the opportunity to try it all,” said Miller. “He tried every kind of pleasure-building project, all kinds of power, and in the end he said ‘no, none of it is really bringing meaning. Even the study of wisdom itself, learning more and more, he was the wisest man who lived at the time, was still meaningless. I think to really reckon with that is challenging and important.”
But Miller points to the frequent phrase in Ecclesiastes, “under the Sun” – to argue that Solomon is really saying that life is only meaningless if heavenly realities are ignored. “Friedrich Nietzsche, the nihilist, the existentialist, is correct - there is no meaning, you end in nothingness, if you’re only looking in the frame of this life on this Earth, ‘under the Sun’ so to speak,” said Miller. “The hint Solomon’s giving us is that the only place to really find meaning is above the Sun.
“I think so many of us are caught in The daily grind of life, just one day after another that feels the same, and we’re wondering, ‘are we really accomplishing anything?’ ‘does any of this really matter?’ which leads us to any anxiety medicines anti-depressants or just numbing ourselves with alcohol or marijuana, or numbing ourselves with sports or Media or video games or something to just not think about it,” he said. “My encouragement is: no, it’s worth pausing the screen to stop and think about it and otherwise you don’t really ever live a life full of meaning and purpose.”
