“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)
Why do you and I exist? Why do the sun, moon, and stars exist? How about butterflies and mountain goats? Or pufferfish? Why are there multiple races of men spread throughout the world? Why is the world spread throughout the world? Why not just one small island on a flat planet? What is the purpose of Antarctica and its penguins?
Those schooled at Darwin University will agree that these questions have causal validity, that is, that we can ask what caused things to exist. (Their answer: “Pure dumb luck.”) They will deny, however, that the questions have any telic validity, meaning that to speak of Purpose or Ultimate Objective for the universe is to tell fairy tales. Some of us happen to believe in such “fairy tales,” particularly the ones told by the Author of all stories. Nevertheless, we still wrestle with the questions.
From one perspective, the answer comes simply and easily—God made it that way. God decided that apples would hang from trees and squash would grow on vines, and that the solar system would be a solar system rather than a geo system or a martian system. But the why question does not appear so simple.
If we back up a step to an even wider view, we might ask: Why did God create the universe? Why did He make anything at all? Why not just exist eternally in His holy perfection? Why create a world that would collapse under the weight of multiplied wickedness? Such queries are often made with the newspaper open.
It seems we have a difficult time reconciling terrorism, rape, and infant deaths with a good God creating a good world for a good purpose. If God has a noble purpose for the cosmos, it certainly is a well-kept secret. At least, that’s how we think when pain and suffering are prominent.
Although aspects of these questions will probably remain forever in the undisclosed recesses of the divine mind, God has left us neither to guess, nor to remain in a state of perpetual frustration as to their most basic and profound answer. We can know the meaning of life. You can know why you and everything else exists. He told us.