The Table

Conversation Meeting Place, Date & Time: Sunday, 11/3/2024 @ 6:30 PM – Black Walnut Cafe, Coppell, TX.

So, is there a god or isn’t there? The secular world says no. In the last post we briefly reviewed three reasons from the past for answering yes: The Big Bang, fine tuning and life’s complexity. 

But the past is the past. What does it have to do with now? Setting aside the question of origins, is there there meaning and purpose to life today, the way we see things now? Can it be discovered? If so, how? Can it be created? If so, how?

The question changes from, “why is there something rather than nothing” to “why am I here?” or “what should I do (or be doing) with my life?” 

The 1994 film, Forrest Gump, won numerous Academy Awards and starred Tom Hanks playing Forrest Gump, a dim-witted man from Alabama and two of his life-long friends: Jenny Curran played by Robin Wright and Lt. Dan Taylor, played by Gary Sinese. 

The movie depicts three worldviews about the present.

The first worldview is that of Jenny, Forrest’s childhood friend and long-suffering love interest.

For Jenny, life is what you make of it. You make your own meaning via experience and adventure — live your dreams. Early on in the movie, Jenny tells Forest about her dream of being onstage — “just her and her guitar.” In this scene her dream becomes reality but not as she had hoped.

It’s an ironic scene and the first of several dreams Jenny chases, jumping from one fad to the next until…

The problem with chasing your dreams is that eventually you wake up and with the dream gone or turned into a nightmare. The end result is standing on the edge of a balcony in despair.

The second worldview is that of the fatalist — everyone has a set destiny and life runs on rails. Forrest meets Lt. Dan in Vietnam and sums up his worldview.

Later, Lt. Dan is wounded in battle. When life goes off the rails and becomes a train wreck the result is the same — despair.

…and, bitterness.

The third worldview is the life of faith. It avoids the pitfalls of the other two. First, there is a higher meaning and purpose other than what we make on our own, something beyond ourselves. Second, higher meaning and purpose are not certain from the outset. They are discovered by living by faith as life unfolds. Forest sums it up in one of the final scenes.

There is a lot more in this movie but here are some observations about Forest’s depiction of a life of faith:

• He seems to neither plan anything nor just wing it all the time. Opportunities present themselves and he acts accordingly— almost haphazardly. Things seemingly work out for the better although it can’t be seen from the outset.
• He suffers and experiences loss. His best friend Bubba dies in his arms in Vietnam. His mother dies. Jenny rejects him continually. Early on, the shrimping business fails. Life isn’t easy. 
• Yet, he never falls into despair. He remains steadfast and there is always hope.
• He sticks with his friends despite their rejection of him and helps them find redemption in the end.
• His success is a byproduct of his faith — not its result — and it comes about through failure.

There are still more ways of living life than these three. Some say nothing matters so, “Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” Or, “The one who dies with the most toys wins.” And so on.

So, what’s yours?

Next time. Worldview future.

Conversation Starters

• There are other worldviews. Nihilism is another one, the belief that life is inherently meaningless. Can you name or describe others?
• The media often often touts specific underlying worldviews in their messaging and advertising slogans, i.e., “Just Do It.” They are often subtle. Can you identify what’s behind them?
• Life often runs on different worldviews at the same time but in different settings. In business, it’s a “dog eat dog world” and one has to act in a certain way in order to survive. In school, compromises are often made to get ahead. Do you run your life on different rules at different times?
• Different religions have different assumptions. In Islam everything is about submission. In Hindu culture, karma. Can you name others? What impact do these assumptions have on people’s lives.

References For Further Inquiry