Ravi Zacharias - a Christian Apologist

We are all searching. We are searching for what it means to be a live and how we can best live our lives. It is a hard question to answer. What should the purpose of your life be, and, how should you live your life to attain that purpose in the appropriate way?

Ravi Zacharias, a Christian Apologist, splits the meaning of life into four categories: wonder, truth, love, and security. As children we find meaning in wonder. The world is filled with enchantment and as a child one does not ask why something is the way it is. As a child a person can be satisfied and find meaning in mere wonderment of the world. As youth, mere wonderment does not bring meaning to a persons' life. Youth seek truth, because to only be amazed by the world is not enough, understanding is also needed. During the middle years of life meaning can be gained from finding love and in old age meaning is found in security. Once the truth is known, love will fill the longing a person has for meaning. In old age a person can gain meaning from security, security in knowing that once life is over on earth it continues in heaven. Ravi Zacharias then connects the four stages of meaning to God. A child finds wonderment in God. God gives the youth truth. God fills the middle years of life with love. Security is gained from God's promise of an afterlife. Thus, according the Ravi Zacharias, in order to attain the meaning of life, a person must believe in and follow the Christian God.

I generally agree with Ravi Zacharias' assertion that meaning of life can be found through God giving meaning to our lives by giving us wonder, truth, love, and security. However, the way it is broken down into a sequence that must be followed in order to attain purpose to life seems too scientific. To break down life sequentially and say that at each stage of life you attain meaning from a certain thing is too formulaic. I do not believe that life is that sequential, it has to work up to one greater meaning or purpose. To say in old age the only thing that can give you meaning is security does not make sense and I think any elderly person would agree with that. If Ravi Zacharias had made the argument that one attains purpose or meaning from life by finding wonderment, truth, love, and security at the same time I would find that more believable. The meaning of life cannot be attained through a specific formula of attaining a certain thing at a specific stage of life; it is just too sequential.

Dr. William Lane Craig, a professor of philosophy at the Talbot