November 2001

Imponderable Questions. 

I came across these questions which appealed to my (warped?) sense of humour. Questions which you are invited to think about, but not for too long.

Is there another word for synonym?
What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?
Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
A man went to a bookshop and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self- help section?" She said if she told him, it would defeat the purpose.
Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?
Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?
What was the best thing before sliced bread?
If one synchronised swimmer drowns, do the rest have to drown too?
If you try to fail, but succeed, which have you done?

According to the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, such questions reflect the meaninglessness of life. "Life is useless, all useless. You spend your life working and labouring and what do you have to show for it? . . . Everything is weariness  -  a weariness too great for words." If you look at the overall picture you might agree that he has a point. There have been two things in this last week which highlighted such issues.

A close advisor of the singer Elton John was reflecting on Mr. John's extravagant lifestyle and exuberant generosity in buying expensive gifts for his friends. His comment was that there was no reason not to because all money, whether you have a little or a lot, is only leased to you - you cannot take it with you when you go.

The other illustration was on a programme on cosmology which looked at the evidence for possible maternity units for the stars - those part of the galaxy where new stars are formed, and sometimes die, causing particular patterns of radiation which scientists are trying to unravel.

What is the point? Why bother? What are we here for? Is there any meaning and purpose to this thing called life? Douglas Adams once gave the answer to the meaning of life as 42. Jesus gave a different answer. He was asked by some people who were looking for meaning and purpose, "What must we do to do the work God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:28-29).

A writer called Gabriel Marcel distinguishes between approaching life as a problem and entering it as a mystery. "Mystery is not the absence of meaning, but the presence of more meaning than we can comprehend." Jesus is the one who reveals the life of God to us, not that we might solve all the problems of life, but so that we might know him in all of life and discover that we can trust him and know him and believe in him.

I hope you know him, or will come to know him, as a trustworthy guide through life so that you might know life in all its fullness, despite anything others might say to the contrary.

Nigel Beer