Tim Keller asks this question and puts forward the paradox- that if we believe in no-God, or at least no God that we can get to know then we are doomed to a life of purposelessness. Interestingly this is not merely the thought of Keller the Christian but the conclusion drawn by Albert Camus the atheist .
Keller touches on the thoughts of various philosophers in the following video with emphasis on the thought of Camus. The paradox lies in the fact that if we claim absolute freedom to live exactly how we please we find then that rather than total or ultimate freedom we become bound to live without purpose. If we are just a cosmic accident of circumstance (and thereby free from absolute moral constraints) then there is no transcendental purpose to living. On the other hand if God is real and knowable then we are duty bound to live according to His rules- so in point of fact real freedom lies not in living for ourselves but through Him who called us into existence.
While we lavishly proffer ourselves notions of absolute freedom, reality catches up when we realize that this comes at the expense of living a purposeful life. And a purposeless life is not practically livable.
Sisyphus was the mythical character who was caught leaking divine secrets to mortals. (Much like Edward Snowden) He was condemned to live a life where everyday he had to roll a heavy stone up a steep mountain only to find as he got almost to the top the stone would roll down to the bottom where the next day he must again roll it almost to the top only to see it roll inexorably back to the bottom and experience the whole cycle repeat over and over.
Keller touches on the thoughts of various philosophers in the following video with emphasis on the thought of Camus. The paradox lies in the fact that if we claim absolute freedom to live exactly how we please we find then that rather than total or ultimate freedom we become bound to live without purpose. If we are just a cosmic accident of circumstance (and thereby free from absolute moral constraints) then there is no transcendental purpose to living. On the other hand if God is real and knowable then we are duty bound to live according to His rules- so in point of fact real freedom lies not in living for ourselves but through Him who called us into existence.
While we lavishly proffer ourselves notions of absolute freedom, reality catches up when we realize that this comes at the expense of living a purposeful life. And a purposeless life is not practically livable.
Albert Camus in "The Myth of Sisyphus" was honest enough to speak on the absurdity of absolute freedom: "we modern people believe in absolute freedom. Many of us don't believe in God. Many of us don't believe in a God that you can know. Therefore, we believe in no god, or no god you can really know because we believe in freedom. If there was a god, and if there was a god we could know, who told us how to live, and who gave us the rules and the regulations, well, then we wouldn't be free. But because we believe in freedom and because we don't believe in the traditional views of God...we are free. But if we're free, we're all like Sisyphus."
Sisyphus was the mythical character who was caught leaking divine secrets to mortals. (Much like Edward Snowden) He was condemned to live a life where everyday he had to roll a heavy stone up a steep mountain only to find as he got almost to the top the stone would roll down to the bottom where the next day he must again roll it almost to the top only to see it roll inexorably back to the bottom and experience the whole cycle repeat over and over.
"... Hell is having to execute a pointless act from which nothing ever comes, except the need to do it again."
Tim Keller
