An issue of the highly regarded science magazine New Scientist asked several basic philosophical questions and attempted to give answers from a strictly scientific point of view. One of the questions was “What is the meaning of life?”

In trying to answer about the meaning of life, the author begins with a bleak reality:

The harsh answer is “it has none.” Your life may feel like a big deal to you, but it’s actually a random blip of matter and energy in an uncaring and impersonal universe. When it ends, a few people will remember you for a while, but they will die too. Even if you make the history books, your contribution will soon be forgotten. Humans will go extinct; Earth and the sun will be destroyed. Eventually the universe itself will end. Against this appalling reality, how can a human life have any real meaning?

Possible Preaching Angle: Life without God is meaningless, as this answer makes abundantly clear. Science has provided us with helpful technology and useful inventions, but it is unable to answer the deepest needs of the human soul.

Source: Graham Lawton, “What Is the Meaning of Life?” New Scientist (9-3-16)