The Purpose of Life?

Here's a refuge of theists; Life must have a purpose and that purpose is determined by 'god'. 'God' had a purpose for creating us so therefore we must live according to 'god's' ineffable plan. How dreadful and depressing a dreary it must be for an atheist to live a life without purpose. A purposeless life; how awful so therefore: god.

 

The entire medieval vocabulary for 'god' is seriously off-putting. (i.e. the King of Heaven, Lord of Lords, Lord god, Lord G-zus, My Sweet Lord, etc) Gack! The Sumerians were using this sort of language revering gods and kings way back before the Bobble. My republican, civil-rights up-bringing in a democratic society rebels at the notion of a nobility - a higher power(!) - which is beyond our reach, beyond our knowledge and beyond our understanding. It is not simply a matter of ego. It is a matter of societal progress. The use of kings, lords, princes and potentates is an anachronistic one. Outmoded and outdated.

 

 I do not serve a 'lord'. The American Revolution was based on that premise. The French Revolution was based on that. All Revolutions (English, Chinese, Russian, etc.) were based on the over-throw of a monarchy or feudal system. Sometimes, the revolution just replaced one oppressor with another but the power structure was altered. The Protestant Revolution was propelled by the revulsion against the corruption of the Papacy; Luther nailed up his thesis against the bureaucracy of Rome and off we go! Revolution! Gotta Revolution. Revolution Number 9.

You say you want a revolution…

 

The idea that one is assigned a purpose for life by the very nature of god's  ineffable plan for creation is repulsive to me. Much as being born in the family of a man who thatches or grows barley or builds walls for the Lord requires one to be a thatcher, a barley farmer or a carriage-maker as the assigned purpose for your life. That's a feudal mode of thinking. Where would 'personal liberty' gibe with such a plan? An individual makes his or her own way. Isn't that part of the Christians palaver about 'Free Will'? 

 

Yet, the theist lives delightfully in the service of a lord with a plan. Under penalty of eternal damnation in a lake of fire, don't forget. Be servile to the lord or get the lash. Small wonder that so many god-fearing folk see nothing wrong with slavery; servility is at the core of their 'Belief'. One religion is actually named 'Submission' after all. You gotta serve somebody? Naw. You don't. Serving the noble yutz on his stallion is despicable enough, being the servant of an insubstantial entity outside space and time? Get out of here with that servile mentality.

 

So, the purpose assigned to each of us by 'god' is servility to that god; a 'god-lord' that is unknowable and unfathomable? That's the grand purpose? Part of the ineffable plan?

 

Naw...

 

The Revolutions aforementioned didn't go far enough. The King is dead.  What need we of a King? Or a god?