Why the hell does there have to be a point in existence....

[MilesAbbott]

Do you want to know the meaning of life, the supposedly unanswerable question? I have the answer, by the grace of God.

The purpose of life is not to find meaning, at least not in the traditional sense. Are you looking to help people, to be a great politician, a musician, or perhaps just a man reaping wheat at harvest time? These things are meaningless. The meaning of life is a bit of a misdirected question; it is not meaning that we are meant to find, but rather to experience something for our education, so to speak.

The meaning of life is to discover and know the difference between good and evil, and to understand that our existences are in total, in every single aspect down to the smallest of details, determined by God.

This is explained from the beginning of the Bible. Adam and Eve partook of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, becoming like God in knowing the difference, but lacking the means to be good and not evil. This is the process by which the clay (us) is formed into the image of God, through the fire that is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Why does evil exist? So that we might be chastised, corrected from our sinful natures so that we know that there is nothing good in us, and that we might depend on God to provide us with righteousness. No matter how good you think you are, I assure you that you are not; you are evil, no ifs ands or buts about it.

Colossians 1:17
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

ALL things. If you've led a life that might be considered superior to others, it is by His grace and that alone. Everything that is good comes from God; likewise, everything evil. But the evil will always serve to chastise us, to correct us from our sins and drive us towards repentance, both in this life and the next. In the end, ALL will be saved, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

[Baruch]

Besides the problem of the Bible not being very accurate ... the interpretation of inspired verses is tricky.  Colossians 1:17 is inspired, but usually mis- understood.  This verse validates pantheism/panentheism ... not standard Christian theology ... which sees thru a glass ... darkly (to quote Paul again).

[facebook164]

"Purpose" has several meanings.  The biological purpose of all creatures is to compete for food and sex.  Hope you are getting some ;-)  There is a continuum between apes and humans ... our behavior is simply more complex (at least in biology, but not in theology).

There isnt such a thing as "biological purpose".

[pr126]

There isnt such a thing as "biological purpose".

There is.
First and foremost is to reproduce. That applies to all lifeforms without exception.

[doorknob]

The short answer to the op is there doesn't

It's human nature I suppose to project our selves onto the universe. We find meaning in things therefor there must be a meaning in everything assumption.

I think some people find it depressing if there is no meaning to life but really I don't care if my life has meaning or not. I'm just living every day to the fullest so that when I die I can die with out regrets.

The other answer is that you give meaning to your own life. Meaning of life is subjective just like morality and virtually every other thing in life.

[trdsf]

Purpose?  No, there isn't one beyond the ones we make for ourselves.  We're just a byproduct of the universe, not the point of the universe.

As for why people think there is a purpose and a point, I can do no better than reference a parable by Douglas Adams:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8mJr4c66bs

[Baruch]

I liked the parable.  And the intention, of inducing people to be less egotistical ... is laudatory ... we certainly don't want to treat people like puddles.  So yes, Mr Adams acknowledges Aristotle ... and the four causes ... intention fits Final Cause and Efficient Cause.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_causes

Materialists of course only acknowledge the Material Cause and Formal Cause.

[facebook164]

There is.
First and foremost is to reproduce. That applies to all lifeforms without exception.

No. Purpose requires intention.

[Shiranu]

Why does there have to be a point in existence?

Short answer; Science and evolution. We are wired to see patterns... find meanings... even where there are none. This has mostly been an evolutionary advantage but it does have it's downsides as well.

[aitm]

  And I wasn't expressing egotism,

Oh bullshit, my first response was to your masturbating that humanity has some effect on the universe and your response to mine was that a fucking butterfly controls the weather. Get over yourself and your piss ant god. We are exactly what we are. To the universe, we are nothing, to our solar system we are nothing. To our earth we are nothing. To ourselves we are important only among those whom we directly effect, to the rest of the people of the earth we are nothing. To the vast creatures of the earth we are nothing.

Enjoy life, there is no reason to stick your dick out in the wind and pretend you are some special whack job, though no doubt you are "special".

[Sylar]

Point of our existence? The survival of our species, plain and simple.

[Baruch]

Oh bullshit, my first response was to your masturbating that humanity has some effect on the universe and your response to mine was that a fucking butterfly controls the weather. Get over yourself and your piss ant god. We are exactly what we are. To the universe, we are nothing, to our solar system we are nothing. To our earth we are nothing. To ourselves we are important only among those whom we directly effect, to the rest of the people of the earth we are nothing. To the vast creatures of the earth we are nothing.

Enjoy life, there is no reason to stick your dick out in the wind and pretend you are some special whack job, though no doubt you are "special".

I picked up my breakfast ... so I do effect the universe.  But I don't affect it.  But Gaia isn't too far from reality, unless you want to kill the ecology to prove that inanimate matter is boss.  Then life can evolve from bacteria on up again.  And chaos science is science ... so what woo woo do you rely on?  The butterfly doesn't deliberately control the weather, it is an unavoidable secondary effect.  But if a butterfly can do that, then how much, as an unavoidable secondary effect ... can I control the weather?  Usually thru carbon emissions ... smell my flatulence!  Or are you stuck in Newtonian determinism and absolutism?  And you are correct ... since microbes are the dominant species ... we do mean a lot to them ... as hosts etc.  You are very important to the survival of escheria ecoli ... so don't overcook your chicken ... speciesist ;-)

[Baruch]

Point of our existence? The survival of our species, plain and simple.

But what happens when the survival of the individual is contrary to the survival of the species and vice versa?  You going to generously sacrifice yourself, or run for President?

[SGOS]

Point of our existence? The survival of our species, plain and simple.

"Point (or purpose) of our existence" invites a fallacy.  What we need to do is define the meaning of "purpose."  It can mean "the intention."  It can also mean "what something does."  You might ask a question about biology along the lines of, "What is the purpose of the heart?"  Here you understand that it means "what something does," and in this case, you are not implying the heart has an intention to pump blood.  It simply pumps blood.  No foul has been committed.

But when "the purpose of existence" is posed in religious context, it usually means, "What was the intention of the creator?  What purpose did he endow mankind with?"  A penalty flag goes down; A foul has been committed: "Fallacy of Begging the Question!:  Five yard penalty."  <The referee signals to the downs keeper by executing the face palm gesture>

The design of the question is intended to trick the responder into accepting that existence has a purpose.  An unsupported assumption, posing as an answer already hidden in the question, setting a trap for further (and ironically "pointless") discussion about the irrelevant answer which is presupposed, "If a creator didn't give us a purpose, then who did?"

[Sylar]

But what happens when the survival of the individual is contrary to the survival of the species and vice versa?  You going to generously sacrifice yourself, or run for President?

In theory, the answer is yes.  And ultimately, on a much smaller scale, we do sacrifice ourselves for the sake of our families and loved ones, and their continuity, should they be in immediate danger. So is the case for modern armies.

Is it the survival of the species? Not exactly, but the notion of individual sacrifice for greater good is still there. And what better motivator for individual sacrifice would there be, than the continued existence of our species?