Quote: Asking Why Reveals a World of Purpose

Here's a great quote on the implications of asking "why?" with respect to suffering and evil in the world.

The problem of evil assumes the existence of a world-
purpose. What, we are really asking, is the purpose of
suffering? It seems purposeless. Our question of the why of
evil assumes the view that the world has a purpose, and what
we want to know is how suffering fits into and advances this
purpose. The modern view is that suffering has no purpose because nothing that happens has any purpose: the world is run by causes, not by purposes.

... W. T. Stace (b.1886), Religion and the Modern Mind
[1953]

I think this is extremely insightful. By asking the very question we see the "built-in" need to live life according to a purpose and to explain life in light of a purpose. The materialists, who say we are no more than evolved matter... chemicals, cells, etcetera, might argue that religion, myth or a sense of purpose are mere neurological processes that evolved to help ensure the survival of the species.

But that seems like a huge "leap" of an explanation for a near universal phenomenon. Often, the simplest answer is the best. And that is that we are here for a purpose. Life and death and suffering have a purpose. And that can't be explained without God.

Think on it.