Ever since I can remember, as young as a toddler, I questioned why I am here and where I was before I was born. These questions were never answered.

When we say good bye to someone in this life, is ever seeing them again only possible through Christ?

Are we bound by the sins our ancestors committed just like what is being described by the Old Testament? Do we inherit the blessings and burdens just like we inherit their genes? Do we have an ethical obligation to be close to them?

I am just rambling and I apologize if my questions are not making sense.

TrustDoe

Are you depressed?

I hope not.

It's just a recent event that makes me think about things that are normally not part of my daily thinking process.

There could be a 100 different answers to your question depending on someone's religious beliefs. My father is in the hospital depressed and was asking similar question. What recent events for you?

TrustDoe - are you really "just rambling" or do you really want to try to answer these questions?

If you really want to talk about these questions, I'll talk with you for a while and give you my perspective on them. What you think about or do witht the information is, of course, up to you.

TD,

I've seen both religious and non-religious answers to this.

FH will give you the Christian answer. There are others.

The Buddhist answer is that you are here to basically "end suffering".

Other religions have other answers.

If you are looking for other ideas, look around you.

You play a role in the lives of others in your life. As a father, your purpose is to raise your children, love them, provide for them. You offer them a role model, and give them a hero to look up to. Your strengths give them something to strive to be and build on, your weaknesses give them something to see you as human and fragile, all the more to love.

You have people in your life, your parents, your friends, who care for you and who look up to you. These people see things in you that you do not see yourself. It is often the case that we provide support to others when we are unaware of it - just our presence in their lives, our "being there", is support to them. This could be your "purpose", to be the loving support to someone near to you, to be the example of strength in crisis, to be the shoulder, to be the model of a leader.

As you pass through life, you do things for others. You opened the door for that lady at the office building, and don't know that it lifts her spirits. You picked up the book the old man dropped in the store, and don't know that he felt like the youth of today really weren't corrupted after all.

You may have rented an apartment once, and that meant that another person missed out on that apartment. That person had to rent in another complex, which had a pool, which that person happened to use on a Tuesday night, and on that particular Tuesday night another person also used it. Those two people met, and they found in one another the life's love they had always searched for. They are now married, 15 years.

You don't know this - or anything else you have done - because these are the little things your "purpose" here on Earth has been.

Some people's purpose is glaringly obvious. I wonder if that is easier, or harder? Others are called strongly to a purpose. The majority of us live our lives in a day to day manner, not truly knowing our purpose. We must trust that we have a purpose, and some of us seek a purpose. Perhaps you are at a point where you might wish to define one for yourself.

Sometimes a person's "purpose" is not meant to be in spotlights. Some people are born to live in greatness, in the headlines, while others - most of us in fact - are meant to perform miracles for one another in quiet and simple ways every day. We give to each other in ways that we can, by loving one another and giving kindness to each other every day. It is by walking in our lives on a path of righteousness and love that we serve the "purpose" of our lives.

If you are at a point to question purpose, it might be that you need a cause, or you might have one. Look to those less fortunate than you. It could be that there that you might find your purpose, in lifting them. Look to your friends and family, you may already be lifting them, and your purpose could be there. Look at your efforts each day, in the tasks you believe to be mundane, as they may actually be huge and necessary in the world, for that may be your purpose. Look to the things you do to help others each day, your purpose might be there. Look to what you have not yet done - you might find that your purpose is in tomorrow.

SB

I have found great consolation during a period of my life where I searched for Significance. This consolation began as I read, lucky dip fashion, at the beginning of the Book of Ecclesiastes. It reads: "Meaningless, meaningless everything is meaningless".

The conclusion of this book of scripture lifts the burden of discovering personal significance to that of dealing with my immediate responsibilities. I will not rob you of the pleasure of that revelation but rather invite you to read it for yourself.

I must stress that this teaching flies in the face of present world philosophy to satisfy ones-self. I testify that I am at peace, but you are accountable for your own study and evaluations. Do not check your brains in when conducting a study!

Schoolbus is correct, I will give the "Christian" answer, but it's really God's answer to your questions.

From God's perspective, as He has revealed it to us in His Word, there are only two answers to your questions, as well as the third question you implied in asking about those who have died, "where will I be after my time on this earth is ended?".

The "short answer" about "purpose," as it applies to our lives is very simple, and as I said previously, there are only two potential answers:

1. God's purpose FOR us.

2. Our purpose, of our own choosing, regardless of God's purpose.

Behind that issue of "purpose" is the issue of TRUTH, and who determines WHAT "truth" is in actuality. Inherent in that issue is the issue of "authority," of "absolute truth" regardless of any human opinion.

So whether or not anyone ever "answered" your opening questions is possible. Also just as possible is that you might not have "liked" the answers. Regardless, as I said in my first post to you, if you really want to seek answers to these questions I will share with you my perspective on the answers and you will have to decide if they "are" the answers you have been seeking.

God bless.

May I suggest Monty Python's The Meaning of Life?

If that movie doesn't get you laughing out of a depression, nothing will.

Thank you all for the responses.

The above matters are currently not on my mind anymore. I'll leave it at that for now.