Is Life Just A Game?
A popular view about life is that it is “just a game”. We have one life (YOLO) and we should make the most of it. However, is life just a game? This belief ignores or denies the supernatural and any form of Divine accountability. Why would there be? When you play a game you either win or lose, and then you move on to the next game, and then you eventually die. The formula is simple; believing life is just a game equals no ultimate purpose and value. Not only does it make life ludicrous but it also represents a very bleak outlook on our existence. As this article is going to explain, this conclusion is a result of thinking rationally and logically about the implications of thinking that life is just for frivolous play.
IMAGINE YOU WAKE UP IN A HUGE FACTORY THAT YOU’VE NEVER BEEN IN BEFORE. YOU SEE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WORKING AWAY, AND ALL THE DOORS AND WINDOWS ARE SHUT AND SEALED OFF.
People work, sleep, and spend all their time inside this factory. In this situation, what would you think to yourself? “Now I’m here I might as well join in with everyone else and play the game of life,” or would you think, “How did I get here? What lies outside the factory? Why have I been put here?” This example is like our existence here on earth. We human beings have been thrown into existence without any choice, so questions such as Where did I come from? What am I doing here? and Where am I going after I die? keep popping up in our minds. We forget these basic questions in our daily routines, but ignoring them will not make them go away.
The answers such as the meaning of life should be left to philosophers as the question related to anatomy will be left to the scientists. Often, philosophers, in the garb of religious preachers can rob people of their faith by preaching them ‘meaning of life and sometimes people give up their material possessions because the preacher thinks it is the right thing to do. The cult of ‘secret knowledge’ also grows when people spend time searching answers for to such questions. Such cults give rise to clergy that leads to corruption, as anywhere concentration of power would.
As the Qur’an eloquently explains,
“There truly are signs in the creation of the heavens and earth, and in the alternation of night and day, for those with understanding, who remember God standing, sitting, and lying down, who reflect on the creation of the heavens and earth: “Our Lord! You have not created all this without purpose …”. Chapter 3 Verses 190 – 191.
Purpose gives us that deeper meaning. So we may now ask, what is our purpose?
The most important question in life is ‘Why are we here?’
And I did not create the jinn and humankind except to worship Me… [Qur’anChapterChapter 51 Verses 56-58]
“And We did not create the heaven and the earth and whatever is between them as a game. If We wished to take a pastime, We would have taken it by Ourselves, if We were to do that at all”
(Qur’an Chapter 21 Verses 16-17)
“Do you think that We created you for nothing and that you will not be returned to Us? The true Sovereign is too exalted above that”
(Qur’an Chapter 23 Verses 115-116)