Does life have any meaning ? By John Blanchard EP Books, 2018 81 pages £4.99 ISBN 978 1 783 972 272
The introduction to this short book begins with a story – a policeman was patrolling one of London’s bridges over the River Thames when he saw a man climbing on to the railings. Pulling him back, the policeman asked him what he was doing. The man replied, “I am going to drown myself because there is nothing worth living for.”
The policeman gradually calmed him down, then said, “Let’s talk about this. Tell me exactly why you feel that life has no meaning” and when they had talked together for ten minutes they both jumped in…
Whether the story gets to you or not depends on whether your outlook on life is basically that of a realist or a cynic. (for some it might be a mixture of the two) Yet the story does point up the question in the book’s title – Does life have any meaning ?
John Blanchard is a Christian apologist. He defends the Christian faith as being entirely reasonable and credible – it fits the facts of reality as we see it every day. Moreover it is a liveable faith, a necessary and practical adjunct to accompany the theory.
The purpose of this book is to defend the Christian faith against those who either deny its truth, or who just sink in a well of despair or who just can’t be bothered and wallow in apathy and disinterest
In 11 chapters and 81 pages the author predictably takes on the might of scientists like Charles Darwin, Richard Dawkins Stephen Jay Gould, Peter Atkins and Stephen Hawking. On the other side he also frequently cites the wisdom of CS Lewis, St Paul and Jesus. Indeed, barely a page passes without some reference to contemporary or historic persons who have something pertinent to say – from Cicero ,thus ‘What could be more clear or obvious when we look up at the sky and contemplate the heavens than that there is some divinity or superior intelligence ?’
And Cicero was not a Christian !
Significant contemporary quotes come from the likes of John Lennox and Francis Collins and many others of like mind. One might rightly observe that the force of the arguments put forward by the author is powerfully underwritten by direct quotes from both sides of the opposing views – those for belief in a divine creator and those who reject it.
In the closing chapters of this brief dip into one of the fundamental questions troubling the mind of humankind,
John Blanchard presents the case for finding meaning in belief, quoting among others Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, and philosopher who wrote, ‘There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person that cannot be filled by any created thing but only by God, the Creator’.
This book does more than shore up the rationale for finding significant meaning through faith on the part of believers, it also presents the gospel for those who either have doubts or who do not believe for any reason.
The author is to be lauded for providing a persuasive case for people to accept the credible and life-enhancing impetus found in the Christian faith which gives purpose, meaning and direction rather than the emptiness or even hopelessness that may be found on the other side of the coin.
Raymond Wilson