Could the meaning of life really be as simple as reproducing?

Question

When I was a young man a very old man told me that was the reason for life. No other reason. I thought he was bitter back then, now I kind of wonder if he's not right.

Answer 1

I always found the notion that there is no meaning of life an interesting one. I mean it isn't too hard to imagine. In an ever expanding universe with infinite possibilities, over time it was inevitable that life would come into existance at some point. And in our never ending quest to rationalize the universe we are scrambling to find a reason for our existence. It's impossible for us to accept that all life may essentially be just an accident.  

Answer 2

No, reproducing only makes the physical body.  To me the soul which uses the body to get around and experience the world is more important.  We know that the body will die.  But  what happens to all the knowledge and experience that is gained in a human life?  I don't have an exact answer, I ask to get one to think.  If it does go away like the body does, the suffering and pain that happens in life is a very cruel joke.  

Answer 3

If you think about how hard life is to achieve perhaps.  Out of all the orgasms experienced daily, how many do you think actually give meaning by reproduction and continuation of life on the genetic level?

Answer 4

It is the basic instinct of all like to reproduce. it is the one thing that drives every decision we make.

Answer 5

life is love

Answer 6

Nope, otherwise people would not wonder about meaning, justice, right, wrong, good, evil etc.  the only concerns would be food, power and s*x.

Here are my pre-conditions for my answer.

Just your willingness to search for that answer shows that there is almost a universal need for an answer. Why am I here etc. has been a question repeated again and again.  Many however will try to deny meaning because of the implied and explicit implications of there being an objective meaning. Others will hate the question and my answer for just those same reasons too!  Life having no meaning frees the individual from responsibility, from there actually being a right and wrong etc.  It "frees" the deniers to live as debauched a life as they want, just read up on Nietzche, he died with syphilis in a mental hospital.

Like the old man is convinced life without God is no more than chemical reactions and has no meaning, no true and false, no love just chemical reactions and a hopeless end.  That idea "frees" some to live the lifestyles they choose and gnaws away at the heart of most mankind who want justice, good to prevail and evil to be punished.   Like the atheist Aldus Huxley clealy said "I want this world not to have meaning becuse a meaningless world frees me to my own erotic and political pursuits."

Now C.S. Lewis was an atheist that declared God and Jesus were myths but after spending time with JRR Tolkien and looking at the evidence became a very strong Christian and pronouncer of the Gospel.  Here is what he says about life having meaning:

"If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning."

It was the philosopher Francis Bacon that said "A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion."

So given that you are willing to ask and (many many others) that there is an almost universal need for meaning, for there to be justice etc. then in my investigation there is the one philosophy that would best fit the heart of man as corrupt but offers the evidence and hope of justice is Christianity. We can see a good man cheat on his wife, steal etc. and by this see that man is fallen but those that honestly take Jesus into their hearts are changed and are men of great integrity and faith even though they may fail on occasion.  Jesus came to pay for our sins and to change our hearts and so that we may live better here, even persecuted, and better eternally!

John 10:10

"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly"

So my conclusion given these is that the Bible best answers these criteria and evidences and that in it's simplest definition, Life is a test. In this test the results are based on how we serve God, Love God and accept Jesus as Lord and do God's will we  will be judged. Now we must recognize that all have fallen short and sinned, have false pride etc. so we need to sincerely repent and those that reject God's love and Jesus' sacrifice will fail the test.  God has provided a method of passing based on the sacrifice of Jesus as seen in John 3 verses 14 thru 19. The rewards of those that do pass are based on doing God's will and living for God and accepting Jesus as Lord.  I Don't believe from reading the Bible that all will be equally rewarded and you would be fooled if you deny every action in our life will have a consequence for good or evil.  

In the end our purpose is found in what Jesus said, that he came to save the lost and by following him we are to have "peace that the world cannot", so that we may "live more abundantly" and so that we can help those we can such as the poor, the orphans, the widows and the sick. So you see that the meaning of life is the relationship with God and another part is the relationship with each other.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?sea...

Henry Drummond talks about love and our relationship with God in his book "The Greatest thing in the World", I think it is a good read and here is a link where it is available for free online.  

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16739

To summarize simply the meaning is found in worshipping God,  God's Love, Jesus' love and sacrifice and our love to others and that relationship.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?sea...

May you learn as well as ask, may you invesitgate truth as well as hearing an answer.

Bai

Answer 7

If science is right and our cognitive faculties or those things tha bring us beliefs arrived by accident then they can only be interested in the survival of themselves, what science calls Maxximized Reproduction fitness or what Richard Dawkins calls the selfish gene. These cannot beinterested in truth or thinking but its own survival. From this perspective the oldman is right. If the Bible is right then he is wrong becuase then cognitive faulcties can be relied upon to give us true beliefs.. Pro-creation is a consequence of the way we think so there is much more involved here than just having children because they are meaningless unless the term life is defined.

Answer 8

Indeed!

Answer 9

In evolutionary terms, yes.  To "succeed" you need to reproduce.  Philosophically, there's, possibly, a bit more to it.  

Answer 10

No. Compare your life and experiences to those gleamed by bacteria. They breed billions of times in just days, but what do they accomplish?

A man might only give rise to one offspring; however, the memories and dreams he cultivates in the course of his life mean so much more that his instinctual need to leave the world a progenitor.    

Answer 11

taking care of the living would be good and noble  

Answer 12

Well, considering that the world is overpopulated in some areas... I'd say that, if this were the purpose for life, we're doing an excellent job at it.

The meaning of life... it seems strange to me, though, that our ultimatum is having s*x and giving labor. Shouldn't the meaning of life be more... difficult?

And if Life is only available to create more Life, and that Life's purpose shall be to create more life...

I think Reproduction is part of the meaning, but not all of it. Reproduction gives life, which serves as a vehicle for other purposes.

Big things happen to us, the products. Couldn't these big things also be part of the equation? Don't they mean something, too?

That's a great question...

Answer 13

If you want to reduce humans to simplistic animals, yes. But humans are beyond simplistic animals because of our brains.  

Answer 14

is because life has no meaning, is our lord and God for some people.

i am not telling you (exactly) that that old man was wrong but is very very possible.

i also think that may life has different meanings for each person.

ask for the meaning of life is interesting but not absolute wright.

¿anyway, what did the old man told you?