The speaker is a science teacher at a Junior College. This question seems very simple and we seem to have an answer because we’re alive. We know if something is dead or alive. For those of us with children in primary school, in primary school science, they need to differentiate live and death. As parents, if we’re teaching our child, we also need to know the answer. What are the characteristics of living things to a PSLE student?

The first is living things need air, food, and water. Living things can grow, living things can move, can respond to changes in the environment and lastly, living things will die. It seems easy - we know what is living and what is a non-living thing. Funnily, the speaker asked this question to Biology and A-level Teachers. He asked if this definition was clear to differentiate between living and non-living things and he specially brought up the example of viruses (if viruses were living or non-living things). He was answered, “Sorry this is not straightforward.”

Although the virus can reproduce, it requires a third party cell to reproduce. Viruses can lay dormant for a long time and when it attaches itself to a living cell, it can still reproduce. So whether it’s alive or not is hard to define.

The speaker went on to read websites on the definition of living things by scientists and he reasoned that especially regarding viruses, there are 2 types. Whether a virus is living or not depends on what definition of living things you subscribe to. As he looked deeper into this question, he realises it’s not as simple as we thought it is. There’s no single undisputed definition of what a living thing can be.

When the speaker thought about this, he realised that sometimes in life there are questions we thought we had the answer to but don’t know the answer. Very often it may be because we overlook the significance of this question thinking we already know the answer or because the pace of our lives is so fast and we have to attend to too much. If you’re in the middle-aged, you’ll have to take care of aging parents and you have children to take care of. Perhaps you still have a career that stresses you out.

We are so busy we don’t have the chance to slow ourselves down to think deeper into such questions. Today, the speaker hopes that we can slow down on our steps and ponder on these important questions in life. Questions about life which have significance to us are things we should spend time thinking about. The speaker won’t talk about what is life directly but answer peripheral questions to get a clear picture of what life is. These peripheral questions are important and fundamental questions human beings should ask ourselves.

If there is something called life, how did life originate? Again if you come from the angle of science, people will say it’s evolution. The complex life you see today comes from a single organism that becomes a complex organism you see today. But if you push the argument further and if this comes from this and this, what caused life to start in the first place? How did life on earth start? Science has no direct answer but a couple of possible theories. One example often brought up is an experiment in the 1950s. There were 2 chemists, Stanley Miller, and Harold Urey, and they thought that in the early stage of the earth there were gases like methane, hydrogen, oxygen, and ammonia (Miller-Urey experiment). After that, they had these gases and mixed them into different amounts of composition, used electrical charge and somehow these gases became amino acids which they claimed were the building blocks of proteins and is therefore how life originated from. But most scientists today reckon that’s not how it happened but that in the 1950s it could be lightning strikes that caused a protein to form and that’s how life came about.

Nowadays if you read the papers there are multiple headlines and now there are multiple directions they’re trying to move toward. They’re trying to show that life can be created from scratch with basic building blocks. But these headlines say, “artificial life created”. If the article comes from a more objective source, they would often put “artificial life created” with the quotation marks (“ ”). When they show this, the way they do it is they will try to build from basic building blocks (things that can be fit into a cell) and some of them have been able to get these artificial cells to replicate for themselves.

The reality is that they’re still very far away from creating what is known as a true living cell today. If one day these scientists were to create from scratch basic building blocks and artificial life to reproduce itself, what does it tell us? Does it tell us that by some random arrangement, somehow life will come together to become a life? The speaker thinks that the reverse is true - If one day scientists can create artificial life, it would show that they would have used intelligence to use basic building blocks to make a functional living being. It’s not a random kind of thing, but by intelligence design (by a creator who created this). This is a long way ahead into the future because currently, they’re far from it. If they’re able to make an alive cell, they’re still super far off from making such a complex organism as us. But the point is, even if they’re successful, it requires human time to create it if they’re able to do it, and it’s credited to their intelligence. If life was created and needs an intelligent creator to create life, who is this creator? That’s a question we have to answer and the Bible gives us an answer.

We turn to Hebrews 3:4;

‘For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. ‘

Here the Bible explains that if you look at a house, an architect or a group of people would have designed it and so a house is there now. If you look at the whole of the universe, the fact that we live on this earth and this earth which is sufficiently far from us; not to far not to close and just the right temperature for us to have life, it tells us there’s an intelligent creator.

This creator is God, who creates all things. How intelligent is this God? The speaker was listening to a podcast this morning. We know that mosquitoes are pests to us. However, mosquitoes have something very special about them, which is that when they’re sucking your blood, you don’t feel the puncture on your skin and that blood is being sucked out of you. Only after they leave, then you know that you were bitten. It’s this special characteristic that scientists from Japan and India want to mimic to make injections painless for us. Humans have to learn something from nature that has been doing for some time. These Indians and Japanese made microneedles so that they could be injected and people won’t feel pain for beneficial medical features. What’s important that nature has designed something for such a long time already and now humans have to learn from it. Because the One who created nature is SUPER intelligent! He is God. He knows all things. Therefore He created these things in these ways. It’s God who has created the world and not only did He create the world, He created life. If you think about God creating life, especially humans, then there’ll be certain things in the Bible people won’t know. But the creator who made the universe and mankind know how human bodies would behave and so He would instruct the humans who didn’t know about these certain instructions which would sound weird.

For example, in Genesis 17:12;

‘He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. ‘

God gave Abraham a very strange instruction and He wanted Abraham to circumcise babies who were 8 days old. If we are not aware of the science behind this, we would think it’s cruel to do to such a young infant to cut off a part of the skin of the body. About 4000 years later, they realised there’s a scientific reason as to why God asked for it to be done on the 8th day. It’s about 1935 when a doctor proposed that there is something called Vitamin K that is produced by the liver. Vitamin K is responsible for creating prothrombin which is meant to help blood coagulate. But one thing they discovered is that when the child reached 8 days old, somehow the body produces the most amount of blood clotting factor in the body. If one were to perform a minor operation, it would be on the day with the most blood clotting factor so there would be less blood loss. After the 8th day, the blood-clotting factor would drop to the normal level and so the 8th day is when the blood clotting factor is more than 100% of the entire person’s life.

How did someone 4000 years ago know about this? The person who recorded this [in the Bible] wouldn’t have known about this but God who is the creator of the universe, God who created the human body, knows what is happening in our body and hence 4000 years ago He revealed to these people to give the command. This points to us that if we want to talk about who is the originator of life, there is this intelligent being who has created all things. We will know that He is the originator of life by looking at the creation, the universe, and the fact that we’re living on a planet suitable for us.

We go on to the second question: What is human life then? God created all things, but did He make human beings special? We mentioned earlier about how simple things are like, but human beings are so complex. This is what the Bible says about human life. In Genesis 1:26-27;

26 ‘Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ‘

Here when God described the creation of men, it was special in that we are created in the image of God. We are put over charge of the animals and that’s something for us to think about. Human life is separate from animal life. If you compare, a human’s life is more precious than animal life. Some would say that animal life is as important as human life, and it’s strange because if you think about it, plants are also living things. Those who say that animals life is equal to human and so shouldn’t slaughter animals would very easily go to slaughter plants. There’s a difference between animals and plants and that’s what they reckon. But as Christians, we believe that humans are more important than animals. If we read Genesis 2:7;

‘And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.’

Only humankind has this special treatment where God breathed into the nostrils of the man. Human life is nobler than any other living thing on earth. Because we are created in God’s image because God breathed directly into us and hence we became human beings. 2 points differentiate us between every living thing on earth.

First, as humans, we have a conscience. The Bible will tell us this as well. All humans are born with a conscience. There’s a moral compass that tells us when we’re doing something right or wrong. If we look at studies by scientists, they look at infants from 3 months old and above and even 3 months old infants have this notion of what is right and wrong. One such experiment is that a 3-6 months old infant uses a puppet to depict something. These puppets are geometrical shapes and they’ll (studiers) show a puppet helping another puppet or a puppet which will hinder another puppet. For example, a red ball going down the hill is held by a yellow triangle or is pushed down by a green square. After they showed this example, most infants would reach for the puppet which helped the other puppet. For the 3 month toddler which can’t reach out for themselves, they studied on where he would look at. Somehow this infant would focus on the puppet which helped than hindered.

Who taught these little children to know what is right and wrong? To have this sense of compassion? That something helping something is good and something hindering something is bad? It’s the conscience that is placed in human beings. Think about it; we’re all innately designed to know what’s right and wrong but this conscience is something in our life that would deteriorate and become less sensitive. If you tell a lie you’ll feel very bad but after a few times, you’ll think nothing of it. Our conscience can be corrupted and likely will be corrupted but the fact that we have a conscience tells us that our life is special and God has put in us this sense of what is right and wrong. It tells us what is unjust and what is unfair.

Another thing God has put in our hearts is the concept of eternity. In Ecclesiastes 3:11;

‘He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.’

God has placed in our hearts eternity. The fact is that no one lives forever and no one has experienced eternity. Yet we have this concept of forever and often people have this longing to make himself last forever. Whether it is literally trying to live forever [like 秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huang)
who wanted to live forever (长生不老) and ate mercury pills which ended up becoming poisoning] or making a good name for themselves to last in history. Somehow in eternity, there is a longing for eternal life and animals probably won’t have such thinking. Humans are special and we have the conscience to know what’s right and wrong and also the idea of eternal life for something to last forever. Sometimes, these two things are against each other because “conscience tells me I’m doing something wrong so I can’t live forever”.

We go on to the final question. The first question “If there is something called life, how did life originate?” we say it’s God, this intelligent creator who started life. The second question, human life is very different from animals and plants beyond the fact that we are complex organisms, we have a moral compass and a natural feeling of eternity and we long for it.

But what is the purpose of human life then? How should we be leading our lives today? This is a question many philosophers have been asking and the Bible also has this wise man who tried to attempt this answer. This wise man is where we got the saying, “as wise as Solomon”. He tried to find out what a person should be doing in this life and he tried every single thing a person could do. Let us look at a few examples of what he has done.

In Ecclesiastes 1:13-14;

13 ‘And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised.
14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.’

v13 tells us in his wisdom he tried to find out and in v14 he concluded that everything a person tries to do is meaningless. Grasping of the wind means that the wind feels like there’s something there but when you try to catch it, it’s not there and there’s nothing to catch. It’s like vanity and emptiness one of the things he tried to do is in v16-18;

16 ‘I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.”
17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.’

Here Solomon’s first experience is to look at wisdom and knowledge. He wanted to know if gaining wisdom knowledge would be the best thing a person should do in life. Some scholars in the world live to gain knowledge and live for nothing but go around different places to publish paper after paper. Solomon also tried foolishness, the opposite of wisdom. Some think that fools are better because they don’t know they suffer things in the world. But having tried both extremes, knowledge, and wisdom, and foolishness, he felt thin at the end it’s still the grasping of the wind. He would say that there is meaning and use in wisdom but beyond, it’s still meaningless ultimately.

In Ecclesiastes 2:1-3;

1 ‘I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity.
2 I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”
3 I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.’

These verses tell us that Solomon started to experience with myrrh, which is partying and enjoyment. In v3 he says that he was able to control himself. If we drink too much, the morning would be in huge pain (hangover). But somehow he was able to balance himself so that he would enjoy the effects of alcohol and not feel the pain. If we translate it into today’s context, it could even be someone who engages in the use of drugs but not to the extent of harming himself. All of these, Solomon experimented with, but did he find the answer there? The answer is no again, and it’s grappling off the wind. In v4-9 you’ll see the successes, wealth power and authority Solomon obtained;

4 ‘I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards.
6 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
7 I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me.
8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds.
9 So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.’

Is the goal of life to achieve status, power, wealth, and perhaps succeed in projects? To conclude, Solomon tried all things. Let’s read v10-11;

10 ‘Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.
11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.’

For a man who had all things in life, all the successes one can have, (do you know he had 1000 wives, and the amount of gold he had in tributes, would be trillions of dollars in today’s terms?), he enjoyed himself to the fullest but in all these things he tried to do, he couldn’t find the answer to what men should do. All of it is because there is death waiting for a person. If you read v15-17;

15 ‘So I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, It also happens to me, And why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart, “This also is vanity.”
16 For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool!
17 Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.’

He realises that at the end of the day, death is the end of all life. Just as we started earlier with the definition of human life for PSLE, it is that human life will die. And if human life is bound to end in death, what is the purpose of life right now? It’s not going after knowledge or wisdom, or to be successful in life and to be able to enjoy all things in life, or to be living for yourself as these will pass away in time. When death comes, all will end. So Solomon’s conclusion that a human’s goal in his life is to fear God and keep His commandments. If you want to find the answer to life, the answer is that the purpose of life is so that we can find God and fear Him.

There is a man called Paul who also preached the same thing. In Acts 17:24-27;

24 ‘“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.
25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; ‘

Paul also mentions that God is the creator of life and He created all things. He created heaven and earth so we can dwell in it. He gave to us life. This life is special and is different from animals’. What is our purpose in life? Paul ends off in v27 and he closes that God is not far from us. If you can find God, who is the originator of life, you will be able to receive what He planned for you which is eternal life. We have in our hearts this eternal life but we can’t see it for ourselves. Our conscience is not clear but if we can find God and believe in Him and we urge our friends to continue finding out, once you have done all of these, you’ll be able to receive eternal life.

We turn to John 3:16 to end off;

‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ‘

God’s will for His children is that we can find Him, live in Him so that we can receive this eternity that has already been placed in our hearts. This is especially true because all of us will one day face death. Death does not come to the old only. The speaker remembers his first sense of death when he was 7 when his grandfather passed away. He didn’t tell his parents about this but he thought: “what if my parents died too?” His grandfather was in his 70s. The next time was when he was 13 years old. They had PE class and they were told to do forward and backward rolls. This classmate of his went on to continue these rolls at home in his bed but unfortunately, he fell off the bed and broke his arm. Breaking the arm may be common for the young and would normally heal easily. But on the operating table, he passed. This left an impression - because death will come to anyone. But are you ready for this? What can you do? If you’re able to grasp a hold on the originator of life, you can believe in Him and you’ll have the hope of eternal life.

524: Reach Out to Jesus

The speaker apologises for ending off with such a sad note, but the reality is that we all plan for it [death]. Many of us have bought insurance so we can prepare for our loved ones when we’re not around. But have you thought about what happens after? Don’t you have this nagging feeling in your head that there is a thing called an eternity? If you believe in Jesus and can hold fast to Him, you may be able to receive eternal life. We invite you to join us with more services to learn.