If God does not exist; if the human person’s soul is not immortal; if all he or she ever loved and achieved ends in the grave; if, after death, his or her consciousness does not survive in another world, then — to borrow a phrase from Shakespeare — “life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Then the biblical author is also right: “‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless'” (Ecclesiastes 1:2, NIV).
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