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For those who don’t know, Raison D’Etre means ‘reason for being.’ We should all have one, else what’s the point?

Here is mine:

I believe I am here in the first place because we have a God who created everything in the beginning, which eventually led to me. (There is simply TOO much complexity in practically everything for random evolution to be true - I don’t care how many years ‘they’ think the universe has been around)

There is a God
So. If we have a God, I have a decision to make: did He create me just to sit back and watch or does He have an active, vested interest in His creation? Okay. So think about the most complicated, impressive thing you’ve ever done. Did you care what happened to/with it when you had finished it?

That’s what I thought. Neither do I believe God created this world to just sit back and watch. He has a plan, a vested interest, and is actively involved.

He Interacts with His Creation
If God interacts with His creation, then there must be truth out there somewhere - and whether I like it or not I’m obligated to search for it and for Him (otherwise I’m just a selfish freeloader). This obviously leads me to the religions of the world. I need to study them and find out what is behind them. In my studies, only one stood out as truly different from the others. Only one was contrary to human intuition. That one was Christianity.

You see, every other religion has us reaching Heaven by our own merit. By leading a certain life here on earth, we are guaranteed a spot in Heaven. The problem with this is motivation. Take this example:

There are three brothers, the youngest of which has been handicapped from birth. Their father wants the two older brothers to take care of the younger one. The middle brother leads a very modest life, but spends as much time and money as he can spare helping out. The oldest brother becomes quite wealthy, but spends little time or effort on his youngest brother. Then the father becomes very ill and calls his two older brothers to him. He tells them that he will leave his home and property to the son who loves and cares for the youngest brother the most. Both sons want the inheritance, as their childhood home is beautiful beyond compare and incredibly valuable. The older brother then starts spending large amounts of money on the youngest and hires many caretakers for him while the middle son continues to give the little time and money he can afford. When the father dies, who will he give the inheritance to?

In the same way, should we be allowed into Heaven if we only did our good deeds so that we would? If Heaven is a place of complete purity, devoid of sin, where we are re-united with God, then we must become pure to enter it - else it would no longer be pure. In my way of thinking, an impure motivation for this reason would keep us from Heaven.

We cannot earn our way
We can’t live our entire lives without sinning, and even if we knew that was required to get into Heaven and managed to do it, our motivation would be a sin in itself. How then do we get into Heaven?

According to Christianity, all we have to do is believe that God sent Himself to earth in the form of Christ to die on a cross, taking the consequence on Himself for all the sins that any who believe in Him ever commit. That and follow His teaching (which in reality is simply evidence of the truth of the first).

This doesn’t mean we can’t mess up in the future, or won’t. It simply means that we continually strive to become more like Christ and trust that He will forgive us when we fail. The result is a transformation of our motivation.

Followed to its end, this also means that after living a completely deplorable life, someone could truly ask forgiveness on their deathbed and become pure. Many people hate this thought, but it is true. For those who say this is not fair, I would simply say this:

Take two people: one grows up in a wonderful, loving home, lives a very good life, and sins little. The other grows up in cruel poverty, never gets a break, and consequently does many bad things. They both only come to believe at the very end. Do you think it would be fair if only the first got into Heaven? Switch their backgrounds. How about now?

One reason we are taught not to judge is because we never know the whole story.

Raison D’Etre
So:

• We have a Creator
• He is actively involved in his creation
• There is truth somewhere
• We can’t earn our way to Heaven
• Christianity is the only religion that fits

Given these points, I am a Christian and I should lead a life that exemplifies that.

My raison d’etre therefore (both the reason I exist and the reason I do what I do) is Him.

~Shaun