Life is a pointless cycle

[Maximus_Power]

I have this coworker who loves inciting me to argue my faith.

According to him he believes that everything we observe has a cycle. Life has birth and decay and time has begging and end, space expands and contracts.

I can only argue that his universe is pointless and there could have just as easily been nothing and there is something, but thats basically all I can say to him. Any suggestions?

 

[Fauken]

According to him he believes that everything we observe has a cycle. Life has birth and decay and time has begging and end, space expands and contracts.

So does that mean that he will go from faithless to faithful?

 

[Dan_Defender]

Point out to him that from scientific observation, the universe has always expanded and keeps expanding. In fact it is in an accelerated expansion with no sign of slowing down. So no cycle, no ‘contraction’ there.

 

[1ke]

I have this coworker who loves inciting me to argue my faith.

There is an old saying, “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

You control your own behavior and choices. Make some different choices. Don’t get “incited” and don’t argue.

According to him he believes that everything we observe has a cycle.

Well that’s a pretty biblical observation so I’m not sure what your point is?

I can only argue that his universe is pointless

That doesn’t follow from his premise that the material world has observable cycles of change.

It clearly does, and yet it isn’t pointless.

What exactly are you trying to argue? I’m not really following you.

 

[Maximus_Power]

When you live a faithful Catholic life in today’s workforce you will almost always get incited.

Bottom line I’m trying to interject a need for God in his cycle theory.

Also I’m not following how everything has a cycle is a biblical idea? Arent heaven and Hell eternal?

 

[Matt241]

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: “To every thing there is a season”

Also: Topical Bible: Cycle

 

[ahs]

When you live a faithful Catholic life in today’s workforce you will almost always get incited.

Bottom line I’m trying to interject a need for God in his cycle theory.

Also I’m not following how everything has a cycle is a biblical idea? Arent heaven and Hell eternal?

Yes, you will be “attacked”, but YOU control whether you get “incited”. I get [stuff…expletive deleted] from people all the time at work for living out my faith (especially for having more than 2 children…GASP). But I don’t let myself get incited over it.

Anyway, if he’s made his mind, or at least thinks he has, then you’re spinning in mud to try to interject anything to him. Just live your faith, and let him see you live your faith…while you PRAY for him. 20 years from now, when he’s actually open to opinions, that will matter more to him than any arguments you make.
In the meantime, if you want to get his gears turning, you can ask him where the first atoms/molecules/whatever came from (that underwent the “Big Bang”…if he believes in that), or what cause the motion that caused the universe to move in the first place. Repetition/cycles had to begin somewhere, no?

Just about everything in the Bible applied not only to the time and place it was written, but to our lives today as well. It’s actually one of the beautiful things about Scripture…it’s timeless.

 

[1ke]

When you live a faithful Catholic life in today’s workforce you will almost always get incited.

I’ve been a faithful Catholic in the workforce for 28 years and have never been incited. I suggest you look at how it is you are getting incited and make some changes.

 

[blackforest]

I have this coworker who loves inciting me to argue my faith.

I have no bang-up comeback, (I can think on it a little), but kind of envy how your break room experiences are at least interesting and intellectually stimulating . . .

Signed,
Under-stimulated stay-at-home mom

 

[Beryllos]

there could have just as easily been nothing and there is something

Okay, that’s a start. There is existence. That is one of the arguments for God.

What else has your co-worker said? Is he coming from a materialist/atheist point of view? Or perhaps a disappointed believer? Is he getting his philosophy from the culture or media?

What I would suggest is that you pause, take a step back (figuratively speaking), and look at the bigger picture. What is he really looking for? How can you best serve him? Try to discern his spiritual needs. What is he lacking? What is he missing? How can you meet that need?

Be patient. You don’t have to think of a quick comeback. You don’t have to answer him today. Go home and think over his questions and remarks. Look up answers. Pray over it. Build your own faith first, and then, if it is appropriate, go and share it with him.

If you have answers, share them. If you don’t have answers, share your faith, hope, and love. Not necessarily by talking. As a wise man (St. Augustine?) once said, “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”

 

[guanophore]

I can only argue

Actually it seems you would be better off not arguing. What if you took the opposite approach, and affirmed him for his world view, and refused to contest it?

“I am glad you found a world view that works for you”, etc.
“It is great you can think so deeply about these things.”
"Yes I think you are right, that there is a cycle of life, and time has a beginning and end’

You could always invite him to come to CAF!

“Do you ever write posts or blogs about your ideas and post them online?”

 

[blackforest]

This is hard to articulate, but it’s really difficult to fathom all of those orderly cycles your friend cited and dismissing them as random and coincidental . . .

 

[Roguish]

[…] there could have just as easily been nothing and there is something

This is actually an extremely good argument. The fact that there is not nothing proves that there is a power that stands outside the universe, and that created it. Physics can only describe what happens inside the universe; but it can never describe why there is a universe in the first place.

I have this coworker who loves inciting me to argue my faith.

You’ll have to learn not to engage his taunts. He’s wrong, and you are right. Nevertheless it isn’t possible to convince this kind of person, because he’s not looking for the truth, he is only looking to cynically reject your arguments. I recommend you top trying to make him see the Catholic view of things, because it’s not healthy for you to try to convince someone who is basically out to deny the meaning of life.

 

[ColorMomma]

God has no beginning and no ending. He is the Alpha and the Omega.

 

[Lee1]

As St Thomas Aquinas once said “is that my toast?” By which of course he probably meant there had to be a first cause and that he couldn’t believe his luck that all this was for him!

Here we are, on a big round rock spinning at a thousand miles per hour and circuiting a glowing sun giving us just the right amount of light and warmth endlessly through time. One of many earths they posit, but all kept apart to prevent cross contamination? From a distance the world looks like a beautiful blue marble, and very silent, and empty. Get closer and you’ll see things, man made things, even closer and you’ll hear traffic, radios, TVs, even closer and you’ll hear a personal conversation, “hey, don’t you think that life is just a pointless cycle?”

 

[LeahPaz]

Life as we know it and in nature we observe cycles that perpetuate (for a time) and propel life to continue to exist, but what caused that life to begin? What will cause it to end? Jesus said, “I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the Beginning and the End.” Clearly, being eternal, he is outside of that cycle, he created time and space. For whatever reason, we need cycles in our life on earth. But I think it’s logical to consider what caused these cycles? It had to be something unbound by them.

I think cycles actually point to eternity in a way, and as we see limits in nature, limits to the natural cycles of life, that inevitably we will look to the eternal… and God is eternal.

 

[SunshineGrandma]

I think it’s great your coworker is wanting to engage you on a deeper level. As long as he is not doing you any harm, I would continue the dialogue.

I like to discuss suffering with people such as your coworker. It is something we all experience, young, old, Rich and poor. Nobody can avoid it. It is something we all have in common.

Redemptive suffering and the hope in an afterlife are what set Catholics apart from those who think life is a pointless cycle.

Share the good news!

 

[TheLittleLady]

Politics, sex and religion are not proper workplace conversation (unless you are a politician, a medical professional or working in a religious institution).

Best answer is “so, have you finished your TPS reports?” and then go back to work.

 

[TheLittleLady]

Same here.

 

[YoungCatholicGuy]

Yes everything has a beginning and an end.

But who caused time to begin, matter to exist, creatures to have life; God.

Scientists cannot go further back in time than the Big Bang. Who caused it? Something caused matter to suddenly exist.
God.