Meaning in a Universe with God vs. Conditions in a Universe without God

 

Meaning in a Universe with God vs. Conditions in a Universe without God

Ps 145:8-9 "The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love"

Titus 2:11 "The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people"

Rom 2:11 "For God shows no partiality"

Ps 97:2 "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne"

James 5:11 "The Lord is full of compassion and mercy"

Heb 10:23 "For he who promised is faithful"

Exod 3:14 "I AM WHO I AM"

Rom 2:4 "God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance"

Acts 17:27-28 "God... is not far from each one of us... In him we live and move and have our being"

2 Pet 3:9 "The Lord... is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance"

 

God's Attributes	Meaning in a Universe with God	Conditions in a Universe without God	Possible Consequences	Examples & Applications	Relevant Scripture
The One God	Universe has unified design and purpose	Lack of unity and ultimate authority	Morality and truth become fragmented and relative	Postmodern relativism of truth	Deut 6:4 "The LORD our God is one LORD" Isa 45:5-6 "I am the LORD, and there is no other"
Merciful God	Hope and comfort in difficult circumstances	Suffering lacks ultimate meaning and consolation	Lack of transcendent support in facing suffering	Limited consolation of humanism	2 Cor 1:3 "The Father of mercies and God of all comfort"
Living God	Time and history have transcendent meaning	Time is merely a physical phenomenon	Temporality of life cannot be transcended	Universal human longing for eternity	Ps 90:2 "From everlasting to everlasting, you are God" 1 Tim 1:17 "The King eternal, immortal, invisible"
Faithful and Reliable God	Universal operations have guarantee and reliability	No ultimate guarantee for universal laws	Lack of ultimate confidence in the future	Scientific research based on reliability of natural laws	Lam 3:22-23 "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end"
Good God	Goodness has objective source and standard	Good and evil become subjective or relative concepts	Moral judgments lack objective foundation	Moral dilemmas of cultural relativism	Ps 119:68 "You are good and do good" James 1:17 "Every good gift is from above"
Gracious God	Grace transcends fairness and desert	Only cause-effect relationships, no non-rational favor	Human relationships tend toward utilitarian calculation	Social Darwinism's "survival of the fittest"	Eph 2:7 "The immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" Isa 6:3 "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts" 1 Pet 1:15-16 "As he who called you is holy, you also be holy"
Holy God	Morality has transcendent standards	Moral standards lack transcendent foundation	Morality may become mere social convention	Prevalence of moral relativism
Impartial God	Theological foundation for human equality	Human value may be based on function or status	Social stratification and discrimination lack ultimate restraint	Challenges to the foundation of human rights	Acts 10:34-35 "God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him"
Fair God	Ultimate justice will be realized	Injustice may never be corrected	Victims may never receive justice	Ultimate challenges for social justice movements	Rom 3:25-26 "God presented Christ as a propitiation... to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time"
God of Love	Love has source beyond material reality	Love may be merely biological mechanism or self-interest	Selfless love loses metaphysical foundation	Challenges to the value and meaning of sacrificial love	1 John 4:8 "God is love" John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son"
Compassionate God	The weak have special value and dignity	The weak may have only functional value	Protection of vulnerable groups lacks ultimate foundation	Utilitarian challenges to vulnerable groups	Luke 6:36 "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful"
Almighty God	No insoluble problems in the universe	Some predicaments may have no solution	Sense of powerlessness facing disasters and evil	Ultimate meaning of natural disasters and human suffering	Gen 17:1 "I am God Almighty" Jer 32:17 "Ah, Lord GOD!... Nothing is too hard for you"
Omnipresent God	God's presence in all circumstances	Cosmic loneliness and isolation	Sense of existential loneliness and separation	Modern alienation and loneliness	Ps 139:7-10 "Where shall I go from your Spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence?"
Omniscient God	Universal events have comprehensive understanding	Knowledge forever partial and limited	Ultimate truth may be forever unknowable	Epistemological limitations	Ps 139:1-4 "O LORD, you have searched me and known me... Before a word is on my tongue, you know it altogether" Heb 4:13 "No creature is hidden from his sight"
Patient God	Time and space for change and renewal	Consequences of actions may be immediate and irreversible	Concepts of forgiveness and rebirth lose foundation	Challenges to restorative justice
Righteous God	Ultimate justice will be realized	Justice may be merely human concept	Historical injustices may never be redressed	Ultimate challenges for pursuit of social justice	Ps 11:7 "For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds" 2 Tim 4:8 "The righteous Judge"
Self-existent God	Existence itself has ultimate explanation	Existence lacks ultimate explanation	Question of "why something rather than nothing" remains unresolved	Ultimate explanation of cosmic origins	Acts 17:24-25 "He is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything" John 17:17 "Your word is truth" Heb 6:18 "It is impossible for God to lie" Mal 3:6 "For I the LORD do not change" James 1:17 "With whom there is no variation or shadow due to change"
True God	Truth has objective foundation	Truth may be merely human construction	Relativism and post-truth culture	Challenges of cognitive relativism
Unchanging God	Morality and truth have stable foundation	Everything may be in flux	Lack of moral and existential stability	Social and cultural relativism
Sovereign God	History has direction and purpose	History may develop randomly without purpose	Human development lacks ultimate direction	Nihilistic challenges to historical meaning	Eph 1:11 "God... works all things according to the counsel of his will" Rev 1:5-6 "To him who loves us... be glory and dominion forever and ever"
Lovingkind God	Grace transcends law and justice	May be only cold causality	Human relationships may tend toward utilitarian calculation	Challenges to the foundation of forgiveness and reconciliation	Jer 31:3 "I have loved you with an everlasting love" Eph 2:6-7 "Show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us"

 

This table analyzes from a biblical perspective the various attributes of God, and contrasts the different meanings, conditions, and results in universes with and without God, while providing examples of practical applications and supporting scriptural references.

The table presents over twenty divine attributes such as God's oneness, mercy, eternality, faithfulness, goodness, grace, and holiness, and explores the philosophical and practical implications if these attributes did not exist in the universe. This comparison helps to understand, from a biblical viewpoint, how God's existence provides meaning, moral foundation, and ultimate purpose for the universe and human life.