This is a Q&A blog post by our Visiting Scholar in Philosophy, William Lane Craig.

Question

Hello Dr. Craig,

I've been wondering how life can be meaningful at all if there is such a thing as an eternal afterlife. As Alex O'Connor points out, humans value things which are finite, and an infinite existence is the opposite of finite. If there is an infinite amount of seconds after this, how can this current second matter or be special?

If I'm in heaven or hell 3.675 trillion years from now, how will this second be meaningful? Even if you say that life is meaningful in deciding our afterlives, wouldn't only moments relating to belief or repentance be important? And how will our actions in the afterlife matter if we've already decided our eternal fate in this life?

Why would getting married or having kids matter if they're nothing in the grand scheme of things and in heaven we're all unmarried (as taught by Jesus)? Why does getting a job matter if I can be saved anyway?

If life exists forever, doesn't that mean that someday we will do everything possible? (have every possible conversation, play every possible game, meet every possible person, etc)? What then? Will we just start over? What would be the point?

You may point out that a finite existence is also meaningless, which I would concede to. This is why this sort of thought process has caused me a great deal of mental distress, and I am looking forward to seeing if a professional philosopher is able to provide any insights.

William Lane Craig’s Response

I think you and I both agree, Owen, that in atheism, our finite existence is meaningless because there is no ultimate significance to what we do; there is no ultimate standard of good and evil; there is no ultimate purpose for which we and