I love sports. But here is a sporting experience I would never want to have. Imagine being thrown into a game without knowing when it started, when it will finish, what the objective of the game is, or what the rules are. What would you do? You'd probably ask the other players around you to answer those four questions for you.

What if they responded with many different answers? Or what if they simply carried on playing, uninterested in your questions and looking at you oddly for asking them? Next, you would look to a coach for help, but what if the coach was standing there, looking at the chaos, and yelling, "Great job, guys! You're all doing great! Keep going! We've got a first-place trophy waiting for all of you!"

Finally, you would turn to find the referee or umpire for definitive answers to your questions. But what if the players had gotten frustrated with the referee's calls and sent him home?
And now imagine the conversations about the game on the drive home. They would be completely meaningless. It is our knowledge of the start, the finish, the objective, and the rules of a game that provide us with the freedom to play it and to enjoy it in a meaningful way.
Sadly, this is not just a game; this is a reality for many who are struggling to live a meaningful life in a pluralistic culture. As a society, we are losing the answers to these four crucial questions:

• Origin—Where did I come from?
• Meaning—Why am I here?
• Morality—How should I live?
• Destiny—Where am I headed?