📖 Biblical Definition
Scripture directly contradicts existentialism's central claim. Human beings do not create their own meaning -- they were created with inherent purpose by a personal God. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you" (Jeremiah 1:5). Essence precedes existence: God designed, purposed, and called each person before they drew breath. The existentialist despair -- the anguish of meaninglessness -- is the natural result of rejecting the Creator who gives meaning. Ecclesiastes explores this exhaustively: apart from God, everything "under the sun" is vanity. But the conclusion is not to create your own meaning -- it is to "fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Not found in Webster 1828 (20th-century movement).
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Existentialism as a philosophical movement did not emerge until the 19th-20th centuries. The word does not appear in Webster 1828. However, the existential crisis it attempts to address -- the search for meaning in a seemingly absurd world -- is as old as Ecclesiastes. The difference is that Solomon found the answer in God; Sartre and Camus refused it.
📖 Key Scripture
• Jeremiah 1:5 — "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you."
• Ecclesiastes 12:13 — "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."
• Ephesians 2:10 — "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand."
• Psalm 139:16 — "In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Existentialism teaches that you define yourself -- the ultimate justification for autonomous self-identity.
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Existentialism is the philosophical engine behind the modern cult of self-definition. "You are whoever you decide to be." "Create your own truth." "Live your authentic self." This language permeates both secular culture and progressive Christianity. When people say "my truth," they are speaking the language of existentialism -- the idea that meaning is subjective and self-created. In the church, existentialism appears as "faith is a personal journey" disconnected from objective truth, or "God speaks to me personally" divorced from Scripture. The Bible says you do not define yourself -- God defines you. You were made by Him, for Him, and your purpose is found in Him, not in the autonomous construction of a self-identity.
Usage
• "Existentialism says you create your own meaning -- Jeremiah 1:5 says God knew your purpose before you were born."
• "The phrase 'my truth' is existentialism dressed in spiritual language -- there is no 'my truth,' only 'the truth.'"
• "Ecclesiastes explored the existentialist's despair three thousand years ago and concluded: fear God and keep His commandments."