Faith in God and The Meaning of Life

Faith in God and The Meaning of Life

1.At one point, does Tolstoy consider the possibility that all of life is a sick, twisted prank?

Yes or No

2. Is it possible for there to be meaning in life without God, according to Tolstoy?

yes or no

3. Instead of worrying about the meaning of life, why didn’t Tolstoy just forget about such questions and simply “live?” Or, why didn’t he simply lose himself in his literary endeavors?

A.The issue at hand was so paramount that nothing could “distract” him or turn his attention away from it.

B. His community of religious activists demanded that he find faith.

C. He decided to write in order to forget about questions about the meaning of life, but the quality of his writing declined too much and he could not publish anything.

D. Tolstoy did simply “forget” for a while. He became an alcoholic.

e.Two of the answers are correc

4. Is Tolstoy an atheist?

A. Yes

B. No

C. Unknow

5.What is the point of Tolstoy’s “Eastern Story” about the traveler who falls into a well?

A. Traveling in the East is risky, as there exists dangerous beasts and wild animals.

B. It is a metaphor for old age.

C. It is an allegory about war.

D. It is an allegory about the human condition.

E. It is a story that illustrates God’s power.

6. Does Tolstoy every explicitly state (–in precise terms–) how God gives meaning to life?

A. Yes, God gives us eternal life and eternal existence makes life meaningful.

B. Yes, God gives us gifts and love in heaven and that makes life meaningful.

C. Yes, God showers us with heavenly glory and thus life is made meaningful.

D. No, Tolstoy never explicitly defends a theory of how God makes human lives meaningful.

E. Yes, God gives us his companionship forever and ever and ever. This endless conversation with God makes life in heaven perfect for eternity.

7. Tolstoy writes: “There happened what happens with any person who falls ill with a mortal internal disease. At first there appear insignificant symptoms of indisposition, to which the patient pays no attention; then these symptoms are repeated more and more frequently and blend into one temporally indivisible suffering. The suffering keeps growing, and before the patient has had time to look around, he becomes conscious that what he took for an indisposition is the most significant thing in the world to him,–is death.” What is Tolstoy talking about? What is the significance of this passage?

A. He is talking about how he was once very ill and thought that he was going to die.

B. He is making a comparison to his own internal, mental distress

C. He is foreshadowing about a novel that he is currently writing, a novel about a dying man.

D. He is calling atheists sick people.

 

E. None of the above is correct.