"What is life?" "What is death?" "Where do humans come from and where do they go?" "In the face of such bitter betrayal and pain, does life truly hold meaning?" Confronted with these pivotal questions of existence and situations of ultimate limit—such as death, suffering, war, and responsibility—human objective knowledge reaches its end, and each individual must face their own choices and beliefs.
A widow’s only son suddenly passed away in a traffic accident. As she rushed to the scene, the widow was already beside herself with grief. After wailing at the accident site, she later held her son’s body at the hospital, shedding tears of heart-wrenching sorrow. Objective knowledge can offer nothing to a widow in such deep mourning; it cannot bring her dead son back to life, nor can it wipe away her tears. Even the doctor can do nothing more than confirm the fact that her only son has died.
After the funeral for her only son had concluded and everyone else had departed, the widow asked, with a hollow heart... “Why is life so sorrowful? What, after all, is life?” “Why must I endure this bitter pain? Is it because I have not believed in God faithfully enough?” “I, too, will die someday; where do human beings come from, and where do they go?” “Does God truly exist? If He does, how could He allow such suffering to befall me?”
The widow poses these pivotal questions of life. In grappling with them, a person gains their own insights into life and God, eventually arriving at some form of belief. Whether one believes that “life ends with physical death” or that “there is an afterlife and eternal life,” a choice of faith is made. Likewise, whether one believes “God exists” or “God does not exist,” each person chooses their own path of belief.
Faith, however, tells us that life does not end with physical death. It affirms that human suffering never concludes without meaning. It teaches that when we unite ourselves with the Passion and suffering of Christ and offer that pain to God, it becomes a foundation for salvation.
Furthermore, faith proclaims that “for those who believe in Christ, death is not an end but a transition to new life; when this earthly dwelling collapses, an eternal home is prepared in heaven.” This message wipes away the widow’s tears, and by believing in this truth, she finds the courage to rise again.
Ultimately, faith is a fundamental human response to the pivotal questions and experiences of life that erupt in moments of extreme crisis; it is the path that saves us, both in life and in death. While objective knowledge is powerless in the face of suffering and death, faith leads us beyond them—guiding us toward a life of eternal existence and a new way of living within this world.
Thus, objective knowledge reaches the limit of finitude when confronted with the boundary situations of life and the abyss of suffering. It is precisely where knowledge ceases that human beings begin to question the true meaning of life, stepping into the realm of faith that transcends the limits of reason. Ultimately, the point where knowledge ends becomes the very place where God’s saving grace and genuine human faith begin.
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