Why Did God Create Humans And The Earth?

[carrdero]

There are some who believe that humankind was created to occupy this planet but the reasoning about why we are here is unclear.

If God did create humans to worship and praise Him and spread His word why did he not create us as spiritual entities and keep us in His kingdom? Would we have a better understanding of GOD? Wouldn’t we have a more intimate REALationship?

If He created us to be fruitful and fill the earth and make it a paradise why didn’t he design a place in heaven and just create more spiritual creatures or give us the wisdom to create our own spiritual entities?

What exactly is the purpose of this earth and the reason for human occupation. Is all this necessary? Wouldn’t it be comparable to creating a car but you have to create another car just to drag the first car around? Isn’t this a bit redundant?

What are we here for. really?

[abercius24]

[quote name='carrdero' post='1300468' date='Jun 24 2007, 08:08 AM']There are some who believe that humankind was created to occupy this planet but the reasoning about why we are here is unclear.

If God did create humans to worship and praise Him and spread His word why did he not create us as spiritual entities and keep us in His kingdom? Would we have a better understanding of GOD? Wouldn’t we have a more intimate REALationship?

If He created us to be fruitful and fill the earth and make it a paradise why didn’t he design a place in heaven and just create more spiritual creatures or give us the wisdom to create our own spiritual entities?

What exactly is the purpose of this earth and the reason for human occupation. Is all this necessary? Wouldn’t it be comparable to creating a car but you have to create another car just to drag the first car around? Isn’t this a bit redundant?

What are we here for. really?[/quote]

I have had a similar discussion with a few of my fellow evangelists, which brought about some interesting ideas. As far as we know God has only created 2 types of beings, angels and us. But the suspicion is that God, being the most prolific artist known, probably created many more beings than he has revealed. In fact, there many be an enormous number. If that is the case, God would probably have embedded some great sense of creativity into each race -- say put a few on a planet in a giant universe spinning through a vast void of unending space, challenge them with faith amidst significant ignorance and weakness, but become one of them in a humbling task to lead them out of their planet of despair and back to your loving arms. The idea creates a great story for all of us to tell when we get to heaven, does it not? I suspect the angels themselves find some aspects of our lives very interesting, which may be why they watch us so closely. I believe St. Theresa of Liseaux and Christian author C.S. Lewis would both agree with me on this (at least to a point). St. Theresa once considered why God created people to be so different from each other, particularly those who choose to go to hell. One day she was looking at a garden full of beautiful flowers and it suddenly occured to her -- God uses variety as a way to demonstrate beauty. Carry this idea to God's artistry in created beings, and you have our situation on earth. C.S. Lewis (from the Narnia Chronicles) also wrote a few Sci Fi books that some call the Christian Space Trilogy. In these books he considers what it could be like meeting other physical beings created by God. One thing that struck me most about those books was how other beings envied us because God became one of us in Christ. It makes sense that if God wanted to tell the story of the beings he created far from his reach, only later to become one of them, then we would make an excellent chapter in such a book. The big answer you didn't want to hear, though, is that God pretty much does things that are far beyond our ability to understand, this being one of them. But at least we can try to understand, and have fun doing so.

[carrdero]

[quote name='abercius24' post='1300474' date='Jun 24 2007, 08:43 AM']I have had a similar discussion with a few of my fellow evangelists, which brought about some interesting ideas. As far as we know God has only created 2 types of beings, angels and us. But the suspicion is that God, being the most prolific artist known, probably created many more beings than he has revealed. [color="#FF0000"]In fact, there many be an enormous number. If that is the case, God would probably have embedded some great sense of creativity into each race -- say put a few on a planet in a giant universe spinning through a vast void of unending space, challenge them with faith amidst significant ignorance and weakness, but become one of them in a humbling task to lead them out of their planet of despair and back to your loving arms[/color].[/quote]
[color="#FF0000"]Do you believe that these other entities are also going through their own Genesis or Garden Of Eden?[/color]

Edited June 26, 2007 by carrdero

[abercius24]

[quote name='carrdero' post='1301883' date='Jun 26 2007, 01:28 AM'][color="#FF0000"]Do you believe that these other entities are also going through their own Genesis or Garden Of Eden?[/color][/quote]

In C.S. Lewis' first book, he talked about a planet where the creatures had never experienced the fall; they remained in a state of safety and peace for all their lives. In another book, the main character meets the Adam and Eve of a different planet and helps them to recognize Satan and avoid the fall. It's all theoretically possible, and the stories are great for learning the depth of our faith. As for as whether this is actually the case in some parallel universe, God has not revealed such things. Science Fiction is good for entertainment and teaching, but its still fiction. God has probably done something even greater that we cannot even begin to imagine.

[premed_jakey]

I asked a similar question once to an evangelical pastor, and I kinda liked his answer.

He said that no matter what, we are better in our current state than we could have been in paradise. Like, Us staying in paradise would have been excellent, but, by allowing us free will to choose Him or not, He has allowed us to attain something even greater than eternal earthly paradise. I may have totally messed up his explaination, lol, but it worked for me. :