One of the most profound questions we have to ask any religion where we have the concept of God as the creator is to find out the reason for him to create us.
It is not just 'why creation in general'
but 'What is the purpose of my life?'
Not what is my 'need' [to worship him]
but, what is my purpose, why am I here in the first place?
And why is this purpose meaningful to God? If it doesn't
have any meaning for God, then obviously it doesn't have any
ultimate meaning for myself either.
If Allah has no need of us, then there must be another reason.
What is it?
> Could you please answer my question and that is what is the christian
> response to your own questions? I am assuming that if you are challenging
> Islam with such questions then you must have asked the same questions
> regarding christianity. So I would like to know that according to the bible:
>
> what is the purpose of our lives? why is this purpose meaningful? etc
I think it is an extremely important question and I invite others to
give their insight into the Biblical message as well.
What does bring us true happiness in this life? We all know of very
rich, very intelligent, very famous people who are very unhappy and
even commit suicide. All these things do not satisfy us. Where do
we find satisfaction? Mostly in good relationships, whether it is
companionship in a marriage or with true friends. Sharing and deeply
knowing each other that is a source of satisfaction and happiness.
Everybody yearns for friends and for being loved and being known.
And this is no accident, this is how God created us and what he
created us for.
For the meaning of the creation of man, we might start by looking
at the creation account itself, Genesis 1:
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image,
in our likeness,
and let them rule over the fish of the sea
and the birds of the air,
over the livestock, over all the earth,
and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in
number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the
sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that
moves on the ground."
[And chapter 2 God explicitely says: It is not good for man to be alone.]
It is important to observe, that male and female TOGETHER are created
to be God's image [v.27]. One alone cannot reflect the true nature of
God. Why would God have to create two people who are complementary, who
yearn to live in giving and receiving and sharing and loving each
other? Because God wanted a counterpart. Both, another being to
communicat with as well as to have an image or "expression" of
himself in what he is like.
We can have only a very limited relationship to a piece of rock,
more to a flower/plant, more to a pet animal, but a much fuller
relationship we can have to men and women, to humans because
they are like us. That is why God created "in his image" because
a deep relationship with those men and women is his desire. In a
sense, God created us for himself, while all the other things on
this earth, he created for us, as a living environment.
As somebody said: It is not a sign of deficiency if a fountain overflows.
God is a relational being, God is love, as the Bible says. And this love
flows over into creating another counterpart outside himself. God didn't
need us, he was complete in himself in the Trinity. The Trinity already
is community of love, but God wanted to extend this uncreated divine
community of mutual love and so he created mankind.
It is to increase his glory and pleasure. When a new child is born in
a family it is going to increase [hopefully, when things go right] the
joy in the family. That doesn't mean this family *needed* or depended
on this extra child, but the parents wanted this child [again, hopefully].
That is the reason it is so tragic if we miss or even openly reject
God's longing to be in an intimate personal relationship with him.
Not as slaves but as counterparts, as partners, and most fitting
like children who trust their heavenly father.
The whole story of the Bible is summarized in creation, fall, redemption
and glorification. And between the fall [sin] where this relationship
between God and mankind was broken and the end of time God works to
win back mankind that has separated itself from God. The meaning of
the coming of Jesus and the culmination of his life in the death on
the cross is the reconciliation of God with man:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God,
who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation; that God has reconciled to the
world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against
them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were
making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christs' behalf:
Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin
for us, so that in him we might become the righeoousness of God.
2 Cor. 5:17-21
Jesus taught us to pray: Our Father in Heaven, ...
Romans 8 gives many more thoughts on this new, reconciled
relationship of us to God:
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus,
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free
from the law of sin and death.
14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear,
but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba,
Father."
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's
children.
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs
with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may
also share in his glory.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love
him, who have been called according to his purpose.
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the
likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers.
30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also
justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can
be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will
he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God
who justifies.
34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who
was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding
for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or
hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are
considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who
loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be
able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
St. Augustine said:
Our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you [God].
There is a "God shaped" vacuum in all of us until it is filled with
the only one relationship it was created for, to truly know and
live with God, not only our creator but also our redeemer, friend,
and loving father.
God seeks the free love response from us, that is why he does not force
us. He does not have the same relationship to the angels. Angels were
created to be servants, we were created to be children for an intimate
relationship of love.
The meaning of our life is to be in a loving relationship with God.
To truly know him. That is what he created us for and nothing else
will ever truly satisfy us. This is God's purpose and the purpose we
inwardly yearn for even if we don't know it.
God patiently waits. He says in Revelation 3: I am standing at the
door knocking and if anybody will open the door [of his/her heart]
I will enter and we will have fellowship with one another.
God created us for neverending loving fellowship with him, and our
relationships among each other should be a reflection/image of our
relationship with God, we are to be the image of God together as
well as receiving dignity as being image of God as individuals,
male and female.
Let me stop here. This is truly a glorious topic. Let me invite the
other brothers and sisters to contribute and also invite to ask
questions so that it may be clarified more.
May God's word reach your heart,
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