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Christianity Explained Information Find Christian Unity in Biblical Explanations of the Doctrines That Count! |
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You
have a choice to make: You can either believe the opinions of
theologians, atheists, or agnostics, or you can determine for yourself
what the Bible says by studying it. |
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What Is Christianity Explained Information? What Is Religion and Where Did It Originate? What Is the Bible, and How Relative Is It to My Life? What Are Messianic Prophecies? Who Was Jesus of Nazareth, Really? Why Are There So Many World Religions? Why Are There So Many Christian Denominations? What Is the Law and How Does It Apply to Me? What's All This About the End of the World and End-time Prophecies? Isn't the Book of Daniel a Closed Book? Revelation: How can anyone understand all that symbolism? Who or What Was Jesus' Mother, Mary? Didn't Darwin Disprove Creation? What's the Truth About Faith and Works? Christian E-mails: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Complete Directory of Articles/Studies
Title Abbreviations for Books of the Bible Genesis
- Ge |
Why Are We Here? What is the purpose of the existence of mankind? Surely there's been a time in your life when you've wondered why we even exist. Maybe it was when you knew something was wrong, but no one would listen to you. Maybe your life is falling apart, but you're too tired to try to put it back together again. Maybe you allowed yourself to be seduced into participating in something you knew was wrong, and you became too ashamed of yourself to face your family and friends. We all can see that the world seems to be "racing" to self destruction, so why should we even bother to try to set things straight? Here's one explanation . . . There is a higher being, Almighty God who created the heavens and the universe and all that lives and breathes. He set life in motion for reasons known only to himself and that we can only guess. Since he has existed from eternity past, his concept of time is much more fleeting than ours--a thousand years are like a day to him. (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8) The Bible proclaims him a just and merciful God, righteous beyond any concept we might have of righteousness (Deuteronomy 32:4; Nehemiah 9:33; Psalm 199:138, 172; Revelation 16:5). By
our own standards he has the right to just squash us like bugs
because we deny him constantly and treat each other like animals
despite the brains and moral standards he has given us to separate us
from those lower animals. My favorite quote from the TV show Maude
is, "God'll get you for that!", and that is a threat used by many to
keep others in line. I use it to remind me that God will deal with
those who don't repent so I don't need to. The truth
is that God, considering that the rewards he would give his creatures
throughout eternity would be worth more than anything they might suffer
for a hundred plus/minus years here on earth, created intelligent
creatures with whom he could fellowship. But he didn't stop there.
Knowing we would find ourselves entrenched in sin and
hopelessness, God worked out the plan of salvation in advance. He would
"buy" us back from our slave master (Satan, the one we obey when we
sin) by paying the price for us with his
own Son. As a righteous and just being, he couldn't just put us
here, knowing what we would go through with Satan, and abandon us to
the destruction we would bring upon ourselves. God
did not
want to create a race of intelligent beings just to stamp them out
because they're imperfect, weak in the face of temptation. Yet he
did not want to create a
race
of
perfect robots, either. He wanted to fellowship with--to share love
with--beings who could recognize his love for them and choose to trust
in and
love him in return.
Because he is love, God wants lots
of loving intelligent beings with whom he can share that love in his
kingdom. So,
"In the beginning, God
created . . ." (Genesis 1:1) Now there's a statement that has "created" a lot of controversy in this world! Proponents adhere strictly to the words of the Bible as the Word of God. Opponents often deny the very existence of God, but at the very minimum, they deny that he spoke the universe into existence, but that's another study (Didn't Darwin Disprove Creation?). The reasons for opposing the existence of God speak to ego. The refusal to believe there is any higher power to which you will have to explain your choices one day allows you to exalt yourself above anything that cramps your style. It's similar to refusing to believe that, out of the billions of stars and other galaxies in the universe, there are no other intelligent life forms in the universe. You
might consider not having a higher authority to answer to a good
thing, but there is that little problem of anarchy. The French tried it
way back in the 1500's, going so far as even putting the Pope in
prison, where he died, so they could demonstrate their disdain for
authority. The
Papacy, you see, styles the Pope as God on earth (an infallible
being--which only Christ himself
was), and the French were determined to prove the Pope was not what he
said
he was, but just a man just like anyone else. What they proved is that
the Papacy is just another man-run religion, and as such, it is just as
fallible as any other man-run religion by virtue of the fallibility of
all men other than Christ, the son of God. In my estimation they went a bit far. They only needed to publish the Bible to prove that there is none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10; 1 Kings 8:46; 2 Chronicles 6:36; Ecclesiastes 7:20), even though All who are born again and claim to be abiding in Christ should not sin (1 John 3:6; 1 John 3:9; 1 John 5:18), not just the Pope. Anarchy didn't last long. They soon discovered that every civilization needs government if it is to survive, thrive, and progress. While everyone doing his or her own thing (chaos and anarchy) is a great tool of destruction, construction only comes from working together, and we can only work together if we make and follow rules. Practical case: If EVERY driver kept an "assured safe distance" from the vehicle in front of him/her and followed the speed laws, anyone who needed to merge into traffic could easily find a "hole" to slip into without any change in the flow of traffic. And "road rage" would never have developed into the burgeoning phenomenon that it is in the USA today. If rules are necessary, there must be a rule maker. The rule maker must be smart, or the rules won't work. God was the greatest rule maker of them all. He wrote 10 rules in stone that concisely explain how we can live peaceful, productive lives. Since then, mankind has written millions of laws to spell out specific points for those who prefer to pretend they don't understand those 10. Did you know that the Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.) comes from scripture (Matthew 7:12)? Scripture is rather vague about God's heavenly kingdom, but it gives enough information that we can see it was peaceful and orderly. Descriptions of the throne and angels and other beings create an aura of love and joy and government. God, who is all-knowing and therefore most qualified to lead, set the rules and everyone gladly obeys them. The fact that he created all the other beings surely has something to do with the respect he is due, but I infer from the story of Lucifer that Satan must have tried to play down God's creatorship just as we do if he thought to elevate himself to God's place. But that's another story (Original Sin). According to Jesus, God is love. Now most of us know how to love--or think we do; we get all warm and fuzzy over certain other people or things. However, God IS love (1 John 4: 8, 16). Imagine having all that love to give, and no one with whom to share it! So God created angels and cherubim and other beings that he could love and protect and who would love him back--like we bring our children into the world and hope they will love us back. And, by the way, when the Bible says "In the beginning, God created . . .", the Hebrew word for God actually is plural--a support for the Trinity doctrine--but that also is another story (Trinity). What it means, however, is that Jesus had a hand, not only in redeeming us from sin, but in creating us. According to Genesis 1:26 and 27, Gods made mankind in "our" own image, according to "their" likeness and gave mankind dominion over the other living things on the earth. God formed--which implies the use of his hands--the first of our kind of the elements of the earth and then breathed into them the breath of life, and they became living beings. Then he placed those beings in a special garden he had made for them.
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Related Links Written in the HeartThe Truth About Mary Magdalene
Scriptures: Within Text: 1 John 4:8, 16 More Study: Genesis 1:1
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Copyright
2005 Lynda Karr
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