Topic: Why are we here? (From a religious perspective)

[hans]

OK, so I just got done meeting with a fellow from Athletes in action. An organization focused on athletic ministry. We had an interesting discussion about my faith and his and the AIA organization. After returning to the office I realized I had forgetten to ask my classic question.

Why did God create us?

Now I know some people around here don't believe in God so their answer would be 'he didn't'. But since this is my thread, we're going to make the assumption that God exists, we exist, and God created us.

I happen to be a religious person but also logical one too which constantly keeps me questioning my faith, which I think is good for people to do. A while back after taking an eastern philosophy course and being the lazy type person I am had a problem with religions that required some sort of action to attain a higher level of being or basically a return to where we started. My question was 'why did we leave'? And I got to thinking 'why did God create us'? Why would an all powerful entity want to create "man". I have yet to get a really good answer but the best one so far was from my cousin who recently became a pastor. He simply said [I don't know. God's plan is beyond our comprehension].

So, any good answers you guys can come up with? I encourage those of you who frequent church to ask your pastors/priests/whatever.

[Govtcheez]

I'm not religious, but I'd go with the pastor's answer on this.  The Bible just says God created man, it doesn't say why.

[ober]

Actually, (and I'm not sure of this... just trying to dredge up what they said in sunday school when I was a kid) I think there is a part of the bible that says we were created in "his" likeness for "company".  Now, there's a problem with that because it also says that heaven existed and there were already angels and such (hell/the devil/etc was formed before man was created).  Initially the plan was for Adam and Eve to be the only ones... then that silly little snake opened their eyes to the wonders of bumpin uglies and tada... here we are.

So I personally think the answer to the question is... he didn't create "us"... there were no plans for "us".  He made Adam and Eve for kicks and they fucked it up so here we are.

That's my take on it.

[micah]

my thoughts are that God created us to worship Him.

We (humans) are the only creatures in the known universe with free will.
If God wanted to, He could make the animals love Him, or the trees and rocks and even the aformentioned Angels... but what good is that?

What good would it be if your spouse or parents loved you because they had to? That would suck.  So God created humans and gave us the free will to either choose Him (and worship Him) OR to deny Him.  He doesn't like it when humans deny Him, but if they couldn't deny him or if he had created a world without sin or where bad things don't happen to good people, then how valid would the love be of those that DO worship him?

[jkim]

This makes me wish I actually finished Purpose Driven Life.

Anyways.  Bible does say God created us in His likeness.  Why?  For Him, I guess.  So He could have fellowship with us.  He didn't have to, but His love created us, and He then gets to our love and praise "in return."

I guess other people would say that would be a selfish thing to do...to create something to receive gratification, but it doesn't work like that.  Firstly, God is um.  God.  Secondly, it's not just Him who receives love, but ourselves from Him.

This is definitely an interesting question to think about, though.

[ober]

See... I used to be religious.  I used to buy into all this stuff and totally believe in it.  And I still want to believe that it's true.  My only beef right now is that I can't stand organized religion.  I can't stand the "holier than thou" attitude you get from most Christians.  And I can't stand the thought of giving my money to those organizations either.  It's sad that a "church" like that can be so bigoted and close-minded.  I haven't been to church in nearly 3 years, and I don't have any plans to go anytime soon.  I still pray sometimes and I still think God or some higher being exists, but I don't study it and look into it much anymore.  And I don't think that makes me a bad person.  I just don't think I'm into it right now.  (I know that sounds shallow, but I don't know how else to say it).

[A Bit of Fruit]

I consider myself agnostic, despite being baptised Catholic. This is because I dont believe in faith without proof, I cant prove or disprove any religions so im not going to completely believe or disbelieve anything about them.

Also because of the really crappy history of the catholic church, theyve always had an extremely large focus on making money and holding power. Theyve made up alot of bullshit and twisted stuff to support their bottom line (alot of which happened during medieval times from what ive read).

So no matter what conculsion this thread makes about why we are here we can never know for sure unless we meet God in whatever form he/she/it is in.

[Betazep]

I am a deist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism)... so I do believe in God, but more from a clockmaker perspective.  God (which may or may not be the ultimate creator) is some sort of creating force that began THIS.  Such a god may or may not know we as humanity exist... much like a scientist could see bacteria in a dish if he knows how to look for the bacteria.  It is likely to me that thinking that god has a unique understanding of, or even cares about, my life as an individual is very slim.  To think that would definitely be egotistical and self serving which seems contrary to the proper workings of what could be construed as natural laws.

[hans]

That's an interesting viewpoint Beta. I'm going to have to read up on that. I grew up Lutheran but now I'm a bit more skeptical that any religion has it right, so I keep looking for a bit from many religions. And I'm much more low key than the ultra religious people. I'm more than happy to share what I believe but if we disagree that's fine, could be neither one of us is right.

[Betazep]

Our country was founded by deists.  It is a good idea to know about it, only if for the history.  Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin, Washington (and others) were either deists or wrote of deistic phillosophies from time to time.

Paine's "Age of Reason" is a very good primer... though I have not read all of it yet.  Too busy reading fiction books.    http://www.ushistory.org/paine/reason/index.htm



------------
Age of Reason Introduction
by Thomas Paine
TO MY FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

I PUT the following work under your protection. It contains my opinions upon Religion. You will do me the justice to remember, that I have always strenuously supported the Right of every Man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.

The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall.

Your affectionate friend and fellow-citizen,

THOMAS PAINE
-----------

[salvelinus]

Your question can't be answered. A god at the level you're describing is simply beyond anything we can understand, comprehend, or experience. The notion of godhood at that level has the same problem. It can't be known, by definition. What you're really asking, seems to me, is the question "Why am I here", or "What's the purpose of life", or variations of the same. Thinking of god as an "it", or entity, with or without a purpose, is putting god in human terms, which god, if exists, isn't.

[Howdy]

Howdy,
 God, Great Spirit, Mother Nature.... it's all the same to me. Part of it is biological, we simple exist here because the conditions here are right for this life form. Now to the greater question, I think as an energy source we are just passing through, and will continue on to who knows where when we have done our thing here.

M.R.

[[stealth]]

I think there is something that compels us as humans to create something whether its art, or science, or the simple fact that we have kids.  So on some level, I think that there's some form of higher consciousness that we all have a link to - whether you want to label it God or Allah or matter or energy.  Why are we here? I don't think there is a pure reason for our existence; I believe that we define our own reason for why we're here.  And that is very much an individual thing.