What is the purpose of life? [moved]
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If that's the best you can hear ... well ... at least you hear something.
Matthew 11:15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
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Speedwell
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God authorized Hebrews to be included in the Canon. At the time, some people attributed Hebrews to Paul. Now, hardly anybody does. Does that discredit God's authorization of Hebrews or the content of the book itself?
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Nope.
I believe that Jesus put the priests out of a job, and they didn't like that.
The priests were even warned, by way of the Scriptures, that the Temple was coming down; but as usual, they wouldn't listen.
As the time approached (AD 70), God gave them one last warning -- in writing.
Paul wrote the book of Hebrews ... anonymously ... and compared the priestly class with Jesus Christ, and showing Jesus Christ to be a better way.
They still had plenty of time to sell what they could and retire comfortably.
History shows they refused, and paid the consequences.
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Charmy
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Hi I am Charmaine, I was brought up on a Christian background. But I seem to be a doubting Thomas at the moment. Doe God know every existence of our being. Lilk when we born when we die and everything inbetween
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This thread is in a section where non-believers can post. There are Christians Only sub-fora where you can get "Christians only" responses. You could start a thread there if you like. I see that a mod moved this thread from elsewhere. I didn't read the thread to figure out why, but it strikes me an odd topic for a science sub-forum.
As an atheist, my snarky response would be "of course God doesn't know everything. He doesn't even know anything; he's not real--as far as I know."
Now as a former Christian (and a bored, feeling sick person, sitting in bed) I'll say this:
It depends on what Christians you talk to. Those that are Calvinist inclined might answer with various degrees of "Yes". Those that are Armenian leaning might also answer with varying degrees of "yes", BUT there are those that answer No. There was a branch of theology (I want to say "progressive" but my search-fu is weak) that say that God knows all there is to know but that that doesn't include the future. They define that as unknowable.
If you complain to someone who answers "Yes" that this interferes with free will, a certain Calvinist might answer "Yes, and..." By that I mean, that there are segments of Christians that don't believe in free will so they wouldn't be concerned with objection.
Those that wish to defend free will and God knowing all of everything including the future often use the example of a book or movie. The characters may make their own choices, but God can flip back and forth to see what choice you will have made. Also, then, they might add that the entire book is laid out before him.
I have objections to these explanations, but seeing as you are 2 posts in and may not even want to be in this sub-forum, I'll spare you.
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According to scripture ... God is all knowing ... that is there is nothing that God does not know.
Psalm 139:16
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Proverbs 15:3
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
so yes ... He does.
Psalm 147:5
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
We do from time to time have doubts that enter our minds ... when that happens is a good time to dig deeper into His Word.
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God has foreknowledge ... yes He does know who will or will not be saved ... knows the choices people will make ... but .... does not make their choices for them.
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Charmy
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I am really sorry if I am asking stupid questions. I am just battling with our purpose, if God already knows our choices. Our choices are not going to changes. If I am already destined to go to hell before I was born. Why put me on the earth.
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TedT
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GOD wanted to create a Church,
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
a congregation of people in HIS image in full loving, holy communion with HIM in heaven John 14:16 "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
1 John 1:3 ...what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
- See more at: 12 Bible verses about Communion With God
Fellowship: Strong's G2842 - koinōnia
• fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation, intercourse
• the share which one has in anything, participation
• intercourse, fellowship, intimacy
This fellowship is the definition of the perfect marriage between YHWH and HIS creation which is the absolute essence of why HE created us!
BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO BE THERE WITH HIM IN THAT REALITY!
They must have truly wanted love, holiness and heaven as HE defines it. Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find [him], if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
You only seek this way for that which you really really want...Psalms 63:1 (A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.) O God, thou [art] my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;
The kingdom of GOD is in heaven:
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Repent refers to holiness.
Romans 8:28-30 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [HIS] purpose.
And love is well, love.
That we were created to be HIS Bride impies quite a bit:
- that we were created with a free will because a true marriage can only proceed from a true free will decision to accept the marriage proposal since a true marriage cannot be forced.
- That we could never have been created evil and therefore to become sinful we had to have become sinful by a true free will decision to reject GOD as our GOD
and husband or to rebel against HIS command.
- That we could never have been created in Adam's sin, nor inherited his sin to become sinful.
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Ophiolite
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What is the purpose of life?
This is the Creation and Evolution sub-forum. We have a detailed answer to the question from a Creationist standpoint by @TedT in post #135. Here is a shorter answer from an agnostic Evolutionist.
There is no purpose to life. Life, like waterfalls and volcanic eruptions and galaxies and atoms of cobalt and much else besides is an emergent property, arising as a consequence of a few fundamental particles, a handful of forces and a scattering of constants.
Intelligent life is a rather amazing emergent property. It represents a development that lets a part of the universe contemplate the whole thing, something that science is allowing us to do with increasing range and precision.
That there is no purpose to life is good news, even excellent news. This allows us to choose a purpose for life. Since life has given us a sense of wonder and innate curiosity, lets embrace that wonder and seek to satsify at least some of our curiosity by exploring and appreciating our environment. Given that life and intelligent life has emerged through the, lets call it cooperation of those fundamental particles, forces and constants then let us not only explore and appreciate the universe, let us also respect it and all that it contains.
In practical terms this means seeking personal growth, respect for the views of others - when those views are respectful, concern for the welfare of all, stewardship of our environment, and evidence based decision making and priority setting.
This is the Creation and Evolution sub-forum. We have a detailed answer to the question from a Creationist standpoint by @TedT in post #135. Here is a shorter answer from an agnostic Evolutionist.
There is no purpose to life. Life, like waterfalls and volcanic eruptions and galaxies and atoms of cobalt and much else besides is an emergent property, arising as a consequence of a few fundamental particles, a handful of forces and a scattering of constants.
Intelligent life is a rather amazing emergent property. It represents a development that lets a part of the universe contemplate the whole thing, something that science is allowing us to do with increasing range and precision.
That there is no purpose to life is good news, even excellent news. This allows us to choose a purpose for life. Since life has given us a sense of wonder and innate curiosity, lets embrace that wonder and seek to satsify at least some of our curiosity by exploring and appreciating our environment. Given that life and intelligent life has emerged through the, lets call it cooperation of those fundamental particles, forces and constants then let us not only explore and appreciate the universe, let us also respect it and all that it contains.
In practical terms this means seeking personal growth, respect for the views of others - when those views are respectful, concern for the welfare of all, stewardship of our environment, and evidence based decision making and priority setting.
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Being a 'doubting Thomas' is how you learn. Take nothing for granted, question everything, embrace uncertainty.. You surely put a smile on my face. At the moment I am a doubting Thomas.
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TedT
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This interpretation of these verses and other verses like them supports the pagan Greek wisdom doctrine that: from eternity past to eternity future, GOD knows all that can be known" implies that HE knew before the creation of any person who would end in hell but created them anyway! which contradicts 2 Peter 3:9 Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
All HE had to do to fulfill this desire to keep hell empty was to NOT create those whom HE knew would end there. Why is this never dealt with in Orthodox theologies?? Probably because they would rather think that YHWH would create people who HE knows will go to hell than believe HE created them with a free will but NOT create the results of any free will decision which then meant HE did not know what would be chosen since HE let us choose for ourselves.
IF HE Knew, hell would be empty, a meaningless reference. People in hell proves the GOD who is Love did not know who would end in hell when HE created them.
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