Why Did God Create?

[Chesterton]

What is? Do you know? Or is there somewhere I could go to learn more?

I've never really delved into it, but from what I understand, the soul comes into being with the body, which would be at conception, which is one reason Christians generally oppose abortion.

I found this:

There is no “dualistic antagonism” between a man’s soul and body as though he were also endowed with intrinsic schizophrenia. ...The body does not imprison the spirit as was taught by Platonism, but is meant to be forever united with it. Spirit and matter in man are not in opposition to each other. Man has one nature —human. He is a unity of body and soul, the latter being called “spirit” in its higher aspect.

The whole article is here. You might want to look at it; it's brief, and actually it sort of speaks a little about your OP.

 

[CoderHead]

I've never really delved into it, but from what I understand, the soul comes into being with the body, which would be at conception

Another weird concept. I visualize God sitting at the helm of a "soul mill," stamping out souls for every fertilized egg. What's funny to me is that God started creating a physical realm for humans without first creating or stating a purpose for a soul that would become a human.

I really wish the story would begin with:

In the beginning God said, "I want to have a hundred billion souls (that I plan on creating for thousands of years in the future but which do not yet exist) in Heaven with me to love unconditionally. So I will create the heavens and the earth for the explicit purpose of housing humans into which I will inject newly-formed souls at each conception who will eventually die and enable me to harvest their soul and judge it worthy or unworthy to spend eternity with me. Because I can."

And the LORD God created the heavens and the earth, because He felt like it.

At least that would help explain what's going on (somewhat). I don't understand the mechanics of creating a brand new soul for every single egg ever fertilized throughout history and forever into the future until the end of the world. I know that an intangible "soul" wouldn't take up any physical space, but don't you think after a couple thousand years Heaven and Hell would get a little crowded (for lack of a better term)? What does God want with billions and billions of souls?

Oh, and thanks for the article. I read it and while it clears up some of the things that the church believes, it doesn't really clear up why. I don't know if I'll ever understand that.

 

[ebia]

I searched the forums and couldn't find an existing thread, but maybe my searching skills need honing. I have a question and would like to hear some ideas and/or specific Biblical doctrine.

Why did God create?

God is perfect, omnipotent, omniscient, and exists outside of time and space. A being of that sort wouldn't appear to need anything, to feel unfulfilled, or to be bored. After all, He's perfect (complete, unerring).

So, since God has always been (long before the universe) and will always be (long after we're all dead), what sparked His sudden urge to create something? What are the beliefs as to why a perfect God would somehow feel an emptiness that could (presumably) only be filled by creating a vast and incredible physical universe to contain an imperfect, flesh-and-blood creature?

I don't intend to make this a "why are we here" question, but more of a "why did He do it" kind of question. What was His motivation, and didn't He already know how things would turn out before He said, "Let there be light?" If He already knew this, why did He bother to follow through with it?

Because it's his nature to be extravagantly creative.

 

[Sketcher]

Why do human artists create? Excluding the secondary reasons, such as "I love her, so I'll create a piece for her," or "I'm angry, so I'm going to create a piece that vents it." Apart from moods like that, the artist would still create. I'm not sure I have an answer to that, let alone why God creates, other than this: It is in the nature of an artist to create. And God, the Creator, is the ultimate artist, who made us in his image.