Does the bible give any indication of WHY God felt the need to create the universe, the Earth, humanity, etc.? If not, does anyone know of an answer that has any semblance of logic? I’ve searched periodically for an answer to this question, and haven’t found anything even remotely sensible for an answer thus far.
It seems pretty illogical to me that the supreme being, who’s so awesome and perfect, created humanity because he somehow feels the need to be loved and worshiped by scads of vastly inferior beings. Any explanation I’ve heard (he was lonely, bored, wanted to “share his love” with someone, etc.) seems to impart fairly human needs and frailties onto the supposed supreme being.
* Full disclosure: I’m an ex-Catholic agnostic, so I don’t believe any of this stuff is real anyway. The lack of answers to basic questions like these was one of the major contributors to my abandoning my faith in the first place. I’m very curious what answers the believers have come up with to such questions, if any.
As an atheist I believe there is no god so the universe occurs naturally. A problem with the word “create” is that it implies a beginning, and there is no evidence that the universe hasn’t existed outside of time, that is, forever, without beginning or end.
Once one starts using god and its supposed motivations or behavior in any discussion you’ve introduced a fairytale so any proposed answers have to be just as mythological and meaningless.
Agreed, Maswah. If God were perfect he would have no need to create, or indeed to do, anything. And certainly he would not require belief and worship: that would only demonstrate that God was egotistical and jealous, which are not compatible with perfection.
Here’s a thought; as god was created by man he would exibit all of our innate characteristics such as love, hate, anger, jealousy, and ego driven. He appears that way all through the christian bible from Genesis to Revelations. And don’t leave out the koran either. Allah is constantly pissed at his creation.
Occam: As I mentioned in the post, I’m a non-believer myself. So I agree that any mythologically-based beliefs that might be posited in response to my question would be invalid.
But I do not agree that the very discussion would be meaningless. When such a large portion of the human population bases its worldview on such mythology, I believe it’s in my best interest to understand that mythology, even if I myself will never accept it as valid. I find that the more I understand the basis for beliefs that differ from my own, however ridiculous they may seem, the less outraged I become by the people who hold them.
I’m a scientific skeptic. Many of the Christian believers I’ve spoken to seem to have the opinion that, at best, science can only answer questions within a limited realm of human inquiry. They seem to imply that belief in god somehow provides answers to questions that science can’t touch, such as WHY we’re here (as opposed to HOW we got here).
But I’ve found that, even if they were right about the limits of science, their viewpoint doesn’t provide any clear answers to these fundamental questions either. That’s why I’m very curious to know what Christians tell themselves about this issue.
So I’ll ask again: From a Christian perspective, WHY did God create the Earth and humanity?
So I’ll ask again: From a Christian perspective, WHY did God create the Earth and humanity?
As a former fundamentalist christian, the answers I most often heard were:
[*] God is a creator; he needs to create
[*] Good is love; he needed somebody to love (queue rock band Queen here)
[*] God needed somebody to worship/praise him
The third one was never explicitly stated as such, but it was pointed out—with biblical backing—that the purpose of humanity is to praise and worship god. So the corollary must be that god had need of such.
None of those make any rational sense, as others have pointed out. Especially if god is omni-everything. Because the creation he came up with is pretty much an epic fail on all counts.
Instead of asking why a mythical entity created humanity, it makes more sense to ask why humanity creates the mythical entity.
As you believe that the concept of god is a myth, your original question is essentially “What do Christians believe to be God’s reason for creating humanity?” This question might better be answered by Christians. Free did his best to recall, but perhaps current believers might have a more satisfying answer. (or perhaps not)
He, she or it didn’t because he, she or it doesn’t exist.
It goes without saying that the overwhelming majority of us here, including the OP, agree with that. No need to keep repeating it. The point is to try to take a look at it from the POV of the christian and try to make some sense of it. That might not interest some here but I do find it interesting.
A lot of people who have never been infected with the “God virus” as Darrel Ray calls it don’t understand how it is that otherwise rational people can be taken in by religious truth claims. And for those of us that have been and have recovered or are recovering, there is a lot of interest in looking at the process. I recommend anyone with an interest in this give a listen to the Center Stage podcast where Ray talks about this. Part one was posted this week: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/forums/viewthread/13384/
Does the bible give any indication of WHY God felt the need to create the universe, the Earth, humanity, etc.? If not, does anyone know of an answer that has any semblance of logic?
Read The Ultimate Frontier by Eklal Kueshana
It may not be true but it is a weird trip.
The bottom line is that it is a form of reproduction. We are supposed to ultimately rise to God’s level.
Why are human’s called the children of God? What are children supposed to do?
As a former fundamentalist christian, the answers I most often heard were:
[*] God is a creator; he needs to create
[*] Good is love; he needed somebody to love (queue rock band Queen here)
[*] God needed somebody to worship/praise him
The third one was never explicitly stated as such, but it was pointed out—with biblical backing—that the purpose of humanity is to praise and worship god. So the corollary must be that god had need of such.
None of those make any rational sense, as others have pointed out. Especially if god is omni-everything. Because the creation he came up with is pretty much an epic fail on all counts.
Terrific, thanks Free. Wow, a Christian fundamentalist-turned-non-believer, eh? Fascinating. Would love to hear the story of your “conversion” sometime. Also thanks for the link, will check it out.
Does the bible give any indication of WHY God felt the need to create the universe, the Earth, humanity, etc.? If not, does anyone know of an answer that has any semblance of logic? I’ve searched periodically for an answer to this question, and haven’t found anything even remotely sensible for an answer thus far.
This is a great question. One of the most important questions in trying to understand evolutionary psychology as it applies to humans search for origins and the explanation of the unknown.
The focal point of interest is the anthro-centric angle. How that anthro-centric “mechanic” relates in reverse back down the evolution train is interesting too. Did these wonderments(the idea of a higher creator/origin) precede Homosapiens? Definitely, but how far back did they go? Primates? Pre-cursor primates and precursor people?
Somewhere along the way the idea of a creator evolved into being in our ancestors psychology. The creator is usually fashioned after our liking, and/or resides in a place we can get to after death.
As FIK, I’m a former evangelical Christian. I even spent half a semester in seminary before being asked to leave. They didn’t like it when I asked where the light between the galaxies came from.
As for the Biblical reasons God created the universe, FIK nailed with his third idea. According to what I got out of the Bible, God created the universe so humans could spend eternity praising Him. Which means God, as depicted in the Bible, is an insecure egocentric jerk. He is also the biggest mass murderer in history. Think about it. The Bible says God is all-knowing, so he knew beforehand that most of the people he created would wind up in Hell suffering eternal torment, yet he proceeded with Creation anyway just so the people who believed in Him could sit around in Heaven all day singing about what a swell guy God is. That is premeditated genocide, all to feed His ego.
I had a very interesting discussion at work today with a gent who was essentially agnostic and didn’t care who knew it. (In South Carolina, that’s gutsy.)
When he was still part of a church group, he asked the pastor in a question and answer session why they were worshipping an alien.
HUH??? (Startled pastor blinks in surprise.)
Talk about a question which they weren’t expecting. When the pastor asked him why he though their deity was an alien, he pointed out that if he existed, he HAD to be from somewhere OTHER then Earth, which made Him an alien. (You can’t BE from a place you created!)
They couldn’t fault his logic so they summarily excommunicated him the same day!
