A Christian Worldview Part One: Creation
Most importantly and above all else, it the chief and supreme end for everything God has created is that it would glorify Him. Even more specifically God created you for His glory; every aspect of your life should be driven for this one great end. Your purpose is none other than to glorify God. I look forward to your discussion of this and hopefully, by His sovereign grace, God will lead us into realizing a small sliver of its unfathomable ramifications.
An Addendum
I had hoped this post would have generated more discussion and since it has not I have decided to briefly disclose some of my observations on the subject.
No other statement in the whole of Scripture has more implications than these ten words. Everything else, in the entire course of redemptive history, is a result and fulfillment of this statement. Because of this God’s purpose in creating should be of the utmost importance to us.
God created us to live in relationship, both with him and with others; therefore, His Word must govern our relationships, to His glory.
God created gender; therefore, His Word must define gender roles.
God created work; therefore, His Word should both encourage us to work and define how we work. Many of you think of you job as a means to ministry and not a ministry in itself; you merely tolerate working so that you may minister to others through relationships. That should not be the case. If you are a painter then the way in which you paint should glorify God. If you are a teacher, your teaching should glorify God. If you are a lawyer then your pursuit of justice and truth should glorify God. When you view God as the one who has both created and purposed your work your job begins to take on a new perspective.
God created the family; therefore, His Word should govern our family life. This Sunday I was blessed to hear an individual teach on this very thing. One of his points was that far too often parents train their children to obey them when their goal as parents is to train their children to obey God. When disciplining your children it is imperative that you point them to Scripture. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (II Timothy 3:16-17) Is that not your goal as parents; to train up righteous children equipped to do good works?
An Addendum
I had hoped this post would have generated more discussion and since it has not I have decided to briefly disclose some of my observations on the subject.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
No other statement in the whole of Scripture has more implications than these ten words. Everything else, in the entire course of redemptive history, is a result and fulfillment of this statement. Because of this God’s purpose in creating should be of the utmost importance to us.
God created us to live in relationship, both with him and with others; therefore, His Word must govern our relationships, to His glory.
God created gender; therefore, His Word must define gender roles.
God created work; therefore, His Word should both encourage us to work and define how we work. Many of you think of you job as a means to ministry and not a ministry in itself; you merely tolerate working so that you may minister to others through relationships. That should not be the case. If you are a painter then the way in which you paint should glorify God. If you are a teacher, your teaching should glorify God. If you are a lawyer then your pursuit of justice and truth should glorify God. When you view God as the one who has both created and purposed your work your job begins to take on a new perspective.
God created the family; therefore, His Word should govern our family life. This Sunday I was blessed to hear an individual teach on this very thing. One of his points was that far too often parents train their children to obey them when their goal as parents is to train their children to obey God. When disciplining your children it is imperative that you point them to Scripture. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (II Timothy 3:16-17) Is that not your goal as parents; to train up righteous children equipped to do good works?
2 Comments:
I enjoyed your post and am interested in seeing what you have to say about the fall of man and the redemption.
Would you agree with the following explanation of man's existence used in the Baltimore Catechism (the standard catechism used to teach the Catholic religion to children in the 1900s)?:
"Why did God make us?
God made us to show forth His goodness and to share with us His everlasting happiness in heaven.
(a) By creating the world God did not increase His own happiness, since He was infinitely happy from all eternity, but He did manifest His glory externally by sharing His goodness. All creatures by their very existence show forth the glory of God, for all depend on God for their existence.
(b) God created man to manifest His glory in a special way. He gave man an intellect and a will that he might know, praise, and love his Creator. In the service of God man finds his true, though imperfect, happiness in this life. Perfect happiness has been promised in the next life as a reward for the merits man acquires here on earth. Thus the happiness of man is also a purpose of creation.
(c) The happiness of heaven consists in the direct vision, love, and enjoyment of God. This reward so far exceeds man's nature that without the supernatural help of God it could not possibly be attained. In heaven God gives us the light of glory, which enables us to see Him face to face. During our life on earth God gives us His grace, which enables us to live a supernatural life and to perform the actions that can earn this reward.
(Obviously I understand you would disagree with the statement that man "merits" heaven or that it is a "reward", so please disregard this for now because, although ultimately all these things are interconnected, I do not wish to deviate from your topic. What I'm interested in discovering is whether Catholics and Calvinists agree concerning the basic belief in the purpose of creation and man's existence.) Continuing...
No human being can live properly unless he knows the purpose of life. The present lesson tells us this purpose. We have been created by God in order to glorify Him and to merit eternal happiness with Him in heaven. Our own reason tells us that we have a spiritual soul; and a spirit is immortal--that is, it will never die. Reason also assures that we can find perfect happiness only in God, for the desire for happiness in every human heart is unlimited, and hence no created good can fully satisfy it. As St. Augustine said: 'The heart of man is made for Thee, O God, and it is restless till it rests in Thee.'
God has revealed to us that the happiness to which He invites us in the next life is a share of His own happiness. It consists in seeing God directly in all His goodness and beauty, in loving Him, and in enjoying His presence for all eternity.
I'm not here to start something, I'm honestly interested in learning what you have to say and engaging in respectful dialogue, and I think creation, fall of man, and redemption are good starting points I think we are in agreement, at least on the basic level, that God created man to glorify Him. What say you?
Yes, I agree that the supreme end for which God created everything is His glory. I also agree that God's hapiness does not increase nor decrease, because His hapiness in found in Himself. I too would agree that God's purpose in salvation is our enjoyment of Him; as John Piper put it "God is the Gospel."
Another great point is that you cannot live properly unless you know and submit yourself to God's purpose in life. Example: Yes, God intended a man and a woman be inified in marrage, for as long as they should live. Failure to understand that the ultimate purpose of your marriage is God's glory results in a mariage that is less fulfilling.
And as you noted I do disagree that we merit anything, besides hell.
I have enjoyed the discussion and look forward to your comments.
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