Why did God create the Universe?
It doesn’t say in the bible (or – correct me if I’m wrong – in any other holy text from any other tradition either)
Perhaps we can only speculate?
I think he did because he wanted to bring meaning to his own existence
Perhaps he felt bored and lonely?
Also, is humankind at the centre of creation or did it just arise by chance?
I believe the purpose of the universe is so that there can be a humankind, a body of beings God can have a relationship with, therefore I believe humankind to be at the centre of creation (and made in God's own image)
Those are my thoughts on the matter
Hi
@Eddi
I think the question you asked is a profound and important question to ask. As a historian of early Judeo-Christian texts, I honestly think that the earliest Judeo-Christian doctrines on this specific subject describe a more logical and rational reason for the creation of the planets and all other things in the universe than most of the worldviews adopted by the later Judeo-Christian movements. I think that the early Judeo-Christian concept of mortality as a "tutoring" of spirits of mankind is most logical. For examples :
GOD THE FATHER’S PLAN FOR MANKIND - “TO SEE AND UNDERSTAND THINGS”
SPIRITS, AS WELL AS MATTER EXISTED BEFORE IT WAS FORMED INTO THE WORLD
In early Judeo-Christian worldviews, It is not simply matter that exists before the world is created, but spirits as well.
"No one could come near unto him from among those that surrounded the tens of millions (that stood) before him". 1 En 14:23; In other parts of Enochs vision he testifies :
"I saw a hundred thousand times a hundred thousand, ten million times ten million, an innumerable and uncountable (multitude) who stand before the glory of the Lord of the Spirits. (1 Enoch 40:1-2)"
WHAT WOULD A LOVING GOD WANT FOR THESE SPIRITS AND HOW WOULD A LOVING GOD INTERACT WITH THESE SPIRITS?
If the early Christians were correct that spirits existed prior to creation, then one may ask what a moral and loving God would plan regarding these spirits?
The ancient Jewish doctrine that God had instituted a divine plan is interwoven into multiple texts : "
Before all things came to be, he [God] has ordered all their designs" (Dead Sea Scrolls 4Q255-264)
“....I (the Father), in the midst of the light (glory), moved around in the invisible things, like one of them, as the sun moves around from east to west and from west to east. But the sun has rest; yet I did not find rest, because everything was not yet created. And I thought up the idea of establishing a foundation, to create a visible creation." (2nd Enoch 24:4)
The Prophet
Enoch describes the earliest stages of God’s plan before it was known among the heavenly host :
"for not even to my angels have I explained my secrets, nor related to them their origin, nor my endless and inconceivable creation which I conceived." (2nd Enoch 24:3)
However, in this ancient Christian model, once God sets in motion his great plan, God seems to take great care in both the planning of and in ensuring the deep involvement of the Heavenly Hosts (for whose benefit the plan existed).
Early records also describe the great authority and various roles the pre-mortal Jesus fulfilled in administrating much of the Father’s plan from early on (God’s "right hand" was one of the Pre-Creation Jesus’ appellations). For example, Diognetus relates :
"And when he (God) revealed it (his plan) through his beloved Child and made known the things prepared from the beginning, he gave us to share in his benefits and to see and understand things which none of [us] ever would have expected.” (Diog 301:8-11)
Such early Christian texts explain that the purpose of the plan was to
“share in the benefits and see and understand things”; i.e. to gain wisdom. This is the very thing Adam and Eve sought to gain FROM the tree of wisdom.
If the gaining of wisdom WAS the very thing God wanted to share with man, then it was as much a Jewish doctrine as a Christian one. In fact, the dead sea scrolls celebrate God’s giving of knowledge and understanding (wisdom) to Adam :
“…You have done wonders of old, and awesome deeds long ago. You fashioned Adam, our father, in the image of Your glory; You breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and filled him with understanding and knowledge. You set him to rule over the garden of Eden that you had planted…and to walk about in a glorious land…” (Dead Sea Scrolls - 4Q504 - 506)
In explaining Adam’s assignment upon the earth, God says of the pre-eminent Adam :
“... on the earth I assigned him to be a second angel, honored and great and glorious. 12 And I assigned him to be a king, to reign on the earth, and to have my wisdom. “ (2nd Enoch 30:10-12)
God continues explaining to Enoch regarding Adam :
“And there was nothing comparable to him on the earth, even among my creatures that exist.... I gave him his free will; and I pointed out to him the two ways –light and darkness. And I said to him, ‘this is good for you, but that is bad’.... “ (2nd Enoch 30:13-15)
The text continues on to explain reasons WHY God wanted to give Adam (and all of the rest of us) knowledge and wisdom :
“...so that it might become plain who among his race loves me. 16 Whereas I have come to know his nature, he does not know his own nature. That is why ignorance is more lamentable than the sin such as it is in him to sin.” (2nd Enoch 30:15-17)
There was something
even “more lamentable” about an eternal existence in moral ignorance and social unrest than a temporary and limited sin IF it contributed to mankind acquiring moral wisdom sufficient to live in eternal social joy and harmony. The texts also make clear that mankind had to understand moral law BEFORE mankind could understand EITHER moral reward OR moral punishment BASED on moral law. When the Prophet Baruch complains about apparent inconsistencies in reward and punishment in mortality, God explains the principle underlying this moral education. God tells Baruch :
“... your judgment about the evils which befell those who sin is incorrect. ... ....listen and I shall speak to you; pay attention and I shall let my words be heard. It is true that man would not have understood my judgment if he had not received the law and if he were not instructed with understanding. But now, because he trespassed, having understanding, he will be punished because he has understanding. And with regard to the righteous ones,... this world is to them a struggle and an effort with much trouble. And that according which will come, a crown with great glory.” (The Apocalypse of Baruch 15:1 and 5-7)
If man was not educated regarding good and evils they do, they would not understand the rewards nor the punishments that follow moral actions nor would they have understood the ultimate justice of God’s judgment.
The
Zohar explains this doctrine of moral education of spirits leaving heaven for earth for a short time, to become educated, only to return to heaven in a morally educated and improved and mor civil condition so as to inhabit a social heaven in joy and harmony (which they could not have done without having a moral education and training).
“It may be wondered, if they are thus preeminent on both sides, why do they descend to this world only to be taken thence at some future time? “This may be explained by way of a simile: A king has a son whom he sends to a village to be educated until he shall have been initiated into the ways of the palace. When the king is informed that his son is now come to maturity, the king, out of his love, sends the matron his mother to bring him back into the palace, and there the king rejoices with him every day.....” (ZOHAR)
After this process of moral tutoring and sieving into those able and willing to live social laws that underlie and support social harmony, these spirits are then ready to enter into a social heaven and greater experience joy and greater harmony with God than they could have without having undergone this moral education.
In any case, I hope your own models as to what God is doing with mankind and why he instituted mortality are insightful.
Clear
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