To my understanding, God never does anything for no good reason.
Isaiah 45:18.... "This is what Jehovah has said, the Creator of the heavens, He the true God, the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, He the One who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, who formed it even to be inhabited".
So finding out why God put such abundant life here on this planet, when all the others have proven to be lifeless is a good start.
The Creator exists outside of time, being immortal and eternal means that he has always existed, but for unknown eons of time, he was not a Creator. We know this because the universe has not always existed.
In his opening statement in Genesis we have a simple truth...."In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth".
The "beginning" here, was the creation of the material universe, brought forth in one enormous burst of energy, unimaginable and mind boggling from the perspective of our tiny planet, in one section of just one of billions of galaxies.....but we are not left in the dark entirely....we have a tantalizingly simple explanation to give us some clues.
Genesis is the explanation, using simple language for an unscientific audience, it tells us how God prepared this formless and desolate planet to eventually host an abundance of life. It wasn't something that happened in a week, but creation took place carefully and methodically over probably millions of earth years.
As his final act, God 'created man in his image and likeness'....but why? These were to represent him as caretakers. Having his qualities and attributes would make humans an excellent choice to take care of the rest. But these had some lessons to learn.
What is to say, that we might be just the beginning of planetary life? That millions of earth years are meaningless to an eternal being? What if all the issues that have cropped up here will form the blueprints for future habitation on other planets? What if the 'mansion's' other 99 rooms are just waiting for refurbishment and for the guests to arrive?
Lessons are learned when plans are implemented and I'm sure that God had many things to teach us....if we had only bothered to listen and obey him. We needed to learn how to drive free will, and how to take care of this planet and its inhabitants first. We still haven't proven trustworthy in this role as a whole, so God must be selective.
All indications are that God will select citizens from among mankind to continue what he began in Eden.
These will be the ones who carry out what the first humans failed to do....obey their Creator's commands.
If we don't get things sorted here first, then what is the point of taking our troubles somewhere else?
It always saddens me when people say these kinds of things about God. I do not see him in any way arrogant or selfish....quite the opposite in fact. His generosity to our first parents gave them an awesome start.....but they misused their free will and started a chain reaction of others bent on doing the same. If he was arrogant and selfish, he would have wiped us all off the face of this earth and not bothered to make things better. Instead he has made this life a learning curve so that the lessons learned can be carried over into his future plans. If we have made all the mistakes (and God even provided the means for us to be forgiven) and we have experienced the consequences of bad choices, then we will not be in a hurry to repeat them, nor will God allow them to spoil the future for others. Precedents are set that will benefit all of God's creation for the rest of eternity.
Our first parents were not defective in any way, but having free will meant that there were necessary boundaries within which free will could be exercised. Unbridled free will results in what we see on earth today under the rule of sinful and corrupt humans. What a mess!!!!
I see the future as very bright, with God having sorted out the "sheep from the goats" and starting a new world with only those who can use their free will appropriately. (2 Peter 3:13) Righteous people are humble and compliant, not seeking their own will first.
It means never imposing our will on others and seeking always to do the will of God.....it's how we are designed. It's also how we are judged. (Matthew 7:21-23)
That is how I see the Bible's message.
