21
The Westminster Shorter Catechism has as its first question:
What is the chief end of man?
and the answer provided (with references):
Man's chief end is to glorify God, [a] and to enjoy him for ever. [b]
[a]. Ps. 86:9; Isa. 60:21; Rom. 11:36; I Cor. 6:20; 10:31; Rev. 4:11
[b]. Ps. 16:5-11; 144:15; Isa. 12:2; Luke 2:10; Phil. 4:4; Rev. 21:3-4
20
The core idea behind this doctrine (usually referred to as "Exaltation") is that the LDS church teaches that our spirits are literal children of God. Offspring are the same species as the parent, and can thus grow and develop to become like the parent. The idea of God once being a man, or man becoming a god, are extensions of this doctrine. This is often ...
19
No. God's ways and thoughts are so much above ours it's difficult to understand.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
&...
19
I'm going to make an assertion here (and I would be very happy to be shown wrong, in which case I'll readily delete this): there is no Biblical support at all for the concept of soul selling (or indeed of any other kind of explicit pact). The entire notion is a non-scriptural invention, along with such things (now generally denounced) as limbo for non-...
18
No.
The general accounts of men, angels and the interaction between the two makes a pretty clear distinction that they are different KINDS of beings. Both are created by God but each has a different purpose and different destiny. We understand some things they do not. They are not bound by some of the physical limitations we are.
One interesting note is ...
18
As homosexuality is a sin, it is safe to conclude that God did not "create them this way". Just like God didn't create thieves as such, murderers as such, liars as such, etc.
It is as a byproduct of the fallen world in which we live that Romans 1:26-27 was written:
For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the ...
16
It's important to examine the basic premise: does "sexual orientation" actually exist in the first place? The concept has become ingrained enough in our culture that we take it for granted, but when you look at history, that wasn't always the case.
What you see in ancient cultures is many different attitudes towards sexuality, and patterns of sexual ...
15
In addition to the Isaiah reference listed by Dancek, the end of Job asks powerful questions of a mortal who dared to question God's motives:
Job 38 1-3 (NIV)
1 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
So no, humans cannot judge whether God is fair from our ...
15
This answer is based on the doctrine of original sin as held by at least Lutheranism. Related question: Are we born sinners?
There are, in fact, two important questions here. One explicit, one implicit.
The explicit question
Does God create some people heterosexual and others homosexual?
As other answerers have meritoriously pointed out, the Bible ...
13
Has anyone thought about Job?
Anyway...Paul wrote to Corinthians;
2 Corinthians 1:8-11 (NKJV)
8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ...
12
I believe we can be friends of God. (And not just because I'm a fan of the song)
Jesus tells us if we do what he commands we are his friends.
John 15:13-15 NIV
13 Greater love has no
one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my
friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants,
because a servant does ...
12
I think that since God finds homosexuality detestable, it would be safe to assume that God does not create people in a manner that he finds detestable.
We see in Leviticus 20:13 that he finds it detestable:
13 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a
woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put
to death; ...
12
From a Biblical perspective, the Egyptians would have descended from Noah, but not from Abraham. Genesis 10 is considered the "Table of Nations" in the Bible as it details how the sons of Noah began to populate the earth.
The tower of Babel in Genesis 11 is also a very significant event. God had commanded Noah (like He had Adam) to fill the earth. The ...
11
Yes, Christians can be clinically depressed.
Those who are mentally ill can be saved, I know of someone who is a severe schizophrenic, and has delusions that are contradictory to the Bible (such as he believes he is or soon will be king of the world), but at the same time, he believes in God as his personal Lord and Savior... God knows and understands, He ...
11
All of Humanity is (Individually) Made in God's Image
Genesis does not seem to leave the matter open to much interpretation.
Genesis 1:26-27 NASB Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every ...
11
Answers in Genesis and Creation Ministries International, two young-earth creationist organizations, have similar answers to this question. They don't attribute a direct supernatural cause, but instead attribute the age drop-off primarily to genetics.
Both cite several factors:
Environmental changes following the flood: probably nothing more than a minor ...
10
At the risk of making enemies from both sides of the war over abortion, I will merely provide my opinion.
There is no way of knowing when God breathes a soul into a fetus. At conception? Somewhere in the Middle? Biblically we know it happens in the womb at some point because babies in the womb respond to God.
For example:
When Elizabeth heard Mary's ...
10
In 1661, Pope Alexander VII released the Bull "Sollicitudo omnium eccl.," which reads in part:
The devotion to the most blessed Virgin Mary is indeed of long standing among the faithful of Christ who believe that her soul, from the first instant of its creation and infusion into her body, was preserved immune by a special grace and privilege of God from ...
9
According to The Family: A Proclamation to the World,
IN THE PREMORTAL REALM, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped
God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His
children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to
progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny
as heirs of eternal ...
8
There is an interesting passage in the magnificat in Luke,
The phrase in verses 2:56,47 seems to indicate that Spirit and Soul basicly mean the same thing. Jewish verse uses a technique called parallelism where one line says something, and the next ,the same thing but using diifferent words for emphasis.
It might be pushing it a bit but the phrasing ...
8
One concrete example from the Bible of a prophet judging God is from the book of Habakkuk.
The book begins with the prophet Habakkuk judging God for His inaction:
Habakkuk 1:2-4 2 How long, O LORD, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.
3 Why do You make me see iniquity,
And cause me ...
8
The concept of fallen angels is based on the following scriptures.
MATTHEW 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand,
Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels:
Luke 10:17-18 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord,
even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. ...
8
Here is how I would explain the viewpoint behind the comments you quote in your question. I do hold a belief about the nature of people that says that since the fall they are inherently bad, totally corrupt. This doesn't mean they were created that way, just that the corruption that we inherit from the first Adam is so complete that we can do nothing truly ...
8
I think the general understanding among Christians is that God, properly understood, is unique in both nature and office when considering His full nature and full office. That is, there's no other being that is is His own essence (nature) or is the creator of all things (office). (Summa, Part 1, Question 3)
However, your question, as stated, seems to be ...
8
You seem to be asking for a definitive verse in scripture that states or implies that the soul has a gender. There is no such verse (it seems), and indexes to mentions of gender list nothing concrete. However:
God made humans, "in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:26), and this was so before the fall. This passage ...
8
My lay, minimally-researched Catholic understanding may not necessarily qualify, since Catholicism doesn't require a belief in evolution. But ... well, here I go:
In my understanding, it would be the first creature capable of bearing God's image. That is, it would be the first creature capable of love, but with freedom of will, and capable of contemplating ...
8
The discussion of the origin of the human soul/spirit (on this topic they are generally spoken of as one immaterial part) is a very old one in Christian history. There are many serious implications which the debate has commonly hinged on, particularly regarding the transmission of Adam's original sin and guilt. However varied those theories may be, a basic ...
8
You seem to have a misunderstanding of what death is. Death is separation, not ceasing to exist. Spiritual birth is required because of spiritual death.
spiritual death- separation from God (the first source is the Fall and the second is our own disobedience)
physical death- separation of the spirit from the body
Both deaths came because of the Fall, and ...
7
I believe that the "chief end of man", or "why man was created" can be summed up in what Jesus said when a lawyer asked him a question.
Matthew 20:36ff
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" And He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and ...
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