There are those that say God's purpose for mankind is the conversion of the world into Christian religions. Their are many people that believe this. They also believe that the earth is merely the temporary home for mankind, that mankind's destiny is in heaven and that someday the planet earth will be consumed by fire.
If God’s purpose for mankind is the conversion of all men to a christian religion then it has signally failed. How so? Because not only is earth’s population increasing at a greater rate than is the christian religion but even in the christian religion comparatively few can be said to be true Christians.
God is the great First Cause. Of himself he says: “I am YHWH, that is my name.” And that name literally means “he causes to be.” For God to be the Great Causer, and yet not have a purpose, that would be unthinkable. It would indicate a lack of intelligence, and God, above all others, is The Intelligent One, the Source of all knowledge and the Personification of wisdom. (Isaiah 42:8)
But why speculate on what God’s purpose is when he has given us his well-authenticated Word for the very reason of revealing to us his purpose for mankind? Failure to make his purpose known to intelligent creatures would be both unjust and unloving and so not at all like God. “Surely the Lord YHWH will do nothing, except he reveal his secret unto his servants.”(Amos 3:7)
His purpose he made known by a mandate he gave the very first human pair in Eden. Incidentally, all mandates or commands issuing from God, the divine One, are divine mandates. To distinguish this one from all other divine mandates it therefore seems best to speak of it as the “procreation mandate.” And of what did this procreation mandate consist? Of three specific commands:
First of all, “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth”; with righteous human beings of course, like Adam and Eve, having a right to life, living in harmony with their Creator and dwelling in happiness and at peace with one another. Secondly, “and subdue it,” that is, the earth; by making all the earth a paradise even as was the specially prepared garden of delight in Eden. And, thirdly, ‘have in subjection all the lower animals.’ Man was to be a wise and loving ruler, not over fellow humans, but over the lower, unreasoning, animal creation.(Genesis 1:28)
Note that God said nothing to Adam and Eve about going to heaven. Neither did he tell them that someday the earthly globe was to be destroyed. Rather he told them that they would live as long as they obeyed a certain commandment. We must therefore conclude that man’s destiny was earthly, not heavenly. And so we read: “The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.” But how could they if someday it were to be destroyed by fire.?(Psalm 37:28)
What a marvelous prospect God’s purpose held out to mankind! What a testimony that procreation mandate was to God’s love, justice, wisdom and power! Yet today, some six thousand years removed from the time God gave that mandate, do we see God’s purpose for mankind practically realized? Far from it!
Instead of man’s making the earth a paradise he has so exploited it that large areas are barren because of dust storms and soil erosion. Destructive wars have ruined other large sections and now scientists warn that production of atomic energy may eventually make the entire earth uninhabitable.
Likewise man has failed to exercise wise, just and loving dominion over the lower animals. Instead, man has abused his charges, causing them much needless suffering, and has wantonly slain them for commercial gain or for sport, even to the extent of completely wiping out some species. And far from filling the earth with a happy and righteous race of humans having the right to life, man has filled the earth with an unrighteous, wretched and dying race.
Why this apparent failure of God’s purpose for mankind? Because of original sin, caused by the rebellion of one of God’s spirit creatures who was placed in charge of the earth and man, and who, because of his rebellion, is now known as Satan the Devil—a record all too well known to need detailed repeating here.(Genesis 3:1-19; Romans 5:12)
Does that mean that God’s purpose for mankind will not be realized? Not at all. None of God’s purposes ever fail. How could they, when he is both all-knowing and all-powerful? As he himself assures us: “I have purposed, I will also do it.”(Isaiah 46:11)
Actually it is merely a matter of God’s purpose for mankind being temporarily interrupted, which God permitted for very good reasons. Which is to demonstrate his superiority over a rival even when that one is given practically free rein, and also to prove that he can have creatures that will prove true to him in spite of all the temptations and persecutions that God’s enemy Satan can bring against them. For an example see the book of Job.
If God’s purpose for mankind is the conversion of all men to a christian religion then it has signally failed. How so? Because not only is earth’s population increasing at a greater rate than is the christian religion but even in the christian religion comparatively few can be said to be true Christians.
God is the great First Cause. Of himself he says: “I am YHWH, that is my name.” And that name literally means “he causes to be.” For God to be the Great Causer, and yet not have a purpose, that would be unthinkable. It would indicate a lack of intelligence, and God, above all others, is The Intelligent One, the Source of all knowledge and the Personification of wisdom. (Isaiah 42:8)
But why speculate on what God’s purpose is when he has given us his well-authenticated Word for the very reason of revealing to us his purpose for mankind? Failure to make his purpose known to intelligent creatures would be both unjust and unloving and so not at all like God. “Surely the Lord YHWH will do nothing, except he reveal his secret unto his servants.”(Amos 3:7)
His purpose he made known by a mandate he gave the very first human pair in Eden. Incidentally, all mandates or commands issuing from God, the divine One, are divine mandates. To distinguish this one from all other divine mandates it therefore seems best to speak of it as the “procreation mandate.” And of what did this procreation mandate consist? Of three specific commands:
First of all, “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth”; with righteous human beings of course, like Adam and Eve, having a right to life, living in harmony with their Creator and dwelling in happiness and at peace with one another. Secondly, “and subdue it,” that is, the earth; by making all the earth a paradise even as was the specially prepared garden of delight in Eden. And, thirdly, ‘have in subjection all the lower animals.’ Man was to be a wise and loving ruler, not over fellow humans, but over the lower, unreasoning, animal creation.(Genesis 1:28)
Note that God said nothing to Adam and Eve about going to heaven. Neither did he tell them that someday the earthly globe was to be destroyed. Rather he told them that they would live as long as they obeyed a certain commandment. We must therefore conclude that man’s destiny was earthly, not heavenly. And so we read: “The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.” But how could they if someday it were to be destroyed by fire.?(Psalm 37:28)
What a marvelous prospect God’s purpose held out to mankind! What a testimony that procreation mandate was to God’s love, justice, wisdom and power! Yet today, some six thousand years removed from the time God gave that mandate, do we see God’s purpose for mankind practically realized? Far from it!
Instead of man’s making the earth a paradise he has so exploited it that large areas are barren because of dust storms and soil erosion. Destructive wars have ruined other large sections and now scientists warn that production of atomic energy may eventually make the entire earth uninhabitable.
Likewise man has failed to exercise wise, just and loving dominion over the lower animals. Instead, man has abused his charges, causing them much needless suffering, and has wantonly slain them for commercial gain or for sport, even to the extent of completely wiping out some species. And far from filling the earth with a happy and righteous race of humans having the right to life, man has filled the earth with an unrighteous, wretched and dying race.
Why this apparent failure of God’s purpose for mankind? Because of original sin, caused by the rebellion of one of God’s spirit creatures who was placed in charge of the earth and man, and who, because of his rebellion, is now known as Satan the Devil—a record all too well known to need detailed repeating here.(Genesis 3:1-19; Romans 5:12)
Does that mean that God’s purpose for mankind will not be realized? Not at all. None of God’s purposes ever fail. How could they, when he is both all-knowing and all-powerful? As he himself assures us: “I have purposed, I will also do it.”(Isaiah 46:11)
Actually it is merely a matter of God’s purpose for mankind being temporarily interrupted, which God permitted for very good reasons. Which is to demonstrate his superiority over a rival even when that one is given practically free rein, and also to prove that he can have creatures that will prove true to him in spite of all the temptations and persecutions that God’s enemy Satan can bring against them. For an example see the book of Job.
