toldailytopic: What is the meaning of life?

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Ps82

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Hello King David,
You wrote:
I'm sorry, I'm not sure if you are male or female—I will suppose male.
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Nope.
You asked:
If so, and if you are married, and have children. Let me ask you this. If your children grow to maturity, does that subordinate you to them in any way?
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I guess that could happen if I were to become disabled and dependent on them.

You asked:
Let me also ask this. Do you want your children (supposing you have some) to reach adulthood?
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They already have... so?

If you are somehow comparing the potential and the existence of created human beings to God's potential and existence... then you are limiting God.

With God all things are possible. The problem with most people is that they tend to limit God to what they are able to do and imagine.

We are only one entity... and can only remain one entity ... on earth and in heaven... but the ONE God can manifest himself with multiple appearances in many realms and still be the ONE GOD.

HOW?
ANSWER:
God created ONE visible image for his personal us... then used it to appear within the realms he created. (Gen.1:26-27)
The invisible spiritual God revealed the name of his visible image to Moses... so that Moses could write the first 5 books of the Bible and use HIS NAME appropriately - The LORD, the LORD God. Exodus 34

When God manifests his presence among men (Exodus 24:9-10 and Exodus 24:11-12) ... HE always looks like that ONE IMAGE ... even if he manifests his one image in identical multiples simultaneously.
Read Gen. 18 and Gen. 19 and you will see where God manifested his ONE image, named LORD, 3 times and appeared unto Abraham and Lot as three super-natural males.

This is taking us off the topic of what is the meaning of LIFE ... but I wrote this to show you that the scriptures reveal that things we think of as being impossible ... are possible with God.
 
Jefferson

Jefferson

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zippy2006 said:
How is this relevant? It seems to me that each question requires the folly of knowing the mind of God. You are trying to explain the motives and psychology of God via the 'why' question...I don't see the point.

A better question:

Why do you believe that an acceptable answer to the question can be found through human intellect? Can we somehow propell ourselves onto the level of God by theorizing why he (an infinite being) did certain things? If the riddle was easily solvable via human reason, I think it would have been solved long ago. The common concession that God is somehow related to meaning is saying that something ABOVE us provides the purpose, whereas you are trying to understand it THROUGH us. No?
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I was waiting for someone to ask me for scriptural support. Thank you zippy. I wanted to first establish the logic behind this view and then seal the logic with verses:

The purpose of the Bible itself is to please God:
Isaiah 55:11 - so shall My Word be, which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall certainly do what I sent it to do.

Jesus Christ Himself lived every moment of His life to please the Father:
John 8:29 - And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things which please Him.

The purpose of our salvation is to be able to please God:
Romans 8:8 - So then they who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Our daily walk is described as being synonymous with pleasing God:
1Thes 4:1 - For the rest, then, my brothers, we beseech you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as you have received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more.

The purpose of our faith is to please God:
Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please Him

God’s pleasure is the purpose of human history:
Isaiah 46:10 - declaring the end from the beginning, and from the past things which were not done, saying, My purpose shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure;

The purpose of our adoption as sons and daughters of God is for His pleasure:
Ephesians 1:5 - having predestined us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

God desires that how we conduct our lives results in pleasing Him:
Philippians 2:13 - For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

And perhaps the single most conclusive verse supporting this position:
Revelation 4:11 - Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
 
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Jefferson

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hollyivy said:
God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven.
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But why does God want you to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven? Isn't it because all those things will increase His pleasure?
 
freelight

freelight

Eclectic Theosophist
Meaning is intrinsic........

Meaning is intrinsic........

~*~*~

Life's meaning is derived from the essential substance of what values, insights, relationships and associations are derived and experienced within it.

Life has its own potential meaning...as such is discovered thru the "experience" of living. - therefore there may be One Primary Source of all meaning,...but Life unfolds and discovers many 'meanings'.

Some may presume life has no 'meaning' apart from what one attributes to or imposes upon it, yet 'meaning' would appear to be latent within Existence, so its emergent features would be noticed within Life's activity, as directed and recognized by a 'discerning intelligence'.





pj
 
Jefferson

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Stone Mason said:
Ah but it is a huge difference. First off God has created more the human life. There are Angels, Animals, plants, and who knows what else that God has created. In addition God has his own life apart from man. The meaning of life for God is different than the meaning of life for a man.
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What verse says the meaning of life for God is different from the meaning of life for man? That aside, Knight's O.P. is obviously about the meaning of human life. Right Knight?

My point was to get you to think about your premise. You need a better / different word than Pleasure.
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I'm using a Biblical word. See post #165.
If you think that the meaning of life is to increase God's pleasure then you have to define what is it that gives God pleasure.
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See post #165.
If David was a man after God's heart, then doesn't that mean by your definition that David, when he was killing all of those people, gave pleasure to God? Ditto when Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land.
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People who love God with all their heart still have a sin nature and will occasionally stumble.
Think of it this way. A horse breaks its leg. The only way to put the animal out of its misery is to shoot it. Shooting the horse is not a pleasurable event, it is a duty to be performed because it the right thing to do.
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The avoidance of pain and the pursuit of pleasure are both on the same sliding scale. When you have a headache you don't take an asprin to feel pleasure but only to move away from pain. But since pain and pleasure are on the same sliding scale you are simultaneously moving toward pleasure even though that is not your intent when you take the asprin. Therefore shooting the horse moves you closer to the pleasure side of the scale especially when you consider how much pain you will have to experience if you don't shoot the horse.
I would argue that God wants us to be like Him and do the right thing, whether or not is pleasurable to Him or to us. If a person doesn't realize this, then it will be difficult for them to progress to the point where they show intelligent compassion towards all. Which is what I think God really wants our life to be about, because it’s the right thing to do.
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Again, considering the painful alternative of not doing the right thing, I think even martyrdom for the sake of Christ would be a huge move toward the pleasure side of the pain/pleasure scale.
 
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Jefferson

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FauxReal said:
I think you're mixing categories. The statement says what our chief end is, not God's.
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They should be one and the same according to Colossians 1:16,17 - "all things were created by him, and for him" Additionally, since the body of Christ is just that, a part of His very body, how could we possibly not have the same purpose?
 
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zippy2006

zippy2006

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Jefferson said:
I was waiting for someone to ask me for scriptural support. Thank you zippy. I wanted to first establish the logic behind this view and then seal the logic with verses:

The purpose of the Bible itself is to please God:
Isaiah 55:11 - so shall My Word be, which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall certainly do what I sent it to do.

Jesus Christ Himself lived every moment of His life to please the Father:
John 8:29 - And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things which please Him.

The purpose of our salvation is to be able to please God:
Romans 8:8 - So then they who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Our daily walk is described as being synonymous with pleasing God:
1Thes 4:1 - For the rest, then, my brothers, we beseech you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as you have received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more.

The purpose of our faith is to please God:
Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please Him

God’s pleasure is the purpose of human history:
Isaiah 46:10 - declaring the end from the beginning, and from the past things which were not done, saying, My purpose shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure;

The purpose of our adoption as sons and daughters of God is for His pleasure:
Ephesians 1:5 - having predestined us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

God desires that how we conduct our lives results in pleasing Him:
Philippians 2:13 - For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

And perhaps the single most conclusive verse supporting this position:
Revelation 4:11 - Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Click to expand...

Right, so to simplify we please God because we are told through revelation that that is our purpose? That's fine with me if that's what you are saying. The answer to the 'why' question is "Because God said so"? This isn't helpful to atheists but it provides an objective point of view for believers. (I'm not sure non-believers can get away from a reletivistic point of view).
 
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FauxReal

New member
Jefferson said:
Rev 4:11 says we were created for God's pleasure: "thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."
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You pick your verse, I'll pick mine: Isa 43:7 Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him."

Col 1:16-18 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. (17) And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. (18) And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Your translation says pleasure, most of mine (including my trusty NASB) say " and because of Your will they existed, and were created." That's something I don't think you'lll have qualms with unless you're trying to just use it to deny the eternal felicity of the Godhead and push your patripassian open theism here.
 
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Aimiel

Aimiel

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Lighthouse said:
Well, that's what Aimiel gets for all these people posting and making the thread into over 9 pages before I got to it.
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Hey, I'm like you, I don't read threads over a couple pages long before I post in them. I'd be reading threads for the rest of my life, rather than posting my dumb opinion all over the place. :chuckle:
 
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