6I) THE MEANING OF LIFE
BACKGROUND:
God being the First Cause, must be “all alone” in a universe unto Himself.
There is no outside to that universe, so that whatever He creates must be created inside it.
God creates in His mind by imagining, ie He visualizes His thoughts and they exist in His mind.
Imagination is Creative Thought.
God has created some beings in His Image, ie with creative thought - the ability to Imagine.
If God just wanted robots He would have created more animals and plants.
Beings with creative thought must learn by experience, which stimulates their creativity.
Learning by doing is risky because like children they are naïve’ about Good and Evil.
“Good” = all the free-will choices they can make which will enhance their existence.
“Evil” = all the free-will choices they can make which will hurt them.
“Sin” = the result of doing things which will hurt them and lead to death.
Sin will eventually arise in an angelic world because the angels are naïve’
Angels can learn about Good and Evil by doing Evil, but then they will eventually self-destruct.
Angels can learn about Good and Evil by watching humans and then they will not self-destruct.
God set up this Great Controversy in a human universe lower than the angelic universe.
Angelic Beings watch it play out to the bitter end, and then they will fully know Good & Evil.
PROPOSITION:
We are the actors on this temporary human stage.
Our lives are snippets of information in the Big Picture.
The audience must see the entire drama covering mankind from beginning to end.
After seeing it all the audience will no longer be naïve’ and thus Sin will never arise in Heaven.
Everyone in heaven must want it to work and must understand what to do in every situation.
Sin is thus nipped in the bud because all participants understand the knowledge of good and evil.
When we die, we wait until the drama is over, ie mankind’s story is finished & Christ returns.
At that point, those of us, who have chosen to Trust God, rise to be with the Glorified Christ.
We are changed into angelic forms, but still quarantined from the rest of heaven.
We must live and reign with Christ for 1000 years and judge the world (Rev 20:4; 1 Cor 6:2).
This is where we, too get on a par with the angelic audience by watching the drama in replay.
Only those who Trust God will participate in this Life Everlasting.
THE MEANING OF LIFE:
This Human Drama is about acting out all the ramifications of decisions and consequences needed for an audience to fully understand the knowledge of Good and Evil. This is the story of mankind from an impersonal perspective. Its meaning/purpose is for the audience to learn from.
At the personal level, each of us has been given the opportunity to have Everlasting Life even after we die as actors in this drama. There is nothing we can do to merit this, it is a Gift for those, who choose to accept it. Since we don’t understand what the gift consists of, we must make the decision to accept it based on a Trust in God, Who told us about it. Only those, who know God (eg have a personal relationship with God – eg those who have an awareness of Christ) will elect to Trust God. Others will not and in the end they will cease to exist while those who trust in God will go on into some unknown continuing existence. We must trust that God, Who can do whatever He says He’ll do, has the intention of presenting us with a wonderful, non-boring, existence, whatever that may consist of for each individual.
Therefore, as we live this life what value does it have for us personally? Well I suggest that we strive to experience it to the fullest so that on our death bed, if we look back over our life, we will be pleased with how we spent our time. This doesn’t get us into Life Everlasting, but it does ensure that we have had a part in the Big Picture Drama. We still die sinners, but we hope to learn whatever it will take to want Life Everlasting to work. We must learn to Trust God not merely the transient things in life. If we learned that, then we’ll choose Life, ie Trust that God has a plan for us and accept it without fully understanding it. This will have an effect on how we live, but we will still all die as sinners. Our lives do, however, affect the others, who will eventually view the Big Picture and learn about the nature of Good and Evil. You see, by watching how each person deals with this life the audience will understand how to make Life Everlasting work.
There won’t be any sickness in heaven for us to show compassion over. However, there will be opportunities to do things that others benefit from for our mutual enjoyment. EG I might help to build a walkway around and over a beautiful lake so others can use it. It’ll make both of us happy. I in turn would enjoy using things others do eg listening to their music or watching their performances. This life hints at just this sort of positive experience.
There won’t be any pain in heaven, but remember “no pain – no gain”. I suggest there will be that kind of pain, where we push ourselves to achieve and get the results we merited. Again this life hints at just this sort of positive experience.
CONCLUSIONS:
We must live our lives to the fullest. God has given us this life and we return the gift by using our talents to the max (Matt 25:14-30). We must strive to learn what it takes for a prolonged existence to really work (Matt 25: 31-40). We cannot expect this to ensure we receive Everlasting Life, however. We only ensure that we will receive Everlasting Life by Trusting God. We will only trust God if we know God, so in this life we must strive to know God. We know God by talking to God when we are Good or Bad, Happy or Sad. This develops a personal relationship with God that enables us to put our faith in His promises even though we do not fully comprehend them. We get Everlasting Life before we know what it is. We learn what it is by living it day by day, just as we live this life, only without the disease, the grief, and the waiting in lines.
Personally our lives are strictly about deciding whether or not to
Trust God
2 February 2007
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