I haven't had much time to work on these while packing for our big move next week. Hopefully, I'll have more time after the move since I still have over 30 questions to go! :-) Here is the third question:
Why did God create humans if He doesn't need us?
It is true that God doesn't need anything. The theological term that is often used to describe this attribute of God is His "self-sufficiency." A.W. Tozer says it this way, "Whatever God is, and all that God is, He is in Himself." The apostle Paul wrote in Acts 17:23-25 that the world's Creator God "is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else." Tozer also correctly states that "to admit the existence of a need in God is to admit incompleteness in the divine Being."
Back to the question at hand: why did God create humans? In Isaiah 43:7 God says, "everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made." Romans 11:36 tells us that "for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen." In Revelation 4 we see the 24 elders fall down before God's throne in heaven and proclaim, "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31; Rom. 9:20-24)
God created everything, including humans, for His glory. Humans are unique among all creation because we alone are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). Bearing the image of God, our Creator, means that humans reflect the glory of God by being His representatives in creation. As a side note, this also means every human has value and worth because we reflect God's image in our own unique ways.
2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord." As you seek to live for God and allow yourself to transformed into the likeness of Christ, do your actions and words (your life) accurately reflect God's glory among creation?
------------------------
Where did these questions come from? In early April 2010 I was invited to join our Engage youth (junior & senior high student ministry at Geist Community Church) for a Q&A session. The students had been given the opportunity to anonymously submit questions that they wanted me to attempt to answer. The quality (and quantity) of the questions that were submitted really impacted me in a big way. The questions they asked are questions that people have wrestled with for centuries, if not longer. In fact, the questions were so good that I decided to spend time interacting with them on my blog. While I may not have time (or the knowledge) to fully answer each question, my hope is to at least point us in the right direction in Scripture so that we can continue to dialogue and seek the truth.
