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The purpose of creation Introduction The
purpose of creation is a topic that puzzles every human being at some point
in his or her lifetime. Everybody at some time or another asks themselves
the question "Why do I exist?" or "For what purpose am I here on
earth?" The
variety and complexity of the intricate systems which constitute the fabric
of both human beings and the world in which they exist indicate that there
must have been a Supreme Being who created them. Design indicates a
designer. When human beings come across footprints on a beach, they immediately
conclude that a human being had walked by there some time previously.
No one imagines that the waves from the sea settled in the sand and
by chance produced a depression looking exactly like human footprints. Nor
do humans instinctively conclude that they were brought into existence without
a purpose. Since purposeful action is a natural product of human intelligence,
humans conclude that the Supreme Intelligent Being who created
them must have done so for a specific purpose. Therefore, human beings
need to know the purpose for their existence in order to make sense of this
life and to do what is ultimately beneficial for them. Throughout
the ages, however, there has been a minority among humans who
have denied the existence of God. Matter, in their opinion, is eternal and
mankind is merely a chance product of accidental combinations of its elements.
Consequently, to them, the question "Why did God create man?" had
and still has no answer. According to them, there simply is no purpose to
existence. However, the vast majority of humankind over the ages have believed
and continue to believe in the existence of a Supreme Being who created
this world with a purpose. For them it was, and still is, important to know
about the Creator and the purpose for which He created human beings. The
Answer To
answer the question "Why did God create man?" it must first be determined
from which perspective the question is being asked. From the point
of view of God it would mean, "What caused God to create human beings?"
while from the human point of view it would mean "For what purpose
did God create humans?" Both points of view represent aspects of the
intriguing question "Why do I exist?" In the following pages, both aspects
of the question will be explored based on the clear picture painted by
divine revelation. This is not a topic for human speculation, because human
guesswork cannot possibly produce the whole truth in this matter. How
can human beings intellectually deduce the reality of their existence when
they can hardly understand how their own brain or its higher entity, the mind,
functions? Consequently, the many philosophers who have speculated on
this question down through the ages have come up with innumerable answers,
all of which are based on assumptions which cannot be proven. Questions
on this topic have even led a number of philosophers to claim that we
do not really exist and that the whole world is imaginary. For example, the
Greek philosopher Plato (428-348 BC) argued that the everyday world of
changeable things, which man comes to know by the use of his senses, is not
the primary reality, but is a shadow world of appearances.1 Many others,
as was previously mentioned, claimed and continue to claim that there
is no purpose for the creation of humans at all. According to them, human
existence is merely a product of chance. There can be no purpose if life
evolved from inanimate matter which only became animate by pure luck. Humankind’s
supposed ‘cousins,’ the monkey and apes are not bothered with
questions of existence, so why should human beings be bothered with them? Although
most people put the question of why we are created aside after occasional
brief reflection, it is extremely critical for human beings to know the
answer. Without knowledge of the correct answer, human beings become
indistinguishable from the other animals around them. The animal necessities
and desires of eating, drinking and procreating become the purpose
of human existence by default, and human effort is then focused in this
limited sphere. When material satisfaction develops into the most important
goal in life, human existence becomes even more degraded than that
of the lowest of animals. Human beings will consistently misuse their God-given
intelligence when they lack knowledge of their purpose of existence.
The degraded human mind uses its abilities to create drugs and bombs
and becomes engrossed in fornication, pornography, homosexuality, fortunetelling,
suicide, etc. Without knowledge of the purpose of life, human existence
loses all meaning and is consequently wasted, and the reward of an eternal
life of happiness in the hereafter is completely destroyed. Therefore, it
is of the utmost importance that human beings correctly answer the question
“Why are we here?” Humans
most often turn to other human beings like themselves for the answers.
However, the only place that clear and precise answers to these questions
can be found is in the books of divine revelation. It was necessary that
God reveal the purpose to man through His prophets, because human beings
are incapable of arriving at the correct answers by themselves. All of the
prophets of God taught their followers the answers to the question “Why did
God create man?” Judeo-Christian
Scriptures A
survey of the Bible leaves the honest seeker of truth lost. The Old Testament
seems more concerned with laws and the history of early man and
the Jewish people than with answering the vital question concerning humanity’s
creation.2 In Genesis, God creates the world and Adam and Eve in
six days and ‘rests’ from His work on the seventh.3 Adam and Eve disobey
God and are punished and their son Cain kills their other son Abel and
goes to live in the land of Nod. And God was ‘sorry’ that he had made man!4
Why are the answers not there in clear and unmistakable terms? Why is
so much of the language symbolic, leaving the reader to guess at its meanings?
For example, in Genesis 6:6 it is stated, “When men began to multiply
on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons
of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took to wife such
of them as they chose.” Who are these ‘sons of God’? Each Jewish sect
and each of the many Christian sects who followed them have their own explanations.
Which is the correct interpretation? The truth is that the purpose
of man’s creation was taught by the prophets of old, however, some
of their followers - in collusion with the devils - later changed the scriptures.
The answers became vague and much of the revelation was hidden
in symbolic language. When God sent Jesus Christ to the Jews, he overturned
the tables of those merchants who had set up businesses inside the
temple,5 and he preached against the ritualistic interpretation of the law practiced
by the Jewish rabbis. He reaffirmed the law of Prophet Moses and revived
it. He taught the purpose of life to his disciples and demonstrated how
to fulfill it until his last moments in this world. However, after his departure
from this world, his message was also distorted by some who claimed
to be among his followers. The clear truth which he brought became vague,
like the messages of the prophets before him. Symbolism was introduced,
especially through the "Revelations" of John, and the Gospel which
was revealed to Jesus was lost. Four other gospels composed by men were
chosen by Athanasius, a fourth century bishop,6 to replace the lost Gospel
of Jesus Christ. And the 23 books of writings of Paul and others included
in the New Testament outnumbered even the four versions of the gospel.7
As a result, New Testament readers cannot find precise answers to the
question "Why did God create man?"8 And one is forced to blindly follow
the contrived dogmas of whatever sect they happen to belong to or adopt.
The gospels are interpreted according to each sect’s beliefs, and the seeker
of truth is again left wondering, which one is correct? The
Incarnation of God Perhaps
the only common concept to most Christian sects regarding the purpose
of mankind’s creation is that God became man so that He could die at
the hands of men to cleanse them of sin inherited from Adam and his descendants.
According to them, this sin had become so great that no human act
of atonement or repentance could erase it. God is so good that sinful man
cannot stand before Him. Consequently, only God’s sacrifice of Himself could
save humankind from sin. Belief
in this man-made myth became the only source for salvation, according
to the Church. Consequently, the Christian purpose of creation became
the recognition of the ‘divine sacrifice’ and the acceptance of Jesus Christ
as the Lord God. This may be deduced from the following words attributed
to Jesus in the Gospel according to John, “For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not
perish but have eternal life.”9 However, if this is the purpose of creation
and the prerequisite for everlasting life, why was it not taught by all the
prophets? Why did God not become man in the time of Adam and his offspring
so that all mankind would have an equal chance to fulfill their purpose
for existence and attain everlasting life. Or did those before Jesus’ time
have another purpose for existence? All people today whom God has destined
never to hear of Jesus also have no chance to fulfill their supposed purpose
of creation. Such a purpose, is obviously too limited to fit the need of
humankind. Everything
is God The
Hindu scriptures teach that there are many gods, incarnations of gods,
persons of God and that everything is God, Brahman. In spite of the belief
that the self (atman) of all living beings is actually Brahman, an oppressive
caste system evolved in which the Brahmans, the priestly caste, possess
spiritual supremacy by birth. They are the teachers of the Vedas10 and
represent the ideal of ritual purity and social prestige. On the other hand, the
Sudra caste are excluded from religious status and their sole duty in life is “to
serve meekly”11 the other three castes and their thousands of subcastes. According
to Hindu monist philosophers, humankind’s purpose is the realization
of their divinity and -following a path (marga) to emancipation (moksha)
from the wheel of rebirth - the reabsorbtion of the human soul (atman)
into the ultimate reality, Brahman. For those following the bhakti path,12
the purpose is to love God because God created humankind to “enjoy
a relationship - as a father enjoys his children” (Srimad Bhagwatam).
For the ordinary Hindu, the main aim of worldly life lies in conforming
to social and ritual duties, to the traditional rules of conduct for one’s
caste - the karma path.13 Although
most of the religion of the Vedic texts, which revolves around rituals
of fire sacrifice, has been eclipsed by Hindu doctrines and practices found
in other texts, the absolute authority and sacredness of the Veda remains
a central tenet of virtually all Hindu sects and traditions. The Veda is composed
of four collections, the oldest of which is the Rigveda (“Wisdom of
the Verses”). In these texts, God is described in the most confusing terms. The
religion reflected in the Rigveda is a polytheism mainly concerned with appeasing
deities associated with the sky and the atmosphere, the most important
of which were Indra (god of the heavens and rain), Baruna (guardian
of the cosmic order), Agni (the sacrificial fire), and Surya (the Sun).
In later Vedic texts, interest in the early Rigvedic gods declines, and polytheism
begins to be replaced by a sacrificial pantheism to Prajapati (“Lord
of Creatures”), who is the All. In the Upanishads (secret teachings concerning
cosmic equations), Prajapati merges with the concept of Brahman,
the supreme reality and substance of the universe, replacing any specific
personification, thus transforming the mythology into abstract philosophy.14
If the contents of these scriptures were all that human beings had
to choose from for guidance, one would have to conclude that God hid both
Himself and the purpose of creation from humankind. God
is not the author of confusion, nor does He wish difficulty for mankind.
Consequently, when He revealed His final communication to humankind
one thousand four hundred years ago, He ensured that it was perfectly
preserved for all of the generations of human beings to come. In that
final scripture, the Qur’an (Koran), God revealed His purpose for creating
mankind and, through His last prophet, He clarified all of the details which
man could comprehend. It is on the basis of this revelation and the prophetic
explanations that we will analyze the precise answers to the question
"Why did God create man?" in the coming pages. |
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