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Query: What, in your view, is the purpose of being Christian?

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  • #16
    Originally posted by TheBaldie View Post
    I've got a video idea in the works so I've been asking people over Google+ and other places what they think the point of their being Christian is.

    Of course I've had the "for the glory of God" answer multiple times, and while true, I do require an explanation as to what you think that means. Be mindful that I might quote you for my next video if you answer so please let me know in your answer if you'd rather I didn't.
    Ultimately - the point of 'Christianity' is being in right relationship with God.

    Everything else flows from there (us being holy, loving others, doing good works, glorifying God, evangelizing, etc.)

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    • #17
      Analogies are examined and discarded in describing our relationship with God,on the basis of being anthropomorphic, irrelevant because we are imposing human parameters on a divine construct. I think it's uncalled for, considering we are made in the image of God, meaning He was the source referenced in our creation.

      What gives pleasure to every one? There is no argument that properly working systems, functional arrangements, smoothly running set ups make all of us happy, and this applies to God too . Just as we would love to create beautiful gardens, maybe varieties of beautiful gardens, God created the heavenly and the earthly realms. We all love to see a progressive situation, so planting a garden from scratch gives more pleasure than buying fully grown plants. So also Creation is designed to be pruned and nurtured till reaches it full glory:

      Genesis 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

      The earth is the physical manifestation of what exists in the heavenly realm.


      Just as a proud businessman will walk his children through the steps that made him successful, to watch the same creative process replicated, an affirmation of what he holds good, God walks His children through the process that made His Creation beautiful and capable of being productive and giving pleasure.

      Is the son compelled to obey his father? No, he will always be a son to the father, but the joy in that relationship is in the meeting of true minds. Will the son give pleasure to the father by learning to create a profitable and fulfilling career. Sure!

      So man is created to follow God in this endeavour.

      Just as the earthly father will teach his children the value of self sacrifice and dedication in fulfilling a task, so also will our heavenly Father help us in the task of making the earth fruitful:


      Psalm 1:3That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither-- whatever they do prospers.

      7:12Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."

      Matthew 6:10Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

      http://content.time.com/time/world/a...710844,00.html

      Quote

      TIME: And it ties in to what you've written about this all having a moral dimension.


      Wright: Both that, and the idea of bodily resurrection that people deny when they talk about their "souls going to Heaven." If people think "my physical body doesn't matter very much," then who cares what I do with it? And if people think that our world, our cosmos, doesn't matter much, who cares what we do with that? Much of "traditional" Christianity gives the impression that God has these rather arbitrary rules about how you have to behave, and if you disobey them you go to hell, rather than to heaven. What the New Testament really says is God wants you to be a renewed human being helping him to renew his creation, and his resurrection was the opening bell. And when he returns to fulfil the plan, you won't be going up there to him, he'll be coming down here.


      TIME: That's very different from, say, the vision put out in the Left Behind books.


      Wright: Yes. If there's going to be an Armageddon, and we'll all be in heaven already or raptured up just in time, it really doesn't matter if you have acid rain or greenhouse gases prior to that. Or, for that matter, whether you bombed civilians in Iraq. All that really matters is saving souls for that disembodied heaven.


      TIME: Has anyone you've talked to expressed disappointment at the loss of the old view?


      Wright: Yes, you might get disappointment in the case where somebody has recently gone through the death of somebody they love and they are wanting simply to be with them. And I'd say that's understandable. But the end of Revelation describes a marvelous human participation in God's plan. And in almost all cases, when I've explained this to people, there's a sense of excitement and a sense of, "Why haven't we been told this before?"
      Last edited by footwasher; 05-19-2015, 01:04 AM.

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      • #18
        Restoration. We were made in His image. The Fall damaged us. The purpose is to restore us to what we are supposed to be.
        "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

        "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

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        • #19
          To be on a journey from selfishness towards selflessness. The old hymn illustrates this transition best IMO:
          1) All of self and none of thee
          2) Some of self and some of thee
          3) Less of self and more of thee
          4) None of self and all of thee

          I would also add as already mentioned that we work to let love be the motive behind our thoughts, words, and actions.
          To develop certain Christ like characteristics of peace, love, joy, kindness, goodness, patience, and self control

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          • #20
            Originally posted by Teallaura View Post
            Restoration. We were made in His image. The Fall damaged us. The purpose is to restore us to what we are supposed to be.
            The purpose of the Incarnation was to restore us to what we are supposed to be. Our purpose is to be what we are supposed to be.
            Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

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            • #21
              Originally posted by TheBaldie View Post
              I've got a video idea in the works so I've been asking people over Google+ and other places what they think the point of their being Christian is.

              Of course I've had the "for the glory of God" answer multiple times, and while true, I do require an explanation as to what you think that means. Be mindful that I might quote you for my next video if you answer so please let me know in your answer if you'd rather I didn't.
              To know, love and serve G-d in this life so we can be with him in the next.

              The bible describes it using different metaphors, marriage (bride), family (adoption), party of a body, all illustrate the bonds we have with each other and with G-d, as a society. All parts of Christian theology refer back to these ideas, Trinity as a society of persons with an interpersonal relationship, Incarnation as the divine being one of us and sharing the human experience, and original sin as a rupture of relationship, salvation as a repairing or restoration of a relationship.

              And the life of heaven is described in terms of intimate and interpersonal contact, to be seen as we are seen, which is only possible in a very close relationship.

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              • #22
                Man’s purpose in general is to obtain Godly type Love so they can Love God (and secondly others) with all our heart, soul, mind and energy.

                God’s objective as it relates to man is the do all He can to help those that are willing to fulfill their earthly objective.

                As Christians, we have obtained the Love through “…he that is forgiven much Loves much…”, but we have the privilege and honor of remaining here on earth to help other (allow Christ to live in and through us to help others). We want to go home to God, but we also want to be a part of what god is doing here on earth, by allowing God to work through us.

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                • #23
                  Originally posted by TheBaldie View Post
                  I've got a video idea in the works so I've been asking people over Google+ and other places what they think the point of their being Christian is.

                  Of course I've had the "for the glory of God" answer multiple times, and while true, I do require an explanation as to what you think that means. Be mindful that I might quote you for my next video if you answer so please let me know in your answer if you'd rather I didn't.
                  That the Father should be pleased by the Glorification of Christ by the assimilation of all creation to Christ. Not as with the Borg, however: for the more that all creation in general, and every creature in particular, becomes like Christ, the more fully realised and individualised and unmistakeably unique it becomes. The infinite Uniqueness of Christ is finitely exemplified in creatures, and He is the Living Pattern, Model, Exemplar, "Template", Prototype, of each and every one of them. Creation is Christomorphic - so just as He is the Image of the Father, we are created in that Image. Creatures exist only in order to become fully realised created editions of the Uncreated Christ for Whom they were created, and outside Whom they are, and can be, nothing. The Glory of God is first and foremost a Person - not primarily a concept, but the Dynamic Reality of Christ.

                  IOW, Christ is what everything created is for - He is the meaning and point of everything - and this utter centrality of Christ is Trinitarian, not "Christo-monist". The short answer to all questions of the type "What is X *for* ?", is, "Christ". This includes evolution, my cat, the pound/yen exchange rate, taking exams - whatever is, or is possible, has meaning and being only in relation to Christ. So atheism, though subjectively possible, is not in agreement with the universe, because the universe is Christian by virtue of being created or intended at all. Nothing is without significance for God - and Christ is this Significance, made accessible to men. He comes down to us, so that we may be united with Him, and so, with everything about Him, done or said by Him or related to Him. He makes us accessible to ourselves, to others, and to all creation, by repairing and more than repairing the breach in relations made by sin.

                  A really good answer to your question would end up covering the whole of theology - perhaps the whole of creation. If anything in this can help to set forth the Uniqueness and Universality and All-inclusive Excellence of Christ, so much the better 😺
                  Last edited by Rushing Jaws; 07-22-2015, 04:26 AM.

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                  • #24
                    Originally posted by Jude View Post
                    To be on a journey from selfishness towards selflessness. The old hymn illustrates this transition best IMO:
                    1) All of self and none of thee
                    2) Some of self and some of thee
                    3) Less of self and more of thee
                    4) None of self and all of thee

                    I would also add as already mentioned that we work to let love be the motive behind our thoughts, words, and actions.
                    To develop certain Christ like characteristics of peace, love, joy, kindness, goodness, patience, and self control
                    ## "Self" in what sense - individual identity, or, selfishness, or both, or some other answer ?

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Originally posted by One Bad Pig View Post
                      The purpose of the Incarnation was to restore us to what we are supposed to be. Our purpose is to be what we are supposed to be.
                      ## That sounds very eschatological - it ties up beautifully with NT eschatology.

                      Comment

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