What is/was the whole POINT?
(Reader's Note: Just for a frame of reference, please note that I am a Christian. And I do not take that title/term lightly, as in those who "just go to church", or those who use it to only mean something like Catholic or Protestant. When I say it, I mean it to be that I am a follower of Christ - doing a lousy job of it, mind you, but that I truly believe in Jesus as my Savior. In spite of all of this, I have the musings below.)
What is/was the whole POINT?
I warn you, this is going to sound very irreverent.
The entire Creation scheme: All the things God made - in heaven/angels, different types of angels with different jobs; All of the creations of Earth, particularly Man; Hell - fallen angels, demons, Satan.....
What is the whole POINT of it? WHY? Why make it all? Is it all some game of God's to amuse Him over the long years of eternity? Especially factoring in God's omniscience - this makes even the “amusing game” idea frankly silly. At least as silly as people who play some electronic game that they have already mastered, and yet still spend countless hours just clicking away for not that much amusement - a human's sense of omniscience in that tiny fake world - that electronic game wherein they have all the powers of an omnipotent god. Don't we all pooh-pooh this, understanding it to be nothing more than a waste of time? If it were a game the human had not mastered yet, at least there is SOME merit in playing it, but once mastered, we all wonder at some level why we still engage in hours playing that game.
So, … since God is omnipotent, He has “already mastered” every game there is, and in fact, since there exists nothing that He has not made in the first place - said game is something He already had mastered, or knew how to master even as He was creating it. Seems like a silly waste of time, and an exact parallel to the goofy human playing Nintendo.
Why bother? What does God GET out of all of this - all of creation, all of the entirety of Mankind? Why even make us weak creatures, that He KNEW ahead of time would fall into sin, who would need a Savior to pay for their sins.... That's almost like making an electronic game, that the characters in the game can't even win by themselves, but the game-maker Himself has to “cheat” and solve the problems or the quest in the game from outside of the game!
And why make all those angels? Particularly those whose only job is to eternally fly around and praise Him? http://www.gotquestions.org/seraphim.html Sounds kind of vain, when I put it that way, doesn't it?
Then this leads me into my musings about Prayer vs. Predestination and God's Omniscience
Why are we - silly, sinful, weak created beings - even supposed to pray for things to happen, change, or be provided? Since all is known by God for all eternity, that means everything has already happened - in some sense, at least in His knowledge. So what is the point of asking for change? What will be has already been ordained, and nothing silly little “we” can say/pray will change that. Even if the notion that God would hear that prayer, feel sympathetic and grant what we ask - it has already been “written” into His plan in the first place, because He has already seen the end (even though eternity has no end). The idea that He is some puppet master, who would then change up the game just a little - in the global scheme of things, just because little ol' me has asked for something - that's just ludicrous. And the concept that He DID change something, and still manages to juggle all the other puppets on earth at this time, and all the effects that change would produce - this flies in the face of the fact that He KNEW it all before I even prayed it in the first place.
Seems like a really BORING game - to know every single twist and turn of the game in advance, and then spend a few thousand earth-years even bothering to play it. Sounds about as much fun as playing Solitaire and cheating every time. Just a way to pass the time, and a really silly way to pass the time at that - since you are cheating every time. That reduces the solitaire game to nothing more than being lead around by the nose for the length of the game and just putting the correct cards in place for half an hour - or the same as that electronic game that you have mastered - just 4 hours of mindless clicking.
So again, since He KNOWS everything that is happening now, and will EVER happen, and in a sense everything that DID happen in the future --- What is the whole point? What is the point of us asking for anything?
I DO understand the idea that perhaps praying and asking is GOOD for us, good for the state of our hearts, humility, and all that. But what does GOD get out of the deal? Seems just like more vain flattery. Especially PRAISE and worship.
A big part of what I'm asking is also “Why did He create US?” What was the point of that? Are we just pawns in this mindless Game to help Him pass the eons with something to do? We really are a rather silly concept. (God thinking...'create weak creatures who can't make it by themselves, and then have to be saved by “Me, myself” through my Son, Jesus.' And then just sit back and watch.) But it's about as stimulating as watching a DVD that a human has completely memorized - every word, action and nuance. How fun is that?
I suppose to even be having this line of thought is sinful. Actually, I more than “suppose” it.
And, just like I believe it is not a good use of my limited time and even more limited human resources for me (just me, not everyone, as others have different capabilities) to spend a lot of time dabbling in the book of Revelation, and wondering/studying/trying to predict the end times..... I should be using my limited resources doing things like feeding the poor, tending to the sick, whatever - those things directly involving people. Just like that, I know I shouldn't be spending a lot of time on this whole area of rumination.......but it does keep coming up in my head.
And yes, I do believe these questions to be unanswerable - at least until I get to Heaven.
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I was planning to ask you about the point of praying - particularly praise. But I thought I'd just go whole hog. My problem with praying is contained in the above musings. Asking for something to happen or be granted unto you - I explained my questioning about that above - in God's omniscience. He already knew we were going to ask for it, He already has decided if He is/was/will ever grant that plea, in fact the plans for our every future move are already laid out.
And then, my problems with the concept of praise - I really do understand that it is GOOD for us as humans to give praise to God - good for humility. But is that ALL it's about? I mean, the only other purpose to it that I can come up with is that God simply LIKES it. He likes to hear how good, powerful, wonderful He is. And strike me dead, doesn't this smack of vanity? Especially the idea of heaven and eternity - all us saved Christians will be spending every minute in Heaven for all of eternity doing nothing but singing praises to God, and saying praises, bowing and worshipping, etc.
And He created both us and this entire system. To what purpose? What was His POINT - other than vanity - having a multitude of creatures saying how great you are.....and before you have me drawn and quartered for such heresy...... even that notion seems silly to me - since He CREATED the entire scheme in the first place, and knew this was all going to happen in the first place. Really......how amusing can this scheme really be? If a man were to “create” a bunch of beings somehow (puppets, or nowadays more likely something electronic, like only existing in the computer), and have these creatures end up doing nothing but saying how wonderful their “creator” was.....really...how much fun can this really end up being? Just seems like the creation is there for purposes of vain flattery.
I know this entire document sounds extremely irreverent. But at least I'm looking for any other answers than those that seem to occur to my feeble brain. I really WANT there to be more to the entire scheme, but I can't conceptualize what there can be. There must be more to it - mustn't there?
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(I welcome all comments, opinions, etc., either publicly or in private. I am looking for "answers" to something obviously unanswerable, but whatever additional wisdom I can glean would be greatly appreciated.)
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