WHY DID GOD MAKE MAN ?
Why did God make man?
Why did God make anything?
Why was mankind made, a composite: male/female? Carnal, in part; spiritual, in part; intellectual, in part. Why ask "why"?
These questions I ask myself as I read, "The Promises," in ON FIRST PRINCIPLES (2013) by Origen, the 3rd century African Christian sage and theologian, who wrote:
"As, then, in those arts, which are accomplished by manual labor, the design, the why or how or for what uses a thing is made, lies in the mind, but its practical efficacy is unfolded through the help of the work of our hands, so we must believe that in regards to God's works, which have been made by him, their design and meaning remain a secret. Now when our eye sees the works of the craftsmen, if it observes an article which has been made with unusual skill, immediately the mind burns to discover what sort it is and how and for what uses it was made. Much more, and beyond all comparison, does the mind burn with unspeakable longing to learn the design of those things which we perceive to have been made by God. This longing, this love, we believe, has undoubtedly been implanted in us by God; and as the eye naturally demands light and vision and the body by its nature desires food and drink, so our mind cherishes a natural and appropriate longing to know God's truth and to learn the causes of things."
P.186-187
Thursday, November 3, 2016
WHY DID GOD MAKE MAN?
WHY DID GOD MAKE MAN ?
Why did God make man?
Why did God make anything?
Why was mankind made, a composite: male/female? Carnal, in part; spiritual, in part; intellectual, in part. Why ask "why"?
These questions I ask myself as I read, "The Promises," in ON FIRST PRINCIPLES (2013) by Origen, the 3rd century African Christian sage and theologian, who wrote:
"As, then, in those arts, which are accomplished by manual labor, the design, the why or how or for what uses a thing is made, lies in the mind, but its practical efficacy is unfolded through the help of the work of our hands, so we must believe that in regards to God's works, which have been made by him, their design and meaning remain a secret. Now when our eye sees the works of the craftsmen, if it observes an article which has been made with unusual skill, immediately the mind burns to discover what sort it is and how and for what uses it was made. Much more, and beyond all comparison, does the mind burn with unspeakable longing to learn the design of those things which we perceive to have been made by God. This longing, this love, we believe, has undoubtedly been implanted in us by God; and as the eye naturally demands light and vision and the body by its nature desires food and drink, so our mind cherishes a natural and appropriate longing to know God's truth and to learn the causes of things."
P.186-187