The purpose of creation

[Ouroboros]

So you are more comfortable with thinking that there is absolutely no purpose.

In my first response to you I gave you my view of what the purpose is. The purpose is to be and to become. To exist and to change. To live in the moment and evolve into the future. Does that clear things up?

And as a Swedenborgian I most definitely DO believe that there is a divine purpose and that it is completely comprehensible.

Great. But... you asked in the first post what people here thought the purpose was, so my response is to answer your original question in this discussion.

We have to be able to resist the Lord's divine providence if we have free will. That free will allows us to ignore his will to have us all with Him to eternity in heaven. Without free will we would all be robots, unable to do anything other than his will, right? This to me means we can chose to ignore him. And I also believe that the Lord flows into all of us (or we would die immediately) - it is our reception of him that differs - again, because of our free will. We can, if you will allow me to continue with the vessel analogy, we can damage that vessel so that it won't hold the Lord's love, or we can even turn it upside down and block his love off. But the Lord's love is steadfast and unceasing...because he is ALL LOVE and hence the origin of all love.

Which means that the free will we have (the divine spark) is stronger than God's will. Otherwise it wouldn't be free from God's will. We have to be able to "will" things outside what God's will is, or it isn't free.

But to shut off (as you said) this divine spark, this free will, isn't something you just can freely choose. You can't decide to not be able to decide, or decide that God doesn't exist in all things.

 

[SuzyL]

In my first response to you I gave you my view of what the purpose is. The purpose is to be and to become. To exist and to change. To live in the moment and evolve into the future. Does that clear things up?


Great. But... you asked in the first post what people here thought the purpose was, so my response is to answer your original question in this discussion.


Which means that the free will we have (the divine spark) is stronger than God's will. Otherwise it wouldn't be free from God's will. We have to be able to "will" things outside what God's will is, or it isn't free.

But to shut off (as you said) this divine spark, this free will, isn't something you just can freely choose. You can't decide to not be able to decide, or decide that God doesn't exist in all things.

I don't understand why our will has to be "stronger" than God's will. I don't think there is a strength thing going on - you either will or it you don't, right?

And I TOTALLY agree that we must change...but that isn't the purpose. For me, a heaven from the human race is the Lord's "end" or goal for each of us. But we must actively participate by changing, by repenting, by ceasing to do evil and learning to love good. to do that we must know what "good" is.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

So you are more comfortable with thinking that there is absolutely no purpose.

That is not at all what I said. Why would you presume to put words in my mouth? Perhaps you should give more thought to your 'purpose.'

 

[Ouroboros]

I don't understand why our will has to be "stronger" than God's will. I don't think there is a strength thing going on - you either will or it you don't, right?

How can you will God's power to not exist in your life unless your will is stronger than God's will?

And I TOTALLY agree that we must change...but that isn't the purpose. For me, a heaven from the human race is the Lord's "end" or goal for each of us. But we must actively participate by changing, by repenting, by ceasing to do evil and learning to love good. to do that we must know what "good" is.

Change is eternal. Nothing is ever static.

 

[SuzyL]

True. But when I say change in this context I mean change our loves...in other words repent.

 

[SuzyL]

How can you will God's power to not exist in your life unless your will is stronger than God's will?


Change is eternal. Nothing is ever static.

Thanks you so much for the interesting conversation. So few people are willing to discuss religion and I enjoy finding out what others believe, and sharing what I believe so much. Thank you for indulging me!

 

[Ouroboros]

Thanks you so much for the interesting conversation. So few people are willing to discuss religion and I enjoy finding out what others believe, and sharing what I believe so much. Thank you for indulging me!

You're welcome.

 

[Smart_Guy]

Welcome aboard

You can ask in "religion" DIR section to get individual responses about specific religions.