Quote:
Originally Posted by Freedom
I'd agree with what others have posted already... I view the purpose of man as being ultimately to glorify God. Consider Jesus’ words in Matt 5:16 - Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Here is a simple verse that helps Christians to realize their purpose on earth..
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The psalmist wrote, "The heavens declare the glory of God". Even the clouds and trees declare God's glory. All things work for God's glory. But to distill our existence down to one pat phrase, e.g. to glorify God, might be to sell the story somewhat short, no? Can we really reduce the Bible down to one or two all-encompassing phrases, beyond John's "God so loved the world so much that He sent His Son..." etc? Can we do better than the Bible has already done, with our schematic reconfigurations?
LSM's hermeneutical programme - "God's plan for man is 'X'" - preyed upon the simple and ignorant and weak, ultimately to make merchandise of them. The fruits of this can be amply seen in 2 things: that these schema required the dismissal of large portions of Biblical text, both NT and OT, variously termed "fallen" and "natural" and "human concepts"; also in the unrelieved human turmoil, all the so-called "storms" and "rebellions". How many thousands of dispirited and confused drop-outs did his work produce? Instead of the 99 and the 1, perhaps his plan for humanity created 99 frustrated Christians for every one who somehow maintained continual abject servility to his ministry, in spite of its obvious flaws. That was Lee's plan all along, rhetoric aside: the purpose of man, for Lee, was to "closely follow" him as God's oracle and unique deputy on earth. He'd give it a new set of clothes every so often, but that was always underneath. That single reality arguably never changed.