Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Why You Were Created {Reflections}
Why did God create human beings? It's one of the oldest questions known to humanity, and we're tackling it head-on in our latest episode. Was it for worship, companionship, or perhaps something else entirely? Join us as we challenge these conventional answers and explore a more profound perspective rooted in the Trinitarian view of God. We delve into the notion of creation as an act of divine love and abundance, rather than a fulfillment of divine need or desire for praise. This episode invites you to reflect on the boundless love of the Trinity—a dynamic relationship of giving and receiving—and how this love naturally overflows into the creation of the universe and humanity.
Engage with a narrative that rethinks the divine motivations behind our existence, painting a picture of a God so full of vibrant life and love that creation was an inevitable overflow. Drawing on Trinitarian theology, which portrays God as a perfect unity lacking nothing, we propose that God didn't create out of loneliness or a need for worship but rather from a place of abundance. Imagine a cup so full it spills over; that's the essence of creation we're discussing. Tune in for an enriching conversation that reshapes how we understand our place in the universe and our relationship with the divine.
Join us! Facebook | Instagram | www.clcelkriver.org
what is up everybody? Hey, welcome to our reflections podcast. I think we're on episode 73, 73. Welcome to episode 73. What do you think? Look, stay a while, take your shoes off.
Speaker 1:Hey, when I was younger, we used to talk a lot, and even now I get asked a lot hey, why did God create human beings? And when I was younger, I would hear several repetitive answers to this, none of which really ever satisfied me. And then I came across an idea. You probably know this, but I wanted to just reiterate it for you on here. I came across an idea that I think is phenomenal and beautiful and that works for me. And so, when I was younger, one of the reasons why I was taught that we were created, because we were created to worship God. And so God makes human beings and, I guess, the cosmos and all these things to worship him. But it bothered me because it feels you know, even now saying it, it feels a bit slimy that God would create anything just to worship him, as though God is insecure or that big of an egomaniac that he has to make beings to tell him how good he is, you know. And so worship whatever worship is, it's not that God demands us to do it because he wants to know how good he is. I don't think God needs us to tell him anything. I mean, God is not insecure. I like to think about this. I like to think that he's not insecure, so it wasn't to worship him, but what was it? Well, I was also taught when I was younger, maybe God was lonely, that God needed some companionship, some friendship. And while that's good, I don't think God was lonely If we hold what we call a Trinitarian view of God, that God is three persons in one.
Speaker 1:We call him the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. So God is three in one, and the idea or the Trinitarian theology is what we call it that I resonate with most is that the Father, son and the Spirit lacked nothing. They were a perfect unity of three persons in one. They weren't lonely, they weren't missing anything, there was no scarcity, it was only abundance, and so they didn't need anything. They lacked nothing, they weren't lonely or even alone, they were together. So it was three in one.
Speaker 1:I know it's kind of hard to wrap our modern brains around this. It's a bit mystical, the Trinity, but there it is. And another maybe answer is that, well, god wanted to create, to sort of prove his power or his ability to do so. But again, it's sort of like this self-serving, maybe a megalomaniac in that case. So here's what I think. Here's why I think God created us and it goes back to this idea of the Trinity, so Trinitarian theology.
Speaker 1:If the Father, son and the Spirit existed from the beginning of time and if you listened to my podcast last week about God as the ground of all being or the ground of existence, when he answers Moses, I am, I am being, I love that Then he lacked nothing, he was full of abundance and we're told in 1 John 4 that God is love, which, again, god is this metaphysical being.
Speaker 1:Or, if you heard my podcast last week, being itself, you know, but God is love. So that you know God is this Trinitarian three-in-one, he's not lonely, he's lacking nothing. It's this beautiful, other-centered relationship of giving and receiving the Father, son and the Spirit. And it's love. What sort of qualifies the Trinity is love and love? I think love. When you look around in our world today, love always creates. So I think it's almost as though God couldn't help God's self. Like that, god just had this overflowing abundance and love, like as if God were a cup or something like that, it was just spilling out over the edges and God creates because God can't not do that Like it's so full of life and abundance and vibrance and love that it just spills over.
Speaker 1:And I think about like, if you think about a relationship, one of the most intimate forms of a human relationship is well, there's lots of them, but one of them is like sexual intimacy and generally I'm speaking generally here sexual intimacy or the act of sex creates life, and this is like an ancient idea as well, that when beings are in love it tends to create life. Now, of course, there's all kinds of caveats and exceptions, but I'm saying generally, and so I love this idea of love and abundance and sharing and intimacy. It just overflows with life. And so I really do think. I think God didn't lack anything, god didn't need anything from us.
Speaker 1:God wasn't lonely, but God just can't help God's self but create, because God is so full of all of these things that God wants to share them. And this is the idea of the kingdom of God, that God wants to invite us into, this kind of relationship of abundance and other-centered giving and receiving. And that's what we're invited to this beautiful picture of the ordering, this Trinitarian love of God. Now here's the cool thing Because this is what God is like I can't help but worship him. And so, and I know that if I worship other things which human beings like David Foster, wallace and Russell Brand say human beings are beings that worship, and so we'll worship anything. And unless we worship the divine, we'll worship the mundial, the profane, the things that take life from us.
Speaker 1:And so, but because I know what God is like and I think I'm so enamored by this beautiful image of God, I worship God. And so I do worship him. And even though God didn't make me to do it, I do it anyway because I love it. And even though God didn't create me because he was lonely, now I thank God, I hope and I enjoy this beautiful depth of relationship with God. And even though God didn't create to sort of prove to me how powerful he is, I can't help but look around at the creation in the cosmos and the mystery of the world and man. God is incredibly powerful, and so all these things come to pass anyway.
Speaker 1:But that's not why God makes us. He makes us because God is love and love always creates, which means the foundation of being itself and our existence, I think, is intimately connected to love. So you exist because of love and so you, little love beings, go today and give and receive love and live from abundance and not scarcity, and know that your life was found in love and has meaning and substance, and go and live. Love you guys. Peace, we'll see you. Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share it with some friends. And don't forget, you are always welcome to join us in person at central in elk river at 8 30, which is our liturgical gathering, or at 10 o'clock, our modern gathering, or you can check us out online at clcelkriverorg Peace.
