The Gospel: What Is the Purpose of Life?

The questions we have about God are the most important questions we could ever ask about anything ever. Every philosophical inquiry ever made in the history of humankind has its end in Theology. Let us leave the subjects of God’s existence and personhood to greater minds; Today, it suffices us to ask this question: If God does exist and if He does have a personality (complete with a will*), then what does He want with us? That is to say, what is the inherent purpose** of creation?

In contrast to the effort which the human race has poured into the investigation, the solution is shockingly simple: The inherent purpose of every object in all of creation is to glorify God. In fact, it would seem that this is the purpose behind all of God’s interaction with humanity. God says of the children of Israel, “I will say to the North, ‘Give them up!’ And to the South, ‘Do not keep them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth – Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for my glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made Him.” (Isa. 43:6-7) King Solomon summarized the task of man as follows: “Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.” (Eccl. 12:13) The prophet Ezekiel repeatedly declares that the future reunion and renewal of the lost tribes of Israel would be done for the purpose of increasing God’s fame among those who do not know Him: “So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it.” (Eze. 36:35-36)

Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, offered up a prayer to His Father. With an eye toward His imminent death, this was His request for Himself: “Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You … I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” (John 17:1, 4-5) In this, Jesus indicates that the act of finishing His work was done for the purpose of glorifying the Father.

Paul says, “In Him [Jesus] also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.” (Eph. 1:11-12) Later, when the Apostle Peter wrote his first epistle, he had this to say: “If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Much more could be said about this, but I will leave this discussion behind for now.

What does it mean, then, to glorify God? Well, to glorify God is to cause Him to be given praise or credit for who He is and what He has done. From the human perspective, this can be accomplished either on purpose or by accident – as is indicated by the story of Joseph (particularly Gen. 50:20) and the many times in which God used pagan nations to execute judgment, among other things.

In the beginning, we accomplished this task simply by existing as we were. The Bible teaches that humanity was made in God’s “image” or “likeness.” This does not mean, as some have put forth, that we are of the same race as God. If I were to draw a picture of myself on a piece of paper, the paper would not become human and I would not become paper – yet, the paper still bears my image. So we see that one object can bear the image of another without being of the same substance.

Instead, it means that we were created to be reflections of God in regard to our non-physical attributes, such as our intellect or our ability to love one another. One person would witness the behavior of the other, which would remind him of God. Thus, we glorified God simply by living.

And then, sin came.




*“Will” does not mean “need,” and therefore does not indicate that God is dependent on anything other than Himself.

** By “inherent purpose,” I am referring to the purpose which is infused into the object at the moment of its creation. This purpose is not synonymous with the word “plan.”

The Gospel: Introduction

The other day, one of my Mormon friends asked me point blank, "What is the Gospel?" I was caught off guard, to say the least; but I responded as well as I could, going over some of the main points. He seemed to understand what I had said, but I found that I was not satisfied with my lack of knowledge. To that end, I've decided to start a series of posts with the purpose of explaining the Gospel. Hopefully, I will meet with more success here than I did there.

As I prepare these posts, I will be using Wayne Grudem's "Systematic Theology" as a reference. I highly suggest you do the same.

Also, I have a zit that looks like a nipple. Doesn’t feel like one, though.

This Is the Cutest Kitten Ever

Just you try not to be happy. I dare you.

Cutest Kitten Ever - Funny - Funny Pictures, Pictures Funny, Funny Pics, fo geeks in all of us!

I Finally Found It!

After all these minutes of waiting, I have finally found a picture that summarizes how I feel about Mormonism! Here it is:




Yes, the Bible says Christians should always be ready to give a thorough defense of our faith (1st Pt. 3:15); yes, the Gospel is inherently offensive to some degree (Gal. 5:11); but that does not give us an excuse to act out of anger (James 1:19-20). God forbid that I should ever do anything that will keep anyone away from the truth of the Gospel.

This Appears to Be the Story of My Life

"Therefore the king said to me, 'Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.'" Nehemiah 2:2

Question: Would God give a man a need without intending to provide for it? I used to think I had the answer, but now I don't really know. My brain says that God will always provide for His children; but my heart finds it hard to believe.

Where's Jesus? Episode 2!

Meet Chris. He's happy, he's a good dad, he's well dressed, he's eco-friendly, and he works at the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress, even! Should we not all be impressed?



Well, I'm not. Chris is probably a decent enough guy, and I imagine he would have to be very disciplined in order to achieve what he has; but when given two minutes to summarize his life, he says absolutely nothing about Jesus Christ. Nothing at all.

Once again, the "...And I'm A Mormon" series has failed to mention the very Lord of Life, even though the purpose of the series seems to be to show the world how Mormons really are.

Now meet Isaiah. Try not to be blown away by how amazing Jesus is.



When I watch these two videos I cannot help but think about Luke 18:9-14.

"Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men - extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess." And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.'"

Don't get me wrong - I like most of the Mormons I have met, and I count those as friends (though you probably couldn't tell that based on how long it takes me to respond to their emails - it's ridiculous). However, the Mormon religion - as an institution, not as individuals - seems intent on making itself look good at the cost of giving Jesus the glory that He deserves. He gets some glory, yes - but He is made to be a key character in the story when He is actually the entire point of the story.

Stay tuned, as I will be posting more soon, including a blog on whether Mormonism is a cult or not. You and your mother will both be shocked!

By the way, did you happen to notice the word written on the side of Chris' bicycle shorts?

"Prosperity."

This Time, It's Personal

I’ve wanted to write something like this for some time now, but I never found the right way to go about it. Maybe, since no one actually reads my blog, this might be good enough of an opportunity.

I have been alive for 24.5 years, as of last week. I have been single for that entire time. And I am lonely. I hate it. I hate it because it sucks. I remember every stinging rejection and every girl who ever passed me over for someone else. I keep going back and forth between contentment and discontentment, sometimes letting my circumstances give me an excuse for not having joy, and I don’t really know where I am now.

But you know what really gets under my skin? When people try to say that a relationship with Jesus is the only relationship you need in life. This doesn’t seem right to me. They make it sound as if being a Christian means you shouldn’t need anything more. We still need food, right? Even though we have the Living Water, don’t we still need regular water? I’m pretty sure anyone would die without those things, spiritual maturity or no. So why would our psychological and emotional needs be any different?

Consider this: Genesis 2:18 says, “And the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” This happened during a time when Adam enjoyed the kind of fellowship with God that we can hardly imagine. Yet, God saw that Adam was lonely. Adam was designed from the very beginning to need a woman in his life.

The fact of the matter is that mankind was intended to have a variety of different relationships. I have friends of all degrees; I have a Mother in Sacramento; I have a Dad in Heaven; I have siblings; I have had a boss in the past, along with co-workers. God did this for a purpose: Our relational needs are intended to be a reflection of the various ways God relates to us. God is like a Mother (Isa. 66:13), a Father (Heb. 12:7-9), a friend (John 15:13-15), and a spouse (Rev. 19:7-9). We were meant to have all those other relationships in addition to a relationship with God so that we could better understand who God is and what He does for us.

What happens when someone doesn’t have one of those relationships? Just as a person will go hungry if he goes without food, so he who lacks certain relationships in life will generally become lonely.

And then there are those who try to comfort and encourage people like me by reminding us that God will never leave us. I KNOW. I get it. I don’t want to sound like God’s presence isn’t an important part of my life – it just doesn’t solve my problem. I can’t touch God. I can’t hold God’s delicate hand in mine. I can’t hold God close to me, or get lost in the sound of God’s voice (at least, not yet). And now I’m wondering if I’ll ever have those experiences with anyone.


Anyways. That’s me right now. I’ve probably only made things worse since the ladies only want a guy who has self-confidence and I’m telling my entire audience (both of you) that I’m all out of that, but whatever.