Christianity and Culture in Dialogue

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Table of Contents

Introduction
God’s Relationship with Humanity
God’s Purpose of Creating Humanity
God’s Love to Humanity
God relations to the Universe
Humanity Roles and Duty
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

God reveals Himself to humanity through three main ways, namely, His creations, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. In addition, God interacts with humanity using various signs including thunder, fire, and gentle whisper of winds among others. However, human beings feel that these revelations are not enough, thus, they usually try doing everything possible to know more about why God made them. Besides, human beings want to know the will of God as well as His plans for humanity.

Furthermore, from the biblical story of creation, God created the universe out of His own free and sovereign will, with an eternal purpose. Therefore, this paper will discuss Christianity and culture dialogue, and more specifically the relationship between humanity and God.

God’s Relationship with Humanity

From the biblical story of creation, we learnt that God created Adam and Eve and strategically placed them in the Garden of Eden. However, Adam and Eve sinned after eating the forbidden fruit despite having being warned against it by God; this act was an abomination to God’s will.

Besides, we can learn that since Adam and Eve only realized the importance of Garden of Eden and other important creations in it after sinning, it is clear that human spirituality and maturity is enhanced through trials and failures that humanity faces in life.

Furthermore, God created all human races with flesh and blood; however, He instilled the curse of death after His people disobeyed Him and separated themselves from Him. From the story of biblical creation, we realized that it is very difficult and impossible to know good without knowing evil (Moller 621).

In addition, human beings were created in the image and likeness of God in order to resemble the form in which God’s Son Jesus Christ could come to give His life to the sinners and bring salvation to humanity (Holmes 54).

Therefore, God intends to restore His relationship with humanity through His Son Jesus Christ, and therefore, it is the obligation of humanity to cement this relationship by only accepting repentance and salvation. This shows that humanity has been given the freedom to make a choice on whether to follow God or not, with the understanding that either option will have opposing consequences – repentance and salvation would bring eternal life while rejection of God would lead to eternal death full of suffering.

God’s Purpose of Creating Humanity

According to researchers and some scholars, God created humanity in order to serve Him and to love Him (McFadden 928). Others argue that God created humanity with the main aim of getting glory and obedience from human beings. Therefore, it is usually important for humanity to give glory and love to God, since that is what God expects from His people.

Again, it is clear that God can work and do His things without the help of humanity while humanity cannot function well without the intervention of God. Thus, it is important for human beings to serve, obey, and glorify God since they were created to do so. Moreover, God created human beings in order to help Him share love and enjoy intimate relationship with them.

Although humanity usually sins and rejects God’s love, as in the cases of Adam and Eve, God’s love is unconditional and beyond human understanding – it is always manifested in His creations. This love is seen when God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to come and sacrifice Himself for human beings in order to give them salvation and eternal life. Therefore, God’s love to humanity is a perfect love, which never changes (McFadden 928).

God’s Love to Humanity

God’s nature is full of care, kindness, mercy, love, wisdom, understanding, and even compassion towards humanity. Therefore, humanity must show love, obedience, and compassion towards others. In addition, God is the creative divine source of all creations of human life. We are human because we have God’s qualities of love and wisdom, which are reflected in our God’s image (Lloyd 827).

One thing that distinguishes God’s love from other kinds of love is the fact that God loves all human beings unconditionally, regardless of whether they are sinners or not. When sin came to the world, humanity was separated from God through spiritual death; however, God’s purpose to restore the relationship and redeem humanity from spiritual death is manifest in the blood shed by Jesus Christ on behalf of all humanity. This salvation of humanity is a clear indication that God loves all people, but He hates sins committed by His people.

God relations to the Universe

Another important relationship between humanity and God is that Humanity needs God for survival and knowing the truth about other God’s creations. On the other hand, God needs humanity to some extent to manifest Himself in the world as the supreme and divine creator of the universe. God is everything to us; He is love, beauty, truth, peace, and even wisdom. Indeed, humanity cannot experience these qualities without accepting God as the sole creator of the universe (Wiesel 35).

There is only one supreme and divine God, but there are different humanities, all created by God. God’s relationship with humanity at times involves various covenants that God entered with humanity in the past. These covenants provide the various agreements that humanity must respect in order to have peaceful relationship with God. God again is equal to all His creations including both organic and inorganic creatures.

God uses the Holy Spirit as a mediator between Him and His creation. The main reason why God created humanity was to show His presence in the universe, thus, He gave humanity the duty to serve, exalt, and glorify His kingdom. Again, God wants a personal relationship with humanity and requires humanity to trust Him and get closer to Him in order to share His love (Moller 621).

Humanity Roles and Duty

Generally, God gives every man the freedom to choose to either reject or accept Him. In addition, God also allows every individual to be tempted with sin, since humanity was born in sin. Indeed, human beings’ salvation strengthens when they encounter temptations from Satan, who is also a God’s creation.

However, God, as the father to all humanity, protects and punishes those whom He loves. Despite the fact that God is the Father of all creations, He has given humanity the power to control the earth and all that He created. God’s power is also sovereign and is the ruler of all humanity; however, most scholars argue that God’s government has no democracy and will never have, since it is unique and changes not (Wiesel 35).

Conclusion

This paper has discussed the relationship between God and humanity and established that God is supreme while human beings are not. Again, God exist beyond time and space while humanity has to die. Besides, God has given humanity the right to take control of the earth and other creations in it. In addition, God also loves us and He created humanity with a purpose, which is to share God’s love and to continue spreading God’s presence as a family in the world.

God also sent His only son Jesus Christ to provide salvation to humanity and to bring them back from sin through eternal life. Again, only God can redeem humanity from death due to their sins. God also wants an eternal relationship with humanity, since the relationship between God and humanity is that of a parent and child; hence, He created humanity to share His love and wisdom.

From the paper, it is clear that God has bigger plans for humanity including eternal life after death. God is also the creator of the universe and all that exist in it, while His power is also beyond human understanding since He is omnipresent and omniscient. Again, God’s power usually reveals itself in the universe through His physical creations including humanity, and hence humanity should promote God’s kingdom and glory.

Finally, God created the universe and humanity out of His free will, hence humanity should respect and glorify His promises that are clearly illustrated in the Bible, which include serving, loving, obeying, and glorying God. Again, when humanity follow God’s rules, He will provide good relationship with them including protecting them and providing them with eternal life.

Works Cited

Holmes, Christopher. “The Person and Work of Christ Revisited: In Conversation with Karl Barth.” Anglican Theological Review 95.1 (2013): 37-55. Print.

Lloyd, Geoffrey. “Humanity between Gods and Beasts? Ontologies In Question.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 17.4 (2011): 829-845. Print.

McFadden, Alistair. “Imaging God: A Theological Answer to the Anthropological Question.” Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science 47.4 (2012): 918-933. Print.

Moller, Philip. “What Should They Be Saying About Biblical Inspiration? A Note on the State of the Question.” Theological Studies 74.3 (2013): 605-631. Print.

Wiesel, Leon. “Crimes against Humanities.” New Republic 244.15 (2013): 32-39. Print.

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