Creation for Man?

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Hi,

Often we hear that the material universe was created for Man. However, this sentence could have two meanings:
  1. This material universe is at the disposal of Man, simply because humans are superior by their dignity and therefore can use this universe ressources as their own (without trespassing the limits of reason, of course).
  2. A material universe intrinsic finality is the existence of Man. Which means that God could not have created this material universe without creating Man or another equivalent creature (i.e. a creature with rational soul and body). Which means a universe with only plants and beasts, or a universe without life, are impossible.
We know number 1 is Church teaching. And number 2 implies number 1, but goes well further and is therefore a more radical claim. So my question would be: Is number 2 also Church teaching? If yes, is it a definitive teaching, a dogma?
 
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opop said:
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Dogma of faith from Vatican I:
5. If anyone does not confess that the world and all things which are contained in it, both spiritual and material, were produced, according to their whole substance, out of nothing by God; or holds that God did not create by his will free from all necessity, but as necessarily as he necessarily loves himself; or denies that the world was created for the glory of God: let him be anathema.
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Catechism
294 The glory of God consists in the realization of this manifestation and communication of his goodness, for which the world was created. God made us "to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace ",138 for "the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man’s life is the vision of God: if God’s revelation through creation has already obtained life for all the beings that dwell on earth, how much more will the Word’s manifestation of the Father obtain life for those who see God."139 The ultimate purpose of creation is that God "who is the creator of all things may at last become “all in all”, thus simultaneously assuring his own glory and our beatitude."140

138 Eph 1:5-6.
139 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4,20,7: PG 7/1,1037.
140 AG 2; cf. 1 Cor 15:28.
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It’s in God’s Divine Nature to create a universe with rational souls, since this means the rational souls can experience and reciprocate his divine love, whereas an irrational soul could not.

He already did this with the angels, but he also does it with man, which is unique from angels since we experience suffering like animals.
 
Why did He create so much of the universe that we can’t access?
 
Quite few scientists who study such things and have dedicated their lives to understanding space posit that there are many worlds capable of nurturing life and sustaining it just as ours has.

If that is the case then we have may have more brothers and sisters than we ever thought possible. All of which are independently developing without cross contamination so to speak.
 
Lee1 said:
Quite few scientists who study such things and have dedicated their lives to understanding space posit that there are many worlds capable of nurturing life and sustaining it just as ours has.

If that is the case then we have may have more brothers and sisters than we ever thought possible. All of which are independently developing without cross contamination so to speak.
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I think that you may be right. But there are regions of the universe that are inaccessible. It’s like building a house for someone and having parts of it of limits. Why would one do that?
 
I think what you may really be getting at is that humanity is NOT necessarily the center of the universe. Thus the Torah, Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, the Bab, and so on are not essential to the Creation of beings with reason in far-flung regions of the universe. Am I correct in interpreting your meaning?
 
Perhaps to give us a challenge to explore the universe?
 
meltzerboy2 said:
Perhaps to give us a challenge to explore the universe?
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That’s not a good reason in itself. And the fact that there are parts of the universe that are already outside the observble universe and forever impossible to access makes it a bad reason.
 
@Bradskii
Genetic diversity ensures that life survives, disease could wipe out all types of life, if life is on separate planets this gives a greater chance for survival.

Also applies to asteroid collisions etc.
 
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If sentient beings exist on other planets and God is omnipresent there’s the possibility that they worship the same God as we.

To literally have the cross they would have needed the same birth and death of Christ in a similar way to us, so who knows? That would depend on whether they had developed spiritually in the same way as us, ie that they needed Christ to be in the same way as we needed it, due to the fall.

Taken this idea further if many worlds exist then they would probably also worship in different ways to us, but untlimatley the same God.
 
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Impossible to access perhaps, but not impossible to speculate and theorize about in terms of such concepts as dark matter, dark energy, and multiverse. Gd and we humans form a partnership (according to Jewish thought), not only with regard to putting moral values into practice and not only concerning making the world a better place to live, but also with respect to articulating and discovering the unexplained mysteries of life in the universe and beyond.
 
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Lee1 said:
You think that God is working in partnership with us to do these things?
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In Genesis 1, God six times looked at different things he had created, and saw that it was good. Finally “God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good.” So should we!
 
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