Why did God create us?

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I’ll be glad to accept His Grace when he decides to give it to me. I can’t force him to do something he does not want.
I’m unemployed too. I hate it. And I must agree with your assertion. I feel abandoned as well.

I’ve concluded that grace is only available to those in heaven. Logic simply dictates that hardships and suffering are simply a reality in this life. It must also be true of purgatory, since by definition it is a place of purgation and suffering.
 
Bob,
I’ve been contemplating suffering for a long time. I’ve learned that suffering exists on earth because it leads to love. You see, love is doing something for someone else without expecting something in return. When you suffer, you provide an opportunity for someone to love you. And when you see someone suffering, its also an opportunity for you to love. And remember, the love is required to get to heaven.

You see, as well, that the Catholic church teaches that getting to heaven or hell is a choice made by each individual. You choose heaven by loving God and neighbor and you chose Hell by failing to do so. Live is therefor a test to see what you will choose. God knows what you will choose, but you don’t. People have all sorts of tests in life. Some are tested by sickness or loneliness or lack of marketable skills. Others are tested by health, popularity and wealth. For many, the tests of success become their downfall, as they forget about God and fall into the sin of arrogance, thinking somehow their gifts are of their own doing. How many rich,famous and seemingly successful people fall into despair because they are chasing the wrong things. In the end we all have challenges. Some people accept those challenges with love and get to heaven. Others blame God and others and are summarily condemned. Be one of the former, trust in God. He might not provide on earth, but he will provide in heaven for those that keep the faith. And earth is just a blip in comparison to eternity.
 
God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next. (Baltimore Catechism, Lesson 1, Q6)

We memorized this when I was growing up.
Yes! And I believe there’s another similar version from another date, that states that mankind was created “To show forth the goodness of God.”

This would also explain the fact that while we will suffer in this imperfect world, the Divine Intent of serving God and showing forth His goodness will* include * suffering, but suffering is not the original purpose. Suffering is often the* result* of doing God’s loving work in the world. Like our Master, we love and serve others to show God’s goodness, and accept the consequences, whatever they may be.
Peace to all here,
Kathryn Ann

:heaven:
 
God ways and thinking is far above ours. I am not shure we can really have in our mind what He had at the time of Creation. Otherwise, totally for what the cathechism says, that is what we can comprehend now…
 
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I don't recall reading my name in the Bible, Catechism, Church documents, etc. and where my next job will come from.     Maybe there is something you know I don't?   Please tell me.
Evidently I do know something you don’t. I know that what is written in Scripture is the Truth from God, and that when we do not live in accordance with it, we are miserable. If and when God is ready for you to have a job, one will be provided. In the meantime, it is your duty to give thanks in what circumstances your have now.
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I'll be glad to accept His Grace when he decides to give it to me.  I can't force him to do something he does not want.
And neither will He force you to do what you do not want. If you wish to believe lies, instead of what He has revealed as Truth, you have that perogative.
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I think you do not know what my situation is.
Of course not. I am only responding to what you have written here.
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 I asked God for a job.  He said NO.   My unemployment ran out.   I have to figure out how to live on zero income.
You are definitely between a rock and a hard place. Getting angry and blaming God is not the answer, though.
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I don't know about you and your knowledge of economics, but THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE.
Mark 10:27
With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God."

Stop thinking in the flesh!
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When God requires the IMPOSSIBLE - that is DEFINITELY "tempted beyond my strength" and basically God broke his promise there.
No, He did not. You are just not taking the “out”. He has given you grace, which you have refused. He has a plan for your welfare and benefit, but you deny it.
If I had more value than many sparrows, I would be able to do wonderful things for God. But I can’t do squat.
You are right, given your present attitude, you are not very useful to Him. He operates on faith, and when a person has none, there is not much that can be done in their lives. You have corrupted reasoning. Your ability to produce is not a relevant factor in your value to God. You have drawn a false conclusion because it is based upon a false premise.
I’m just a beggar on the side of the road asking for mercy.
As are we all. And when you are willing to accept the mercy that has already been given, you twill get more.
It must be, when God said no multiple times. God always says no to evil things.
Here is some more of that false conclusions based upon false premises. God allows us to choose evil. He allows us to choose to believe lies.

Until you can accept that His grace is sufficient for you, nothing else good will happen.
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I am hopeless because I am a mere mortal.  Subject to all the laws of nature and one of them is the laws of economics.
No, you are not. You are the righteousness of God in Christ, and you have HIs mighty power at work within you to will and to do His good pleasure. Denying the power of the HS that was sealed in you in baptism is blasphemy against the HS.
When the only hope for me is for God to help, and God doesn’t help, there’s no hope there.
You must first accept the help he has already given before you will get more. It is a basic principle of kingdom living.
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Why does God get to do it?
Being angry and blaming God for being God is not helping you at all.
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Just great.  Things can only get worse.
You know, they may well get worse if you continue to refuse to yield. He is a very jealous God.
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  Why does God require me to be one in order for him to love me?
He doesnt. That is why He has made suffering redemptive for us . It is His love that enables us to have joy in our suffering.
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You confuse spiritual and temporal.   I'm still temporally alive.  I have to figure out somehow, how to survive until I die.
From God’s point of view, you died in baptism, and now your life is no longer your own. You are hidden with Christ in God. It is essential that you die to your ambitions and desires, so that you can find peace. When Christ brought the Kingdom, the spiritual entered into the temporal and we who are in the temporal stepped into eternity. It is in giving up your clinging to “survival” and “figuring out” everything that you will find freedom at last.
 
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At this point I'm contemplating going to Saudi Arabia, to preach the gospel at Mecca and Medina.   Muslims will slice my throat and I will be FINALLY able to make God happy since I am dying for the faith.
If you believe that God is calling you to do that, then you should, but it is more likely He is calling you to die right where you are. Die to your ambition, desire, arrogance and everything else that separates you from him. Especially the fear of not being able to support yourself.
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Spiritually yes.   Jesus took care of that.   Temporally no.   Read Romans 8:23.  We have not been redeemed yet nor have we been adopted as children of God yet.  Our souls yes.  Our bodies NO.   There is no temporal mercy.
Both things are true. We are adopted and redeemed now, and we have yet to experience the full completion of our adoption. Refusing the fact that you have already been adopted and that your body, and everything you are and will be in this life belongs aleady to God is spurning the Truth.
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How is that?  I don't know what gifts I have.  God won't tell me.   Nobody else would either.
We begin to learn about our gifts when we accept our identity in Him. The first Gift is that you are adopted as a son, that you are of much more value than many sparrows, and that He has a plan for your welfare. If you don’t accept these gifts, how can you find out more?
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How am I pushing HIM away?   I try to get closer to him and I get rewarded with pain and unemployment.    That's my reward for trying to have a personal relationship with God.   Slapped hard.  If I approach someone and they slap me hard, that's not ME pushing them away.
Yes. You are approaching Him with anger, blame, and demands. That does not make for a healthy relationship. When your relationship with Him finally becomes more important that a job, and anything else in this life, then you will be grow.
He is not guiding. He is not providing. THAT is my point. I get silence and unemployment.
Apparently you don’t like what He has provided. It is your place to give thanks in all things.
Yes. And God expects me to be a masochist. That’s why the devil is permitted by God to hurt others. God wants masochists.
This kind of warped thinking is only holding you back. Have you considered forgiving God?
I just want to be able to have a conversation with God, and not a monologue.
Then you need to accept the things He has already told you in Scripture and through the Church.
I am hopeless because I am a mere mortal. Subject to all the laws of nature and one of them is the laws of economics.
Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.

Rom 8:32-9:1
ho did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; 34 who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us? 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For thy sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Truth is that you are loved by God, and that you are “more than conquerer” because of Him who loves you. You have chosen to believe the lie that you have been separated from God’s love. Give it up!

I will be in prayer for you my brother.
 
I’m unemployed too. I hate it. And I must agree with your assertion. I feel abandoned as well.

I’ve concluded that grace is only available to those in heaven. Logic simply dictates that hardships and suffering are simply a reality in this life. It must also be true of purgatory, since by definition it is a place of purgation and suffering.
Jesus is our employer. We are constantly in a state of service to Him, whether we hold secular employment, or not. If there is a day that we are not in a productive job, then it is incumbent upon us to use that day to His service as fully as possible.
 
Jesus is our employer.
Employer: “A legal entity that controls and directs a servant or worker under an express or implied contract of employment and pays (or is obligated to pay) him or her salary or wages in compensation.”

Jesus is not my employer. I have never received a dime from Him.
 
Employer: “A legal entity that controls and directs a servant or worker under an express or implied contract of employment and pays (or is obligated to pay) him or her salary or wages in compensation.”

Jesus is not my employer. I have never received a dime from Him.
Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say He is our Master, or Boss. We are HIs servants. If you think you have anything that did not come from God, you are mistaken. He is the Source of all that we have, and all that we are. He paid for us by giving His body and blood on the cross, and we are in his service.

Until we have a right relationship with our Creator, nothing in this world is going to make much sense, including unemployment.
 
BobCatholic,

Perhaps all God has said in that “No” is “Not yet.”

Is it truly impossible to live without income? Money is not the source of life. Look at the Great Depression.

Perhaps that is the nature of your test. Perhaps God is showing you just how much you love these things more than Him, and asking you to give them up so you can belong to Him alone – so that you can live in the world, but not of the world.

I do not profess to know, I only ask you to consider this. I am praying for you.

Luke 12:28-31
“But if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith!
And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be of anxious mind.
For all the nations of the world seek these things; and your Father knows that you need them.
Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well.”

Consider Job.

God love you,
sandomenico
 
Dear BobCatholic,

I have been reading the advice that has been given to by caring members of this thread. Most of this advice has been very good. Good advice like God’s own Grace is abundant for all who accept it.

We can sympatize. We can care. We can advise. But only you and you alone can grasp this advice and God’s Grace. We can not do that for you.

You do have a choice. I will prayer that you will: Choose Life. Choose Joy. Chose gratitude for the gifts that God has given - gifts of a child, of a family, of intelligence and of life.

Self-loathing and self-pity are two sides of the same miserable coin. You can carry that coin around you neck and cherish it, if you want to. Or, you can throw it away and start living.

Helen
 
Jesus is our employer. We are constantly in a state of service to Him, whether we hold secular employment, or not. If there is a day that we are not in a productive job, then it is incumbent upon us to use that day to His service as fully as possible.
:angel1:Perhaps it is best to speak of Jesus as Lord, rather than employer, because we are not so much in an employee/employer relationship as we are in a Lord/liege relationship. :bowdown::bowdown2:We are in a state of service because of our spiritual fidelity: “We love Him because He first loved us.”

I’m also recalling how the Prodigal Son literally offered himself to his Father as a mere employee, since he felt completely unworthy :imsorry:to be called his Son. The Father would not hear of it, and welcomed his son to join him, (and the other brother) into the celebration feast with full sonship and inheritance of that particular, familial joy. :heaven:

Employers pay us for service and there the relationship ends. God the Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit* inspire* us to give ourselves to them in a higher calling; sons and daughters who show forth His goodness in the world, and after this, join the family of Heaven for eternity!:grouphug::harp:
May your day be blessed
Kathryn Ann:heaven:
 
:angel1:Perhaps it is best to speak of Jesus as Lord, rather than employer, because we are not so much in an employee/employer relationship as we are in a Lord/liege relationship. :bowdown::bowdown2:We are in a state of service because of our spiritual fidelity: “We love Him because He first loved us.”

I’m also recalling how the Prodigal Son literally offered himself to his Father as a mere employee, since he felt completely unworthy :imsorry:to be called his Son. The Father would not hear of it, and welcomed his son to join him, (and the other brother) into the celebration feast with full sonship and inheritance of that particular, familial joy. :heaven:

Employers pay us for service and there the relationship ends. God the Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit* inspire* us to give ourselves to them in a higher calling; sons and daughters who show forth His goodness in the world, and after this, join the family of Heaven for eternity!:grouphug::harp:
May your day be blessed
Kathryn Ann:heaven:
You are right, of course. I am only trying to make the point that, as adopted sons and daughters of the Most High, we are obligated always to be about the Father’s business. This state of constant service and readiness is relevant whether we are secularly employed, or not. God still has work for us to do, whether we are being paid a wage, or not.
 
I don’t say this lightly or scoffingly. Everything you have written sounds like a soul tightly clammed up, hissing and snarling, scratching and biting. It is not the surrender that God desires of you - needs from you. Give up, let go, offer yourself to God as his instrument.
My soul is wounded, my heart broken, and I’m in the fetal position screaming “Mommy!”

In order for me let go, I need to hear from God. How do I get God to talk to me? I’m tired of prayer being a monologue.
I will keep you and your family in my prayers, this it will be my joy to do.
Thanks! I appreciate that.
 
My soul is wounded, my heart broken, and I’m in the fetal position screaming “Mommy!”
May our Blessed Mother put her arms around your weary soul and embrace you with all of her warmth!
In order for me let go, I need to hear from God. How do I get God to talk to me? I’m tired of prayer being a monologue.
Unfortunately, our duty to pray is not absolved because we are in a dry period, or have not heard the voice of God in our hearts. We still must fill our minds and hearts with His eternal word. Pray and recite the Scriptures, instead of meditating on the falsehoods of the Evil One. It will help you to hear more if you will accept what you have already been told. Right now, it seems that the Word of God is falling on your stopped up ears.

Have you learned to pray the liturgy of the hours? I have found it to be a great defense against depression and hopelessness. I like to pray along with others on iTunes. I recommend DivineOffice.org.
 
You are right, of course. I am only trying to make the point that, as adopted sons and daughters of the Most High, we are obligated always to be about the Father’s business. This state of constant service and readiness is relevant whether we are secularly employed, or not. God still has work for us to do, whether we are being paid a wage, or not.
Yes, I did see your meaning, and enjoy what you said above: One must always be in readiness to be about our Father’s business.:angel1: You are so good to remind us!:curtsey:

I would just add (jovially) that all of our service is truly the epitome of a “Family Business,” the joyful:kiss4you::flowers: busy-ness of spreading the love of God our Father. Truly, we are all blessed! :hug1::grouphug::heaven:
Kathryn Ann:harp:
 
May our Blessed Mother put her arms around your weary soul and embrace you with all of her warmth!
Amen.
Unfortunately, our duty to pray is not absolved because we are in a dry period, or have not heard the voice of God in our hearts.
I know, I haven’t stopped praying.

Each day I pray for the souls in purgatory. Those are the only prayers I don’t have doubts about efficacy. After those prayers, I pray for employment. Those I know have zero efficacy.
Have you learned to pray the liturgy of the hours? I have found it to be a great defense against depression and hopelessness. I like to pray along with others on iTunes. I recommend DivineOffice.org.
I have not learned to pray the liturgy of the hours (mainly because I’m afraid it takes a long long time) but I’ll look into that.
 
I have not learned to pray the liturgy of the hours (mainly because I’m afraid it takes a long long time) but I’ll look into that.
It can be, but one can start even without a breviary by listening on iTunes, or by getting them online. They are free.

I have found that the Liturgy of the Hours trains my mind in the Truth, so that I am not as prone to fall into depression, fear, and hopelessness.
 
god didnt create us, we were not created and god does not exist.

if you want to know how life on earth came to be you should start to do some actual research, i suggest looking at something simple like the miller-urey-experiment first: chem.duke.edu/~jds/cruise_chem/Exobiology/miller.html
Did you even read the article you posted? its conclusion was that the miller-urey experiment was inconclusive. Besides the fact that its highly questionable that the experiment really simulated the situation on earth, its also a huge step from creating amino acids to creating life. Is this what convinced you that God does not exist. You might try something a little more intellectual. Have you read Aquinas? Try this simple summary: saintaquinas.com/philosophy.html
 
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