Why Did God Create Earth?
Seeking understanding of God's purposes
As human beings, we live in a veiled state that prevents us from having access to the bigger picture of how God understands reality. In fact, to even suggest that God has a particular understanding of reality feels erroneous, as human words could never adequately describe the indescribable. Nevertheless, it’s possible to speak of God in ways that may be helpful and insightful, leading us towards a greater understanding of why we were created and why the planet on which we live exists.
We might imagine God to be a perfect being, and by ‘perfect’ I mean that He is complete within Himself and lacking absolutely nothing. We might speculate that He has perfect knowledge and perfect wisdom. But if God is complete within Himself regardless of any creation He may manifest, why did He create the planet on which I find myself writing this article?
One way in which we can try to understand the reason why God created Earth is to read the Scriptures He has given to humankind. The Bible and the Qur’an both contain the teaching that our lives are part of a bigger plan for the resurrection of the dead and a day of judgment, with every human being rewarded with either paradise or hell depending on how God will judge they have lived. For Christians, faith in Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice for our sins gives hope of a fortuitous outcome on the day of judgment, while Muslims believe a life of prayer, mindfulness of God, and good deeds is the way to paradise.
We may try to delve a little deeper and ask the following: If this is the purpose of human life on Earth — a test to see who does best with reward or punishment in the end — why did God choose this plan rather than an alternative one?
The apostle Paul writes in the book of Romans, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33) If His judgments are truly unsearchable and His ways inscrutable, we may never be able to understand the reason why God chose this plan for planet Earth.
That being said, we might imagine that if God is all-powerful, He might like to express that power, and the manifestation of the story of Earth is a means by which He can do so. Perhaps the reason for God’s creation of human beings is self-glorification, as without creatures to praise and worship Him, how could His perfections be celebrated?