The Pupose of Man - the Old Testament

OUTLINE

The Old Testament is God's written word and tells us about the beginning of human history and how the earth came into being. As the Old Testament unfolds human origin it leads to more questions and causes one to think of different theories and subjects such as evolution, dinosaurs, and time frame of the world and how they contradict what the bible says.

In Old Testament Survey I learned and became more interested in the history of man throughout the time period of the Old Testament, the purpose of man, and the creation of man.

I. The history of Man - The history of man throughout the Old Testament displays that man would either obey God's law or disobey God's law and suffer the consequences. The first example of man disobeying God is Adam eating from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. By eating from that tree, Adam started the sinfulness of man and man's continuous breaking of God's commandments. In this breaking or disobeying of the Law of God we also see the other side of the situation. This is the Grace and Forgiveness of God.

II. The purpose of Man -Many people think that the purpose of man is to earn money, to be happy, to live the American dream. These are not shown to be the purpose of man as shown in scripture.

a. Why was man created?

i. To rule over animals and the rest of the earth

ii. To make offspring and multiply.

iii. To display God's Glory in man's redemption

III. The creation of man

a. God created man for fellowship and to worship and glorify him

b. God created woman to be his partner and to share his life with.

c. Through Noah and the flood, God chose to destroy what he created because of the destruction of sin. This re-creation gave a fresh start through Noah and his family

d. Even after the flood and the fresh start, It is shown over and over again that man could not keep God's law as we see.

IV. Genesis was the most interesting book studied

a. Genesis gives us the outline on not only the creation of the world but also the creation of man. God's idea was to have man be the "on earth" creator, the one who is responsible for doing God's will, and carrying out God's plan.

b. It is interesting to see Jesus pointing back to the scriptures over and over again to prove or show his point and for him to fulfill the scriptures.

So What.....

The Bible is a complicated work of art. It is the most read book of all time and yet still the most mis-understood at the same time. I spent 3 hours with my brother-in law Adam writing this paper. He is far more versed