What is God's purpose for the earth?

Question

http://www.watchtower.org is what somebody gave me

Answer 1

Earth

Definition: The term “earth” is used in more than one sense in the Scriptures. Usually we think of it as referring to the planet itself, which Jehovah generously endowed so that it could sustain human life with a view to making our lives richly satisfying. It should be realized, however, that “earth” also may be used in a figurative sense, referring, for example, to people living on this planet or to a human society that has certain characteristics.

Will planet Earth be destroyed in a nuclear war?

What does the Bible show to be God’s purpose regarding the earth?

Matt. 6:10: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.”

Ps. 37:29: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”

See also Ecclesiastes 1:4; Psalm 104:5.

Is there a possibility that, since the nations show little regard for God’s purpose, they might completely ruin the earth for habitation anyway?

Isa. 55:8-11: “[The utterance of Jehovah is:] As the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. . . . My word . . . will not return to me without results, but it will certainly do that in which I have delighted, and it will have certain success in that for which I have sent it.”

Isa. 40:15, 26: “Look! [From the standpoint of Jehovah God] The nations are as a drop from a bucket; and as the film of dust on the scales they have been accounted. . . . ‘Raise your eyes high up and see [the sun, the moon, and the billions of stars]. Who has created these things? It is the One who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. Due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one of them is missing.’” (The nuclear power developed by the nations is fear inspiring to men. But billions of stars employ nuclear power on a scale that is beyond our ability to comprehend. Who created and controls all these heavenly bodies? Can He not prevent the nations from using their nuclear weapons in a way that would hinder his purpose? That God would do this is illustrated by his destroying the military power of Egypt when Pharaoh sought to stop the deliverance of Israel.—Ex. 14:5-31.)

Rev. 11:17, 18: “We thank you, Jehovah God, the Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun ruling as king. But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time . . . to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”

Will God himself destroy the earth by fire?

Does 2 Peter 3:7, 10 (KJ) support that view? “The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition [“destruction,” RS] of ungodly men. . . . The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up [“burned (burnt) up,” RS, JB; “will vanish,” TEV; “will be made manifest,” NAB; “will be laid bare,” NE; “will be discovered,” NW].” (Note: The Codex Sinaiticus and Vatican MS 1209, both of the 4th century C.E., read “be discovered.” Later manuscripts, the 5th-century Codex Alexandrinus and the 16th-century Clementine recension of the Vulgate, read “be burned up.”)

Does Revelation 21:1 (KJ) indicate that our planet will be destroyed? “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”

To be correct, the explanation of these verses must agree with the context and with the rest of the Bible

If these texts (2 Peter 3:7, 10 and Revelation 21:1) mean that the literal planet Earth is to be consumed by fire, then the literal heavens (the stars and other heavenly bodies) are also to be destroyed by fire. Such a literal view, however, conflicts with the assurance contained in such texts as Matthew 6:10, Psalm 37:29 and 104:5, also Proverbs 2:21, 22. Furthermore, what effect would fire have on the already intensely hot sun and stars? So the term “earth” in the above-quoted texts must be understood in a different sense.

At Genesis 11:1, First Kings 2:1, 2, First Chronicles 16:31, Psalm 96:1, etc., the term “earth” is used in a figurative sense, referring to mankind, to human society. Might that be the case at 2 Peter 3:7, 10 and Revelation 21:1?

Note that, in the context, at 2 Peter 3:5, 6 (also 2:5, 9), a parallel is drawn with the Flood of Noah’s day, in which wicked human society was destroyed, but Noah and his household, as well as the globe itself, were preserved. Likewise, at 2 Peter 3:7 it says that the ones to be destroyed are “ungodly men.” The view that “the earth” here refers to wicked human society fully agrees with the rest of the Bible, as is illustrated by the texts cited above. It is that symbolic “earth,” or wicked human society, that is “discovered”; that is, Jehovah will sear away as by fire all disguise, exposing the wickedness of ungodly human society and showing it to be worthy of complete destruction. That wicked society of humans is also “the first earth,” referred to at Revelation 21:1 (KJ).

Consistently, Jesus’ expression at Luke 21:33 (“heaven and earth will pass away, but . . . ”) must be understood in the light of the parallel statement at Luke 16:17 (“it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than . . . ”), both of which simply emphasize the impossibility of the situations presented.—See also Matthew 5:18.

Will the righteous be taken to heaven and then returned to earth after the wicked are destroyed?

Does Revelation 21:2, 3 support that view? It says: “I saw also the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: ‘Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them.’” (Does the fact that God will “reside” with mankind and “be with them” mean that he will become a fleshly Being? That cannot be, because Jehovah told Moses: “No man may see me and yet live.” [Ex. 33:20] Consistently, then, the members of the New Jerusalem will not return to earth as physical beings. In what sense, then, could God “be with” mankind and how would the New Jerusalem ‘come down out of heaven’? No doubt an indication is found in Genesis 21:1, which says that God “visited” Sarah, blessing her with a son in her old age. Exodus 4:31 tells us that God “visited” Israel by sending Moses as a deliverer. Luke 7:16 says that by means of Jesus’ ministry God “visited” his people. [All from KJ and RS] Other translations use the expression God “turned his attention” to his people [NW] or ‘showed concern’ for them [NE]. So Revelation 21:2, 3 must mean that God will ‘visit,’ or be with, mankind by means of the heavenly New Jerusalem, through which blessings will come to obedient humans.)

Prov. 2:21, 22, KJ: “The upright shall dwell in the land [“on earth,” NE], and the perfect [“blameless men,” NE] shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.” (Notice that it does not say the blameless will return to the earth but that they “shall remain in it.”)

Answer 2

Matthew 6:10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Nope I think this will come to be. This is what we pray for when we pray the Lord's prayer. We cannot inhabit all or cultivate all the earth because of the original sin from Adam and Eve. Gen 3:17-19 "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground When the earth will be restored.... Isaiah 11:4,6-9 Isaiah 65 17 "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. 20 "Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach [a] a hundred will be considered accursed. 21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands. 23 They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD.

Answer 3

What Does the Bible Say?

It is logical to look to a source of information that is widely accepted as coming from the Creator. That source is the Bible. One of the simplest and clearest statements in it regarding the future of our earth is found at Ecclesiastes 1:4. We read: “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.” (King James Version) The Bible is straightforward in explaining why Jehovah God created the earth. It also shows that he placed it in just the right position in the universe and in relation to our sun to sustain life on it. Almighty God inspired the ancient prophet Isaiah to write: “This is what Jehovah has said, the Creator of the heavens, He the true God, the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, He the One who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, who formed it even to be inhabited: ‘I am Jehovah, and there is no one else.’”—Isaiah 45:18.

Answer 4

God's original purpose for the earth was for humans to inhabit it and take care of it. The earth was created to be inhabited for eternity. God's purpose still has not changed. He will not destroy the earth as many clergymen have claimed, but only ones who refuse to give due worship to God will be destroyed at Armageddon.

Answer 5

God created the Earth for us to live with Him in His presence. But when Adam & Eve gave into Satin's temptations, they gave the power over to satin. So we are on Earth to make our choice to believe or not to believe or until God returns.

Answer 6

God's purpose for the earth is founded in the Book of Genesis:

1:26. And he said: Let us make man to our image and likeness: and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth.

God made man to cultivate the earth. However, He also made man in His Image and Likeness, to dwell in the Spirit with HIm.

But we know then later, with the sin of Adam and Eve, who were tempted by the serpent to take up a power not given to them by God that they might have a knowledge equal to God and take up a power not as friends to God or co-heirs of the earth but as supreme rulers in the pride of satan.

Thus man left the perfect to dwell in the imperfect. And so the Church reminds us that we were made: to Know Him, to Love Him and to Serve Him all the days of our life that we might dwell with Him in Heaven.

The Lord covered the sinful pride of Adam and Eve and in His Saving Passion redeemed them when the time of HIs Grace permitted.

Because it is by the depth and strength of the Love that dwells within us, that we are known to be His own. So the greatest commandment is to Love, and it is by His Grace that we are enabled. Those with pride can not come to this saving knowledge, but must put aside all vanity. Thus we are born again in our Baptism by virtue of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and cleansed of this terrible sin of pride and of the flesh.

I pray that the Holy Spirit will lead you to this understanding by Divine Power may you be found in His Presence and in His Paths. Through Jesus Christ+ our Saving Lord, we pray. Amen and Alleluia.

Answer 7

I personally believe it is to teach us to love one another. If you are a christian, a good verse to go off of is, "The greatest of these is love" If we can learn to love everyone no matter what race/ religion/ gender, etc. the world would be a much better place.

Answer 8

Earth as we know it now is the justice and mercy of God to allow his creation to choose with whom they will be with eternally. There are only two choices, if you do not choose God, you have chosen Satan.

Answer 9

Watchtower is Jehovah Witness corporation. You will have to make your own decision in what you chose to believe, but I would suggest not this organization. Just read up on warnings about their religion and organization. Goodluck!

Answer 10

It's a place where we live and have good times. It used to be a lot greener and magical back in the day.

Answer 11

I would not believe in Jehovah's witness' word. They do not believe that Jesus is God.

We are here for God's pleasure. We are here to learn to love one another.