The purpose of life… That’s something people have always asked, I think the question is similar to what is the meaning of life. Religions try to give the answer, but their answers are more like the child who has just been asked if he thinks
standing on the moving car is the wisest idea. Philosophy tries to answer sometimes, and either says it doesn’t know, or jumbles words up until meaning is lost and nihilism is embraced. Some suggest things like the ‘law of attraction’ (in reality the theory of covetousness), but it falls short of explaining suffering in the world. This is an important question, if you don’t understand the meaning of life, how can you then live your life, like football, if you don’t know why you playing, you cant play!
The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” and it answers by saying, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” I think that’s beautiful. The problem with other theories of the universe is that they fail to comprehend all that is in the universe, either they deny parts of it (suffering) or deny all of it (parts of Hinduism)-kids used to do that at school, it was easy to plead ignorance over homework not done; some theories try to explain things, but do so apart from a logically consistent thought and ramble off into imaginations- like Paul says in Romans 1, although the knowledge of God is plain to man, man suppresses it, and exchanges God’s truth for a lie, professing to be wise they become fools and exchange the glory of the eternal God for images made to look like other things. Often people display this suppression of the truth in a very strange way, they seek for the answers within themselves. They use the very faculties God has given them to enjoy Him, to find ways to deny Him- the greatest irony.
It is so foolish to look within for answers, what great discovery has ever been made by looking within? None, everything we understand about the universe has been revealed from outside. No one will go to a doctor who trusts purely in his own intuition. Man has been made in the image of God, this imprint on us is made to lead us to God, and our purpose. The most marvelous thing is that When a Christian is glorifying God in life willingly, the greatest joy possible on this earth is achieved. This is why self centeredness, self-preoccupation and journeying into oneself will never lead to true and lasting joy, but perhaps into a calm sea of mire, going nowhere.
Christians what a joy is yours to know your purpose, never surrender it for the lies of the world, And oh those of you who don’t know Christ, why would you live in misery and end in eternal misery? Christ came that you may have life and life abundantly, don’t think you have tried Christ before, when all you have tried is a church that bears His name- those who draw near to Him in sincerity will never be cast out or disappointed.
How much less needless suffering for doing unrighteousness would there be? But we trifle with silly things most of the time.



physical Christ coming on the clouds of heaven with great glory. Either one is figurative, and the other literal or visa versa. However, should we use the phrase ‘naturally’ (in USA ‘literally’) we may then have a meaningful discussion.
desecration of Antiochus Epiphanes, and another by the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies . “In a similar way, the events of the immediate period leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem portend a greater and more universal judgement at the end of the time.” Thus the text would says ‘right up till all these things happen there will be people of this type, who rejected Christ while He lived on earth’
conservative look at facts that Islam is a rising issue, and is growing rapidly- whether it an eschatological terror such as the clip suggests, I am not so sure (I have my reasons for not expecting much from Islam with regards to future world history, and no I am not post-mil… yet).
our feelings, our agenda, our trials (which have a rightful place); so that any prayer with God’s glory as the final end and major theme seems odd. But is this not what our prayers should revolve around, should we not pray, thy Kingdom come? Should we not pray ‘God save the Muslim world, and if its not your plan to save, then halt spread of error?’ Should we not pray this about Mormons and Jehovah’s witnesses? I am not advocating some hyper-charismatic stronghold binding, neither is Adams. What I am calling for is a return to the full teaching of prayer we have in Scripture. Men, pray against the pornography industries, women pray against those magazines which perpetuate a false self-image…. Get my drift?
temple was made, this comment then triggered the rest of the discourse. The disciples probably thought that Christ would be impressed, as they were, by the beautiful stones, but instead He goes on to predict that this temple they admired so much was to be destroyed- Christ invites them to consider ‘all these things’ and then went on to predict the total destruction of the entire temple. The point of the discourse is to explain how these believers should continue to live godly lives amidst the troubles to come.
I don’t think we should be to suspicious regarding the connection of the two questions in the mind of the disciples, as Leo Morris points out, “ …. It was an age when all sorts of speculations about the Last Things were in vogue…
the text, a way of reading which, as one author puts it, ‘smooths over huge differences between the relative ease with which the occurrences if the two events can be predicted’.
I have been plunged into an ocean to vast to traverse. So without going into the idea that Eschatology’s seemingly illusive nature might have something to teach us (perhaps God did not intent the issue to be clear), allow me to begin my public processing of the issue.
We may also say that there is a unity between the two judgements in mind (of Jerusalem and at the end of the age) in a theological sense, and thus some of what Jesus says may apply to both. The first of these judgements, which involves the destruction of Jerusalem, is a result of the rejection of His earthly ministry by the Jewish people. The second judgement is about what will follow the preaching of the gospel to the world. However I am cautious to approach these chapters with the assumption that everything in it applies to only one of these judgements (scholars seem to vary vastly on which part applies to which).
say that Jesus is excepting His return within a few years, and that the judgment of Jerusalem is but a part of the judgment on the whole world. However, the language used appears against this: As opposed to teaching that He would be coming soon in glory, Christ appears to be discouraging this idea (v
it clear that Jesus was speaking of the events leading up to and including the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 . . . If people fail to recognize the timing of these events set by Scripture and the historical context of Jesus’ words, they will always be led astray by those who keep insisting that it’s our generation that living in the end times.
If we understand this term as descriptive of those in ethnic Israel who reject Messiah (which has continued since the first century) not only are we within the bounds of the usage of “this generation” in Matthew, but this interpretation also fits best with both the immediate context and the whole of Scripture. (I am in the process of writing an article which addresses this Matthews use of this phrase and the Jewish understanding of ‘Corporate Solidarity’)
says that, these prophecies were fulfilled in the Roman siege and destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. At this point let me say that there is a difference between partial and full preterism. Full (or hyper) preterists believe that all of the prophecies regarding the second coming of Christ, most significantly the “resurrection” of believers, were fulfilled in the first century. Partial preterists hold that the majority of what is declared in the book of Revelation (and the Olivet Discourse) was fulfilled in the first century, yet there remains a future judgment, a resurrection of the dead, and a bodily return of Christ. Preterists theologians which I will be engaging are only from the partial preterist camp. Generally, both partial preterists and futurists see full preterism as outside the realm of “the faith” in accordance with Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 15.