Why is God's purpose for man - The Bible's view

Some questions to begin the discussion.

Why did God create man?
What was God's original purpose for Adam and Eve? Was it to raise a family, die and go to heaven?
What would have happened had Adam and Eve not sinned against God? Would they have died?
What is God's purpose for the Earth? Is it a training ground for angels or a home for mankind?
What happened to righteous people who died before Jesus died for mankind? Before he paid the ransom for mankind, these ones obviously could not go to heaven since that door was not yet opened up for mankind, so what happened to them?

These questions are all related very closely and it's impossible to answer one without considering the others. For most of Christendom,(those professing knowledge of Christ Jesus), as well as many non-Christians, heaven and the existence as a spirit in some other realm is the ultimate hope. I do not disagree that the Bible holds out this promise, but not for all.

The most relevant question is this "What is God's original purpose for Adam and Eve?" Taking into consideration Isaiah 55:11 which contains God's own statement:

Isaiah 55:11 (New International Version)

11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

must be fulfilled. So what God says, must happen.

OK... So what did God say to Adam and Eve upon their creation that helps us find out his purpose for mankind.


Genesis 2:15-17 (New International Version)
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

The instruction was given to Adam while he was a perfect human, before he has sinned. God's purpose was again stated when he gave the first husband and wife instructions recorded at Genesis 1:27-28

(New International Version)
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it...

So God created man, to "work and take care of" the Garden of Eden. God proceeds to make for man a "complement and a helper" that can accomplish something that man alone can never do, namely, have children. Together now, the first couple are to "Be fruitful and increase in number" and "fill the earth and subdue it"

This was instruction given to sinless humans.

Consider Isaiah 55:11 again.

Since Adam and Eve sinned before they brought perfect offspring into the world, is it possible that God's original purpose changed for perfect mankind inhabiting the entire Earth might have changed?

(off to work... will continue with the other questions...)

God's powers -> Absolute vs. Relative

There are many differing views with regards to God's abilities. Some claim that "Since God has the power to see the future, he sees everything in the future therefore he knows everything that will happen in advance, therefore he's seen the outcome of Adam's fall before it happened (before Adam was even created), therefore since God made him anyway, God created Adam knowing in advance he would sin and lead mankind into sin therefore God created sin by going through and creating Adam........" Or some version of this type of reasoning.

The above is an absolutist version of God's powers. This view assumes that God is a slave to his powers and can't control them.

Others view God as in full control of his abilities. He can see the future as we can see in front of us... that is if we chose to open our eyes. But also like us, we can focus on individual things without seeing everything, as we've also got the ability to look only in a specific direction without seeing everything around us.

This view assumes that God's powers are subject only to his will.

Just curious what you thought.

The Bible and Science

I've met a few people who have come across certain Biblical passages that appear to contradict modern science. I'm not talking about Biblical miracles, but passages which seem to disagree with scientific knowledge of the day.

On the other hand, if you know passages that state scientific fact as know today, which the Bible presents ahead of established scientific knowledge of the day, I'd like to hear that too.