How does the disciple respond to the question,
'Why did God make man?'

The Lord God made man - the very special man, Adam - because He desired companionship of a unique spiritual, intellectual and physical nature.

What I am about to say next will come as a shock to many believers, heresy to others and 'suspicions confirmed' to yet others. I am more than convinced, based on the above Scripture cites, that God created two species of humankind.

The first species is the one that can be clearly traced back to early cavemen, jungle and plains dwellers as evidenced by the anthropological finds in Africa, the Americas and throughout Asia - some dating back to humans living over 250,000 years ago, and Homo Erectus going back nearly 2 million years. The second, and special human creation, is Adam who, if we are to judge by the Hebrew calendar, was created 3760 BCE; as the current Jewish calendar date is 5768.

It is clear that Adam was a special creation of God; specially formed from the Earth's dust and with God's own breath blown into his nostrils brought to life. Adam was then placed in a specially planted garden that God called Eden. The special man, Adam, was created as a single entity who had, for some time after he was given life, no mate. A special mate was created for Adam from a rib taken from his body. Scientifically speaking, Adam and Eve, the woman, shared identical DNA. Eve was a clone of Adam, but of the female sex.

The Lord God determined that it had to be this way - that a specially created man and woman were the only ones who were fit to be in the exclusive company of God himself.

How do I come to this conclusion? Note this passage from Genesis 1: 26 above: 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule...' Who are the 'they'? The they are the first of humankind to inhabit the earth, and not Adam and Eve. I am convinced that anthropoids existed long before the advent of Adam. I base my conviction on the wording found in Genesis 2: 20 - 22: "... but for Adam no fitting helper was found." Found? This indicates to me that from co-existing humans God searched for a fitting companion for Adam and to His way of thinking there was no acceptable mate for Adam to be found outside of the Garden of Eden. Why thus was it so?

The answer centers on the specific reason God created Adam, that reason being the Lord God wanted a human creature who would be fully aware of his creator, would be in harmony with his creator, and would share with his creator a relationship that was previously unknown to humankind. God created a literal soul mate. And to preserve this special relationship, Adam's help mate would have to be of the same cut of the cloth as Adam himself. The only way that could be accomplished would be the special creation of a female from the prototype man's substance and, most important, the same mindset coupled with innocence, and an unheard of purity of spirituality.

To reinforce my argument, we only have to go a bit further in Genesis where it says, "Hence, a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh." Followed by: "The two of them were naked, the man and his wife, yet they felt no shame." - Genesis 2: 24 and Genesis 3: 1.

It can be disputed that Genesis 2: 24 was later added by Scriptural scholars, and that would explain the abrupt wording, "...leaves his father and mother..."; and of course it has to be asked, when did a father and mother enter the Garden? For me, however,  the critical word, "naked" begs the question, 'Who, at the time, put the shameful onus on the concept of nakedness? Only a preexisting society that deemed the state of human nakedness as shameful could do that. For there are cultures existing in modern times who do not feel human nakedness to be shameful. Thus, the ancient Hebrews came to the conclusion that human nakedness was shameful and in Genesis made the distinct point of the innocence of both Adam and Eve by claiming that they felt no shame. And why should they? They knew no different.

Further in Genesis (3: 9 - 12) we read, "The Lord God called out to the man and said to him, 'Where are you?' He replied, 'I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.' Then God asked, 'Who told you that you were naked?...."

The key word in the passage is 'who'. Who else in the garden would there be who would be capable of telling Adam that he was naked? Who else would look upon Adam in a way as to make him feel shame for being unclothed? Did God at first suspect that 'someone' else had confronted Adam and told him he was naked? It certainly seems that way. Would Satan do such a thing? After all, Satan was in the garden at the time of Adam's disobedience of God's command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But Satan's mission was not to shame Adam because of his nakedness, but instead, to cause enough doubt in Adam's mind so he would be enticed to eat of the fruit and disobey God's direct order. I cover this subject in more depth in my book, "The Sermon Under the Mount", where Jesus reveals to the prisoners in hell what took place in the Garden of Eden, and why he came into the world.

I cover this Scriptural territory as a substantiation to my original opening sentence: God sought to create a creature of uniquely spiritual, intellectual and physical nature who would serve both as a companion to God, and tend to the stewardship of God's earth. True, God had created his heavenly hosts; but they were of himself. There was no individualism to be found, and certainly no 'give and take' of spirited dialog between God and the angels; for as He thought, they did.

The clue that led me to this conclusion comes directly from Jesus. Note, if you haven't already, that Jesus thrived on the 'give and take' between himself and those who opposed him in Israel during his ministry. He relished getting into debates and took on all comers who challenged him, challenged his origin, challenged his miracles, challenged his positions and actions concerning Scripture, challenged his authority, challenged his actions on the Sabbath, challenged him enough to not only envy him, but then grow to hate him. Jesus was fond of verbal and intellectual confrontation. Remember, Jesus is God in the flesh. So, the nature and temperament we see in Jesus is, in fact, God's own personality.

Thus, this reasoning has led me to believe that God created Adam, not only for loving reasons as a Father, but also created him so as to have a disputation partner. A partner who would, from his own intelligence and free will, present God the Father with the unexpected. As I see the plan, Adam was to fellowship and discourse with God and literally be washed in the intelligence of the Creator, and God was all too willing to teach his human son on a level of understanding that, so far, we humans to this day do not fully appreciate.

At the base of the creation of Adam, I truly believe, was God's desire to be loved and admired by His special human being. Not until the revelation of the Ten Commandments did humankind have an inkling as to the desires of God the Creator Father. Oh, special men, such as Abraham, were made privy counsel to God's communication and wishes, but humankind in general had not a clue. If things had worked out as they were originally planned by God, Adam would have had much more than a clue. Adam and his progeny would have had full knowledge of God and His master plan of life.

The 'Second Adam', Jesus - again, a special creation whereby God's Heavenly Son took on the flesh of man - Jesus, unlike Adam, did in fact, know God's mind. After all, Jesus was in continual conversation with his Father - complete harmony, we might say, separated only by the great divide of spirit versus flesh, but never out of touch. Adam, on the other hand, by his act of disobedience distanced himself from his Father. Jesus, to the opposite, never disobeyed. Even though he briefly entertained doubtful thoughts and depression in the Garden of Gethsemane, none the less, deferred to the will of his Father. Jesus Christ was the ideal created human son. He always carried out his Father's will. Always.

Even though Adam praised God throughout his life, as Genesis tells us, there was lost that special communication and closeness with his Creator Father. Thankfully for humankind, there came Jesus. And the good news I wish to share with the reader is that the gulf of separation between humans and God has been done away with because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in which the chasm of sin was once and for all negated. The good news is that if a person believes in Jesus' act of redemption for him or her, that person will find themselves in direct contact with their Holy Father. Believe in Jesus and at the moment you truthfully declare that belief, you will be at one with your Creator Father, quite literally, a new life immediately begins for you. Yes, God's company can be experienced in the here and now as Jesus promised in his descriptions of the Kingdom of God on earth.

The Christian disciple is aware of the existence of God's Kingdom on earth. The disciple also knows that continual communication with God is not only possible, but existentially 'is'. It is a process that some refer to as prayer, but for many, it is an unusual form of prayer because it is ever on-going. The true believer is always talking with God, be it verbally or silently; oftimes on the level of where the Holy Spirit within the believer groans with the believer's soul. The Japanese Zen masters perfected something called Walking Zazen - that is, continual meditation while in physical motion. The Christian disciple talks with God while carrying out duties, engaging in social dialog, while working at a job; while in the presence of family. It is the power of God's Holy Spirit within the disciple that facilitates the open door of communication. For the Christian disciple, there no longer exists the 'gap of Adam', but instead there now exists a closeness with God that could have only been made possible by Jesus Christ's magnificent sacrifice on Calvary.

Prior to Jesus' manifestation as a human being, God's communications to humankind came through the words of his prophets. After the advent of Jesus Christ, along with the coming of the Holy Spirit, the true Christian believer now has no difficulty in reaching the ears and heart of God with his or her words. So, go ahead and talk with God and give him the companionship he once sought from Adam. He will love you all the more.

The Muslim philosopher, Ibn Sina (980 - 1037 AD) put it quite nicely:

"God, the Supreme Being, is neither circumscribed by space, nor touched by time;
he cannot be found in a particular direction, and his essence cannot change.
The secret conversation is thus entirely spiritual; it is a direct encounter between God
and the believer's soul, abstracted from all material constraints."