1. According to Athanasius, God's purpose for creating humanity was so that we could know him. Through our being in God's image, we can be made to understand him, and know him.
2. Humanity turned from God by defiling their own souls. They created idols that they loved instead of God. This happened to the effect that we did not know who God was anymore, and we did not know his word.
3. Three ways God makes himself know to us are through nature, through other men, and through the law. I think God has made himself known to me most through nature. I've known that my personality scores show that I am an E.S.F.P. for a while, but I had never really looked at what this showed. E.S.F.P.'s have an acute love for beauty. It can vary between people, but for me I find it in music and nature. I think God has used this affinity of mine to bring me closer to him, because it impacts me more deeply than other things. It's pretty neat.
4. The one way God can restore humanity is through renewing the image of mankind. He has done this by doing away with death and corruption by sending his son to take on our flesh, and to take our sins from us.
Thank you, Jonny, for your responses - esp. # 3. Yes, it is "pretty neat" how God has "wired you" to meet and know him. I, too, have always found myself drawn into closeness with God through the creation and through music. I remember St. Augustine's words, "When we sing we pray twice." It reminds me of Rich Mullins talking about "prayer songs". You can find him talking about it in his own way here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dqXcmkiq2w (go to 1:09 in the video). :)
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