Genesis 4
(read Monica's comments here)
The first thing that caught my eye in the story of Cain and Abel was it's lesson about pluralism. Cain and Abel both brought similar offerings (they were both the first fruits of their labor), but because Cain's was not a blood offering it was not acceptable. God doesn't punish Cain for his inadequate offering but instead encourages him to do better, and warns him against sin. But Cain's anger allows sin to get the better of him and he pays a dear price. This is anything but consistent with the concept that there are multiple ways to God. Instead we learn that God can be pretty particular about what he accepts from us.
In some ways, it's after Cain has killed Abel that his life gets most interesting. He is cursed to be a fugitive and a wanderer, yet he seems almost immediately to have built and settled in the first city mentioned in the bible. It's in the land of Nod that he fathers what might have been an entire line that remained hidden from the face of God. Yet despite this seeming lack of devotion to God, scripture almost implies that it was the descendant's of Cain that pioneered the technological and cultural developments of the time.
I think that the significance of Lamech's proclamation in verses 23-24 is possibly that this was the first time man decided to play god, or is at least an example that the practice was common. Lamech tried to promise himself what God promised Cain, and the result is more bloodshed. It was a classic instance of man trying to develop his own law without God's guidance, and violence ensuing. These verses work with verse 26 to establish the contrasting cultures of Seth's descendant's who called upon "the name of the LORD" and Cain's descendant's who developed their own man-made system.
The only problem I have with this chapter is that it's an all too brief window into what must have been a fascinating world. I have so many questions that are left unanswered. What were the nature of Cain and Abel's sacrifices? How did the the "mark" God gave to Cain manifest itself? What was it like living in the first human civilization EVER, when all the different technologies mentioned were developed for the first time? If I could go back and live in any period of history, the time of this antediluvian civilization might just be the one I'd pick. For the sake of curiosity if nothing else.
As always, please expound with your comments.
God bless,
Zach
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
What is in a Name?
Genesis Chapters 5 and 6
I was not planning on formally apologizing for not having posted recently, but it seems it is a tradition of the blog world. I do apologize I actually was studying and prepared to post two weeks ago but have found myself without a computer as my hard-drive has died. Borrowing has not been as easy as I thought it might. Therefore I do apologize and hope that I can pick up easily where we left off. Now for the Bible!
In Genesis 5 we see the genealogy from Adam to Noah. Now I am not a scholar of names by any means nor do I feel myself qualified to talk about the genealogy in much detail in regards to history and translation, but I can tell you that there is much more to this chapter than just a list of names. God is a master designer and planner of the world. It is important to remember that each person from the beginning until now has been placed here on purpose, not by some accident. I found a couple sites in reference to the genealogy that go into more detail about the significance of the name and dates. I hope that these are able to shed light in a way that I cannot in this chapter.
http://bible.org/article/ages-antediluvian-patriarchs-genesis-5
I would like to point out a few things that catch my attention here. First is that after Adam, sons were made in the image of there father rather than the heavenly father (Genesis 5:3). This is a reflection of how sin has separated us from God. No longer was man a natural reflection of God, but rather mortality and sin. The second thing is in regards to Enoch’s life. Enoch is described as having walked with God. Walking to me is an agreement to stay together. I can sometimes be a rather fast walker, but when I am walking with someone, there are efforts made to match strides. Amos 3:3 “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?” Walking with God is living righteously. Is not walking with God what Adam first did in the garden before sin and what Christians around the world should strive to achieve? According to verse 24, Enoch is did not die, but was taken by God before death. This is one of two occurrences where this happens in the Bible, the other being Elijah in 2nd Kings 2:11. God cared for Enoch so much that he spared him death, an honor God couldn’t even give his son Jesus. Granted Jesus needed to die to save us, so do not take that out of context; rather it is just to show that Enoch was well favored by God. I would love to have a life capable of being labeled as a walk with the Lord.
In Genesis 6:8-9 we read that Noah was also a righteous man who walked with the Lord. Noah’s favor with God is what saved mankind. As man was moving from order of God’s creation towards the chaos of sin, God became disappointed with his creation. What he made and once called good now brought him sorrow. Rather than destroying everything, God would wipe out the evil generation with a flood. He used Noah to save the good from the flood, and it was Noah’s faith and obedience that allowed mankind to continue.
Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” (ESV)
Noah by following God and not the world did in fact condemn the world. That is no easy task, and yet by doing so Noah became an heir of righteousness. This leads me to thinking about a common challenge that I know I face in my own Christian walk. Is God’s prize for me bigger than anything that the world has to offer? Do I find God’s favor for me more important than the favor of the world? If you are a Christian and have a hard time saying with confidence yes to those questions, you are not alone. It is a challenge that many face in their lifetime. However, I encourage you to find your answer.
Revelation 3:15-16 “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
Ephesians 4:14-15 “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.”
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Or anything else other than God)
These are my thoughts; I would appreciate yours as always.
-Monica
I was not planning on formally apologizing for not having posted recently, but it seems it is a tradition of the blog world. I do apologize I actually was studying and prepared to post two weeks ago but have found myself without a computer as my hard-drive has died. Borrowing has not been as easy as I thought it might. Therefore I do apologize and hope that I can pick up easily where we left off. Now for the Bible!
In Genesis 5 we see the genealogy from Adam to Noah. Now I am not a scholar of names by any means nor do I feel myself qualified to talk about the genealogy in much detail in regards to history and translation, but I can tell you that there is much more to this chapter than just a list of names. God is a master designer and planner of the world. It is important to remember that each person from the beginning until now has been placed here on purpose, not by some accident. I found a couple sites in reference to the genealogy that go into more detail about the significance of the name and dates. I hope that these are able to shed light in a way that I cannot in this chapter.
http://www.direct.ca/trinity/hidden.html
http://bible.org/article/ages-antediluvian-patriarchs-genesis-5
I would like to point out a few things that catch my attention here. First is that after Adam, sons were made in the image of there father rather than the heavenly father (Genesis 5:3). This is a reflection of how sin has separated us from God. No longer was man a natural reflection of God, but rather mortality and sin. The second thing is in regards to Enoch’s life. Enoch is described as having walked with God. Walking to me is an agreement to stay together. I can sometimes be a rather fast walker, but when I am walking with someone, there are efforts made to match strides. Amos 3:3 “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?” Walking with God is living righteously. Is not walking with God what Adam first did in the garden before sin and what Christians around the world should strive to achieve? According to verse 24, Enoch is did not die, but was taken by God before death. This is one of two occurrences where this happens in the Bible, the other being Elijah in 2nd Kings 2:11. God cared for Enoch so much that he spared him death, an honor God couldn’t even give his son Jesus. Granted Jesus needed to die to save us, so do not take that out of context; rather it is just to show that Enoch was well favored by God. I would love to have a life capable of being labeled as a walk with the Lord.
In Genesis 6:8-9 we read that Noah was also a righteous man who walked with the Lord. Noah’s favor with God is what saved mankind. As man was moving from order of God’s creation towards the chaos of sin, God became disappointed with his creation. What he made and once called good now brought him sorrow. Rather than destroying everything, God would wipe out the evil generation with a flood. He used Noah to save the good from the flood, and it was Noah’s faith and obedience that allowed mankind to continue.
Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” (ESV)
Noah by following God and not the world did in fact condemn the world. That is no easy task, and yet by doing so Noah became an heir of righteousness. This leads me to thinking about a common challenge that I know I face in my own Christian walk. Is God’s prize for me bigger than anything that the world has to offer? Do I find God’s favor for me more important than the favor of the world? If you are a Christian and have a hard time saying with confidence yes to those questions, you are not alone. It is a challenge that many face in their lifetime. However, I encourage you to find your answer.
Revelation 3:15-16 “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
Ephesians 4:14-15 “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.”
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Or anything else other than God)
These are my thoughts; I would appreciate yours as always.
-Monica
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Genesis 3 and 4
I was reading over chapters 3 and 4, and was planning initially to highlight a few things, but god changed my plans. I was unable to find a good thought train while on a dull moment at work, and then my computer decided last night that it was going to very ever so slowly catch up on about two years of windows updates, therefore leaving me unable to type thoughts. Then I started reading the text again, and thinking about the garbled start to what was the first attempt of this post in looking at the difference between wrong and sin. Needless to say, God had a few more lessons in store for me last night. I hope I am able to portray what He allowed me to begin to see and understand last night.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sin, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wrong
I added some links to sites with definitions of Sin and wrong. I feel that these to items, while often are one in the same, there needs to be a distinction drawn about what sin actually is. Sin has a lot to do with knowledge, as I will discuss more in a moment.
In looking at Genesis 3, we can read the story of the first sin. The rule of no eating or touching (translation depending) of the fruit of the tree was the first and only recorded rule on earth at this time, making this the law. Disobedience to that law is both wrong and a sin. The law here is exactly God's will. Sin specifically deals with an action that is against God. You can put the parentheses marks up to add to the "PC-ness" or call it a religious thing, but regardless, that is what distinguishes something that is simply wrong from what is a sin. While Christians are to live according to God's law, and therefore what is sin is always wrong, this is not to say that all wrong is a sin. If that were the case I might have studied a lot harder for several exams! The Key difference is who is defining the law. Is it God's law or man's? Ephesians states that the LOVE of money is the root of al evil, however man's law would tell you otherwise. I just want to make a distinction between wrong and sin examining more what sin is.
As sin is going against God's will, it requires us to know what God's will is. The tree that Eve ate from was said to be the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. That first act of was the first time in which men acted against God's will while simultaneously gaining knowledge of waht right and wrong, good and evil is. It is hard to imagine that the only sense of right and wrong before sin was the one command that God gave based on the rather rule driven society that we live in today. I am distracting myself a little too much from the point, and Genesis as well, but I wanted to point draw attention to the fact that knowledge has a lot to do with sin.
Romans 3:20 "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin."
This verse shows that there is a knowledge of Sin. It is that knowledge that made Adam and Eve feel ashamed in the Garden. We hide from God's calling just as much as Adam and Eve did. Man's laws orginally were an attempt to lead us to living more Christ like, and gradually we became tainted in this and the laws were what were keeping us from Him. Romans describes this very well...
Romans 5: 12 "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. ...18Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. "
This is also summerized well in Hebrews. (See below) What Christ did was allow us to be under God's grace, rather than punishment for law breaking, both God's and man's in taking the punishment for us.
Hebrews 7:18-19 "The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God."
Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."
Ok, I feel I have discussed the topic of sin a lot, so I hope I didn't beat it to the ground, but I know there is also a lot of questions with it too, as I am still learning.
Leaving the Garden was in part our punishment, we were to begin to work the earth for out food, but also to keep us from the tree of life, which would give eternal life. God did not want us to live forever in sin. In a way I can see this was a way of protecting us too, this allowed us to recieve grace from Christ sacrifice and live forever with Him.
I want to comment a little on Cain and Abel before I sign off. There story is strangely amusing to me in that it really nails in the fact that humanity didn't do so well from the start. I find it interesting here that Cain begins to try to define what is pleasing to God. Cain became jealous of his brother, that his brother was pleasing God more than he was. This is where many of us still have troubles today. We judge ourselves based on others, and fall into a trap of more sin as a result. (Chapter 4:7) Now most of us do not kill out of jealousy, but do we not judge, covet, gossip, lie, steal, cheat, etc.
Also I want to look a little at why Cain sacrifice was not as pleasing to the Lord. Some may say it is what was sacrificed, meat vs. plant, but I feel this is not the case as Cain was not able to sacrifice meat out of his work and God would not punish him for that. Instead, I feel God understood something about Cain's intensions and sincerity. For example, Proverbs 21:27 "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he brings it with evil intent." Just something to think about.
God Bless,
Monica
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Genesis 3: The Fall of Man
Genesis 3
(follow the link to read the passage)
I think that it's important to recognize the connection between sin entering the world, and God's love for us above all other creation. Are we supposed to blame God for a sinful world because he put the tree there in first place? Surely, it would have been much easier for Adam and Eve to obey him if there was no sinful option available. The tree was needed because God wants us to glorify and worship him but He knows how meaningless it would be coming from someone with no free will. God had to give Adam and Eve the option of not loving him, or their love for him would have meant nothing. It blows my mind that God wants our love so much that he trusted us with the necessary free will, knowing full well that we would let him down and corrupt the otherwise perfect world that he had created. This is at once an amazing honor, and a huge responsibility. The entire rest of the Bible is the story of God providing us a means of living up to that responsibility, and receiving the honor that comes once we focus our free will towards the glorification of God.
Ultimately, the sins of humanity would have to be paid for, and here in Genesis 3, God gives us the proto-evangelium (the first gospel). In verse 15 God foretells that although the serpent will bruise the man's heel (a reference to Christ being crucified on the cross), the man would bruise the serpent's head. The fulfilment of this prophesy is well described in 1 Corinthians 15. In order to undo all the effects of sin, it had to be paid for by a man, the offspring of Eve, but payment would also have to be divine in order to overcome death. The answer from the beginning was Christ.
In verses 17-19 we see that although he was not the first one to sin, Adam is the one who committed the act responsible for the corruption of the physical earth. God's once good creation moved away from perfection the same way that Man moved away from his perfect purpose. The restoration of this natural balance is what we have to look forward to in the kingdom Christ will hand over to God the Father (1 Corinthians 15 again).
I'll put Chapter 4 up in a few days. Thanks for reading everone. God bless.
Love, Zach
(follow the link to read the passage)
I think that it's important to recognize the connection between sin entering the world, and God's love for us above all other creation. Are we supposed to blame God for a sinful world because he put the tree there in first place? Surely, it would have been much easier for Adam and Eve to obey him if there was no sinful option available. The tree was needed because God wants us to glorify and worship him but He knows how meaningless it would be coming from someone with no free will. God had to give Adam and Eve the option of not loving him, or their love for him would have meant nothing. It blows my mind that God wants our love so much that he trusted us with the necessary free will, knowing full well that we would let him down and corrupt the otherwise perfect world that he had created. This is at once an amazing honor, and a huge responsibility. The entire rest of the Bible is the story of God providing us a means of living up to that responsibility, and receiving the honor that comes once we focus our free will towards the glorification of God.
Ultimately, the sins of humanity would have to be paid for, and here in Genesis 3, God gives us the proto-evangelium (the first gospel). In verse 15 God foretells that although the serpent will bruise the man's heel (a reference to Christ being crucified on the cross), the man would bruise the serpent's head. The fulfilment of this prophesy is well described in 1 Corinthians 15. In order to undo all the effects of sin, it had to be paid for by a man, the offspring of Eve, but payment would also have to be divine in order to overcome death. The answer from the beginning was Christ.
In verses 17-19 we see that although he was not the first one to sin, Adam is the one who committed the act responsible for the corruption of the physical earth. God's once good creation moved away from perfection the same way that Man moved away from his perfect purpose. The restoration of this natural balance is what we have to look forward to in the kingdom Christ will hand over to God the Father (1 Corinthians 15 again).
I'll put Chapter 4 up in a few days. Thanks for reading everone. God bless.
Love, Zach
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Genesis 1-2: A Very Good Place To Start
Genesis 1-2
(Follow the link to read the passage.)
Creation: Having heard all the various views of how our world originated, I'm aware that it takes more than a reading of this chapter, or anything I might have to say, to convince someone that God created the world in 6 days. However, I think there are a couple of points on the subject that should be discussed more often.
Science has led us to discover many amazing things about our universe, but it has yet to show me anything that says "God can't have made the world in 6 days". The question I would like to pose is this: "What's to say that God didn't create the world in 6 days as though it had been around much longer?" We can see from days five and six of creation that the chicken came before the egg. Man, animals, and I would say plants as well, were created in their fully formed adult states of being. Why wouldn't we apply this same principle to God's creation on a cosmic level? It's obvious that life on our planet is incredibly complex, and is dependant on many things for it's stability. God essentially had two choices. On one hand, He could create a world that took it's energy and stability directly from him. He would use his divine power to hold our feet to the ground, hold the sun up in the sky, and personally bring forth fruit from the trees. Or, he could create a self-stabilizing system that He could then hand over to us to be stewards over. This option required much more creativity and artistry (I'll come back to that later), and nature provides us with a perfect example of beauty. It's our responsibilty not to screw up the equilibrium that God established.
Man In The Image Of God: That God created us in his image totally astounds me. It has many implications but one in particular has recently gotten my attention. At the time that the Lord did this his identifying characteristic was that of creator and I think it was a role he intended for us to share as well. This capacity to create original expressions of ourselves is something that seperates us from the whole rest of creation, and it reminds us that we are God's expression of himself. When I think about it that way human beings become a whole lot more interesting. I think one of our main purposes and ways of glorifying God is to follow his example and create beautiful things. In this way we can be more like him and isn't that our goal, to be more Christlike?
This is also the cause for my frustration with the fact that contemporary christian culture is such a barren wasteland when it comes to quality music, literature, and film. It seems that christian art is just a third-rate knockoff of whatever the mainstream secular trend is at the time. Given our knowledge and awareness of the greatest Creator of all we should be at the forefront of artistic development and innovation. How does it glorify God to settle for mediocrity? What's worrying is our increasing tendency to adopt other habits as well from mainstream culture. It's probably already out of control. I'm by no means saying that anything coming from a secular source should be avoided. I think we need to become better at having a reason for everything we do, and at the core of that reason is the purpose we have been given by God to create and conserve beauty.
There's obviously much more to be gotten out of this passage and if anyone has something they'd like to discuss I beg them to ask about it on the comment board. May the Lord bless you all.
Love, Zach
(Follow the link to read the passage.)
Creation: Having heard all the various views of how our world originated, I'm aware that it takes more than a reading of this chapter, or anything I might have to say, to convince someone that God created the world in 6 days. However, I think there are a couple of points on the subject that should be discussed more often.
Science has led us to discover many amazing things about our universe, but it has yet to show me anything that says "God can't have made the world in 6 days". The question I would like to pose is this: "What's to say that God didn't create the world in 6 days as though it had been around much longer?" We can see from days five and six of creation that the chicken came before the egg. Man, animals, and I would say plants as well, were created in their fully formed adult states of being. Why wouldn't we apply this same principle to God's creation on a cosmic level? It's obvious that life on our planet is incredibly complex, and is dependant on many things for it's stability. God essentially had two choices. On one hand, He could create a world that took it's energy and stability directly from him. He would use his divine power to hold our feet to the ground, hold the sun up in the sky, and personally bring forth fruit from the trees. Or, he could create a self-stabilizing system that He could then hand over to us to be stewards over. This option required much more creativity and artistry (I'll come back to that later), and nature provides us with a perfect example of beauty. It's our responsibilty not to screw up the equilibrium that God established.
Man In The Image Of God: That God created us in his image totally astounds me. It has many implications but one in particular has recently gotten my attention. At the time that the Lord did this his identifying characteristic was that of creator and I think it was a role he intended for us to share as well. This capacity to create original expressions of ourselves is something that seperates us from the whole rest of creation, and it reminds us that we are God's expression of himself. When I think about it that way human beings become a whole lot more interesting. I think one of our main purposes and ways of glorifying God is to follow his example and create beautiful things. In this way we can be more like him and isn't that our goal, to be more Christlike?
This is also the cause for my frustration with the fact that contemporary christian culture is such a barren wasteland when it comes to quality music, literature, and film. It seems that christian art is just a third-rate knockoff of whatever the mainstream secular trend is at the time. Given our knowledge and awareness of the greatest Creator of all we should be at the forefront of artistic development and innovation. How does it glorify God to settle for mediocrity? What's worrying is our increasing tendency to adopt other habits as well from mainstream culture. It's probably already out of control. I'm by no means saying that anything coming from a secular source should be avoided. I think we need to become better at having a reason for everything we do, and at the core of that reason is the purpose we have been given by God to create and conserve beauty.
There's obviously much more to be gotten out of this passage and if anyone has something they'd like to discuss I beg them to ask about it on the comment board. May the Lord bless you all.
Love, Zach
A Taste of the Beginning
So, this being my fist post, I want to pre-apologize for any potentially unclear thoughts or typing errors as I have for I have learned that my writing often contains both. I will not be offended in the least, but rather grateful if someone would point them out to me. Now without further ado, I will start from the top.
Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". I find it interesting that the first sentence of the Bible is the beginning of the controversy as well. God Created is a powerful assertion, but one that is vital to the foundation of Christianity. In thinking about why it is important to start with Genesis, and looking at the significance of it, it led me to consider the importance of believing creation.
While some hope to profess themselves as Christians and still believe that the world took more than 6 days to create or they stretch the text to consider that God’s time is different than ours, recalling that a thousand years is a day and so forth, I feel that line of belief essentially leaves doubts from the beginning. I will say that I am not doubting the sincerity of such Christians or their faith, but rather challenging view on this solely on this subject. In doubting a creation in 6 literal 24 hour days, it can place limitations on God’s power and ability from the beginning.
God in this one verse sets himself apart as the Creator, places himself as separate from us, outside of our time or limitations and shows us the magnitude of His power. It also shows that he must have had some form of plan or reason to create us. It is not that he inherited this world, but began it. This is a little bit of a leap, but the more I learn about the Bible through reading and studying, the more I see the Gospel story was clear from Genesis 1:1. This baffles my mind, and reflects the power that God revealed to us then and now. To go along this thought, I found verse 14 as interesting. He created the stars, the phases of the moon with there purposes in mind, and gave us a system to measure the seasons and months long before we thought to use them that way or realized their accuracy.
Chapter 2:3, “ And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he rested from all the work of creating what he had done.” This reflects on God’s completion of creation. The seventh day is holy to reflect the work that God did in 6 days, not because of the work we do in 6 days of the week. Also, in returning to the theory of creation through God’s definition of time verse the 6, 24 hour days, would that not also allow God to rest for thousands of years? The God of the Bible is not described as such; in fact it is the opposite. God is revealed as an active God, present in our lives seeking a personal relationship, not a distant one.
Lastly, I would like to comment on the end of chapter 2, in talking about man and woman as the first marriage. I really enjoyed C.S. Lewis comments on this topic of marriage recently in listening to the Mere Christianity audio book. I believe you can read it on Google books as well. To get back to Genesis, I found it interesting that woman was created as a companion and suitable helper to the man. This also logically sets up the discussions of marriage in the New Testament. God purposefully created women for men for more than reproduction purposes, but with the design in mind that there would be a relationship. The two would become one flesh, leaving family for one another. There is a depth to it, as the women becomes a companion and helper to the man as no other creation can (verse 20). As a woman, it can be easy for me to begin to feel defensive about my role being as a mere helper, but I encourage this not to be the attitude. Just remember that the man then has the difficult task of leading, but not just taking charge, but leading as Christ leads the Church (Ephesians 5:22-33). Leading like Christ is no easy task, so keep in mind that the relationship takes work on both parts.
These are some of my thoughts. I pray that my words reflect God’s word and my thoughts about them accurately so as not to mislead or misrepresent.
Blessings to you from God our Creator; May we glorify His creation.
Monica
Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". I find it interesting that the first sentence of the Bible is the beginning of the controversy as well. God Created is a powerful assertion, but one that is vital to the foundation of Christianity. In thinking about why it is important to start with Genesis, and looking at the significance of it, it led me to consider the importance of believing creation.
While some hope to profess themselves as Christians and still believe that the world took more than 6 days to create or they stretch the text to consider that God’s time is different than ours, recalling that a thousand years is a day and so forth, I feel that line of belief essentially leaves doubts from the beginning. I will say that I am not doubting the sincerity of such Christians or their faith, but rather challenging view on this solely on this subject. In doubting a creation in 6 literal 24 hour days, it can place limitations on God’s power and ability from the beginning.
God in this one verse sets himself apart as the Creator, places himself as separate from us, outside of our time or limitations and shows us the magnitude of His power. It also shows that he must have had some form of plan or reason to create us. It is not that he inherited this world, but began it. This is a little bit of a leap, but the more I learn about the Bible through reading and studying, the more I see the Gospel story was clear from Genesis 1:1. This baffles my mind, and reflects the power that God revealed to us then and now. To go along this thought, I found verse 14 as interesting. He created the stars, the phases of the moon with there purposes in mind, and gave us a system to measure the seasons and months long before we thought to use them that way or realized their accuracy.
Chapter 2:3, “ And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he rested from all the work of creating what he had done.” This reflects on God’s completion of creation. The seventh day is holy to reflect the work that God did in 6 days, not because of the work we do in 6 days of the week. Also, in returning to the theory of creation through God’s definition of time verse the 6, 24 hour days, would that not also allow God to rest for thousands of years? The God of the Bible is not described as such; in fact it is the opposite. God is revealed as an active God, present in our lives seeking a personal relationship, not a distant one.
Lastly, I would like to comment on the end of chapter 2, in talking about man and woman as the first marriage. I really enjoyed C.S. Lewis comments on this topic of marriage recently in listening to the Mere Christianity audio book. I believe you can read it on Google books as well. To get back to Genesis, I found it interesting that woman was created as a companion and suitable helper to the man. This also logically sets up the discussions of marriage in the New Testament. God purposefully created women for men for more than reproduction purposes, but with the design in mind that there would be a relationship. The two would become one flesh, leaving family for one another. There is a depth to it, as the women becomes a companion and helper to the man as no other creation can (verse 20). As a woman, it can be easy for me to begin to feel defensive about my role being as a mere helper, but I encourage this not to be the attitude. Just remember that the man then has the difficult task of leading, but not just taking charge, but leading as Christ leads the Church (Ephesians 5:22-33). Leading like Christ is no easy task, so keep in mind that the relationship takes work on both parts.
These are some of my thoughts. I pray that my words reflect God’s word and my thoughts about them accurately so as not to mislead or misrepresent.
Blessings to you from God our Creator; May we glorify His creation.
Monica
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The beginning of something hopefully significant
So Monica and I had this idea to write a bible commentary of sorts and I think that doing in the format of blog will have several great advantages. Seeing as it's rather unlikely that any commentary we wrote in our spare time would ever be published, a blog means you can all discuss our comments with us and each other, and it can happen in a timely manner while our thoughts still apply to our lives now. It also provides a bit of an accountability factor between Monica and I, and hopefully between us and you. If we stop posting for some reason, please bug us about it.
I have no intention for this to be exhaustive, but I want it to be a place where we can point out the things that specifically stand out to us, as well as the things that we think get missed by christianity and the world as whole. It should also be a place where any question is posed, where we can be casual enough that regardless of your stance, experience, or level of knowledge every word in this book can be confronted. The goal is to not ignore anything, especially the questions of people other than myself and Monica. I can't promise to always have an answer, but quality discussion is guaranteed.
The format will have to be worked out a little as we go, but we'll start by taking a chapter or so at a time, I'll include my comments on the passage and Monica will give hers in a different color to lower any confusion. We plan to start with Genesis, what with it being the beginning and all, but I don't know if we'll continue straight through or if we'll jump around at all. We'll try to make posts weekly.
You're prayers are appreciated.
cheers, Zach
I have no intention for this to be exhaustive, but I want it to be a place where we can point out the things that specifically stand out to us, as well as the things that we think get missed by christianity and the world as whole. It should also be a place where any question is posed, where we can be casual enough that regardless of your stance, experience, or level of knowledge every word in this book can be confronted. The goal is to not ignore anything, especially the questions of people other than myself and Monica. I can't promise to always have an answer, but quality discussion is guaranteed.
The format will have to be worked out a little as we go, but we'll start by taking a chapter or so at a time, I'll include my comments on the passage and Monica will give hers in a different color to lower any confusion. We plan to start with Genesis, what with it being the beginning and all, but I don't know if we'll continue straight through or if we'll jump around at all. We'll try to make posts weekly.
You're prayers are appreciated.
cheers, Zach
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
