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
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
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)
