The story of Cain and Abel is perhaps one of the most well known stories in the Old Testament. It is also one of the most heartbreaking because it shows the power sin can have over our lives if we let it control us.
God's Gift
The chapter begins with the birth of Cain. In the New King James version, Eve announces that she has "acquired a man from the Lord" after giving birth. Normally I would have just overlooked that sentence. Yes, she gave birth. But when I really studied the wording, I realized that she didn't just give birth--the Lord literally gave her a son.
The wording, I might add, is really important when you study the Bible. In the New Living Translation, for instance, Eve says, "With the help of the Lord, I have produced a man." Producing and acquiring are a bit different. "Producing" gives Eve (humans) credit for the birth of children. "Acquiring" gives the Lord credit--we don't "make" children; God blesses us with children. He gives them to us.
Now this doesn't mean that we should pamper our children and treat them as divine beings. But our utmost responsibility is to care for and provide for them, as God cares for and provides for us. It is also our responsibility to correct them when they're wrong, and to raise them to be loving, caring members of society. Not taking care of them and neglecting their basic needs--shelter, love, food and spiritual guidance--is offensive and hurtful to God. He has given us a precious gift, and so it is our responsibility to do everything we can to raise them well and give them the tools to live in this world. More importantly, we should treat children not as our own property, but as God's children, given to us to love and protect.
The Power of Sin
Verse 2 states that Abel became a shepherd and Cain became a "tiller of the ground." At some point in their lives, the brothers offered gifts to the Lord, but the Lord rejected Cain's gift. The Bible does not state why He rejected the gift, but we can probably assume that it was not given for the right reasons. Perhaps Cain failed to give the Lord the best of his offerings, or he failed to provide the offering out of love and respect for the Lord.
After the Lord rejected the gift, "Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell." The Lord addressed Cain and asked why he felt dejected. He also reminded Cain that if he had given the gifts for the right reason (and done what was right), the gift would have been accepted. In response to Cain's anger, the Lord warned, "Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master."
In other words, we should not let feelings of anger and disappointment rule our hearts, especially when we are responsible for the actions that led to those feelings. When we do the right thing and act in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, we will be rewarded. But when we fail and must face the consequences of our actions, we should not let negative thoughts consume us. We have to take control of them, before they take control of us.
Sadly, Cain allowed his sinful thoughts to fester and grow. And in a moment of jealousy and anger and hatred, he killed his own brother. As the Lord predicted, Cain let sin control him. He allowed his feelings of anger to expand and boil over until they became hatred.
As I think about this story, I know that sometimes I let sin and hateful thoughts consume me as well. I also know that thoughts often lead to action, just as they did for Cain. It is up to me to control sinful thoughts and to "subdue [sin] and be its master."
Although I knew the story well, I never really paid attention to the significance of their occupations. But the word "shepherd" is really significant in the Bible. David (who infamously fought Goliath) refers to the Lord as "shepherd" numerous times in the Psalms. Likewise, in the New Testament, Jesus is often referred to as a "shepherd" of the people. In other words, a shepherd is one who cares for his people and protects them, just as God takes care of us.
Cain, on the hand, became a tiller of the ground. Remember that in Chapter 3, after Adam and Eve sinned, God said, "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it...By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food." The chapter also says, "So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken." So God's punishment to Adam (and mankind) for sinning was the fact that he would have to "work the ground" and work for his food all the days of his life.
So Abel, the shepherd (who is referred to as "righteous" and "faithful" in other parts of the Bible) was killed by a "tiller of the ground" (the punishment for sin).
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Genesis 3 (Original Sin-Part II)
The Bible describes Satan in a number of ways: prince of demons; the evil one; a murderer; a deceiver; an accuser; the father of lies; a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. These are apt illustrations, for Satan will use any trick and all his wiles to tempt us to fall and turn from God. As we read in Part I, Satan will distort God’s Word, lie to us, make us doubt God’s promises and love, and appeal to our egos and sinful natures to tempt us to sin. But while it certainly easy to lay the blame for our troubles on Satan, we must not forget Adam and Eve’s role--or ours--in the hardships and misery that befall us.
Where do you place your trust?
Perhaps Eve’s biggest mistake (aside from actually taking the fruit and eating it) was placing her trust in the serpent, and not God. Instead of reaching out to God and asking Him to verify or deny the serpent’s claims, she simply accepted Satan’s lies as truth and ate the fruit. Although God no longer walks among us as He did in the Garden of Eden, He still offers counsel and advice through the words of the Bible and through the Holy Spirit. I have often made poor choices because I relied on my own wisdom (and Satan‘s lies) rather than turning to God. Just as Adam and Eve suffered consequences for trusting the serpent, I too have suffered consequences for not relying on God.
Tempting others to sin
Eve’s second biggest mistake (again, aside from her disobedience in eating the fruit) was encouraging Adam to eat the fruit as well. A number of passages within the Bible warn us that tempting others to sin is a sin against Jesus (Matthew 18:6, 1 Corinthians 8:12-13). Before I accepted Jesus into my life, I was often guilty of tempting others to sin. In fact, a good friend of mine used to call me “Jezebel” because I would often encourage my friends to go out every night and stay out late, even if we had to work the following morning. I was terribly lonely at the time, and instead of looking to God to provide all the comfort and companionship I needed, I made it a point to surround myself with people for as many hours in the day as I could manage. And sadly, their welfare was the last thing on my mind. I didn’t consider the consequences they might face for staying out late every night--I was only concerned about my own needs. Likewise, Eve never thought about Adam's welfare when she gave him the fruit; she never considered the eternal repercussions of that sin.
The blame game
One of the most horrible aspects of sin is that it always escalates. When the Lord discovered what Adam and Eve had done and confronted them, Adam’s first response was to blame those around him instead of admitting his disobedience. “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it,” he told the Lord. So he not only blamed Eve, he also blamed God! Eve also put the blame elsewhere: “The serpent deceived me. That’s why I ate it.”
Here’s the truth about Satan: he can use every bit of his power to deceive us, tempt us and destroy everything around us, but he can’t force us to do anything. When we choose to sin, we have only ourselves to blame. We often think we are too weak to resist sin, but the Lord gives us endless amounts of strength. “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure" (1 Corinthians 10:13). And we should certainly never blame God for our own misfortunes! Jesus is our savior from temptation, not the tempter!
The consequences
The man and woman suffered consequences for their disobedience, for God--in His perfect wisdom--can never allow sin to go unpunished. The Lord ruled that the woman should have pain in childbirth and a “desire to control [her] husband, but he will rule over [her].” Although many women would love to have equal status with their husbands, Eve assured us--with her disobedience, lack of trust in the Lord and her decision to tempt her husband into sin--that we will never have that equality.
The man did not escape punishment either: The Lord cursed the ground, banished him from the Garden of Eden and took away his immortality (along with Eve's, as well). “The ground is cursed because of you,” the Lord told Adam. “All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. [Only] by the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”
When Adam and Eve chose to trust the serpent and disobey the Lord, they also brought darkness to the perfect world the Lord had created. Satan's role became that of ruler and god of this world (John 12:31, 2 Corinthians 4:4). Furthermore, humans became children of the devil who love to do evil things (John 8:44), for we inherited their sinful natures.
So the next time you read a CNN headline and become discouraged, remember that we can’t blame God or accuse Him of being heartless or cruel. Terrible things happen--not because of God--but because we turned our backs on Him. We turned the world over to Satan and proved that our natures are inherently sinful.
And it is only through Jesus that we can be saved from this world and our own weaknesses and failures.
Where do you place your trust?
Perhaps Eve’s biggest mistake (aside from actually taking the fruit and eating it) was placing her trust in the serpent, and not God. Instead of reaching out to God and asking Him to verify or deny the serpent’s claims, she simply accepted Satan’s lies as truth and ate the fruit. Although God no longer walks among us as He did in the Garden of Eden, He still offers counsel and advice through the words of the Bible and through the Holy Spirit. I have often made poor choices because I relied on my own wisdom (and Satan‘s lies) rather than turning to God. Just as Adam and Eve suffered consequences for trusting the serpent, I too have suffered consequences for not relying on God.
Tempting others to sin
Eve’s second biggest mistake (again, aside from her disobedience in eating the fruit) was encouraging Adam to eat the fruit as well. A number of passages within the Bible warn us that tempting others to sin is a sin against Jesus (Matthew 18:6, 1 Corinthians 8:12-13). Before I accepted Jesus into my life, I was often guilty of tempting others to sin. In fact, a good friend of mine used to call me “Jezebel” because I would often encourage my friends to go out every night and stay out late, even if we had to work the following morning. I was terribly lonely at the time, and instead of looking to God to provide all the comfort and companionship I needed, I made it a point to surround myself with people for as many hours in the day as I could manage. And sadly, their welfare was the last thing on my mind. I didn’t consider the consequences they might face for staying out late every night--I was only concerned about my own needs. Likewise, Eve never thought about Adam's welfare when she gave him the fruit; she never considered the eternal repercussions of that sin.
The blame game
One of the most horrible aspects of sin is that it always escalates. When the Lord discovered what Adam and Eve had done and confronted them, Adam’s first response was to blame those around him instead of admitting his disobedience. “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it,” he told the Lord. So he not only blamed Eve, he also blamed God! Eve also put the blame elsewhere: “The serpent deceived me. That’s why I ate it.”
Here’s the truth about Satan: he can use every bit of his power to deceive us, tempt us and destroy everything around us, but he can’t force us to do anything. When we choose to sin, we have only ourselves to blame. We often think we are too weak to resist sin, but the Lord gives us endless amounts of strength. “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure" (1 Corinthians 10:13). And we should certainly never blame God for our own misfortunes! Jesus is our savior from temptation, not the tempter!
The consequences
The man and woman suffered consequences for their disobedience, for God--in His perfect wisdom--can never allow sin to go unpunished. The Lord ruled that the woman should have pain in childbirth and a “desire to control [her] husband, but he will rule over [her].” Although many women would love to have equal status with their husbands, Eve assured us--with her disobedience, lack of trust in the Lord and her decision to tempt her husband into sin--that we will never have that equality.
The man did not escape punishment either: The Lord cursed the ground, banished him from the Garden of Eden and took away his immortality (along with Eve's, as well). “The ground is cursed because of you,” the Lord told Adam. “All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. [Only] by the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”
When Adam and Eve chose to trust the serpent and disobey the Lord, they also brought darkness to the perfect world the Lord had created. Satan's role became that of ruler and god of this world (John 12:31, 2 Corinthians 4:4). Furthermore, humans became children of the devil who love to do evil things (John 8:44), for we inherited their sinful natures.
So the next time you read a CNN headline and become discouraged, remember that we can’t blame God or accuse Him of being heartless or cruel. Terrible things happen--not because of God--but because we turned our backs on Him. We turned the world over to Satan and proved that our natures are inherently sinful.
And it is only through Jesus that we can be saved from this world and our own weaknesses and failures.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Genesis 3 (Original Sin - Part I)
As I was browsing the CNN headlines this morning, I was overcome with sadness. Reading about natural disasters and monsters masquerading as humans reminded me--yet again--how cruel the world really is.
Another reason for my sadness was the knowledge that atheists and agnostics often use such reports to question the existence of God. If He were truly a loving God, they argue, He wouldn’t allow such tragedies to occur. What kind of God permits these atrocities?
What they don’t understand, however, is that humans allowed and permitted these horrors to occur--not God. God created a beautiful, perfect existence for us. He gave us shelter in the Garden of Eden, an endless supply of delicious food and a life without pain or hardship. And He asked only one thing in return for our eternal happiness: our obedience. And truly, obeying Him could not have been much of a hardship, for He only prohibited us from eating the fruit of one tree. He even stressed that we could “feely eat the fruit of any [other] tree in the garden.” The Bible doesn’t say how many other trees existed in the Garden, but I imagine they would have numbered in the hundreds--if not thousands.
But we failed to heed that one, tiny command. We chose to disobey our Father and place our trust in something much darker. Sadly, that darkness still exists today and still reigns over this Earth. And Satan still uses the same tactics he used to deceive Eve.
Satan's tactics
1) Satan distorted God’s Words. When he first confronted Eve, Satan asked, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the Garden?”
2) Satan lied to make Eve doubt God’s Word. Although the Lord warned Adam that they would “surely die” if they ate the fruit, Satan told her, “You won’t die!”
3) Satan appealed to Eve’s pride and ego and tricked her into believing there were benefits to eating the fruit. “Your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil,” he told her.
Distortions
Satan still uses these tactics today. He still finds ways to distort God’s Word…sometimes to make them appear harsher than they are, and sometimes to water them down or change their meaning. New Age thinkers often quote the Bible to support their pantheistic views, for example. They distort Jesus’ words--"My Father and I are one" (John 10:30)--to indicate that we are all one with God. There could be nothing farther from the truth, for our sin further separated us from God--it certainly didn't make us one with Him! And distorting that verse also denies the divinity of Jesus, the very basis of the Christian faith.
Lies
Satan still lies to us, as well. Sometimes he lies to us by convincing us that we’re too evil to ever get into heaven. Of course we can, if we only look to our Savior, Jesus. God gave us that promise. He gave His own life so that we could enter heaven, regardless of how “bad” we are.
But Satan doesn't only deceive us by making us doubt God's love; sometimes he makes us believe that God wants us to have those things which He clearly opposes! Too often I hear televangelists tell people that God wants us to be wealthy. They say God wants to bless us with big houses, fancy cars and millions of dollars. Not according to Scripture, He doesn’t: "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:24) So it's clear that Satan deceives even the most devout.
Appeals to our sinful natures
He also deceives us by making sinful things seem attractive. Who wouldn’t want riches, beauty or popularity, for example? It all seems so wonderful, but those are the exact things that God warns us against, for they turn our focus from the Lord. And Jesus warns us that we will be persecuted--not popular--for our faith. But the Lord asuures us: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:10) So even though we might desire that which goes against God's Word, we must always remember that "sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. You must subdue it and be its master." (Genesis 4:7)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Genesis 2 (The Creation of Man)
In the first chapter of the Bible, we learned that God created the heavens and the earth. The second chapter--similar in many ways to the first--is a more detailed account of the creation of man.
Before I begin my study, however, I have to stress the importance of the first few chapters of Genesis. They are, after all, the foundation of the entire book and explain how we came to be. But if we question that account, if we don’t believe that God created us, then the rest of the Bible is essentially meaningless. As Ken Ham, president and founder of Answers in Genesis, explained: “If the first book in the Bible can’t be trusted…why should any other?” How can we accept God’s promises to us, the miracles He performed or His greatest act--Jesus conquering death for our sins--if we can’t even accept that He created us?
I know most people disregard the creation account because it conflicts with scientific theories of evolution. I understand this reluctance because I, too, was brought up believing that we evolved from lower life forms. Not only was my father a scientist, but I worked as an aviation weather forecaster for the U.S. Navy for five years. Science was my life. But surprisingly, it was my scientific work that convinced me that God had created the universe. I won’t go into the details of storm tracks, wind patterns and ocean currents (the Answers in Genesis site is an excellent resource), but I will say that the perfect harmony in nature was enough to convince me.
Also, I had a moment of clarity while studying my Bible one day: Darwinists believe that similar DNA structure proves that mammals, for instance, have a common ancestor; couldn’t similar DNA also prove a common creator? Look at the great works of art throughout history, for example. Most people can identify a Van Gogh, a Dali or a Monet because each respective piece, although different, had similar traits and qualities associated with the artist who created it. It makes perfect sense to me that life forms on earth should have similar traits as well.
But science aside, I also knew I had to accept the Genesis account for another, more important reason. If I wanted to be a faithful, responsible Christian, I couldn’t simply pick and choose the parts of the Bible I liked or disliked. Being a Christian, as I mentioned in an earlier post, means accepting the entire Bible as the true, inspired Word of God. Disregarding the creation account, to me, was akin to calling God a liar.
Now whether God created the earth in seven 24-hour days, or whether each “day” of creation lasted 1 billion years, I don’t know. I just know that God (the Intelligent Designer) created the heavens, the earth and all mankind. I also know that a growing number of scientists are coming to the same conclusion.
***
Chapter 2, as mentioned earlier, gives a more detailed account of the creation of man. We learn that God formed man from the dust of the ground, then breathed the breath of life into him. The Lord then created the Garden of Eden and filled it with beautiful, fruit-bearing plants. The Lord told the man (who was not yet named): “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden--except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you will surely die.” The Lord then brought all the animals and creatures of the earth for man to name, but the Lord recognized that man still did not have a suitable helper. So He caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, took a part of the man (most translations use the word rib, but others say “a part of his side”) and formed the woman. She became his “bone from bone, flesh from flesh.” Verse 24 explains: “This is why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are joined into one.”
One aspect of this story has confused many people, Christians included. Chapter 1 states that the Lord made animals before He made man. Chapter 2, however, says that God made man, and then “formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky” for man to name. It seems like a contradiction of sorts.
I think the “error” can be easily explained in one of two ways. My friend Lizzie pointed out that with the addition of one word--had--the sentence makes perfect sense. “So the Lord God (HAD) formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man…” The sentence, therefore, could be referring to the animals God had made previously. Another possibility is that because the Garden of Eden was formed specifically as a special place for man to live (and somewhat separate from the rest of the earth), God formed a new set of the animals he had already created (outside of Eden) for Adam to name. These animals that the Lord formed after man would live inside the Garden, while the animals God had formed previously, lived outside the Garden. I don’t know if this theory of mine has any validity, but it’s something that came to me as I read this chapter.
An important aspect of Chapter 2 concerns the Lord’s warning to the man, regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He warns the man that if he chooses to eat the fruit, he will lose the right to live. The key here is that the Lord gave man a choice: life or death, obedience or sin. As we will learn in Chapter 3, man chose to sin, to disobey God. Therefore, he chose death (as a punishment of his sin) and a life of pain and suffering. God still gives us a choice, thousands and thousands of years later: do we choose to follow and live for Him, or do we choose to disobey Him and follow the world and all its evil? Sadly, most people choose the world. No amount of “evolution” has relieved us of our sinful natures.
The last part of this chapter--the creation of the woman--establishes the relationship that God wants men and women to have. When we marry, we are to become one, just as Adam and Eve were bone from bone, flesh from flesh. It is the reason the Lord hates divorce (Malachi 2:16), and why He honors marriage (Hebrews 13:4).
Before I begin my study, however, I have to stress the importance of the first few chapters of Genesis. They are, after all, the foundation of the entire book and explain how we came to be. But if we question that account, if we don’t believe that God created us, then the rest of the Bible is essentially meaningless. As Ken Ham, president and founder of Answers in Genesis, explained: “If the first book in the Bible can’t be trusted…why should any other?” How can we accept God’s promises to us, the miracles He performed or His greatest act--Jesus conquering death for our sins--if we can’t even accept that He created us?
I know most people disregard the creation account because it conflicts with scientific theories of evolution. I understand this reluctance because I, too, was brought up believing that we evolved from lower life forms. Not only was my father a scientist, but I worked as an aviation weather forecaster for the U.S. Navy for five years. Science was my life. But surprisingly, it was my scientific work that convinced me that God had created the universe. I won’t go into the details of storm tracks, wind patterns and ocean currents (the Answers in Genesis site is an excellent resource), but I will say that the perfect harmony in nature was enough to convince me.
Also, I had a moment of clarity while studying my Bible one day: Darwinists believe that similar DNA structure proves that mammals, for instance, have a common ancestor; couldn’t similar DNA also prove a common creator? Look at the great works of art throughout history, for example. Most people can identify a Van Gogh, a Dali or a Monet because each respective piece, although different, had similar traits and qualities associated with the artist who created it. It makes perfect sense to me that life forms on earth should have similar traits as well.
But science aside, I also knew I had to accept the Genesis account for another, more important reason. If I wanted to be a faithful, responsible Christian, I couldn’t simply pick and choose the parts of the Bible I liked or disliked. Being a Christian, as I mentioned in an earlier post, means accepting the entire Bible as the true, inspired Word of God. Disregarding the creation account, to me, was akin to calling God a liar.
Now whether God created the earth in seven 24-hour days, or whether each “day” of creation lasted 1 billion years, I don’t know. I just know that God (the Intelligent Designer) created the heavens, the earth and all mankind. I also know that a growing number of scientists are coming to the same conclusion.
***
Chapter 2, as mentioned earlier, gives a more detailed account of the creation of man. We learn that God formed man from the dust of the ground, then breathed the breath of life into him. The Lord then created the Garden of Eden and filled it with beautiful, fruit-bearing plants. The Lord told the man (who was not yet named): “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden--except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you will surely die.” The Lord then brought all the animals and creatures of the earth for man to name, but the Lord recognized that man still did not have a suitable helper. So He caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, took a part of the man (most translations use the word rib, but others say “a part of his side”) and formed the woman. She became his “bone from bone, flesh from flesh.” Verse 24 explains: “This is why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are joined into one.”
One aspect of this story has confused many people, Christians included. Chapter 1 states that the Lord made animals before He made man. Chapter 2, however, says that God made man, and then “formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky” for man to name. It seems like a contradiction of sorts.
I think the “error” can be easily explained in one of two ways. My friend Lizzie pointed out that with the addition of one word--had--the sentence makes perfect sense. “So the Lord God (HAD) formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man…” The sentence, therefore, could be referring to the animals God had made previously. Another possibility is that because the Garden of Eden was formed specifically as a special place for man to live (and somewhat separate from the rest of the earth), God formed a new set of the animals he had already created (outside of Eden) for Adam to name. These animals that the Lord formed after man would live inside the Garden, while the animals God had formed previously, lived outside the Garden. I don’t know if this theory of mine has any validity, but it’s something that came to me as I read this chapter.
An important aspect of Chapter 2 concerns the Lord’s warning to the man, regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He warns the man that if he chooses to eat the fruit, he will lose the right to live. The key here is that the Lord gave man a choice: life or death, obedience or sin. As we will learn in Chapter 3, man chose to sin, to disobey God. Therefore, he chose death (as a punishment of his sin) and a life of pain and suffering. God still gives us a choice, thousands and thousands of years later: do we choose to follow and live for Him, or do we choose to disobey Him and follow the world and all its evil? Sadly, most people choose the world. No amount of “evolution” has relieved us of our sinful natures.
The last part of this chapter--the creation of the woman--establishes the relationship that God wants men and women to have. When we marry, we are to become one, just as Adam and Eve were bone from bone, flesh from flesh. It is the reason the Lord hates divorce (Malachi 2:16), and why He honors marriage (Hebrews 13:4).
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Genesis 1 (Creation)
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
The first line of the Bible is arguably the most important, for it establishes two essential facts about God.
First, if God created the universe, then He is clearly separate from the universe and everything in it. This is important because belief in pantheism--the idea that God is within each of us and that we are a part of God--is growing, especially now that Oprah is endorsing this exact belief. But the Hebrew word for “created” (as used in this sentence) means to construct something out of nothing, or to fill (something that is empty). It is impossible to create (out of nothing) something that is part of the creator and already exists. I can’t create my own leg, for example, because it is a part of me and already exists, just as I do. The idea is absurd. So if God created the universe, and everything in it, then He is clearly not a part of it, and it is not a part of Him.
Second, if God created the universe, then He has the ability to control everything within it. Just as an inventor knows how--and why--every part of his invention works and knows how to fix those parts when they break, God knows exactly how everything in the universe works--from the revolutions of the planets, to the tides of the oceans and the jet streams in the sky. And if He knows how and why everything works, then He also has the ability to fix and alter things for the better--in the world, and in our own lives. Nothing is hopeless or impossible for Him, which means that we can take any problem, any hurt and any concern, and we can know--absolutely--that God can “fix it.”
And because we know that God is not a part of us or within us, we also know--absolutely--that we, alone, can’t “fix things” without God’s help. We need to turn to Him, just as a child needs to turn to his parents for advice and help.
Before I discuss the creation of man (the second most important aspect of Genesis 1) here is a quick summary of God’s creations:
Day 1: Light
Day 2: Sky and water
Day 3: Sea and land
Day 4: Sun, moon and stars
Day 5: Fish and birds (although I’ve read that the original translation was not birds, but “flying creatures” which could encompass things like Pterodactyls.)
Day 6: Animals and human beings
Day 7: God rested
I know some people will look at this and question how God created light before He created the sun and the moon. The answer, I think, lies in quantum physics, a relatively new branch of science that examines the earth at the sub-atomic level. (My father taught physics at the NJ Institute of Technology, and he had a particular interest in Quantum physics.) Light, quantum physicists discovered, has an interesting quality: it is neither a wave nor a particle, but has characteristics of both. They call this the wave-particle duality. This means that while it acts a wave--in the sense that we look at the sun and “see” the waves of light coming towards the earth, it also exists independently as a particle (like a tiny particle of dust). So it is entirely possible that God created particles of light at the sub-atomic level on the first day, then gave it wave qualities when he created the sun and the stars on the fourth day to “mark off the seasons, days and years.” (Genesis 1: 14)
Versus 26-28 describe the creation of man, in which God says, “Let us make man (human beings) in our image, to be like us.” This is a powerful statement, again, for a couple of reasons.
First, God uses the word “us,” which is the first reference to the trinity: God the Father, Jesus the son and the Holy Spirit. This is made evident by the fact that the word used in this sentence for God--Elohim--is plural, yet it is used with singular verb forms, adjectives and pronouns. (http://www.hebrew4christians.com/).
Second, God says that humans are to be created in His image. Some people think this means that our physical appearance is similar to that of God, but most scholars interpret it to mean that we can relate to His feelings: happiness, joy, sadness, anger, jealousy, etc. In this way, we should never feel bad about our feelings; it’s the motive behind those feelings that should concern us!
(Incidentally, elsewhere in the Bible, God refers to creating humans in His likeness, which means we were given a “like” role: just as He has dominion over the heavens, we have dominion over the earth. And I thank my good friend Annie for that insight.)
Another conclusion I came to after reading this sentence is that His love for us is more than I can ever understand. A parent loves a child, for example, but parents don’t have a choice as to what that child is going to look like or how the child will develop. Likewise, an artist creates and loves his work, but that inanimate piece of work will never love the artist in return or be able to thank the artist for creating it. God, therefore, is so much more than a parent or an artist, just as we are so much more than a child or a painting. We are the beautiful children He created, and that relationship is something that many people find difficult to understand. I know I struggle to understand that type of love.
But I also know that my knowledge is limited, and I realize that I don’t have to understand everything to know that God loves me.
The first line of the Bible is arguably the most important, for it establishes two essential facts about God.
First, if God created the universe, then He is clearly separate from the universe and everything in it. This is important because belief in pantheism--the idea that God is within each of us and that we are a part of God--is growing, especially now that Oprah is endorsing this exact belief. But the Hebrew word for “created” (as used in this sentence) means to construct something out of nothing, or to fill (something that is empty). It is impossible to create (out of nothing) something that is part of the creator and already exists. I can’t create my own leg, for example, because it is a part of me and already exists, just as I do. The idea is absurd. So if God created the universe, and everything in it, then He is clearly not a part of it, and it is not a part of Him.
Second, if God created the universe, then He has the ability to control everything within it. Just as an inventor knows how--and why--every part of his invention works and knows how to fix those parts when they break, God knows exactly how everything in the universe works--from the revolutions of the planets, to the tides of the oceans and the jet streams in the sky. And if He knows how and why everything works, then He also has the ability to fix and alter things for the better--in the world, and in our own lives. Nothing is hopeless or impossible for Him, which means that we can take any problem, any hurt and any concern, and we can know--absolutely--that God can “fix it.”
And because we know that God is not a part of us or within us, we also know--absolutely--that we, alone, can’t “fix things” without God’s help. We need to turn to Him, just as a child needs to turn to his parents for advice and help.
Before I discuss the creation of man (the second most important aspect of Genesis 1) here is a quick summary of God’s creations:
Day 1: Light
Day 2: Sky and water
Day 3: Sea and land
Day 4: Sun, moon and stars
Day 5: Fish and birds (although I’ve read that the original translation was not birds, but “flying creatures” which could encompass things like Pterodactyls.)
Day 6: Animals and human beings
Day 7: God rested
I know some people will look at this and question how God created light before He created the sun and the moon. The answer, I think, lies in quantum physics, a relatively new branch of science that examines the earth at the sub-atomic level. (My father taught physics at the NJ Institute of Technology, and he had a particular interest in Quantum physics.) Light, quantum physicists discovered, has an interesting quality: it is neither a wave nor a particle, but has characteristics of both. They call this the wave-particle duality. This means that while it acts a wave--in the sense that we look at the sun and “see” the waves of light coming towards the earth, it also exists independently as a particle (like a tiny particle of dust). So it is entirely possible that God created particles of light at the sub-atomic level on the first day, then gave it wave qualities when he created the sun and the stars on the fourth day to “mark off the seasons, days and years.” (Genesis 1: 14)
Versus 26-28 describe the creation of man, in which God says, “Let us make man (human beings) in our image, to be like us.” This is a powerful statement, again, for a couple of reasons.
First, God uses the word “us,” which is the first reference to the trinity: God the Father, Jesus the son and the Holy Spirit. This is made evident by the fact that the word used in this sentence for God--Elohim--is plural, yet it is used with singular verb forms, adjectives and pronouns. (http://www.hebrew4christians.com/).
Second, God says that humans are to be created in His image. Some people think this means that our physical appearance is similar to that of God, but most scholars interpret it to mean that we can relate to His feelings: happiness, joy, sadness, anger, jealousy, etc. In this way, we should never feel bad about our feelings; it’s the motive behind those feelings that should concern us!
(Incidentally, elsewhere in the Bible, God refers to creating humans in His likeness, which means we were given a “like” role: just as He has dominion over the heavens, we have dominion over the earth. And I thank my good friend Annie for that insight.)
Another conclusion I came to after reading this sentence is that His love for us is more than I can ever understand. A parent loves a child, for example, but parents don’t have a choice as to what that child is going to look like or how the child will develop. Likewise, an artist creates and loves his work, but that inanimate piece of work will never love the artist in return or be able to thank the artist for creating it. God, therefore, is so much more than a parent or an artist, just as we are so much more than a child or a painting. We are the beautiful children He created, and that relationship is something that many people find difficult to understand. I know I struggle to understand that type of love.
But I also know that my knowledge is limited, and I realize that I don’t have to understand everything to know that God loves me.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Genesis
In order to fully understand the Bible, it is important to have some background information about each book. I won’t go into much detail, but I will supply the basics.
Book: Genesis
Author: Moses
Date Written: Around 1400 B.C.
Setting: the Middle East (as the area is known today)
Book: Genesis
Author: Moses
Date Written: Around 1400 B.C.
Setting: the Middle East (as the area is known today)
Monday, April 14, 2008
In the Beginning...
Like many Christians, I never made time to actually sit down and read the entire Bible. I knew certain passages, of course, and I always enjoyed the sermons at church, but the thought of reading all 66 books seemed a little overwhelming. I have a full-time job that requires a lot of travel, and finding even a moment of spare time seems impossible at times. (I'm sure many of you can relate!) I was also a little hesitant because, quite frankly, reading about men who lived and died thousands of years ago didn't seem very appealing. (I love history, but I would have preferred reading about Civil War soldiers or WWII flying aces.) Also, I wasn't really sure how these stories could actually help me. If I needed spiritual guidance for a specific problem, I knew I could simply look up the subject matter or a keyword in the back of the Bible and find a passage or two that would help me through my day.
A few months ago, however, I decided to read through the books of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelations. I was inspired to do so after my pastor made some excellent points during his three-part series on the character of God. Too many Christians, he said, base their entire faith on one or two stories in the Bible without knowing God's character or plan for our lives. Some spend their lives condemning sinners to Hell, opposing homosexuality (Genesis 19) and screaming for the death penalty (Genesis 9:6, Exodus 21:23-25), while others (on the opposite end of the spectrum) refer solely to the Lord's command to love and forgive (Matthew 22:39, Matthew 18:21-22). They use those passages as an excuse not to correct or oppose behavior that offends or hurts God. They use it as an excuse to water down the message of the Bible and to accept beliefs and practices that God clearly opposes. These two groups of Christians, he said, have never taken the time to really know God. They take a few passages, or a few stories, and mold God to fit their own agendas and beliefs about what God should be.
But to truly be a faithful Christian, we must know and understand the God we have chosen to love and obey. A responsible citizen, for example, wouldn't choose (or dismiss) a presidential candidate based on one single statement to the media. A responsible citizen would choose a candidate based on his or her voting record, personal conduct and his or her stance on a variety of issues. Likewise, we should know God's stance on all the issues if we are going to accept Him into our lives. Otherwise, we are not really giving our lives and hearts to the God of the Bible. We are giving our lives to a god we have created in our minds, in which case, we can't really call ourselves "Christians."
Being a "Christian" means believing that Jesus gave His own life to save us from the penalty of sin, which is death. In other words, we had been condemned to death because of our sins, and Jesus, in His great love and mercy, took our place so that we could live. Being a Christian also means believing that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and that Jesus is the living Word. So being a faithful, responsible Christian means knowing what that Word is. If we don't know the Word, we don't know Jesus.
(John 1:1-In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.)
When I realized that I didn't actually know the Word (or the God I worshipped and prayed to) I knew it was time to make some changes. I opened my Bible to Genesis 1:1 and began reading. And to my surprise (and great joy) passages I had never understood suddenly made sense to me. Everything I read gave me a deeper understanding of the God to whom I had pledged my life and love. And I found so many ways in which to relate the Word to my own life in the 21st Century.
I haven't finished reading it yet, and I probably won't for some time (it is a long book, after all). However, I decided to start this blog as a way to share my thoughts and insights to those--who, like me--may have been intimidated by the idea of reading the Bible. It is also for those who might not be Christians, but wonder how the Bible could possibly relate to modern life. But to be clear, I am neither a Bible scholar nor a student of theology. This is simply a blog to show the many ways in which the Bible has helped me. And above all, I encourage those of you who enjoy this blog to examine the Word yourselves. God speaks to His children in special, unique ways, so I might have insights that wouldn't specifically apply to you, just as you might have thoughts and insights that wouldn't apply to me. Most of the thoughts I write here on this blog, however, apply to everyone.
And again, the most important thing to remember is that the Word itself is far more important than any blog or book you could read. The Word, after all, is the direct story of God's love for us.
Blessings to all,
Jenn
A few months ago, however, I decided to read through the books of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelations. I was inspired to do so after my pastor made some excellent points during his three-part series on the character of God. Too many Christians, he said, base their entire faith on one or two stories in the Bible without knowing God's character or plan for our lives. Some spend their lives condemning sinners to Hell, opposing homosexuality (Genesis 19) and screaming for the death penalty (Genesis 9:6, Exodus 21:23-25), while others (on the opposite end of the spectrum) refer solely to the Lord's command to love and forgive (Matthew 22:39, Matthew 18:21-22). They use those passages as an excuse not to correct or oppose behavior that offends or hurts God. They use it as an excuse to water down the message of the Bible and to accept beliefs and practices that God clearly opposes. These two groups of Christians, he said, have never taken the time to really know God. They take a few passages, or a few stories, and mold God to fit their own agendas and beliefs about what God should be.
But to truly be a faithful Christian, we must know and understand the God we have chosen to love and obey. A responsible citizen, for example, wouldn't choose (or dismiss) a presidential candidate based on one single statement to the media. A responsible citizen would choose a candidate based on his or her voting record, personal conduct and his or her stance on a variety of issues. Likewise, we should know God's stance on all the issues if we are going to accept Him into our lives. Otherwise, we are not really giving our lives and hearts to the God of the Bible. We are giving our lives to a god we have created in our minds, in which case, we can't really call ourselves "Christians."
Being a "Christian" means believing that Jesus gave His own life to save us from the penalty of sin, which is death. In other words, we had been condemned to death because of our sins, and Jesus, in His great love and mercy, took our place so that we could live. Being a Christian also means believing that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and that Jesus is the living Word. So being a faithful, responsible Christian means knowing what that Word is. If we don't know the Word, we don't know Jesus.
(John 1:1-In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.)
When I realized that I didn't actually know the Word (or the God I worshipped and prayed to) I knew it was time to make some changes. I opened my Bible to Genesis 1:1 and began reading. And to my surprise (and great joy) passages I had never understood suddenly made sense to me. Everything I read gave me a deeper understanding of the God to whom I had pledged my life and love. And I found so many ways in which to relate the Word to my own life in the 21st Century.
I haven't finished reading it yet, and I probably won't for some time (it is a long book, after all). However, I decided to start this blog as a way to share my thoughts and insights to those--who, like me--may have been intimidated by the idea of reading the Bible. It is also for those who might not be Christians, but wonder how the Bible could possibly relate to modern life. But to be clear, I am neither a Bible scholar nor a student of theology. This is simply a blog to show the many ways in which the Bible has helped me. And above all, I encourage those of you who enjoy this blog to examine the Word yourselves. God speaks to His children in special, unique ways, so I might have insights that wouldn't specifically apply to you, just as you might have thoughts and insights that wouldn't apply to me. Most of the thoughts I write here on this blog, however, apply to everyone.
And again, the most important thing to remember is that the Word itself is far more important than any blog or book you could read. The Word, after all, is the direct story of God's love for us.
Blessings to all,
Jenn
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