I find it very interesting now that I go back and read some of my old writings. Reading them and posting them on here may give you insight as to how my thinking, my worldview, and understanding of theology has evolved throughout the past decade or so. Here is the second post from the past.......(I really could have done a much better job writing these papers, what an intellectual/slacker I was all at the same time, haha!)
04/14/2005
The Bible portrays redemption in some way as the restoration of creation. This conflicts with the belief that somehow redemption has taken humans out of creation. Many “Christians” believe that the sacred and secular are separate because of redemption, yet all throughout the Bible it is quite the opposite. If we would only take the time to read and study the word of God, we would learn so much about what God has planned for us and what he has always had planned for us.
When the fall of our kind came, back when Adam and Eve first sinned, it threw us off track from God’s original plan. The sin held us back from accomplishing his goals for us. What is this goal? Genesis 1:26-28 says that we were originally made to rule the earth and to be his trusted stewards. When sin entered into the equation we could no longer be trusted with this mandate. Humans are violent, selfish, and very untrustworthy, so God had to redeem us to fulfill his plan. Most of the Bible is about God trying to get us to realize that we were doing wrong. The journey from Abraham and Israel to Moses to Judges to Kings to Prophets then finally to Jesus was all the steps needed to redeem us. Israel’s original purpose as the chosen nation was to mediate God’s blessing to the world so that it would realize what it was doing was wrong. Jesus was brought in as the new mediator of Gods blessings. This was necessary because the rest of the things hadn’t made us realize it yet. Acts 3:24-25 shows that Jesus came to deliver Israel from their sins. This is the restoration of Israel’s purpose in the world. Once this was done, Jew and Gentile who believed in Jesus could join in on this purpose and spread God’s blessing to the world. This blessing had become the news of Christ redeeming us. This blessing had become hope of restoring our trust with God.
Why is this so hard to believe, and why is this not what we think of when we think of Jesus? When I think of Jesus most of the time, I think of God’s son who was sent so that I can go to heaven. This I think is a selfish thought, though it may be partially true. The truth is the realization that he was sent for the world so that we could not only have eternal life but so that progress could be made as we again become his trusted stewards. This shatters dualistic belief. This shows that God has always wanted to be and has always planned to be the center of all life not just the spiritual.
So what does this mean for us now in the 21st century? What does this mean for the church? As humans in the 21st century we should continue being Israel to the world. Our job as stated in 1 Peter 2:9-10 is to spread Jesus’ good news to all the nations. This is not our only goal though. We must live our lives and make cultural progress as stewards for God. This is our purpose and reason for being. This is also the purpose for the church.
Revelation 5:6-10 says that Jesus has died so that now we can reign on earth. I don’t see how this has not always been obvious to Christians and the church, though I haven’t realized it until recently. In the beginning with Genesis 1:1-25 we were made in God’s image, and we were given power to rule over the land and animals. WE were created blessed and were told to multiply and subdue the earth. Why is this not obvious that dualism is not the right way to view life? God has given us power in the world so that we may use this God given power to not just be servants, and not be separate from God, but to work together under his authority.
Realizing this has changed my life. Though it is a process of changing my entire mindset, my life has been changed due to the realization of our goal on this earth. Jesus means so much more to me now than when he was just a way to heaven. That may sound awful but it’s true. Now that I know Jesus came not just to clean my sins away but to set me in motion to finally fulfill what I was created for, it is so much more real and it makes so much more sense.
Realizing and truly shaping your life around the meta-narrative of the Bible and the redemption of the creation we are apart of is difficult. We haven’t been taught our whole lives that this is the way our minds should think. We have been taught that God is for church time and Jesus has freed us from the bondage of sin. But it means so much more than that. God is for all the time because he has sent us to perform cultural activity, and Jesus has brought us back to doing this the right way.
In deeper reading of the Bible and teachings from those who are much wiser than we are, we can learn so much about our world and our God. These teachings can shatter our worldviews and change them to being so much more holistic and correct! The realization of the redemption of creation can change every aspect of your life, and it has changed mine. The Lord has more intended for our lives than we know and once we realize this we can finally progress through our original purpose as created beings for God.
Steve.... I agree with your post. These days, people forget what the meaning of God and Jesus and who they really were. I had the pleasure of attending catholic school from kindergarten thru 12th grade. And theology always seemed to amuse and astonish me at the same time. But Im going to ask you a very debatable question that got me kicked out of theology class in my senior year. I would like your perspective on it. I have already had one perspective, but it was from a very stuffy old priest who called me a blasphemer and a sinner. I would like to hear your point of view.....
ReplyDeleteSo in the book of Genesis, the bible tells us the story of creation...that man was made in his image, and woman was from Adam's rib. So...Adam and Eve were the only humans on earth. They had two sons...Cain and Abel. In the bible it speaks of marriage and the sons having children. So if they were the only children of Adam and Eve, did Adam and Eve have other offspring that the bible does not speak of, and did they commit the heinous act of incest in order to populate the world.
Gina C. thanks for commenting, you are the first to respond to any of this for quite some time. First thing I would say to you is that you should first read my post on the Bible and some Genesis understanding. Here is the address:
ReplyDeletehttp://themindofquerns.blogspot.com/2009/04/phew.html
Besides that understanding, of the word itself, you have to remember when this story was spoken.... because it was first a verbal set of stories almost certainly, written language was very basic, story telling was different, poetry was different, history telling was different.... Completely different from how we currently tell history written down, this story (or most likely stories in the plural sense, and written or told by authors in the plural sense) is not meant to answer questions like the one you ask. It does however tell the parts that are important to the path that the story is going. Obviously the path that it is taking is to take the reader, or listener, from the beginning of creation to the time of Noah.
That is not even an answer to your question however, and obviously I must speculate at an answer. The next step to talk about is that if you look at the list of names from Adam to Noah in chapter 5, (and notice I did not say Adam and Eve to Noah), it only gives us the names of males. It does say they had other sons and daughters, but no names for females and most definitely not all the names of the sons. (Genesis 5:4 states that after Cain and Abel and then Seth there were other sons and daughters, they just weren't important enough to mention.) So one presumption that you have is that Cain and Abel were the only offspring of Adam and Eve, and that is most definitely not a presumption we can make, and the Bible says so.
For the incest part, we must dig deeper. You are assuming that in those times incest was heinous. Also you are assuming what the definition of incest would have been then. Obviously in our culture incest involves the sexual relationship between anyone that is remotely genetically related to you, and the definition of remotely varies but you get my point. In ancient times, especially in Egypt and the Ancient Near East, it was preferred to marry your cousin or within the family. Genesis 20:12 is clear in saying that Sarah was Abraham's half sister, and they were married..... and he is the chosen one of God.
So to answer your question I believe you are half correct. Yes, most definitely inter family sexual relationships were normal, and if the story of Genesis is telling us that it all started with one couple who came from the same flesh, then it all started with incest. However the half that is incorrect is the heinous part, because it just simply wasn't considered heinous(however Leviticus 18 does give us a set of instructions that Moses receives concerning sexual morality some time later when Human kind is definitely fully established on the earth)
Please read the next comment for the end..............
......... and the conclusion (because I guess there is a limit on comment length now, which is annoying....)
ReplyDeleteAnother idea completely separate from that idea I think comes from an idea of God bringing Order from Chaos (You can gain insight into these ideas by learning about passages with Leviathan and Behemoth, especially in the book of Job, which is one of the oldest books in the Bible. The language concerning creatures like these is clearly that of Chaos to Order, and passages throughout the Old Testament refer to the idea of God not specifically creating from nothing, but bringing order to something that had none. This idea as you mention is definitely heretical in most Christian circles). I haven't studied it much in this context, but it basically would break down into saying that there may have been other humans, unlike the line that came from Adam and Eve in some ways and I am sure that science could "tell" you who those people were, that Adam and Eve's line may have intermingled with...... This is a half-baked theory if you are a strict literalist of the Bible. However, if you also understand what kind of literature Genesis is, the possibility arises..... I won't go deeper into these ideas or thoughts, because it is just speculation from my brain and logic. However because of my understanding of what the Bible is here for (which is why I recommend the read of a previous post I mentioned)I can leave open possibilities, and still not have my foundation in God be moved in anyway!
Gina thanks for commenting, I look forward to more and more of your thoughts and comments. Remember, anything I say is not to be taken as truth and not meant to judge..... search for yourself, with me, and even if we disagree, at least we are searching with hearts and minds after God!
It is very interesting how you put things into perspective. It gives me a different look at things. Yes you are correct about the names in the bible. There are only male names up until a certain point...and yes Sarah was Abraham's half sister... I think the reason i call it heinous is because what has happened in society with fathers raping their daughters and so on and so forth. There is so much about the bible that fascinates me... I don't even know where to begin. Like the story of Noah....it is said by many that the earth will end in fire or flood...but God clearly states in the bible that the rainbow was a promise to the people on earth that he would never flood the earth again.
DeleteMy favorite book of the entire bible is actually from.the New Testament. Its the last book....the book of Revelations. there is so much that i could talk about just on the one alone....I've read it numerous times. And each time i read it , i am still amazed by the revelations...and signs that this world will soon come to an end. I do not like the way Hollywood portrays this last book....as if it was something evil or deadly. All they do is scare people. The end of times is supposed to be a beautiful thing. It is our time to finally understand the Holy Trinity and the powers that be....our chance to come face to face with our maker. What a wonderful day that will be...it is nothing to be afraid of if you believe in God and know that he is our creator and will take care of us forever...