What we can learn from the first paradise lost.
Posted on June 9, 2011 by Pastor Tom
So what might we take away from Genesis 2?
We join everyone in longing for paradise lost. But Christians get to look forward to paradise version 2.0 The garden of Eden reminds us of what we have lost (Joel 2:3) but also of what will yet be renewed in the world to come (Isa. 51:3, Rev. 22:3)
We need to see again a Sovereign God who has authority over us and sets boundaries for our benefits. God did not put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden to be mean but to test the hearts of man and woman. He continues to do that today to reveal to us our need for Him. If only we can grow in seeing His boundaries as a loving limitation not some cruel restriction.
We need to see a loving compassionate God who sees our real needs and provides for them. God saw the man’s aloneness and provided the perfect helper for him. God saw our need for salvation and provided His own Son. God continues to see our deepest needs and offers His provision. We need to keep coming to Him to receive it.
We can rejoice in the beauty of marriage and all the best parts of it and the way it was meant to be. We sorrow in how tragically it has been distorted.
Husbands celebrate the wives He has brought to you. Share your delight about them with them and with others.
Children, celebrate the mothers God brought you or the people He provided to fill that role in your life. Mom’s see your high place in creation. You are the one’s specially created by the Lord God to nurture and care. You have been given one of the highest commissions on earth. There is no other for your husband.
All – we can find our way back to paradise. But only by submitting to the One who created it. He will restore paradise One Day. Though we could not get there on our own, He provided the way. He sent His Son into the fractured world that resulted from Adam and Eve’s fall. The Son lived a sinless life. He then suffered and died on the cross for our sins. He rose from the dead with His resurrection body. He is the firstfruits of the resurrected. Those who place their life trust in Jesus are on their way back. That means to stop thinking that you can get to paradise on your own. We have to stop thinking that our own autonomy and freedom are the most important thing. To admit that we need God to change and transform us. To submit to God’s ongoing work of change in us by praying, inviting, reflecting on His Word and responding to what God reveals. Continually opening ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit within us.
Yes the first paradise was lost. But the second one will be better and it’s possible to get there through Jesus.
Why all this nakedness?
Posted on June 8, 2011 by Pastor Tom
Why did God have to include Genesis 2:25 in the Bible? “Though naked, both feel no shame towards each other or in the presence of God.” (2:25) Why is that verse included? Why does God have to embarrass us like this? Another Bible commentator gives us an amazing explaination
Given the beliefs of ancient Israel, the next comment is almost as surprising: they “were naked, but they were not ashamed.” The couple’s unself-consciousness about their lack of clothing stands in stark contrast to their later ludicrous efforts to hide themselves in the trees and to clothe themselves with fig leaves. It is also quite out of keeping with the usual attitude to nakedness attested in the Old Testament. In general, nakedness is shameful and therefore to be avoided, particularly by those approaching God in worship or other sacred duties. Yet here in the garden which is full of symbols of the divine presence, where God himself regularly comes to meet with them, they were nude but unashamed. Since the relationships between man and wife and between them and their creator are unclouded by sin, there is no need for them to cover up. The fullness of their fellowship is here most vividly expressed. Such was life in paradise. We wish we could dwell here longer. Don’t you wish that the Bible could have ended in Genesis 2? We’d still be in paradise and we’d finally reach our goal of reading through the Bible in a year. But we can’t stay in Genesis 2. The Bible’s storyline continues with the greatest tragedy in history in Genesis 3.
Next time – so what can we learn from the original paradise lost?
The first woman - the perfect complement!
Posted on June 7, 2011 by Pastor Tom
But things are not quite perfect for the man. Verse 18 – Then the Lord God said, “it is not good that man should be alone; I will make a helper fit for him.” Here’s where we see the Lord’s loving concern. He promises to make a helper fit for (corresponding to) him. (2:18)
Fellowship, friendship and intimacy are basic needs for every human being. God will provide someone for Adam. We might think the term “helper” implies inferiority. But there is no sense of that in the text. The sense is more someone perfectly fitted to or perfectly complementing. The man is alone and he lacks. He needs help. (Ladies, I know you want to shout a huge, Yes he does). But where will this complementary partner come from? Maybe it will come from other living things. So Moses goes on a bit of review. In verse 19, he reveals that the Lord God had formed beasts of the field and birds of the air. They too were formed out of the ground like the man. They had some sort of breath of life in them. Would they be man’s companion? The Lord God reveals that no suitable helper is found in the animal kingdom even though they too came from the ground. (2:19–20) Instead, man gets to exercise authority over the animals by naming them as God’s representative. But no helper is found.
He makes woman from one of the man’s ribs. (2:21–22) Some have observed that this is the perfect body part to use. It’s not from man’s head so the woman is above him or from his foot so he walks all over her. It’s a rib from his side. In Sumerian, one of the languages of Mesopotamia, the word for “rib” also means “life.” Something of that concept is also intended here: The woman comes into being out of the very life of man. Life begets life. Man and woman are connected. They are related to each other as though they were blood relatives. She is the perfect provision. We know that by man’s response.
How do man and woman respond to God’s provision?
Man delights in God’s provision of woman. (2:23) Adam expresses unbounded delight. It’s not “oh, she’s pretty good God.” This is bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. She is awesome and perfect.” Moses then puts in place God’s ordination of marriage as foundational for society. A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. Just as the first man and woman were of one flesh, the subsequent married couples become one flesh.
Next time – Why all this nakedness?
The first man gets to go into the garden.
Posted on June 6, 2011 by Pastor Tom
In Genesis 2:15 God places the first man in the garden. The Lord God commissions man to work and keep the garden. (2:15) The man doesn’t plant the garden. He is to work it and take care of it. It is like God has placed man as the garden’s guardian. So work was part of the pre-Fall world. Work is not bad. It, like everything else, has been tarnished by the fall. We will see this more in Genesis 3. But work in the resurrection life and originally in this garden was fulfilling not frustrating. It was productive and satisfying.
Then the Lord God sets the boundaries upon which man can remain in the garden. (2:16–17). Do you want to stay in this paradise man? You are welcome to eat from any tree in the garden except one. Do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When you eat of it, you will surely die.” There is only one rule to abide in this paradise. You can think, act, create, care, enjoy and explore. But don’t eat of that tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Now one commentator had a quite profound observation about this. We hear a lot of proposed solutions for all that ails mankind. One proposed solution is creating the right environment. If man is placed in the right environment, he or she will do right. But here was a man placed in a perfect environment. Here was a man not yet tainted by sin. Here was a man who gazed at the most beautiful environment ever seen. Yet man still did not choose right. The commentator writes: Beneath the surface narrative however, the story poses the crucial problem of human existence: unaided human beings cannot create paradise. Flawed and limited, they cannot oversee and ensure justice and wholeness; they cannot even tame the monster within themselves. Paradise comes at a cost. To live there, one must submit to the rule of an “other,” the owner of the garden. This is an essential feature of paradise: Do we choose to live in the garden and submit to the master? Or do we choose our own reign and face expulsion? Those willing to submit find wholeness and intimacy; those who choose otherwise echo the defiant sentiment of the fallen archangel, who in John Milton’s words proclaims, “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” Humanity at its best, when tested, rebels even in the perfect environment.
Next time – the first woman
What's with all the trees?
Posted on June 5, 2011 by Pastor Tom
The narrative continues to describe the garden itself. The Lord God fills the garden with an abundance of trees. Verse 9 – And out of the ground, the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So first of all, notice there are many trees that are beautiful and good for food. When the trouble happens in the next chapter, it’s not like Adam and Eve had only two trees to choose from. There were all kinds of trees. Two are mentioned by name. The tree of life is beyond the original life breathed into man. Continuing to eat from the tree of life renewed life and prevented aging or death. The first man and woman had access to this tree.
Then there is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now if we could ask God anything about the Garden in Eden, I think many would want to ask about this tree. What might we ask? God, why did you even put this tree in the garden? This is paradise. So why even put something that has knowledge of evil? We might also ask “what does knowledge of good and evil really mean?” Some suggest it is the ability to know the difference between good and evil. That would indicate that the first man and woman did not have that ability. But if that were the case, then why would they be held accountable for their sin in Genesis 3? If they had no ability to discern whether or not something was good, would God be just in sentencing them? Others suggest it is ethical knowledge. Another possible explanation is that this refers to God’s knowledge of good and evil. That knowledge in God’s mind is under control and perfectly managed. God knows things about evil that only He should know. If man and woman were to get ahold of that knowledge they would not be capable of handling appropriately.
When we were in Alaska last summer, we went to one of those lumberjack shows. They did log rolling, sawing competitions and pole climbing. But they also did chain saw carving. It was amazing to see these guys with their chain saws carve some pretty neat stuff. They were experts with the chain saw. But give that chain saw fully gassed up with motor running to an inexperienced child and that would be a very different story. It would be dangerous, damaging and maybe even tragic. That seems to describe well what man has done with the knowledge of good and evil. But we’re not in Genesis 3 yet.
Let’s spend some more time in paradise. God has created man and given him life. He provided a place – a garden in the East, in Eden. He causes all kinds of beautiful trees to grow there. He provides water for the garden from this great river in Eden.
Next time – The first man gets to go to paradise
A garden in the East named Eden
Posted on June 4, 2011 by Pastor Tom
The story moves on to describe the marvelous place God prepares. The Lord God provides a beautiful place in which man can live. Here we discover what is now referred to as the first paradise. Moses gives us a couple of initial details about this place. It is a garden which we will soon discover is an enclosed and protected area with trees and vegetables designed to produce food. It is a place where man is close to the place from which he came – the earth.
This garden is in the East. In the ancient world, the east represented life. It is the place from which the sun rises. So the North South flowing Nile river has the temples of life on the east side. The monuments of death including the pyramids, tombs and valley of the kings are on the west side. In Europe, many cathedrals were constructed on an east/west axis with the altar facing east. This garden in the east was in Eden. This place has water and moisture, a perfect place for a lush garden. In fact in verse 10 we see a river flowing from Eden. This river becomes four streams that water the entire land.
This picture of a river flowing from God occurs throughout Scripture. In keeping with the life-giving Spirit of God, the river is a life-giving supply of water. So in Ezekiel 47, a river flows from the new temple to give life. In the final chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22, John sees a river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God down the middle of the great street of the city. The original Eden had a similar great life giving river.
We also discover that the prophets understood Eden to be in or connected to some sort of mountain. In Ezekiel 28, the prophet speaks to the King of Tyre who is a type of Satan. The prophet condemns the king for his pride especially since he was once in Eden. So Ezekiel 28 gives us some more insight into Eden. In Ezekiel 28:13 the prophet speaking for the Lord says to King of Tyre, “you were in Eden, the garden of God, every precious stone adorned you. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God.”
Next time – What’s with all the trees?
How does God provide paradise?
Posted on June 2, 2011 by Pastor Tom
How does the Lord God provide paradise for the man and the woman?
He forms man out of dust and breathes life into him. (2:7) Humans give birth to other human beings. But where did the first humans come from? Contrary to a worldview that claims humans descended from other life forms, Moses describes God as the creator and life giver. Verse 7 tells us God formed man from dust of the ground. There’s a play on words we don’t see in English. Man is “adam” in Hebrew. Dust of the ground is “adama.” God used the “adama” to form “adam.” God formed “adam” from “adama.” Our origins are earthly.
Yet, the Lord God did not just form a model to look at. He breathed life into the man’s nostrils. Ultimately, God is the source of life. God’s breath and God’s Spirit give life. Even though we have had life transferred to us from our parents, it ultimately goes back to God. One commentator writes “if God were to withdraw his life-giving power from us all mankind would perish together and the man would return to dust.” As Psalm 104:29 states “when you take away their breath, they die and return to dust.” In Him we live and move and have our being. In this account, the first man is now created and living. But where will he live?
Next time – a marvelous place!
What's in a name?
Posted on June 1, 2011 by Pastor Tom
The passage begins with another title or section header. “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” Notice, it’s not the account of man. It starts with the heavens and the earth. Verses 5 and 6 describe the state of the earth prior to the creation of this paradise. There is no shrub of the field, no plants of the field, no rain and no one to work the land. These verses anticipate a transformation.
But before we see how God provided paradise for the man and the woman, notice what Moses calls God. He does not use the same name translated “God” in Genesis 1. This is the Lord God who made the earth and the heavens. God is the Hebrew Elohim. It is the majestic name Moses gives to proclaim the mightiness and majesty of God. But Lord is Yahweh. This is the personal, intimate name of God in the Old Testament. Moses combines the two suggesting that what is about to be told will reveal both God’s character as sovereign creator and His loving concern for mankind.
What about the length of creation days?
Posted on May 26, 2011 by Pastor Tom
But what about the length of those creation days? How do they fit or harmonize with the claims of modern science? There have been different interpretations offered by Christians committed to the divine inspiration of Scripture. These include the 24 hour interpretation where God accomplished His work in a 24 hour period. There is the day age view which basically claims that the days of creation represent ages of time. There is the literary framework view which argues that Genesis 1 is arranged in a way to that communicates God’s order and design for creation and not necessarily the time of creation.
Now the length of the creation days is an important question. A lot of good work and study has gone into the various positions held. But is the length of the creation days the most important question? As soon as I asked about this, what happened to your focus? What did you begin to think about? Some of you who have looked into this may have started to think about your own conclusions about the length of creation days. Some may have drawn up battle lines. Suddenly, we’re not thinking about this chapter in terms of the One Triune God creating everything that exists. We may think about winning an argument.
Sadly, some Christians have taken this question and used it to vilify their brothers and sisters in Christ who hold to different interpretations. Instead of the world hearing about God as the Creator of everything, they witness or read about Christians intensely fighting about this. Friends there are some people in this room who hold a different interpretation of the length of days of creation than you do. If you know of someone who holds a different interpretation than you, will that affect your view of them? Will that affect your fellowship with them?
There is a book entitled the “The Genesis Debate” which specifically deals with the length of the creation days. It contains proponents of those 3 views. They engage in fairly respectful dialogue and debate. But I think the most helpful part of that book was the forward. Christian apologist and philosopher Dr. Norman Geisler writes:
The Genesis Debate points out the need for that old saying – “In essentials unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity. All participants in this debate hold a high view of Scripture, affirming both the infallibility and inerrancy of Holy Scripture. Within this context, the participants carry on a civil and scholarly interchange on topic of considerable interest: whether the Genesis creation days are 24 hours long, ages of time or merely a literary framework.
This debate teaches us several important lessons.
• The creation day debate is not over the inspiration of the Bible, but over it’s interpretation. So different interpretations do not necessarily imply false teaching.
• Second – at best the creation day debate is not one of evangelical authenticity but of evangelical consistency. That is, the maximum charge that should be leveled by one proponent against another is that his view is not consistent with Scripture or the facts of nature, not that it is unorthodox.
• Third, the time of creation is not as important as the fact of creation. That is, it is far more important to defend the biblical position that God created the universe, all basic kinds of life, and man in His image than it is to argue about how long it took God to do so.
• Fourth, the issue is not one of morality. Good and Godly people are found on all sides of the creation debate. No one should doubt or question another’s faith or character simply because he holds one of the views represented in this volume. Yet sadly, some Christians have concluded that because another Christian holds a different interpretation on creation days, they must be an immoral person or a stupid person. Neither of these conclusions is helpful or God-honoring.
• Fifth, the real opponent is the naturalistic no-God worldview. But when approaching people who hold this view, our approach must not be to win an argument but to win them.
Certainly, we must uphold the historical nature of the creation account. On it rest other important doctrines of Scripture (R 5:12, Matt 19:4–6). In addition, we must uphold the factual nature of the record as important to orthodoxy. We should reject all attempts to reduce the creation record to fable as opposed to fact, or to mythology as opposed to history. But we must also guard against the temptation of getting sarcastic, disrespectful and judgmental towards others.
I hope this little interlude points to how careful we have to be about this. I believe we can get seriously sidetracked about the primary purpose of this passage – to declare and demonstrate that the One God created everything that exists. This is the starting point of the Bible’s storyline. It lays the framework through which we must look at the rest of the Bible and through which we can look at the rest of the world.
(Next time – what does Genesis 1 and its revelation about God mean for our lives today?)
Do people today worship other "gods?"
Posted on May 25, 2011 by Pastor Tom
We have seen how each day of creation dismissed the pagan gods. But does this really speak to us today?
And we say, “oh well, that was for those people who were confused about the reality and believed in nature gods. We aren’t so deluded. We have no issue with worshipping other gods.” Well we don’t call those gods by personal names. But our culture worships other gods that come from a profoundly different worldview.
Our culture worships materialism. It believes that matter and materials make up the universe and there is nothing beyond them. So going to the mall and gathering more materials can actually be an act of pagan worship. People today believe in determinism where reality is mechanical. The origin of life and the nature of our humanity is just a result of natural causes.
Our culture worships secularism which is a philosophy that rejects all forms of religious faith and worship in the public sphere. Has anyone here heard any of the federal leaders campaigning for the election talk about God or their faith in God or their party’s platform on faith? No. Canadians expect their political leaders to keep their faith private. They would suffer immense political damage for advocating a faith or mentioning their faith. That’s how secular our society has become. You probably know people who worship the god of secular humanism. They do not acknowledge God and God’s ownership of the created order. And now we have post-modernism or new agism. The New Age was/is – old fashioned paganism with a modern twist. It incorporates Eastern religions with their multiple gods and reshapes them in some North American lingo. So we see people turning to astrology and horoscopes for guidance or Transcendental Meditation. Even post-modernism elevates personal spirituality above any objective God. So before we dismiss Moses’ concerns that God’s people not slide into pagan worship, we must seriously look at ourselves and our own culture.
Then look at Genesis 1 which flies in the face of all of today’s gods. This is a foundational chapter for the Christian worldview. It goes against worldviews that claim the universe just happened to exist or has always existed. It is contrary to a worldview that claims humans randomly came into being by some incredible chance of nature. It declares God as the creator and originator of life. It declares there is no other God.
(Next time – what about the length of creation days?)
What does Genesis 1 say about God?
Posted on May 23, 2011 by Pastor Tom
What does Genesis 1 say about God?
The One Triune God is the Creator of all that exists. Where do I get the word “One?” Where do I get “Triune?” By Triune I mean 3 in one: One God in essence composed by 3 persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Well, I certainly look back at this passage through a New Testament lens where the nature of our Triune God is fleshed out more clearly for us. But I think there are clues to the One Triune God’s essence nature in this chapter. I can see a glimpse of One and Triune or Trinity from verse 1. “In the beginning God created. The word God translates the Hebrew “Elohim” in plural form. Yet the verb is create is in singular form. So there is One God in being. But there is something more about this one God. The plural form of the name may refer to His majesty and using a plural form somehow expresses that this God is infinitely more majestic than some local pagan idol.
I also conclude that God is One by looking throughout this chapter. The same name of God appears and He is the One who creates the sun, moon, stars, water, earth and great creatures of the sea. The pagans believed that each one of those was an individual god. But Genesis 1 emphasizes that this One majestic God created all of these.
I conclude that we can say “the One Triune God created all that exists from verse 26. “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” Now some argue that this means God speaks to the heavenly council of angels in this statement. But humans are not made in the image of angels. They are made in the image of God and the plural language may indicate God in three persons talking about creating man.
This One Triune God creates. This verb create is used only of God in the Old Testament. It points to His unique ability to bring into being something that wasn’t there before. Create “bara” is reserved for God. As one commentator puts it “The finite mortal, whose understanding of the cosmos and history is like a thimble of water before the ocean, has no right to challenge the Creator’s Sovereignty. God fashions the creation, including earthly mortals according to his wisdom and good pleasure, even as a potter fashions clay vessels.
But what is going on in verse 2? Did God create the heavens and the earth and then create something formless, empty and dark? Some have speculated that God started creating in verse 1. Then there was a big gap of time between verse 1 and 2. Then we’re invited to see creation up to that moment in verse 2. Then God brings order to that creation. But verse 2 implies chaos of some sort. The descriptions of verse 2 point to things not associated with God – formless, empty, darkness, chaos.
Another explanation sheds some light on this. It argues that Genesis 1:1 is really the title for the whole section. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth – the totality of the universe.” Then verse 2 talks about this chaotic, formless, dark place. Where did this chaos come from? We don’t know. We’re not told just as we are not told how the serpent could be in the garden in Genesis 3. The origin of this chaos and reason for its existence are not revealed. But what’s interesting is the pagans of that time believed that the sea was a god. They believed that there was a great struggle between the god of the sea and the gods of order over creation and the uncovering of dry land.
With that cultural background in mind, Genesis 1 unfolds as God’s triumph and supremacy over chaos, emptiness and darkness. The creation account becomes a redemptive account. It is the triumph of light over darkness and land and sky over water. The myth of a water god is exposed. There is no water god. Water must obey the One God.
Remember, the people of Israel, the people Moses wrote for were deeply steeped in pagan religion. They constantly slipped into pagan worship. Whenever things went bad, they turned to idols and supposed gods of nature. Even at the close of the book of Joshua after they have conquered the Promised Land, Joshua declares in chapter 24:14 “Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt.” The people of Israel were still dabbling in Egyptian myths and pagan practices. So this creation account deconstructs the pagan myths and so called gods.
One commentator writes “Each day of creation dismisses and additional cluster of deities. On the first day, the gods of light and darkness are dismissed. On the second day, the gods of sky and sea. On the third day, the earth gods and gods of vegetation. On the fourth day, the sun, moon and star gods. The fifth and sixth days take away any associations of divinity or god status from the animal kingdom. And finally human existence is emptied of divinity. So the pharaohs and kings and heroes are not gods. But all people are granted the image of the One God.”
(Next time – Do people today worship other gods?)
The Bible's Storyline 1 - Part 1
Posted on May 20, 2011 by Pastor Tom
This Spring and Summer, I will try to paint the picture of the Bible’s Overall Storyline. I know many of you will miss the weekend message because of vacations. So I will post pieces of the messages on this blog so you can follow along. We start in the beginning.
“David killed the giant Goliath. Daniel spent a night in the lion’s den. Adam and Eve did something questionable and ended up blaming others for this misstep. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Esther was a courageous queen. There was a flood and a crossing of a sea and Jesus walked on water. A guy named Paul came on the scene at some point. Mary and Joseph were in there somewhere. Was that the same Joseph with the coat of many colors? The Lord is my shepherd and He’s also the guy who got mad in the temple one day. Isaiah and Jeremiah are in there but I don’t think we can find the phrase “Jeremiah was a bullfrog” in there. There are lots of angels and there’s a devil. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy but God is a jealous God. In the end, God will somehow win.
What am I doing? Well, I just described scattered parts of the Bible in no particular order. It was kind of confusing. Yet if someone asked us to put the pieces of the Bible together in a storyline, we might come up with something like I just shared. I grew up in a family that regularly attended church. I went to Sunday School. I heard the stories and the messages when I was old enough. Yet if someone asked me at the age of 20 to tell them the Bible’s basic storyline, I would likely have come up with something similar to that first paragraph. That might be your experience or your knowledge as well. You know bits and pieces of the Bible. But how it all fits together is some kind of mystery.
If we’re confused about the basic storyline of the Bible then it’s quite possible we’re confused about God. We might not understand the character of God or how He has worked through history. We might believe that the God of the Old Testament is cruel and judgmental while the God of the New Testament is love. If we don’t understand the Bible’s storyline and God’s activity through it, we can even be confused about our own identity and place in this world.
So today we begin my attempt to paint the big picture of the Bible. My hope is that by the end of this summer, you will be have about 15 key markers from the Bible that proclaim God’s activity. These will enable us to place the David and Goliath story in a bigger context. They will help us see how the Old Testament and New Testament do not describe different gods but the same God who has been and continues to be at His work in history and in our lives. They will help us know our God more deeply and enable to answer some questions people around us have about God’s Word.
We have to start at the beginning. Genesis 1 – one of the most studied and controversial chapters in the Bible. But as we go through it, I would invite you to ask yourself “what is this chapter primarily saying about God?” Then we will ask “what does this mean for our lives?” And if I’m still living and really brave, I will venture into that question –how do we respond to Christians with different interpretations of Genesis 1 than ours? I conclude that Moses wrote Genesis and was well prepared to do so through his training and experience. I believe God’s Spirit carried him along to write these words.
Next time – What does Genesis 1 say about God?