Creation
In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 Brenton) For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, and the sea and all things in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:11 Brenton)
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Genesis 2: The LORD God Formed Man and Woman
The Book of Genesis (The Generation) Genesis 2:4 begins by saying: This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth, when they were made, in the day in which the Lord God made the heaven and the earth, and every herb of the field before it was on the earth, and all the grass of the field before it sprang up, for God had not rained on the earth, and there was not a man to cultivate it. (Genesis 2:4-5 Brenton LXX) The Greek word translated here as “generation” is genesis (G1078), which means source, origin. It comes from the word genos (G1085), which means kindred, coming from the…
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Genesis 1: God and the Natural Order
God: Maker of Heaven and Earth Genesis 1 introduces “God” as the Maker of heaven and earth. And all throughout the Bible we see references to this capital-G “God”. The Hebrew word translated as “God” in verse 1 is “elohim”, which is plural, and “probaby prolonged (emphatically) from “el” (H410)”, which means “mighty one“, according to Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB). “El” is shortened from “ayil” (H352), which means “ram”. In the Greek Septuagint, “Elohim” is translated as “o theos” (G3588 & G2316) in this verse, which literally translates into English as “the god”, hence the likely reason why it is capitalized in English. According to Thayer’s Greek definitions, it is of uncertain…
- Creation, Encouragement / Advice, Kingdom of God, Walking in the Ways of the Creator, YHVH Elohim/God
What is the Will of God?
Growing up in Christianity, I came to understand the Will of God to essentially consists of loving God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength & loving your neighbor as yourself. And we do the latter by applying the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Loving Your Neighbor As Yourself When I was young, I had a hard time with the phrase “as yourself” in the loving your neighbor part, because I struggled with negative feelings of self-worth. I remember when I was in middle school, at the age of 12 or 13, I had this notion that other people were more…
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Was Their Rebellion in the Garden?
I recently came across two different people referring to Adam & Eve’s act of eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden as an act of rebellion. One said, “Humans chose to rebel while in paradise.” and the other said “Adam and Eve…rebelled against the wisdom and authority of the Creator…”. That prompted me to respond. Did Adam & Eve really “rebel”?
- 3-Grass, Seed-Yielding Herbs, Fruit Trees, 6-Living Creatures on Land, 6-Man and Woman, Creation, Garden of Eden, What About? verses
Did the Creator’s Design Change After the Fall of Man?
Many seem to think that the creation established in the beginning was later altered by God and that He instituted physical death, in response to the Fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden. However, upon careful examination of the stories found in Genesis 1-3, I draw a different conclusion. In the Garden of Eden Genesis 2 tells us of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil that existed in the Garden of Eden. The created man (both male & female) was placed in that garden. And while the man was told by God that he could eat of any tree therein, he…
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What Does It Mean to Be Perfect?
I came across a comment on another website yesterday from an apparent Bible believer that indicated his/her belief was that humans are not perfectible. And that begged me to respond. Humans Are Perfectible According to the Bible, in Genesis 6:9, Noah is described as being perfect. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. Then in Genesis 17:1, we see that YHVH told Abram to be perfect. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. The Hebrew word translated as “perfect” in these verses is “tamiym” (H8549), and according to Brown Driver Briggs, it means “complete, sound“. This word is used all throughout…
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My Spiritual Expedition
I’m in favor of searching out a matter within the Bible. That’s how I got to where I am today. However, I believe it is necessary to first have a foundation that is based on what is physically true/real & self-evident before going on any spiritual expeditions. The Course I Took When I began to question what I understood about the Bible, I started seeking out answers to specific questions I had concerning what the Bible said, and that journey took me all over the place. And it was exciting! It was like the book was brand new to me. I started washing myself in it, and I began to…
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Do You Know Who You Are?
For many years I struggled with understanding who I was in the grand scheme of things. I struggled with understanding all that the Bible said concerning the relationship between God and Man — not so much who God is, but more so who Man is in relationship to God. I went back and forth over the terms “Son of God” and “Son of Man”, ad nauseum, to determine precisely to whom these terms referred. I was raised to believe they referred to Jesus Christ as recorded in the New Testament. I have always embraced that notion, and I still do. But is that all? To whom else do those terms…
- 3-Land and Seas, 6-Man and Woman, Encouragement / Advice, Kingdom of God, Walking in the Ways of the Creator
We Are in the World, But Not Of It
Genesis 1 tells us that in the beginning God made the sky, land & seas. He brought forth regenerative vegetation on the land & put the sun, moon & stars in the sky to light the land. He filled the sky, land & seas with regenerative living beings. And then He brought forth a Son (also known as Man), to inhabit this world. And He anointed that Son with authority, power & dominion to rule in righteousness, and thereby experience perpetual life on the land. God has provided all of us with what we need to physically live in this world made by Him. However, most people in this modern…
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Who is the God of the Bible?
God is typically painted in a religious light, meaning He is usually defined by those who worship & serve Him. For example, the “God” of Israel, or more specifically, the God “of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob”, is defined for us primarily by the Old Testament or the Tanakh, written by men who worshipped & sought to serve Him. But then, the God “of the Jews” is further defined by the traditions of the elders and rabbinical teachings, in the religion called “Judaism”. And in the view “of the believers of Jesus Christ”, God is defined further still through the writings of the New Testament, coupled with the traditions & teachings…