Genesis 2 seems like a metaphor for what I don't like about religion. Genesis 1 lays out a scenario in which everything is good. Men and Women are created equally. Everything is so simple...and then in Genesis 2, the story gets retold. Now, everything seems different...God can't just metaphorically create, literal real-life rivers flow from Eden. Women have to come from man's side and forever be submissive. It seems so forced: "It is not good for man to be alone." But in Genesis 1, everything was good. What happened? And there is a bad tree now too...one of knowledge that you can't eat. And a bad animal--the serpent. It bothers me that the tree is of knowledge too. I'm not comfortable with how learning is vilified. Why would God put something in the garden he didn't want people to have. It seems like a trap.
Then, God starts cursing people: They eat from the tree, which was okay in Genesis 1 and not Genesis 2. People have already messed up and God has left people clueless, and then chastised them to make them feel guilty.
I don't blame God for this. I see this as a way that people view God. Here he is hovering over the water, creating and giving, and then people feel the need to over explain everything, take over, and make a mess. Then, they blame God for feeling naked and for pain. Because who else do you blame, I guess?
I guess I didn't have to look far to find a contradiction in the bible. But right here in the first 2 chapters, you have a big question we all have to grapple with: is God the good creator in Gen. 1, or a punisher who only created a good earth to set up humans and inevitably watch them suffer? How does one explain suffering, if not because God allowed it?
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Genesis: The Beginning
Genesis 1:
I love the first sentence of the bible: 1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters…
How peaceful does that sound? How clean and untarnished and full of hope. I imagine the water shimmering and reflecting God's appearance--and then...God begins to create. It was SO GOOD!
He keeps saying that. It is a masterpiece--and then--he makes humans in his image--and they get to "rule over" everything and "eat" everything He said to "be fruitful, fill the earth and subdue it." Then God rests.
This gives me chills knowing what I know now about how people have ruled the planet...how we don't spend much time, hovering over the water or resting, as God does in the poem. We don't spend too much time creating for others, as God does...we have consumed and multiplied and made the earth submit to us. God is the caretaker and creator. Humans--though the text says we are made in his image, are consumers. Humans and God seem a very clear contrast in the text.
Am I reading too much in to this from my guilty, environmentally conscious 21st century point of view. Too many viewings of The Lorax? Of course! But I think there is some evidence that the author sees some contradictions too: mostly because Genesis 1 is followed by Genesis 2: the story of Adam and Eve. And while the story depicts a creation in which everything was good..we all know what is coming. So my lesson from Genesis 1: God rules over everything--he separates water and earth. He inflicts order, but he does so after hovering...and then he rests. The story is book ended by God taking his time, thinking about his actions. I imagine him hovering over the water coming up with a plan for how to proceed. Maybe as humans, we should "rule" with the same thoughtfulness. Is what we made good? Is it for the service of others? What image are we reflecting as we rule over the earth?
Off-topic thoughts:
*It's odd there is already water. For this and many other reasons, I really think it is wise to read this as a poem, not as a science lesson about the formation of Earth.
What a difference a word can make: was the earth "void" or "empty"? I'd like to keep reading for themes of emptiness and newness.
*Such an interesting use of the plural when God makes people in "our image" but in Gen. 1:1 the singular is used.
I love the first sentence of the bible: 1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters…
How peaceful does that sound? How clean and untarnished and full of hope. I imagine the water shimmering and reflecting God's appearance--and then...God begins to create. It was SO GOOD!
He keeps saying that. It is a masterpiece--and then--he makes humans in his image--and they get to "rule over" everything and "eat" everything He said to "be fruitful, fill the earth and subdue it." Then God rests.
This gives me chills knowing what I know now about how people have ruled the planet...how we don't spend much time, hovering over the water or resting, as God does in the poem. We don't spend too much time creating for others, as God does...we have consumed and multiplied and made the earth submit to us. God is the caretaker and creator. Humans--though the text says we are made in his image, are consumers. Humans and God seem a very clear contrast in the text.
Am I reading too much in to this from my guilty, environmentally conscious 21st century point of view. Too many viewings of The Lorax? Of course! But I think there is some evidence that the author sees some contradictions too: mostly because Genesis 1 is followed by Genesis 2: the story of Adam and Eve. And while the story depicts a creation in which everything was good..we all know what is coming. So my lesson from Genesis 1: God rules over everything--he separates water and earth. He inflicts order, but he does so after hovering...and then he rests. The story is book ended by God taking his time, thinking about his actions. I imagine him hovering over the water coming up with a plan for how to proceed. Maybe as humans, we should "rule" with the same thoughtfulness. Is what we made good? Is it for the service of others? What image are we reflecting as we rule over the earth?
Off-topic thoughts:
*It's odd there is already water. For this and many other reasons, I really think it is wise to read this as a poem, not as a science lesson about the formation of Earth.
What a difference a word can make: was the earth "void" or "empty"? I'd like to keep reading for themes of emptiness and newness.
*Such an interesting use of the plural when God makes people in "our image" but in Gen. 1:1 the singular is used.
Starting with the Big Book
My first quest will be to read the bible. I think I have read the whole thing before, in some fashion, maybe skipping over some of the more tedious genealogies,but there is a lot I don't remember, and frankly, I don't think I've ever read the bible before without an agenda.
As a kid, I read the bible to learn about God and to please God. I wanted to be a good Christian. I wanted to know God. In adulthood, I have become more skeptical--not skeptical that I can learn about God from the bible, but I believe God loves to reveal himself, through writers from all times and places. As I rebel against this heard mentality that causes my church o profess the bible is "inerrant" even before we open it up, and that encourages mental acrobatics to make everything fit, I would like to read the bible with as few expectations as I can muster, just to see what I learn. Maybe I've given it a bad rap. I find myself put of by religion, and I hate that, because while I want to keep my distance from ideology, I don't want to keep my distance from meaning, from God, from Love--and sometimes it is difficult for a Southern girl to differentiate.
I want to document how I think of God now--so I can see how this experience changes me. Right now, I have a more peaceful relationship with God than I ever have. I don't worry about salvation or stress about predestination. I don't fret that God doesn't love me...all things that used to occupy much of my mind, even as I listen to sermon after sermon that reminded me of grace (after reminding me of my sinfulness). I believe God is good and loving. I believe my prayers are heard and answered. However, this contentment could definitely be mislabeled complacency. It is easier to have peace when I don't dwell on worries or inconsistencies, or questions of faith. I am not sure if I am a peaceful Christian or as the bible would put it: luke warm, bad soil, or virgin in the night with no lamp lit. I want to know God, but I don't think understanding him is possible, and I find people who act as if they do pretentious, off-putting, and dubious. And then I feel very guilty about these feelings. Donald Miller said in one of his books that understanding God was like your pancake trying to understand you...God is too big to be boxed in. It is difficult to know things. Just as it is difficult to know even people. I love my husband. We spend countless hours together. We don't even grocery shop alone. Lots of time we continue our conversations through bathroom doors while one or the other of us is peeing...and to say that I really know him? Well ,that would be tough. I can't name his favorite movie or his shoe size with accuracy, and I'm sure there are a million facets of him I don't even know I don't know. All the more with the supreme creator of the universe.
Now that I am having a child, I am especially concerned with how a human should view God. I was raised to be moral, kind, and religious--and while this undoubtedly scars you for life, it did keep me out of a lot of trouble and felt bible characters and VBS taught me many valuable life lessons. How do I teach my daughter that she has purpose and is loved--that God and prayer and faith are real and powerful--without making my daughter think she is better than other people because she knows the capital T Truth, that others are going to Hell. How do you teach a child to sit with uncertainty? To value it? And to feel secure, in all that grey, in God's love? I do not know the answer to that, but I do believe that is the definition of faith, and that is what I hope to model.Hopefully this journey through the bible will be a start of my journey to examine my own faith, misconceptions, doubt, and relationship with God. What will come of the pancake examining her creator?
As a kid, I read the bible to learn about God and to please God. I wanted to be a good Christian. I wanted to know God. In adulthood, I have become more skeptical--not skeptical that I can learn about God from the bible, but I believe God loves to reveal himself, through writers from all times and places. As I rebel against this heard mentality that causes my church o profess the bible is "inerrant" even before we open it up, and that encourages mental acrobatics to make everything fit, I would like to read the bible with as few expectations as I can muster, just to see what I learn. Maybe I've given it a bad rap. I find myself put of by religion, and I hate that, because while I want to keep my distance from ideology, I don't want to keep my distance from meaning, from God, from Love--and sometimes it is difficult for a Southern girl to differentiate.
I want to document how I think of God now--so I can see how this experience changes me. Right now, I have a more peaceful relationship with God than I ever have. I don't worry about salvation or stress about predestination. I don't fret that God doesn't love me...all things that used to occupy much of my mind, even as I listen to sermon after sermon that reminded me of grace (after reminding me of my sinfulness). I believe God is good and loving. I believe my prayers are heard and answered. However, this contentment could definitely be mislabeled complacency. It is easier to have peace when I don't dwell on worries or inconsistencies, or questions of faith. I am not sure if I am a peaceful Christian or as the bible would put it: luke warm, bad soil, or virgin in the night with no lamp lit. I want to know God, but I don't think understanding him is possible, and I find people who act as if they do pretentious, off-putting, and dubious. And then I feel very guilty about these feelings. Donald Miller said in one of his books that understanding God was like your pancake trying to understand you...God is too big to be boxed in. It is difficult to know things. Just as it is difficult to know even people. I love my husband. We spend countless hours together. We don't even grocery shop alone. Lots of time we continue our conversations through bathroom doors while one or the other of us is peeing...and to say that I really know him? Well ,that would be tough. I can't name his favorite movie or his shoe size with accuracy, and I'm sure there are a million facets of him I don't even know I don't know. All the more with the supreme creator of the universe.
Now that I am having a child, I am especially concerned with how a human should view God. I was raised to be moral, kind, and religious--and while this undoubtedly scars you for life, it did keep me out of a lot of trouble and felt bible characters and VBS taught me many valuable life lessons. How do I teach my daughter that she has purpose and is loved--that God and prayer and faith are real and powerful--without making my daughter think she is better than other people because she knows the capital T Truth, that others are going to Hell. How do you teach a child to sit with uncertainty? To value it? And to feel secure, in all that grey, in God's love? I do not know the answer to that, but I do believe that is the definition of faith, and that is what I hope to model.Hopefully this journey through the bible will be a start of my journey to examine my own faith, misconceptions, doubt, and relationship with God. What will come of the pancake examining her creator?
Knowledge Quest
For some reason, when other kids were memorizing facts about dinosaurs and presidents--I, well, wasn't. I am ignorant about so much, and instead of rectifying my vast gaps in knowledge, keep clicking on Facebook links that explain 32 ways to clean a dishwasher. While a clean dishwasher is a worthwhile pursuit, I'm going to try to go a little deeper.
Why today? I have time. As I am waiting on my first baby to decide it is time to join us, I find myself quite lazy and in need of distraction. Perhaps the most alarming notion about having children is the refrain that "I will never have time to do anything ever again." While I am sure there is some truth to business taking hold and certainly priorities shifting, continuing to learn and grow is important to me. Further, when my child learns to talk and starts asking lots of why questions, I would like to know some of the answers.
Why today? I have time. As I am waiting on my first baby to decide it is time to join us, I find myself quite lazy and in need of distraction. Perhaps the most alarming notion about having children is the refrain that "I will never have time to do anything ever again." While I am sure there is some truth to business taking hold and certainly priorities shifting, continuing to learn and grow is important to me. Further, when my child learns to talk and starts asking lots of why questions, I would like to know some of the answers.
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