THE FALL

Genesis 3

Genesis chapter 3, about the fall of Adam and Eve tells about how Satan, disguised as a serpent comes to Eve and convinces her that the reason God doesn't want them to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is because it will make them as wise as He is and that God doesn't want that.  She eats of the fruit, Adam eats of the fruit, God finds out about it, there are consequences and than they are banished from the Garden of Eden.

I thought it was interesting that when Satan persuades Eve, he does it by one; putting doubt in her mind about God's intentions and love for her.  And two; he makes her want the one thing she can't have even though she has so many other things.  Isn't that so like us.  We always want what we don't have instead of appreciating all the good things we do have and being content with those.  The biggest battle is in your mind.  You have to decide ahead of time that God does love you, he has your best intention at heart and that you will be faithful to Him no matter what.  Otherwise you will be easily swayed and tricked.  You have to stay in a close relationship with God on a daily basis and remove yourself from situations or people who would cause you to fall to temptation.

I think it is kind of funny how Adam and Eve try to squirm out of trouble by playing the 'blame' game.  Adam blames Eve (she gave it to me) and God (the woman you gave me) and Eve blames the serpent (he deceived me).  I think it's funny because we still do it today.

The Tree of Good and Evil.  The Bible says that when they ate of it their 'eyes were opened'.  Satan said that this would mean that they would be like God.  God said in Chapter 2 that they would die.  I feel like that their 'eyes being opened' means that they were suddenly aware of sin for the first time.  Before, they were protected by God and lived in a world where there was no evil.  Not as far as they knew.  Kind of like a newborn baby.  Once they were aware of sin, God knew that the natural order of things would be that over time they would become more and more sinful beings.  Which is what we see happens in life.  From generation to generation our society become more and more decadent and will continue to do so until we are on the verge of destroying ourselves.  This is why they had to be banished from the Garden of Eden.  Not as punishment so much but because if they were to eat of the Tree of Life, they (we) would live forever becoming more and more sinful with no end in sight.  In a sense they did die. They died to an old way of life, they died to innocence.

The punishment for disobeying God was that Eve would have pain in childbearing and that her husband would rule over her.  This seems to be the first time that there is a division between man and woman and one being the head over the other.  Before this, they are equal.  As for Adam, he has to toil and sweat and work to live now whereas before everything was just there for the taking.

Someday when Christ returns and Satan is defeated we will live in a new world, reunited with God but evil will have been removed from the world.  Only good will exist and we will be able to live forever with no moral deterioration.  One we will understand when we die.  We'll be back in a land that is free from pain or hard work and heartache.  This is the new heavens and new earth revelation talks about.  I think that it is right here on this very earth we walk on today.   I'm not sure why the world didn't just start out that way to begin with but I have a feeling there is a reason.   There are many things we don't understand now but someday our 'eyes will be opened' even more and we will understand everything.  Until  then we  have to operate on the thought that God is wiser than we are and that He does love us and is looking out for our best interest.  Adam and Eve kind of took one for the team so to speak by giving us this lesson to learn from.

There is a song about the fall of Adam and Eve that I love called Adam.  It's an oldie and it's by Don Francisco who does a great job of writing Christian songs that tell a story.  Actually I love every song on this CD.  Here is the lyrics to the song:

Unashamed and naked in a garden that has never seen the rain,
Rulers of a kingdom, full of joy -- never marred by any pain,
The morning all around them seems to celebrate the life they've just begun;
And in the majesty of innocence the king and queen come walking in the sun


But the master of deception now begins with his discection of the Word
And with all of his craft and subtly the serpent twists the simple truths they've heard,
While hanging in the balance is a world that has been placed at their command
And all their unborn children die as both of them bow down to Satan's hand.

And just before the ev'ning in the cool of the day, They hear the voice of God as He is walking
And they can't abide His presence, so they try to hide away;
But still they hear the sound as He is calling:
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/don_francisco/adam_where_are_you.html ]
"Adam, Adam, where are you?
Adam, Adam, where are you?
Adam, Adam, where are you?"

In the stifling heat of summer now the gard'ner and his wife are in the field
And it seems that thorns and thistles are the only crop his stuggles ever yield
He eats his meals in sorrow 'til he sinks in to the dust whence he came
But all down through the ages he can hear his Maker calling out his name.

"Adam, Adam, where are you?
Adam, Adam, where are you?"

And though the curse has long be broken
Adams' sons are still the prisners of their fears
Rushing helter skelter to destrution with their fingers in their ears
While the Fathers voice is calling with an urgency I've never heard before
"Won't you come in from the darkness now before it's time to finally close the door!"

"Adam, Adam, where are you?
Adam, Adam, where are you?
Adam, Adam, I love you!"

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/don_francisco/#share

ADAM AND EVE'S BEGINNING

Genesis 2:4-25 

Here we back up a little and get more of a break down of the creation of man.
     God forms man from dust and breaths life into him.  Nothing fancy about us, just made from dust.  Not until God breaths life into us.  I guess this might be God's Spirit, The Holy Spirit breathed into us.  Now we're special.  Adam is placed in the Garden of Eden which, it seems from the description of the rivers, is  probably located down by the Persian Gulf.  (I like to know where I'm at when reading the Bible because as the story unfolds, you move around a bit. Oh yes, we also learn that there is no rain yet, the ground is watered by streams.

Middle East

Adam is told about the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil and not to eat of it's fruit.  You know, I always thought that Eve was there too when God told them not to eat of that fruit.  Hmm.  So we know that evil already existed.  Maybe Satan?  (It's also interesting that the Tree of Life appears again in Revelation 22 where people are enjoying eternal life with God).

This whole thing used to seem like a cruel trick to me.  Like God kind of set them up to sin but I don't think that way anymore.  I feel like that there are lots of things placed on this earth that we shouldn't be messing with or at least not unless we know how to.  The book The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity by William P. Young did an excellent job of explaining this.  In the story, Mack is walking in a garden with the Holy Spirit and he asks the Holy Spirit if she made the poisonous plants and stinging bugs too.  The answer was of course yes and Mack asked Her why create poisonous plants at all?  The Holy Spirit responds  "Your question presumes that poison is bad; that such creations have no purpose.  Many of these so-called bad plants...contain incredible properties for healing or are necessary for some of the most magnificent wonders when combined with something else.  Humans have a great capacity for declaring something good or evil, without truly knowing.".   So maybe we don't know exactly what the purpose of the Tree was but I don't think God placed it there just to trick Adam into sinning.  I think it had some reason for being there.  What if it was poisonous berries that God had told them not to eat and they did it anyways and they got sick or died.  That we could understand and say "well, I guess they should have listened".

God creates woman out of the rib of man.  Why not make Eve from dust like He did Adam?  It turned out pretty neat I think.  It makes them more of  "one flesh",  a "mystical union".  God treats the union between man and woman sacredly throughout the Bible.  And I think that it's cool how God gives life to man, and man gives life to woman, and woman gives life to babies.  They each have a special roll to play in the creation of life.

Adam was really pleased with Eve and this was the first 'marriage' union.  Note, no ring, no ceremony, no license.  These are all man made ideas.  Just like church, it takes what God intended to be a heart thing and makes it a judgment thing.  Gives boundaries in which to judge one another and hold each other accountable when what we really need to do is to be indevidually accountable to God and let others do so also.  Yes, it's true we need laws to govern us to keep us safe from criminals but these are not criminal laws we are talking about, these are moral laws.  You can't force morality on people, that has to come from within.

Lastly, they were naked.  Not only were they naked physically but also emotionally and spiritually before each other and before God.  When I think about this I think about what it must have been like to be them.  They had no childhood on which to build hurt and insecurities, fears, distrust and anger.  In some ways they must have been like innocent little children.  No wonder they fell for Satan's trick so easily.  They did not have that hardened outer shell that we get from living life as we grow.  In so many ways they truly were naked.

So the question comes to my mind "Why were they not more protected by God, their Father?  Then I thought about my own children.  They have been hurt in life.  They have fallen down and scraped their knees.  They have bled. They've had their share of emotional hurts as well.  Does that mean that I didn't protect them enough or that I don't love them enough?  Was I neglectful?

The answer is no.  I love my children with everything I've got.  I would lay down my life for each and everyone of them.  But the only way I can keep them from all harm is if I lock them away somewhere or never allow them to get out of bed in the mornings.  They certainly couldn't fall out of tree that way could they or get sunburned either.  But, what about the joy of being outside and climbing a tree then?  Who wants to miss out on that?  Keeping them locked up safe somewhere would actually be abusive.  (I'm thinking Rapunzel and the wicked mother here).

And I did try to protect them.  I told them for instance not to run around the pool because it was wet and slippery and they'd fall.  But they did it anyways and sure enough, they fell down, got hurt, scraped their knees and bled and cried.  And what about when they did fall?  What do you think I did then?  Do you think I stood over them with a smug, happy look on my face saying 'I told you so, that's what you get'.  No, I ran to them and picked them up and held them tight and kissed them until the hurt went away.  Then I brushed them off, cleaned them up and carried them in just like God does for us when we fall.  (Now I'm thinking "Footprints in the Sand")

God placed us on this beautiful earth with everything we need and He gave us freedom!  Freedom to laugh and play and run.  And freedom to be our own people.  Not puppets on a string.  But freedom always comes with the ability to choose right from wrong, good from bad.  Sometimes the choices are no brainers and sometimes they are not so clear.  We are as ignorant of God's ways as our own children at 2 or 3 years old are ignorant of ours.  And when God says 'don't do this', we may not necessarily know why we shouldn't but  we should learn to trust Him and believe that He's looking out for our best interest and do what He says whether we understand it or not.  Maybe He's only trying to help you not get hurt.  But just like Adam and Eve, we constantly disobey God's laws even today.  Then, when things go wrong, we blame Him for not protecting us.  We knew it was wrong when we did it.  Don't blame God.

CREATION

Genesis 1 through 2:3

Author:     Moses
Date:        Unknown

Place:       The Middle East

Here is a world map showing where the Middle East is.  It is not actually a country, it is just highlighted here to show where it is.  It is considered to be part of Asia and part of Africa.

So now, if we zoom in on the middle east, this is what we see.

Middle East

(I like to envision where I am at when I'm reading)

Later, we'll actually zoom in further to point to places we're reading about.

So, we begin in Genesis 1 with the creation of  the world.
The world starts off in complete darkness and nothing but water.
God's presence is there moving around preparing to create the world and everything in it.

Day 1
God creates light.  The better to see with?

Day 2
God places a space or expanse between the waters and names the expanse sky.

Day 3
God gathers the waters together and gives them names:  'land' and 'seas'.  Then he plants trees and seeds for fruit and vegetation.
Interesting, God is orderly.  Light comes before plants so plants can grow?

Day 4
God decides we need different lights.  A greater light (sun) and a lesser light (moon) and the stars too.  This allows for days, nights, seasons and years.  Time starts here in a way I think.  I also like that in verse 17 it says that God 'put them in the sky'.  Cool

Day 5
God now creates birds and blesses them to increase.

Again, orderly, plants before animals.

Day 6
God makes animals on the land and then he creates  man and woman.
God was pleased with His work.  Thats Us!

God made man in 'our' image.  What is 'His image'?  God has no physical body.  Rather it must be his character, His soul image.  Love, patience, kindness, ability to reason, create, etc.  It is our souls that are reflective of Him.

God speaks of Himself here in the plural sense.  Why?

Does He mean the Trinity?  Is He using it as Royalty do when they refer to themselves?  Are there others there?  I think there are.

Both man and woman are equally created in His image.  There is no differentiation here.

He now blesses them and gives them the ability to subdue the earth and rule over it and it's creatures.

The earth God created is ultimately His.  He delegated the care of it to us.  Shame on us for how we care for it and take it for granted.

He then gives us all the trees and plants for food.

It doesn't say He gave us animals for food, only the plants.  Hmm, we were vegetarians at first.  It wasn't until after Noah's flood that God gave us animals for food.

Now in Chapter 2:

Day 7

God is done and He rests.  (If God demonstrates the importance of rest from His work, I guess we should too).

He blesses the 7th day and makes it holy.  Holy - meaning to set aside as special.  Later, in Exodus God commands that a sabbath day be observed.  Is it on a Saturday or a Sunday?  It used to be Saturday.  Who changed it and why?

What is 'observing the sabbath' anyways?  Going to church? Not doing any work? What?
I think it means to stop, to be still a little, to enjoy all that God has given you, to appreciate the people in your life and to remember God and how great His love is and to rest up.

The idea of an organized church as we have it today is a people idea.  Not that it's a bad one, just that it becomes more of an obligation and a routine when it's done like that rather than coming from the heart.  There is nothing routine about God.   And yes, God did say to 'not forsake the gathering together of yourselves' and we shouldn't but that can be done in many forms and places.  What he wants is our heartfelt expressions of love and happiness.  Man has made church a routine and an obligation led by someone who passes judgement not on whether you have done what God asks of you but whether you are doing what a pastor decides is right or wrong.

Why did God create the world and us?

Maybe because He is Love and love can best be expressed by sharing it?

And also, How?  Was there some big sudden explosion that He caused to happen when He spoke it?
Did He start it and things evolved over billions of years?
Was it literally a day?  24 hours?  And how long is a day in God's timing?

Who knows?  Either way, He created it.  And what a wonderful thing it is.

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS

The word Genesis means "beginnings" or "origin" and that what this book is about.  The first book and therefore beginning of the Bible and the beginning of creation and our lives here on this earth.

This book was written by Moses and begins with God.  It tells the stories of  His creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, The tower of Babel, The story of Abraham and Lot, Sodom and Gomorrah, Isaac and Rebekah, the death of Abraham, Jacob and Joseph.  It ends when Jacob and Joseph die in Egypt.  Which means that we start somewhere near the Persian Gulf probably in Iraq and end in Egypt.

Map of The Middle East

Lets Get Started!

THE HISTORY OF THE BIBLE

I started my daily bible study today and right off got side tracked on just what exactly was the first "real" bible?  So many people believe the King James Version of the bible to be the 'true' translation but I wondered how that could be considering that the bible was written by people way back in biblical times who didn't speak English.  I was using the New International Version and I wanted to know which one, if either, was closer to the original text so i did some research and got my answer.  Using the internet and a couple of  books I already had I was able to piece together a basic history of the beginnings of the bible.  The books I used are;  Fascinating Bible Facts: People, Places, & Events which I really like because of the tidbits of interesting information it has and the easy way it's laid out to find things, and the second one; Collins Atlas of the Bible which is not as easy to read but does offer some valuable information.  I also read the introduction to the making of the Zondervan NIV Study Bible which explained where and how they came about their translation.

Anyways, the end of my search actually revealed something interesting to me.  I had always considered the KJV of the bible the one to fall back on when in doubt.  I no longer do.  After researching, I would actually say the the KJV is definitely not as reliable a translation as the NIV translation and here is why.

Originally writings were carved in stone or maybe pottery or on animal skins and were written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic starting with the earliest known writing which is the ten commandants in 1400 B.C.   They didn't have printing presses of course and those writings were rare and important.  Eventually people started to gather them together to compile a group of books we now know as the Old Testament and was pretty much together by the time Christ was born.  Later, after Christ died, the New Testament was put together in much the same way from letters and writings of people at that time and were mostly Greek.  At some point these two were joined together to make a complete book they called "The Bible" which literally means "a collection of books".  And because the books are considered holy this collection is known as the "Holy Bible"

From here it starts to get nasty.  By 500 A.D. the Bible had been written in over 500 languages.  By 600 A.D. the Catholic Church decided to restrict the use or reproduction of all other languages of the Bible to only Latin, their language.  Anyone caught with another translation could be, and some were,  killed!  This gave the Church exclusive power and control over what was taught.  They also decided to make some changes to the Bible and they removed some books originally included in the Bible and who knows what else.

In the late 1300's the protestant reformation took place and eventually the Bible was brought back into circulation in other languages.  In 1384 the first ever complete copy of the Bible in an English version was produced.  The only problem was that they used the bible that the church had 'tweeked' so much that it didn't really resemble the original  works and so was not necessarily accurate.  Every Bible revision since then down to the KJV was an interpretation used from at least part of that changed Bible.  

In 1965 a group of over one hundred scholars got together to put together a modern day English translation of the Bible working directly from the best available Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts.  This group was made up of people from the US, Britain, Canad, Australia, and New Zealand and were from at least 12 different denominations.  Their main concern was to provide an accurate translation of the original texts and to avoid denominational preferences or personal interpretations, (basically to correct and avoid what had already happened the first time).  This was not meant to be so much a word-for-word translation as it was an accurate translation of the original intent of the writer. (Think of how words change their meaning throughout history, ie:  coke, the drink vs. coke the drug).  This new translation was called the New International Version and was  published in 1979.     .

So, I now feel confident using the NIV bible for study but I also like to remember that the supreme author is in fact the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is alive and well and that my main source of reference comes from Him.