Saturday, January 8, 2022

New Thoughts for a New Year

 IN THE BEGINNING 


First God creates. The first three words of the first chapter of the first book of The Holy Bible-first God creates. First. In the beginning before anything else. God. Elohim. The common name for God. Not the personal name given to Moses; the name by which all humanity everywhere may know God. Creates. The first recorded acts of God-creation. Everything that ever has, does, and will exist finds its source in and testifies to Creator God. Why, you may be thinking, does the Bible not begin with some attempt to prove God’s existence? It does. Creation itself bears witness  to its creator.


Psalm 19:1-4

“God's glory is on tour in the skies,

God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.

Madame Day holds classes every morning,

Professor Night lectures each evening.

Their words aren't heard,

their voices aren't recorded,

But their silence fills the earth:

unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

God makes a huge dome

for the sun—a superdome!”

-The Message


Paul says as much in his letter to the Romans.


Romans 1:19-20

“But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being…”

-The Message

 

And then there’s this. 


Genesis 1:26

God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them

reflecting our nature so they can be responsible…

God created human beings;

he created them godlike,

Reflecting God's nature.

He created them male and female.”

-The Message


And so right off the bat, before anything else, the Bible tells us where we came from and why we’re here-to bear (or contain) God’s image and demonstrate (or leak) God’s likeness. Hers’s a few questions to consider, before we move on-if God created everything, who does everything belong to? Who does it not belong to? What does “so they (us) can be responsible” mean?







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