Monday, February 26, 2007

He's Been There All Along!

We continue to examine the first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1. Last time I mentioned that we needed to understand that at least four things are taught by "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." We're going to look at the first two of these in this edition of B.I.B.L.E., There was a beginning and God was already there.

The claim that there was a beginning is not that controversial today. Most scientists who study cosmology (the science of the origin and structure of the universe) agree that the universe does have a beginning and use the Big Bang theory to explain the beginning of the universe. This means that the universe is not eternal, that is, the universe has not always been here. It has existed for a very long time, but not forever. The question really is this, "What was there before the beginning?" Science doesn't have an answer. The Bible does, and that is where the claim that God was already there comes in.

The claim God was already there at the beginning is controversial. However, that claim is what the Bible teaches. If this claim is true, it means that God must be eternal. It can't mean that God is just a little older than the universe, otherwise the beginning would not really be the beginning! If God is just older than everything else, it would mean that at some time before the beginning God came to exist from nothing! It would literally mean that one moment there was nothing and then the next moment, poof!, there was God! I would say that this sounds a lot more like magic than anything else, but even magic requires somebody to perform it! I don't know about you, but that sounds just plain silly to me.

Next time we will look at the claims from the second part of Genesis 1:1, God made the "heavens" i.e. all of the universe except the earth, and God made the earth.

Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE

Monday, February 19, 2007

Trust is a MUST

We are looking at the very first verse of the Bible for the third blog in a row. Some who read this may begin to wonder why so much ink is being spent here, so I will try to explain it. In "LEE's Keys" to biblical interpretation (see right) I state that one of the keys is to "BELIEVE to RECEIVE." If you are going to really "get" the Bible, you must trust that it is the Word of God to us without error. The basic fact of the matter is this: If you can't trust the very first sentence of the Bible, how can you be expected to trust any other part of it?

Genesis 1:1 is the basis upon which the rest of the Bible is built. It is foundational to understanding the Bible that we understand at least four things that are taught by "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

FIRST: There was a beginning

SECOND: God was already there

THIRD: God made the "heavens" i.e. all of the universe except earth

FOURTH: God made the earth

We will look at these four in closer detail next time.

Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE


Monday, February 12, 2007

Positive versus Negative Beginnings

In my last post, I exposed the choice that the beginning of the Bible presents to us. That is, “either God is the Creator of all, or God is not.” Of course, if one does not believe in the truth of the Bible at all, then a myriad of other possibilities present themselves, no matter how ludicrous they might seem. For the moment, however, I am simply endeavoring to interpret the Bible in an accurate manner in order that others might realize the relevance of the Bible for our lives and culture. At some other point in the near future I will take up the question of whether or not the Bible is to be trusted.
At the beginning of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, it is stated, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” That is an extremely positive statement. It means that at the beginning of all things, there existed a Being who moved according to His will to exercise His power and create from nothing the entire content of the universe! A Being of that kind of unimaginable power and intelligence would not embark on such a project without a grand purpose. If all creation was made with a grand purpose, then the various parts of creation also have purpose. This means that human beings have a purpose in life that somehow relates to the purpose of the Creator. If this is true, as I contend, then we as human beings are living a life that is meant to have purpose. A purposeful life can give us a positive life.
The other side of the coin would be to ask the question, “What are the consequences of denying that “God created the heavens and earth”? The first thing we should acknowledge is that what I call “creation,” cannot be labeled as such. It must simply be called “the universe.” If the universe was not created, how did it get here? There are two possibilities. ONE, the universe has always been here, that is, the universe is eternal. TWO, the universe came into being through some naturalistic process on its own. We can dispense with possibility number one, for the simple reason that the only evidence which exists argues against an eternal universe. That leaves possibility number two, which is what the majority of scientists believe today. I will save the refutation of that position for a later time (sorry, I can't post everything in a day!). For now, I want to examine the consequences of believing that the universe came into being through some naturalistic process.
Perhaps the most pertinent consequence is that the universe simply exists without any purpose whatsoever. As a part of the matter in the universe, it also means that human beings simply exist without any purpose. That is an extremely negative statement. Without any purpose, life is absurd at best. Self-preservation can perhaps serve as a purpose of sorts, but what a joyless concept that is. As I mentioned in my footnote to the last post, one could object that one could believe in something or someone other than God as Creator and still live a positive life. That may very well be true, but it would mean that you are living a fairy-tale existence as well. It would be an attitude without any foundation upon which to sustain it. It would be akin to believing that one could walk upon a wisp of fog. So, you could live without purpose and know it, and thus without real hope, or you could live without purpose and not know it, and thus live in delusion. The embracing of a negative beginning without purpose will produce a life with a negative or a falsely positive attitude.
The upshot of all of this is that you must choose which alternative you will embrace and live by. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” is not just a biblical statement, it is a challenge to live with or without a greater purpose for life.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,LEE

Monday, February 5, 2007

Do Beginnings Matter?

This is the beginning.... of this blog that is! Obviously having a beginning matters here because no future is possible without it. The same is true in every endeavor and in every life. Where you and I began is important, though we seem to spend very little time thinking about it.

The beginning in the Bible is also extremely important if for no other reason than the staggering claims that are made about the beginning of all that is. Of course, a lot of people do not see such ancient texts and their claims as important or even relevant to their lives. If that describes you, then I hope to persuade you otherwise. If you are already convinced that beginnings in the Bible matter for life, bear with me (or bear without me somewhere else!) for the next few lines.

The basic claim that the Bible makes at it's beginning is this - all that exists was created by God. The basic question many would ask is "So what?" This is expressed in the form of other questions such as "How does this help me with my everyday problems... my bills, my kids, my parents, my job, my house, my car, etc.?" Day to day living can make everything seem irrelevant beyond the present moment's tensions.

However, as many psychologists will attest, the attitude with which one approaches day to day living and it's difficulties does in fact effect how one deals with life. I submit that one's attitude is shaped by ones faith. What it is that you believe is ultimately true will shape how you live in one way or another. It may not be a conscious factor, but it is a factor nonetheless, and your faith is usually much more of a factor than you know.

"But LEE," you protest, "I don't have any faith. I don't believe in God at all." The fact that you may not believe in God does not mean that you have no faith, it just means that you place your "faith" in something else. It might be faith in human potential, or in scientific knowledge, or your local newspaper, or what your Uncle Al taught you. But rest assured, you have some kind of faith in something, even if it is yourself, and that does affect your attitude toward life and living.

The biblical claims concerning beginnings allows only two choices. Either God is the Creator of all or God is not. The fact is if you embrace that claim as true, you are much more likely to face the day to day challenges of life, as well as the larger concerns and crises, with a positive attitude for the future. If you deny the truth of God as Creator, your attitude is more likely to be negative.* Belief in a universe created by God won't pay your bills, but it will make it more likely that you will have hope for the future even if your bills aren't getting paid, and having hope always matters.

Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE

*There is the objection that one could believe in something or someone other than God as Creator to be positive in life. I will address that in the next post.