Genesis and Matthew X: One in a Million

 

First Published Saturday, January 22, 2011

Now Hanokh (Enoch) walked in accord with God, . . . 

Ask first for the kingdom of God and His justice, and these other things will be delivered to you.

We wonder about Enoch, this man who was several generations from Adam (about mid-way through Adam and Noah), and how it is that he, of all those that had lived, merited special mention and was one who walked "in accord with God." Apparently, he had a special bond, and fellowship, with the Lord. Was their walk together similar to that of Adam and God, before the fall?

First let's consider the total population. Enoch was 7 generations from Adam. Let's assume that each generation had ten children. By the time of Enoch the earth's population could have reached up to ten million people! Assuming they all lived many hundreds of years, let's take away an estimated half that had died, so that the world in the days of Enoch had five million people. By then there were cities and some well-developed economies.

But of all those millions, only Enoch "walked with God."

When you walk with God, you are one in a million, at least!

Enoch was a kingdom builder. As we go through Scripture, and see the patterns developing, we learn that it is all about building a kingdom. This kingdom will be not of this world. It is one where peace and love reign. There is no illness. If we ascribe the values Jesus spoke about, to Enoch, we find him to be a man that did right, did not sin, prayed, sought closeness to the Lord, loved others, and sought justice on earth. He was pleasant to be around. He defended the weak, and was loyal to his friends.

It only takes one in a million, to receive God's approval and advance His kingdom.

Genesis and Matthew IX: Intentions

 

First Published Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Is it not thus: If you intend good, bear-it-aloft, but if you do not intend good, at the entrance is sin, a crouching-demon, toward you his lust - but you can rule over him.

Let your way of talking be "yes" and "no"; anything more than that comes from the Evil One.

The path to God is the simple one. Yes, I know all about the narrow way, easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle, etc. The difference between "simple" and "easy" could not be more distinct than in this case!

Look at what God says to Cain, ages before Moses and the Law, and the Ten Commandments: it is pretty much the Gospel message of Jesus Christ! "If you do not intend good . . . "

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount was all about intentions! It's not so much the act, as what we're thinking. For, our thoughts lead to actions, if we are not careful to bring them under our control. God's first lesson in morality, (since the Garden of Eden incident), is to the sinful, prideful son of Adam and Eve. Cain is the prototype of all the great opponents of God that will follow him. But it is early in human history, and God provides some one-on-one to Cain.

Consider, Cain was jealous of Abel's offering to God, the first-born and choicest meats from his flock. God preferred Abel's offering (which required a sacrifice, i.e. the death of a living thing, thus more precious), to Cain's, which were some amazing fruit from among his garden. Where Abel had to sacrifice a lamb, Cain brought forth from his produce, and this is important. Cain's garden would continue to yield good fruit. But Abel's lamb was gone forever.

Imagine the hard work that went into producing such fine fruits and vegetables. Compare that to Abel's task, which was to watch a herd of sheep. One worked and sweated (the "works paradigm"), while the other waited and watched, reflected and pondered (the "grace paradigm"). Maybe Abel even wrote music and poetry, while tending his sheep.

The story goes on to talk about the great cities built by Cain, and his descendants, that invented many fine forms of craftsmanship. There is no question that the Western culture today would consider Cain the more valuable of the two brothers! So it is with people that put work over relationships!

I can also find it easy to imagine God being present while Cain worked. Did they engage in conversation? Was their relationship friendly? Cain's offering may not have been accepted - but at least God cared enough to talk to him about it! We do not see this type of relationship between Abel and God!

Adam and Eve were cast out. And now Cain is cast out. Is this the same as the casting down of Lucifer? Are the events one and the same?

Cain's lifestyle was one of work and sweat. He had the chance to commune with God. God offered friendship to him. But once his intentions got darkened, sin moved toward him. Sin is treated like an actual person here. And the word "toward" denotes a physical, almost sexual attraction. The person moving away from God becomes an easy target for sin. Our dark intentions create a magnetic attraction to sin.

Christ shows us the simple way. "Yes" and "no." Train our thoughts, and our words, not to be so analytical. Too many words can confuse things. Those that talk too much, or think too much, are just providing a welcome to sin, or the "Evil One."

Genesis and Matthew VIII 2.1: HIDE YOUR FACE

The original form of this post was published on Monday, January 17, 2011. It has been edited to more closely align with current events in 2021. The changes are not highlighted. This is Part Two of the edited version. 

Here, the human has become like one of us, in knowing good and evil.

Seeing the crowds, he went up the mountain, and as he sat there his students came to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying . . .

Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Their eyes were opened. This is equivalent to so many things that we still do today, in every phase of our lives. A new idea, or book, opens our eyes. We can have our eyes opened by some new form of music. Charismatic leaders can open our eyes to injustices, as Martin Luther King, Jr., did. 

One of the main purposes of Jesus Christ, among many others, was to open our eyes. Before your eyes can be open, you have to want them open. You must have presence of mind, humility, a "teachable" spirit. You cannot let anything, even perceived expertise, blind you to the truth presently hidden from us. 

We used to be quite open, in society, about the narcotic effects of sex and sexuality. We did not hide from discussing the topic, candidly. In the 1990s, there was a flowering of quite godly concepts, even in secular society, like "The Road Less Traveled," Emotional Intelligence, the servant attitude, and even, godly love, or, love that is truly unconditional and not at all based on sensual favors The Other can grant us. 

Arguable, the fruit offered by the serpent to Adam, was wanton sexuality. It is, indeed, considered to be an eye-opening experience, when one loses his or her virginity. You can almost tell when a child has crossed that bridge (if done before marriage). Often, a break is formed between child and parent. A mystery once only known by adults, by our parents, is now known by us. We know it all, now, we think. A sense of equality or even superiority over our parents emerges. We have done the one thing they told us not to do, and not only did nothing bad happen to us, it was actually a great experience! We became "like" our parents. We became like God . . . and our new parameter of moral good versus evil now seemed as thought we possessed all the knowledge we needed, in order to function as mature adults. 

It is only later that we understand why it is better to wait. We would not listen to our parents, and we do not listen to God!

So harsh penalties were required. A noble race does not go off and disobey God! So death entered in. Death (not sin) became the thing from which we needed to be saved!

The approach changes now, in the New Testament. Humanity has been battered around for eons, with the consequences of sin. Death reined since the dawn of time, but not just Death: violence and cruelty became Death's chief attendant! Violence, and even war, all seem closely linked to human sexuality. 

Along comes Christ.

In Christ, we have a scene more like a college professor teaching a group of young adults. This was God's relationship to us at the time of Christ. The world was ready now, to listen to God. And the time had come for God to teach us, mentor and coach us.

This was the sense of the world, in the 1990s. Humanity was ready now, to move forward, to progress, to base the next wave of reforms on listening to one another, and considering all points of view, including God's.

But since then, there has been a rebuff; a resistance; a recoiling. The serpent-side of humanity has made a counter-offer: more knowledge, more wealth, more power, more sex . . . more safety.

In 2020, the longed-for Year of Vision, we found ourselves, running away, emphasizing safety, avoiding each other as vermin, ignoring the sick and dying as soulless creatures of the field. We stayed away from church, and from each other. 

And we hid our faces from God. 

Genesis and Matthew VIII 2.0

This reflection was first published on Monday, January 17, 2011. The realities of 2021, and ensuing events, have made it so that I must edit, and update it. I decided not to highlight where changes were made.

Here, the human has become like one of us, in knowing good and evil.

Seeing the crowds, he went up the mountain, and as he sat there his students came to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying . . .

The God of the early Old Testament is in many ways different than the God of the early New Testament. He is still the same God, still consistent in every way. But as a parent changes his approach to a growing and maturing child, so too does God change His approach toward us.

The great crisis of the Garden of Eden story is that humanity went against God's will. We insisted upon our independence. We were created to be be curious, and to want to grow. We want answers, and we want to investigate. So it is that the serpent used reason to get our first parents to disobey God. Please take note - the Serpent used reason. We do not know the full identity of the Serpent. But we do know that he was more crafty than any other creature that God had created. The Serpent understood logic, and Science. The Serpent had credentials that enabled him to be considered an expert.

Against God's direct instructions, Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. They now had much of the knowledge of the Serpent. Or that is . . . they knew as much as the Serpent wanted them to know. They knew more than they did before; but their knowledge was skewed in such a way as to steer their attitudes about the Serpent, themselves, and God Himself. Their "eyes were opened" to things they did not see before. The Serpent selectively showed them things about the world, to engender an emotional response: pain, fear, injustice. They began to doubt God. 

Adam and Eve experienced fear for the first time. God asks them to trust, and obey; to have faith. The Serpent asks them questions such as "Have you considered the power you would have, if you just ate this fruit? God just doesn't want you empowered." Adam and Eve feared that they would die . . . even though they were not sure exactly what that was. They did not feel safe. The Serpent's words had made them concerned that they would become harmed . . . now that they (thought they) understood the world "exactly" as it is. They wondered what else God wasn't telling them - when the real problem was what the Serpent wasn't telling them.

Something like scales fell from their eyes. They felt naked, exposed, and in danger. They felt unsafe. They hid their faces from God. 

to be continued . . . 

Genesis and Matthew VII: Hunger

 

First published Friday, January 14, 2011

 . . . but from the Tree of the Knowing of Good and Evil - you are not to eat of it, for on the day that you eat from it, you must die, yes, die.


  . . . It is written, "Humanity shall not just live on bread, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

The opening chapters of the Old and New Testaments parallel one another. In the Old, the order is established. God is in charge, but God's enemy, called "the serpent", challenges Him. In the New, God's enemy, called "the examiner" seems to have wrested control of the earth from God. He challenges the Son of God, so as to complete his dominance. But the Son of God resists. God is challenging the satanic order. The New Testament is God's counter-punch.

Nourishment, the eating of food, plays an extensive role. We need food to eat. When it is time to eat, we hunger, we crave it. If it looks good, we try it. God gave us all that we need to survive (he still does, if people would pay attention). But in the Old Testament, humanity corrupted the concept of eating for survival, to eating for pleasure. We began to see our need, or drive, for pleasure, as being equal to our need to survive. We began to put ourselves first. Rejection of God and acceptance of ourselves as the ones in charge, became the paradigm. This rejection of God and pleasure-first lifestyle is manifest in sexual immorality.

God's supremacy is encapsulated in the command, "You are not to eat of it". This the line in the sand. Everything that we needed, he provided. But this one thing, this alluring thing that looks good, was prohibited from us, at least for the time being.

Millennia later, the Son of God further defines it. God feeds us, yes. But that is not all He does. His word itself keeps us alive. But the word of God was from the very beginning. The command "You are not to eat of it" is God's Word! When we rejected God by eating the forbidden fruit, we were rejecting His life-giving word itself, that which is more than food; that which later became flesh in the form of the Son of God!

The Tree of the Knowing of Good and Evil was food that killed. It represented that which is good for us, but not yet. We need food to live. This food made us mortal. But it wasn't the food itself that killed us. It was the rejection of God's word.

The hunger problem of the earth is easily solved. Feed on the word of God.

Genesis and Matthew VI: Breath

 

First published Saturday, January 8, 2011

 . . . and YHWH, God, formed the human, of dust from the soil, he blew into his nostrils the breath of life and the human became a living being.

After being bathed, Jesus came straight out of the water. And all of a sudden the skies opened and he (John) saw the breath of God descending like a dove and coming toward him.

We do a great injustice in our most popular Bible translations, in going for "modern relevancy" or adhering to historical or orthdox "correctness."

Take the word normally translated "spirit." In the Hebrew, the word was ruach, in Greek, pneuma. In both cases, the literal translation should be breath.

Spirit brings to mind ghosts, misty-like humanoids floating around . . . quite frightening, really.

But the word breath has a more instant quality. It is immediate. Our breath comes in and permeates our souls; it leaves us and joins the air in our immediate surroundings. Breath is here and now, within, without. Isn't this what we want in our connection to God?

In God's two primal acts of human creation, breath is involved. First he forms a man from the dust of the earth ("Adam" meaning "man of the earth"; "adama" meaning earth or ground, itself.). Then the breath of God comes down and around Adam. It goes into Man's nostrils, and he becomes a living being.

In the second primal act of creation, the continuous development of Jesus Christ from Second Adam into Redeemer of the Race, God's breath is equally present and active. Christ's obedience to the Father, his modeling humility in being baptized by John the Baptist, the washing away of sin by bathing earthly dust and grit from off his body, was highly valued by God. (Water has similar qualities as breath. You go into the water and are completely surrounded by it. This is how we want to be held by God our Father!)

God's breath comes down and fills the place. The surrounding crowd sees the breath of God, His presence, come down gently and peacefully, lovingly (as it did to Adam originally). The visible breath of God is the Father's expression of pleasure in what had transpired.

Everything Christ did, His obedience to God, invited breath of God into his ministry. The breath of God creates, enlivens, animates, blesses, heals, and comforts.

Genesis and Matthew V - A Vegan

 First Published Friday, January 7, 2011

 . . . all green plants for eating, it was so.

. . . and his food (John the Baptist's) was locusts and wild honey.

John the Baptizer was a true natural man. He was like an original person created by God, someone within a generation of Adam and Eve. He lived off the land, God truly provided for him and he lacked for nothing. His DNA was very close to that of Adam and Eve's, for he was Jesus' second cousin, and Jesus had (I believe) an identical DNA match to Adam.

John ate food from the land. He did not require offerings. He slept in whatever bed he could find in the field. He wore clothing that came from the hide of wild animals. He killed only to survive, and did not kill warm-blooded animals for food. He had no income, but was rich. He had no job, but was fully occupied. He had no health care plan, for God took care of him.

According to Genesis, we were not originally intended to be omnivores. The early humans were vegetarians. God commands us to eat green plants, but nothing is said about eating meat until later.

John had a great life. He lived as God intended all of us to live. He had no cares, no worries (of himself!). He just followed God and lived well.

2021 Comment: John the Baptist (I don't mind naming him with a denominational label) was more than all of this. He was a vegan. He required no medical treatment. He was an essential, simple, authentic man. He took no vaccinations. He dressed modestly, but did nothing that would hide his identity - - - he was proud of his mission and feared no one. As he yearned daily to see the face of God, he covered not, his own.  

Genesis and Matthew IV

 

First published on Thursday, January 6, 2011

God blessed them . . .

"Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt . . . "

In Genesis, God creates humankind, and blesses them. From the moment that God blessed Adam and Eve, it meant something unique and permanent for the human race. He had created them in His own image. They were made to dominate the earth. With good follow-through, it was an excellent arrangement.

How does God go about blessing people? That is, what does this mean, to be "blessed" by God? It means something like receiving His favor. It means we need not worry. If God has blessed us, all is, (or will be) well.

God blessed our original ancestral parents.

God gave them dominion over all the earth, including all living things (except other humans, and this is an important point!)

So, what happens when these people, whom God has blessed, conduct their rulership over the earth in selfish, ungodly, or even wicked ways? What happens when we interpret it to mean we can rule over other humans? (If we rule over someone else, it means that the other person does not have full dominion over earth - someone else is prohibiting their duty to be a steward over earth).

Well, to follow-through on His blessing of us, God needs to teach us, to train us, and like any good educator, to let the learning roll out as we are ready for new lessons. And this is what God's plan, its sequence and timing, is all about! He is not slow - we are!

He also must be active and involved in human history - just enough to keep us alive, and just enough to keep us moving forward, as a people. So - He does little things like protecting the baby Jesus from King Herod.

It is always just enough. He has not withheld His command to us, to have dominion over the earth. He is just keeping us from destroying ourselves! To make it all work - He has to get involved every now and then!