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#Post#: 2896--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Journey Thru Genesis
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: December 21, 2018, 10:56 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● Gen 1:14a . . God said: Let there be lights in the
expanse of the sky
On the fourth day, God spent time up in celestial regions. It
might seem odd that He began work on the surface of the Earth,
and then before finishing, stopped short and moved off into
space. Why not finish building down here on the planet first?
Well; at this point in the process of creation, planet Earth was
very dark and freezing cold. For example: the dark side of the
Moon gets down to like -279º F (-172.8° C) so it was time to
turn man's home into a greenhouse if anything meaningful was to
live down here.
A major player in the Earth's water cycle is evaporation, which
is driven by the Sun. By means of evaporation, the atmosphere
gets enough water vapor to form the clouds that produce
precipitation.
The Sun also plays a role in temperature variations that make
conditions like humidity and fog possible. Temperature
variations also play a role in the process of erosion; which
assists in soil formation.
Many varieties of vegetation depend upon the annual cycle of the
four seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter; seasons
which would not be possible without the Sun.
Oxygen is a must gas for sustaining life on earth and a very
large percentage of it is produced by photosynthesis which is a
chemical process that works best in sunlight. No doubt the
original atmosphere contained oxygen enough, but would
eventually be absorbed by oxidation and other kinds of chemical
activity. Plant life plays a major role in both filtration and
replenishment; hence the need to get a Sun shining as soon as
possible.
The atmosphere contains on average 19.5 to 23.5 percent oxygen;
even with all the fossil fuel burned around the world, along
with the destruction of savannas, prairies, woodlands, wetlands,
and rain forests, coupled with volcanic activity; the percentage
remain fairly stable.
Today's science is aware that the Moon doesn't generate its own
light; but prior to that discovery, people no doubt regarded the
Moon as a second Sun; especially seeing as how from the
perspective of Earth, the Sun and the Moon appear to be the same
size in diameter, and both appear to circle the Earth.
● Gen 1:14b . . to distinguish Day from Night;
On the first day of the creative process; God defined Day as a
condition of light; and defined Night as a condition of
darkness. Here, it's further defined that Day, as pertains to
life on Earth, is distinctly separate from Night rather than a
24-hour amalgam of light and dark.
The properties of Day and Night come out so early in the Bible
that they easily escape the memories of Bible students as they
slip into the reflexive habit of always thinking of Days as
periods of one Earth rotation of 24 hours. That's okay for
calendars but can lead to gross misunderstandings when
interpreting biblical schedules, predictions, and/or
chronologies, e.g. Matt 12:40.
● Gen 1:14c . . they shall serve as signs for the set
times-- the days and the years;
The Hebrew word for "signs" is from 'owth (oth) and means a
signal; viz: indicators. For example: the mark that God put on
Cain was an 'owth. (Gen 4:15)
The Sun's movement across the sky is very useful for keeping
time. It probably didn't take long for early men to realize they
could divide a day into convenient elements by utilizing shadow.
"seasons" is translated from either mowed' (mo-ade') or moed`
(mo-ade'). Those words are translated "congregation" numerous
times in the Old Testament relative to special dates on the
calendar, viz: appointments.
While the Sun is useful for keeping track of solar increments,
the Moon is useful for marking off lunar increments. For
example: were you to tell somebody your intention to visit them
in five Moons, they would have a pretty good idea when to get
ready for your arrival; so long as you both used a common
definition of "moon". To some, a moon is New Moon, while for
others a moon indicates Full Moon.
If the Sun and the Moon were the hands of a clock; the Sun would
be the minute hand and the Moon would be the hour hand; so to
speak.
Years in the Old Testament are sometimes based upon a 30-day
month; and they're not always marked by the Sun's position in
space relative to the stars. More about this later when we get
to Noah.
_
#Post#: 2907--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Journey Thru Genesis
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: December 22, 2018, 8:34 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● Gen 1:15-18a . . and they shall serve as lights in the
expanse of the sky to shine upon the Earth. And it was so. God
made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day
and the lesser light to dominate the night, and the stars. And
God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the Earth,
to dominate the day and the night, and to distinguish light from
darkness. Those physical properties of day and night were
accepted in Jesus' day.
Gen 1:3-5 defines day as a condition of light, and defines night
as a condition of darkness. Gen 1:14-18 defines day on Earth as
when the Sun is up and night on Earth is defined as when the Sun
is down.
"Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the
day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this
world." (John 11:9)
The "light of this world" is the Sun. So John 11:9 corroborates
Gen 1:3-5 and Gen 1:14-18.
At this point in biblical history, "stars" no doubt indicate all
luminous objects in the heavens seeing as how it would be a very
long time before humanity began categorizing some of the stars
as planets.
I think it's important to emphasize that in the beginning God
"set" the stars in the sky just as he set the Sun and the Moon
in the sky, i.e. celestial objects didn't arrange themselves all
by themselves sans any intelligent supervision whatsoever; no,
they were placed; and not only were they placed, but also set in
motion-- nothing in the entire cosmos is standing still, though
many things appear to be.
According to Gen 1:15, stars illuminated the Earth on the "day"
that God made them.
Well; the only stars whose shine is of any practical use as
illumination are those of the Milky Way; which is estimated
100,000 to 180,000 light years in diameter. Obviously then; if
left up to nature, light from stars nearest our location in the
galaxy would begin dousing the earth with illumination long
before those at the far side.
For example, light from Alpha Centauri takes only about 4½ years
to reach Earth while light from Alpha Orionis (a.k.a.
Betelgeuse) takes about 640. There are quite a few stars whose
illumination reaches Earth in less than 50 years. But whether 4½
years, 50 years, 640 years, or 180,000 years; the time involved
is insignificant if we but allow that the days of creation were
epochs rather than 24-hour events.
But what's the point of putting all those objects out there in
space? Well, for one thing, they're not only brain teasers; but
they're actually quite pretty. Celestial objects decorate the
night sky like the ornamentation people put up during holidays.
The night sky would sure be a bore if it was totally black.
Decorated with stars; the night sky is like a beautiful
tapestry, or a celestial Sistine Chapel.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims His
handiwork." (Ps 19:2)
Stars makes better sense that way than to try and find some
other meaning for them. The universe is simply a magnificent
work of art-- just as intriguing, if not more so, than the works
of Picasso, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Monet, Vermeer, and da
Vinci --testifying to the genius of an engineer-artist without
peer.
Sadly, a number of very intelligent people like Carl Sagan and
Neil deGrasse Tyson look to the sky for the wrong reasons. Why
not just look to the sky for inspiration instead of only
exploration and discovery? What's so bad about visiting the sky
as a Guggenheim or a Louvre displaying your maker's many-faceted
talents?
"For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God
made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world,
His invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been
able to be understood and perceived in what He has made." (Rom
1:19-20)
● Gen 1:18b-19 . . And God saw that this was good. And
there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
_
#Post#: 2924--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Journey Thru Genesis
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: December 23, 2018, 7:06 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● Gen 1:20-21a . . And God said, Let the waters bring
forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl
that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
And God created great whales, and every living creature that
moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their
kind, and every winged fowl after his kind.
How can water alone be used to create living things? Well, it
can't be any more difficult than creating the entire cosmos ex
nihilo; i.e. from and/or out of nothing.
However, one of the essential elements for the construction of
organic life is carbon. Well; seawater contains that element,
along with several others too; and there's plenty enough
seawater that's for sure.
The word for "creature" is from nephesh (neh'-fesh) which refers
to consciousness, individuality, and self awareness. It never
applies to vegetation. For example: though saguaro cacti are
alive, they aren't nephesh because vegetation lacks a sense of
individuality and is neither conscious nor self aware, i.e.
nephesh refers to all critter life great and small; but never to
non critter life.
Nephesh shows up first in Gen 1:20-21 as sea creatures and
winged creatures.
Next it shows up in Gen 1:24 as terra creatures; viz: cattle,
creepy crawlies, and wild beasts.
It shows up again in Gen 2:7 as the human creature.
It shows up again in Gen 2:19-20 as the creatures to whom Adam
gave names.
It shows up again in Gen 9:8-16 as all conscious life aboard the
ark, including Noah and his family.
Some say that animals are people too. Well . . they're certainly
not human, but according to the Bible, they are very definitely
just as much a nephesh as a human being. So I guess we could
consent, at least to some degree, that critters are people too;
in their own way.
The Hebrew word for "fowl" is 'owph (ofe) which just simply
means covered with wings as opposed to covered with feathers.
It's a rather unusual word because it includes not only
creatures with feathers, but according to Lev 11:13-23, 'owph
also pertains to bats and flying insects. The English word
"fowl" was obviously an arbitrary translation since owph is
ambiguous.
What did those early flyers look like? Well; I suggest that at
least some of them had to be Pterosaurs because on no other day
but the fifth did God bring about critters with wings. Precisely
when and/or how God phased out those early skin-winged creatures
is one of science's thorniest mysteries. It's reasonable to
assume that whatever exterminated the Pterosaurs should have
exterminated everything else with wings too; but somehow birds,
bats, and flying bugs are still with us.
It's important to note that winged creatures were just as
distinct a creation as aqua creatures. So winged creatures
didn't evolve from creatures who once lived in the sea. Winged
creatures are a separate genre of life in their own right, and
absolutely did not evolve from some other order of life.
"great whales" is from tanniyn (tan-neen') and/or tanniym
(tan-neem') which mean: a marine or land monster. Tanniyn is
sometimes translated "dragon" as in Isa 27:1
It wasn't a tanniyn, however, that swallowed Jonah. That
creature was either a dagah (daw-gaw') a dag (dawg) or a da'g
(dawg). All three words mean fish.
NOTE: The reason I quoted the three Hebrew words for "fish" is
because the fact is: translators are not always confident how
best to represent a Hebrew word with the English alphabet. In
point of fact, there are ancient Hebrew words that nobody really
knows what they even mean so translators are forced to take
educated guesses here and there in order to fill in the text.
"every living creature that moveth" would include not only
critters that swim but also critters that creep, e.g. starfish,
lobsters, crayfish, newts, clams, and crabs et al.
But what about aquatic dinosaurs? Well; according to Discovery's
web site "Walking With Dinosaurs" paleontologists believe there
were some amphibious reptiles such as plesiosaurs and
ichthyosaurs, but those creatures didn't have the gills
necessary to be truly aquatic like Nemo and his dad Marlin.
● Gen 1:21b . . And God saw that this was good.
The Hebrew word for "good" in this instance is towb (tobe) which
is horribly ambiguous. It's meanings range from morally good, to
good looking, to a job well done, to something that's good to
the taste; and to a whole lot of other things in between; e.g. a
good show, good food, as good as it gets, satisfactory; etc,
etc.
_
#Post#: 2935--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Journey Thru Genesis
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: December 24, 2018, 9:24 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● Gen 1:22a . . God blessed them, saying: Be fruitful and
increase,
This is the very first place in the Bible where the Hebrew word
for "bless" shows up. It's somewhat ambiguous, but in this case
I think it's pretty safe to assume that it means to furnish
freely or naturally with some power, quality, or attribute; i.e.
provide, endow, and/or empower. In other words: the blessing of
fertility was a providential act; and no doubt included
microscopic creatures as well as those visible to the naked eye.
Providence is common in the Bible; especially in Genesis.
● Gen 1:22b . . fill the waters in the seas, and let the
winged creatures increase on the earth.
Winged creatures have the advantage of flight; which, in my
estimation, makes them more fortunate than creatures confined to
water. The wingers get a much better world view from above than
those below. Flying broadens one's horizons, so to speak, and
gives us a bigger picture. Amphibious flyers, e.g. cormorants
and grebes, have the best of both environs; they see things from
above as well as below.
Aqua creatures exist in the most unlikely places. When the crew
of the bathyscaphe Trieste descended into the 35,761 feet
Challenger Deep located in the deepest part of the Mariana
Trench in 1960, they didn't really expect to find anything
living down there; but to their surprise, they saw a flat fish
similar to sole and flounder.
The video camera on board the Kaiko probe spotted a sea
cucumber, a scale worm and a shrimp at the bottom.
The Nereus probe spotted a polychaete worm (a multi-legged
predator) about an inch long.
● Gen 1:23 . . And there was evening and there was
morning, a fifth day.
● Gen 1:24-25 . .Then God said: Let the earth bring
forth living creatures after their kind-- cattle and creeping
things and beasts of the earth after their kind, And it was so.
And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the
cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the
ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
We've come now to the sixth day when all terra life was created;
including humans.
This grouping of creatures (except for Man) isn't specifically
given the blessing of fertility; but if God would bless aqua
creatures and those with wings, why ever would He not bless the
terra species too who are just as important? But since they've
been reproducing all this time, then I'd have to say there is
sufficient circumstantial evidence to support the assumption
that they too were empowered to reproduce.
The Hebrew word for "living" is chay (khah'-ee) which basically
indicates existing as life as opposed to existing as non life.
For example, the structural elements of Noah's ark existed as
non life; while it's passengers existed as life.
(Some people insist that all things are alive. I recommend
leaving that belief at the door when crossing the Bible's
threshold because scripture doesn't accommodate it.)
Chay makes it first appearance at Gen 1:20 in reference to aqua
creatures and winged creatures; and many times in the Old
Testament thereafter; including fifteen times in reference to
the Creator; e.g. Jer 10:10, indicating that the creator is a
living being as opposed to a totem pole or a mythical fantasy.
There is a very large number of instances recorded in the Old
Testament where the Creator speaks of Himself as "I am".
Terra critters weren't created ex nihilo; rather, from the very
land upon which they live; i.e. God used earthly materials and
ingredients already at hand to construct them. Neat-O. Not only
are the various plants and animals indigenous to planet Earth;
but they are part of it too and blend right back in when they
die and decompose.
Beasts of the earth, in this instance, simply refers to wild
life as opposed to domesticated life. Dinosaurs would've been in
the wild classification.
Cattle refers to mute beasts (a.k.a. dumb animals) --the herd
species from which came those that can be domesticated for Man's
uses. They can pull plows and wagons, provide tallow for candles
and soap, and hide and wool for clothes, meat and dairy for
table, carry loads, and transport people from place to place on
their backs. (Probably one of the better things that Spain did
for Native Americans was make it possible for them to have
horses.)
NOTE: Looking a steed on the cheap? Well; according to the May
2017 issue of Smithsonian magazine; there are something like
70,000 wild horses and burros running free on Federal lands
causing an unacceptable amount of environmental damage. No doubt
the BLM would appreciate your help in reducing those numbers.
Not all herd animals can be tamed. Zebras, for instance, and
male elephants are not particularly suited to domestication.
It's no accident that some of the animals are so useful to Man.
God made them for the express purpose of serving people.
Although they're nephesh, same as Man, that doesn't make them
equals with Man. However, although beasts are below the rank of
the image and likeness of God, people have no right to be cruel
to animals. But Man does have the right, by the creator's fiat,
to take advantage of them; and to induct them into slavery for
Man's benefit.
Some of us would be happy if a few of the creeping species had
not been created, e.g. scorpions, centipedes, cockroaches,
tarantulas, fleas, ticks, and ants; et al.
_
#Post#: 2950--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Journey Thru Genesis
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: December 25, 2018, 10:07 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● Gen 1:26a . . And God said: Let us make Man in our
image, after our likeness.
The introduction of the plural personal pronouns "us" and "our"
into the narrative at this point has given rise to some
interesting speculation regarding the identities of the
antecedents.
The Hebrew word for "Man" is 'adam (aw-dawm') which, in this
case, simply refers to human life; i.e. humanity. It's actually
a specie name rather than a proper name.
Because of the terms "image and likeness" there are some who
believe that humanity's creator is some sort of hominid; or at
least resembles one. But according to Christ, Man's creator is
non physical.
"God is spirit" (John 4:24)
Spirits don't have solid bodies. (Luke 24:36-39)
God instructed Moses' people to avoid making any kind of
mannequin, figurine, totem pole, or statue representing God
since no one has any true concept of what creation's God
actually looks like in person. (Ex 4:10-19, John 1:18, John
5:37)
There exists absolutely nothing in nature physically resembling
its creator; except maybe the air in front of our face-- neither
Man, nor beast, nor plant, nor bird, nor bug, nor reptile nor
anything out in the void (Rom 1:21-23). Pagan concepts that
portray creation's God as a human being are purely fantasy. (Rom
1:25)
One of the meanings of image and likeness is located at Gen 5:3.
"When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the
father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and
named him Seth."
The apostle Paul once said to the men of Athens, relative to the
creator: "We are His offspring". (Acts 17:28-29)
In other words: the creator, in a strange sort of way, is
humanity's parent.
"I said: You are sons of the Most High." (Ps 82:6b)
If humans were paternal sons of the Most High-- viz: if they
were biological sons --they'd be immortal because God is
immortal; i.e. like begets like. But humans are not immortal.
"Nevertheless you will die like men" (Ps 82:7)
So then we are safe to conclude that humanity's image and
likeness of God isn't the same as Seth's image and likeness of
Adam; and humanity's divine sonship isn't biological. God didn't
reproduce in order to bring humans into existence, rather, He
created them into existence from dust rather than from Himself.
Humans then, because of their special relationship with the
creator, are, from a certain point of view, a divine species of
created life.
"I said: You are gods" (Ps 82:6a)
So very early it comes out that there are at least two
categories of gods in the Bible; there's the supreme god called
Jehovah, and there is the lesser god called Man.
There is of course only one true god (Deut 6:4, John 17:3, 1Cor
8:4-6) so we conclude that Man's divinity isn't intrinsic,
rather, it's ersatz; i.e. artificial. It's a bestowed kind of
divinity rather than inherited. Jesus Christ, on the other hand,
got his divinity by inheritance; which is a kind of divinity
that's vastly superior to Adam's; viz: humans are artificial
gods; while Jesus Christ is the genuine article. (Heb 1:1-14)
● Gen 1:26b . . let them rule over the fish of the sea and
the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,
and over all the creatures that move along the ground.
Humanity's sovereignty, power, and control over nature is
primarily where we find the exercise of its image and likeness
of God; in other words: Man does not answer to nature-- just the
opposite --nature answers to Man. (Ps 8:4-8)
The word for "rule" is from radah (raw-daw') and means: to tread
down, i.e. subjugate; specifically: to crumble off.
I saw a pretty interesting bumper sticker some time ago that
went like this:
We Are Not Above The Earth;
We Are of the Earth.
Well . . I respect Native America's cultural sentiment
underlying that statement; and must admit that I agree with it
to a certain extent. But the creator decreed that though Man is
of the earth; he is very definitely above it too, and has the
God-given authority to subjugate every living thing on the
planet including its forests, its grasses, its rivers, its seas,
its soil, its rocks, its air, its minerals, its mountains, its
valleys, and even its tectonic plates and the earth's very
atmosphere itself. According to Heb 2:8, humanity is on track to
take control of even more.
_
#Post#: 2955--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Journey Thru Genesis
DIR By: Theo102
Date: December 25, 2018, 10:58 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote ---
> The Hebrew word for "Man" is 'adam (aw-dawm') which, in this
case, simply refers to human life; i.e. humanity. It's actually
a specie name rather than a proper name.
--- End Quote ---
Humanity and mankind are different things. The human condition
was named in Rome as homo humanus. which was distinct from homo
barbarus.
HTML https://www.pum.umontreal.ca/revues/surfaces/vol4/birus.html
#Post#: 2958--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Journey Thru Genesis
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: December 26, 2018, 5:34 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● Gen 1:27a . . So God created man in His own image, in
the image of God He created him;
If humans were paternal sons of the Most High-- viz: if people
were His biological offspring --they'd be eternal beings like
Himself because God is an eternal being; i.e. like begets like.
But humans for now are not even immortal let alone eternal.
So then we are safe to conclude that humanity's image and
likeness of God wasn't the same as Seth's image and likeness of
Adam, viz: humanity's divine sonship isn't biological. God
didn't reproduce in order to bring humans into existence,
rather, He created them into existence from dust rather than
from Himself.
● Gen 1:27b . . male and female He created them.
It's okay to pity people who refuse to be identified by their
gender and prefer to be known as non binary, i.e. as neither
male nor female. But there is no just no way on God's green
earth that Bible believing Christians should ever be supportive
of the non binary movement because the image and likeness of God
finds its completeness in distinct male and female gender
identities.
There's a term for people who believe themselves to be someone
and/or something other than what and/or who they really are. I
think it might be called Dissociative Disorder. There was a time
when society confined people with those kinds of conditions to
psychiatric facilities for observation and therapy, but nowadays
political correctness requires that they be "included". But
God-honoring Christian churches dare not accept into their
membership someone known to identify themselves as non binary.
"See to it that no one misses the grace of God, and that no
bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." (Heb
12:15)
A bitter root is one belonging to a species unfit for human
consumption. When you find noxious vegetation sprouting in your
garden, you've got to get out there with a hoe and dig that
stuff up before it spreads out of control.
NOTE: The pronoun "them" in Gen 1:27 is a bit ambiguous. It can
refer to the first couple; but it can just as easily refer to
the human specie in total. In other words: Gen 1:26-27 speaks of
all of us; and by extension, so does Gen 2:16-17 because
according to Acts 17:26, that's how it worked out.
Some women would be offended by association with a male pronoun
but it's a biblical designation nonetheless. Regardless of one's
natural gender, all human beings are of the 'adam species and
can be legitimately referred to as a him or as a he because all
of us, regardless of gender, are extensions of a solo specimen;
including Eve because she was made from a human tissue sample
taken from a man's body. Bible students really have to watch for
that because when they run across the word "man" and/or "men" in
the Bible, it doesn't always indicate males.
_
#Post#: 2971--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Journey Thru Genesis
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: December 27, 2018, 8:45 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● Gen 1:28a . . God blessed them and God said to them: Be
fruitful and increase,
Some interpret that verse to be an edict requiring married
people to have children; and that they have no business getting
married for any other reason. But the wording is so obviously a
blessing rather than a law.
It's always best to regard blessings as benefits, approvals,
and/or empowerments unless clearly indicated otherwise. Some
blessings have to be merited (e.g. Deut 28:1-13) but not this
one. It was neither requested nor was it earned-- it was freely
given without any strings attached and nothing asked in return.
NOTE: According to Gen 2:18-24, marriage is primarily for the
purpose of companionship rather than procreation.
Without the empowerment of fertility, Man would be just as
sterile as a soup spoon. So it was a very essential blessing.
And a very interesting blessing it is because the blessing of
fertility empowers living things to pass their own kind of life
on to a next generation. God quit creating after six days. So
unless creatures were enabled to reproduce, all would soon die
out and become quite extinct in a very short time.
Libido therefore, is an essential element of the blessing of
fertility. God intended for His creatures to reproduce; and to
ensure that they did, He wired them all with libido rather than
instilling within them a sense of duty. It isn't necessary to
cajole creatures to mate; no, they will do so on their own,
propelled by built-in sensual proclivities and predilections.
● Gen 1:28b . . fill the earth and master it; and rule the
fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things
that creep on earth.
The Hebrew word for "master" is from kabash (kaw-bash') which
emphasizes coercion and force; and means: to disregard; to
conquer, and to violate.
The word for "rule" is from radah (raw-daw') and means: to tread
down; to subjugate.
kabash and radah are very strong language. Those two words
combined leave no room for doubt regarding Man's supremacy in
the sphere of things. God blessed humanity with the authority to
dominate and to violate planet Earth at will, and exploit it to
his own advantage. Man answers to no plant nor animal on this
entire globe. The whole Earth is within the scope of humanity's
purview. If aliens ever come here unannounced, they can be
arrested for trespassing, and/or charged for parking because
this earth is 'adam's domain.
But the interesting thing is; the 'adam specie is also the
monarch of the whole cosmos; not just the dinky little third
rock from the Sun where he hangs his hat.
"For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing
that is not put under him." (Heb 2:6-8)
● Gen 1:29-30 . . God said: See, I give you every
seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree
that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food. And
to all the animals on land, to all the winged creatures of the
sky, and to everything that creeps on earth, in which there is
the breath of life, I give all the green plants for food. And it
was so.
Prior to the Flood; humans, beasts, creepy crawlies, and winged
creatures too-- even the lions and tigers and hawks and eagles
and vultures and crocodiles --subsisted on fruits, nuts, grains,
and vegetables. Precisely what kind of diet God intended for
aqua life isn't stated.
That raises an interesting question: why do carnivores have
teeth so uniquely suited for killing other creatures and ripping
their flesh? Well, I think it's clear they didn't use their
teeth like that at first.
For example; buck-toothed beavers have incisors that could take
your hand off but they don't use them for that purpose. Male
musk deer have saber-like upper canine teeth and their diet is
moss and grass and sometimes twigs and lichen. And everybody
knows about Wally the walrus' big ol' tusks; which he doesn't
use to kill his food, but rather, to plow up the sea bottom in
search of his favorite mollusks.
Though the fossilized remains of a therapsid, named Tiarajudens
eccentricus, exhibits saber tusks, it is believed to have
efficiently chewed leaves and stems with interlocking incisors
and cow-like molars.
In the future kingdom of God, carnivores won't be carnivorous
any more, and nothing in the animal kingdom will any longer pose
a danger to either Man or to each other. (Isa 11:6-9)
● Gen 1:31 . . And God saw all that He had made, and found
it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the
sixth day.
Some feel that the cosmos-- all of its forms of life, matter,
and energy --was created incomplete, not quite up to snuff: that
it was to Man that God entrusted the task of putting on the
finishing touches. But that is very doubtful. Why ever would
God, after an overall inspection, conclude His work by
pronouncing it all good-- and not just good, but "very" good.
Why would He say the creation was very good if in truth it was
incomplete?
In reality, humans haven't improved the planet at all. They've
actually ravaged Earth and left it with terrible damage--
leveled mountains, dried up rivers, emptied lakes, drained
marshes, indiscriminately obliterated habitat, wiped out animals
to extinction, scraped away perfectly good cropland and replaced
it with warehouses and factories and malls, parking lots, and
residential communities.
A prime example of this kind of destruction is INTEL's massive
Ronler Acres Campus located on what was once agricultural land
in Hillsboro Oregon. Thousands of cubic yards of perfectly good
topsoil was scraped away during construction of the facility.
What did they do with it? Was it transferred elsewhere in order
to use it for farming? No, instead INTEL used it to build a
massive privacy berm all around the facility where the soil will
never again grow food. NIKE did the very same thing with the
topsoil scraped away during construction of its facility in
Beaverton.
Denuded watersheds have caused unnecessary erosion and stream
sedimentation. Man dams rivers, thus disrupting ancient fish
migrations. He's over-exploited natural resources, filled the
atmosphere with toxins and greenhouse gas emissions, poisoned
aquifers, contaminated soil and waterways with chemical
fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides; littered the oceans
with billions of pounds of plastic, made possible super germs,
and seriously upset the balance of nature.
It seems that most everything 'adam touches, he ruins; and as if
the Earth isn't enough, he's moved out into space where in the
years since Russia launched its first Sputnik into low Earth
orbit on Oct 04, 1957, humans have littered the sky around their
planet with 13,000 catalogued pieces of space junk, which is
only a fraction of the more than 600,000 objects circling the
globe larger than one centimeter (a centimeter is a little over
3/8ths of an inch). Humans have even discarded 374,782 pounds of
litter on the Moon, including the golf balls that astronaut Alan
Shepherd left behind.
So; when God looked over His work and "found" that it was very
good, does that mean He was surprised it came out like it did?
(chuckle) No. It would be a strange craftsman indeed who
couldn't look over their work with satisfaction in a job well
done.
I believe the universe's architect knew precisely what He was
doing, and where He was going with His work; and was highly
pleased that it came out exactly as planned. I seriously doubt
that God was feeling His way along like experimenters in
medicine and chemistry. Nobody could build a fully functioning
cosmos and all of its forms of life, matter, and energy unless
they knew what they were doing from beginning to end.
_
#Post#: 2986--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Journey Thru Genesis
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: December 28, 2018, 10:00 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● Gen 2:1-2 . .The heaven and the earth were finished, and
all their array. On the seventh day God finished the work that
He had been doing, and He ceased on the seventh day from all the
work that He had done.
Thrice it's stated in that passage that the creator finished His
work and ceased creating things for the current cosmos; yet
people are still under the impression that He creates new souls
every time a baby is conceived in its mommy's womb. But the
seventh day isn't bounded by an evening and a morning; ergo: it
has not yet ended; which means God hasn't gone back to creating
things for the current cosmos.
Adam's progeny-- you and I and all the others --are not direct
creations; no; we're reproductions; viz: there's no need for
mankind's creator to take a hand in producing baby souls, or any
other kinds of souls for that matter because He created all life
on earth as sustainable, transferable kinds of life. The
blessing of fertility is a remarkable blessing because it
enables living things to reproduce themselves sans divine micro
management.
"My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in
secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes
saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one
of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was
none of them." (Ps 139:15)
The "depths of the earth" is a reference to Gen 2:7 talking
about the beginning of mankind. We were all there in the
making-- pretty amazing when you think about it.
In the future; after the current cosmos is destroyed, God will
once again roll up His sleeves, and go back to work creating
things.
"For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the
former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." (Isa 65:17)
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in
the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and
the works that are therein shall be burned up . . . we,
according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness." (2Pet 3:10-13)
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven
and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more
sea." (Rev 21:1)
● Gen 2:3 . . And God blessed the seventh day and declared
it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of creation
that He had done.
The phrase "declared it holy" is from the word qadash
(kaw-dash') which means: to be clean, or to make, pronounce, or
observe as clean; viz: sanitize. Pronouncing something clean, or
observing something as clean and/or conferring upon something
the status of clean and sanitized, doesn't mean it's
intrinsically clean. It's just regarded as fully dedicated to
God's purposes; which is exactly what the word "sanctified"
implies. The Hebrew word for "sanctify" is also [I]qadash[/I]:
the very same word as for "declared it holy".
● Gen 2:4 . .These are the generations of the heavens and
of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God
made earth and heaven.
The Hebrew word for "day" in that verse is yowm (yome) which is
the very same word for each of the six days of God's creation
labors. Since yowm here refers to a period of time obviously
much longer than a 24-hour calendar day; it justifies
categorizing each of the six days of creation as epochs of
indeterminate length.
Gen 2:4 is the very first time in Scripture where the name Yhvh
appears. The correct pronunciation is currently unknown.
Sometimes it's pronounced Yehovah, sometimes Jehovah, and
sometimes Yahweh.
The appellation is so sacred among pious Jews that they make
every effort to avoid speaking it except under very special
circumstances. In some of their writings, in order to avoid
using the four sacred letters comprising the tetragrammaton,
they write instead "The Name" and/or sometimes "Hashem". So Ex
20:3 could be written: "I, The Name, am your god" or "I, Hashem,
am your god."
BTW: According to Phil 2:9-11, God bestowed upon Jesus Christ
the name that is above every other name that can be named; viz:
Jesus Christ has the God-given right to be known as Yhvh. God
also promoted His son to the highest of all positions; viz:
Jesus Christ now shares the very throne of God where he's known
as God, rules as God, and speaks as God; which has been pretty
much his ultimate destiny all along (Ps 2:1-12, Ps 45:1-7, Ps
110:1). That's all I dare say about that for now lest I derail
our journey thru Genesis.
(If perchance there are Jehovah's Witnesses looking in; I'd
appreciate it if you'd take your concerns about Phil 2:9-11 to
another thread rather than hijacking this one for the Watchtower
Society's doctrines. Don't be a cowbird)
NOTE: Yhvh is commonly referred to with masculine pronouns
because He's a king; and kings are always males rather than
females; e.g. Isa 44:6.
● Gen 2:5 . . and every plant of the field before it was
in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for
Yhvh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was
not a man to till the ground.
Bible students have to exercise caution when reading that
section in order to avoid making the mistake of concluding that
human life was created prior to vegetation; when we know for a
fact from the day-by-day account in the first chapter that
humans were the very last to be put on earth. Gen 2:4-5 is a
brief recap of the first five days of the creation process.
_
#Post#: 2999--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Journey Thru Genesis
DIR By: Olde Tymer
Date: December 29, 2018, 9:03 am
---------------------------------------------------------
.
● Gen 2:6 . . a mist went up from the earth and watered
the whole face of the ground.
The Hebrew word for "mist" is [I]'ed[/I] (ade). It's a very rare
word and appears only one more time in the whole Bible at at Job
36:27 where it's apparently speaking of the process of
evaporation; which typically produces water in the form of fog,
dew, and humidity; which are very gentle ways to irrigate young
plants and/or bare ground.
Had God brought rain prior to flourishing ground cover, the land
would have eroded something awful and millions of cubic yards of
perfectly good dirt would have washed into creeks, and streams,
and rivers to be carried out to sea where it would be lost in
perpetuity. Water in the form of dew, fog, and/or humidity is a
whole lot more gentle on bare ground than falling water.
(California's coastal redwoods obtain a large percentage of
their moisture from fog.)
● Gen 2:7a . . And Yhvh God formed a man's body
Mankind's creator didn't give birth to man like women give birth
to children or like baby chicks hatch from eggs; no, humans
aren't God's biological progeny-- humans are God's handiwork
like the glass products manufactured by craftsmen in Murano;
where they make things from scratch using mostly sand for their
base material.
NOTE: The natural human body is sometimes thought to be the sum
total of human existence, but according to 2Cor 5:1-4 it's just
a domicile.
● Gen 2:7b . . from the dust of the ground
The Hebrew word for "dust" is a bit ambiguous. It essentially
refers to powder, but can also be translated clay, earth, mud,
mortar, ashes, and/or rubbish; viz: the human body wasn't spoken
into existence ex nihilo; God constructed it from
already-existing physical matter.
● Gen 2:7c . . and breathed into it the breath of life
The word for "breath" is neshamah (nesh-aw-maw') which means: a
puff. Neshamah is a bit ambiguous and has been variously
translated air, soul, spirit, blast, and inspiration.
This isn't speaking of artificial respiration because it doesn't
do a bit of good pumping air into the lungs of a corpse. They
won't come alive like that; it's been tried.
The breath of life is a mysterious, supernatural energy that can
animate otherwise normally lifeless things; even stones. (Luke
19:40)
● Gen 2:7d . . and man became a living soul.
The Hebrew word for "soul" is nephesh (neh'-fesh) which isn't
unique to human beings. Its first appearance is at Gen 1:20-21
in reference to aqua creatures and winged creatures; again at
Gen 1:24 as terra creatures; viz: cattle, creepy crawlies, and
wild beasts; and again in Gen 2:7 as the human creature; and yet
again at Gen 9:10 to classify every living thing aboard Noah's
ark.
Soul is somewhat ambiguous. It can be said that creatures are
souls and also that they have souls. But here in the beginning,
nephesh simply refers to consciousness, individuality, and self
awareness.
NOTE: According to Matt 10:28, the body and the soul are
perishable. However; though the body is perishable by any means,
the soul is perishable only by divine means; i.e. the deaths of
body and soul aren't necessarily simultaneous, viz: the soul
lives on until such a time as God decides to give it either a
thumb up or a thumb down.
_
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