"The Telling"
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“Before the Mountains were born... I AM.”
“Before the Mountains were born... I AM.”
First Sentences are Doors to worlds.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
The most captivating stories grip you in the first opening words.
'The story so far: in the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move'
'The story so far: in the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move'
'Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board'
'Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board'
'It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen'
'It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen'
'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife'
'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife'
All stories have A beginning.
All stories have A beginning.
The art of story telling - Choosing a meaningful beginning can be an excruciatingly painful process.
Rambling Stories that seem to have no meaning or purpose are exhausting to listen to.
The first sentence ought to have something to do with the second one, don’t you think.
“Write with the end in mind”
“Write with the end in mind”
Most Successful Authors only begin writing when they have identified their story’s destination.
Despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles almost immediately crashing down around the protagonist - They somehow, almost as if divinely guided and protected, they miraculously persevere unto the end.
At the end of every story, is the beginning of another.
Revelation 22:13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.””
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
Isaiah 43:10 ““You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me.”
“You are My witnesses,” says the Lord,
“And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
Just because the authors found A beginning, does not mean that it is THE Beginning.
The Time, Before Time...
The Time, Before Time...
Not Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Not Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The Beginning of Our Time
The Beginning of Our Time
Existed for eternity before us with no beginning
And though Mark 12:25 “For when they rise from the dead ...but are (Will become AS) like angels in heaven.”
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
And even though it says we will live forever with him, we can not comprehend this statement, but he is before all things, and after all things. there is none before him, nor any after him. His is the first and last.
Our Story
Our Story
When God Began to Create!
When God Began to Create!
The not in Hebrew Technically.
BI161 Problems in Bible Interpretation: Difficult Passages I The First Word of Genesis 1
The very first word of the Hebrew text in Gen 1:1 is bereshith.
Genesis 1:1-3
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
1 act or 3?
1 act or 3?
John 1:1 Genesis 1:3, Then Genesis 1:1-2
Genesis 1:3 “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.”
Genesis 1:1-2 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
Because V1 is not an absolute beginning for obvious reasons.
BI161 Problems in Bible Interpretation: Difficult Passages I (Not the Absolute First Beginning of Matter)
The ramifications are that Gen 1:1, if you are just going with Hebrew grammar, is not the absolute beginning of the creation of matter.
Genesis 1:1–3 would describe actually a reordering, a refashioning, a reconstituting of matter that is already there in verse 1.
We know theologically that God is the creator of all things visible and invisible.
Gen 1:1, if you just go with Hebrew grammar, is not the absolute first beginning of matter. Genesis is about describing what God did with that stuff that He had created sometime prior, that we aren’t told about in Genesis but we are told about in other verses.
God is taking that material and refashioning it. Why? He wants to take that material and make a habitable earth and then fill it with human life and animal life.
BI161 Problems in Bible Interpretation: Difficult Passages I (Accommodating Modern Cosmological Views)
Accommodating Modern Cosmological Views
“Why should I care?”
If you’re concerned about the notion that modern science contradicts—the notion of a very, very, very ancient universe and even a very, very ancient earth—if you take the Hebrew grammar view, you have an indefinite amount of time between whenever it was that God created that material that we are first introduced to in Gen 1:1, and then went back and reordered it for human habitation.
We’re not given any sort of time sequence at all in the first three verses.
You could have in theory millions or billions of years before Gen 1:1–3.Again,
that doesn’t solve all of the issues related to the creation and evolution debate,
but you should know that the Hebrew text itself can accommodate a very modern cosmological idea like that.
None the less, old earth, or young perspective, God is the Author and Creator of all things that have beginnings and ends.
Thus, everything that is visible, has its origin in the invisible.
Thus, everything that is visible, has its origin in the invisible.
Making the Unseen Realm the greater than that which is seen.
The author of our beginning both knew, and is able to accomplish His Story despite man’s free will
The author of our beginning both knew, and is able to accomplish His Story despite man’s free will
Choose your own adventure style
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Are We Just Marionettes in a Divine Display of Master Puppetry?
Are We Just Marionettes in a Divine Display of Master Puppetry?
Pertaining to the fall of man, sin, war, creator of all things, God must’ve created evil then right?
To begin to come to terms with comprehending that which is un-comoprehendable, there are several pieces we must define.
1. God does indeed foreknow all things
1. God does indeed foreknow all things
real and possible. He foreknew all things that happen, and he foreknows all possible events that don’t happen.
2. God predestinates events, but he does not predestinate all events.
2. God predestinates events, but he does not predestinate all events.
He certainly does not predestinate events that never happen (else they would have been predestinated). He also does NOT predestinate all events that DO happen. Chapter 4 is devoted to an explanation of this view.
3. Just because God can foreknow an event, that is no guarantee he predestinated the event.
3. Just because God can foreknow an event, that is no guarantee he predestinated the event.
The idea that God does not predestinate all events that do happen (especially the fall, sin, and evil-doing) is based upon the biblical fact that foreknowledge does NOT necessitate predestination. Put another way, just because God can foreknow an event, that is no guarantee he predestinated the event. How?
Because as 1 Samuel 23:1-14 shows us very clearly, foreknowledge does not result in or necessitate predestination. In that passage, God foreknows things that never happen because human decisions change the circumstances. Very simply, God foreknew things that never happened. This tells us that foreknowing things does not necessitate their predestination.
Here’s the idea in a syllogism:
God foreknows ALL events God foreknows events that never happen Therefore, the fact that God foreknows and event doesn’t require that it will come to pass. Therefore, there is no cause and effect relationship between foreknowledge and predestination.
Here’s a related syllogism:
God foreknows all events Some of those events actually happen Therefore, God foreknows events that do actually happen We know from 1 Sam 23 that the fact that God’s foreknowledge of an event DID NOT mean the event had to happen Therefore, if God foreknows an event that does happen, we cannot conclude that event was predestinated to happen just because God foreknew it.
4. God may have predestinated events that actually happen-but he also may not have.
4. God may have predestinated events that actually happen-but he also may not have.
There is no necessary link between foreknowledge and predestination. We don’t know if an event that happens was predestinated on the basis of God’s foreknowing it. God would have to tell us he predestinated an event for us to be sure he did that. Scripture does tell us God predestinates some events.
5. The entrance of sin into the world were foreknown by God. That doesn’t mean that he predestinated sin’s occurrence.
5. The entrance of sin into the world were foreknown by God. That doesn’t mean that he predestinated sin’s occurrence.
6. Sin’s entrance into the world and all acts of evil exist because humans and divine beings have free will.
6. Sin’s entrance into the world and all acts of evil exist because humans and divine beings have free will.
Free will (freedom; freedom to make choices between alternatives, including alternatives that God would not be pleased with) is an attribute humans share with God. Since we are God’s imagers-his representatives on earth to be steward-kings over the earth-we must have this ability.
If there is no free will, there is no imaging of God.
To remove free will from us would be to undo our status as imagers-it would be taking away the imaging status given to us (all humans) by God himself. Freedom and imaging are inseparably linked; it is foundational to our being like God.
To remove free will from us would be to undo our status as imagers-it would be taking away the imaging status given to us (all humans) by God himself. Freedom and imaging are inseparably linked; it is foundational to our being like God.
7. Since Adam and Eve were created beings and not God, they were lesser beings.
7. Since Adam and Eve were created beings and not God, they were lesser beings.
They lacked omnipotence and omniscience and wisdom to the degree God has them. Since they were not God, it was possible for them to use their freedom-to make a choice-that was not what God would make. When tempted, they did so and fell in Eden.
8. God deemed granting free will to humans preferable to not giving them free will
8. God deemed granting free will to humans preferable to not giving them free will
and making them automatons or robots (i.e., making them incapable of making a choice that God would not have been pleased with).
Alienation from God would be the conduit for humankind learning things about God that would be unknowable without the entrance of sin (forgiveness, redemption, displeasure, judgment, etc.).
9. God was under no obligation to inform humans about all his attributes,
9. God was under no obligation to inform humans about all his attributes,
and so we cannot draw the conclusion that God HAD TO allow sin for humans to learn who he was. They knew who he was before the fall. We see this in hindsight.
10. Since God is God and perfectly holy, and since he is perfectly free, he himself could not have made any choice that he would be displeased by.
10. Since God is God and perfectly holy, and since he is perfectly free, he himself could not have made any choice that he would be displeased by.
He himself is the standard for what is right and holy, and so such a possibility is nonsensical. WE image God; the fact that He is also capable of making choices should not be understood as though HE images US and is capable of error. He isn’t.
11. The fact that God is working to restore Eden means that his human children will be like the original human couple in the eschaton
11. The fact that God is working to restore Eden means that his human children will be like the original human couple in the eschaton
. We will be like the unfallen Adam and Eve. We will also be glorified, having been given new bodies. We will still be God’s imagers, only this time fulfilling his original intention.
There will be no external temptation to sin, there will be no presence of evil, we will not feel the unredeemed urges of our old, fallen body. But we are not God.
We are still inferior as created beings. All we are is contingent on Him.
This means that, in the eschaton, while we are still capable of making choices that displease God, we won’t, since there will be no evil to choose, no temptation, and no urge in that direction. We will be Adamic minus any choice for evil.
12. All acts of evil extend from the combination of our fallen, imperfect condition plus the will to choose to sin.
12. All acts of evil extend from the combination of our fallen, imperfect condition plus the will to choose to sin.
God does not predestinate these decisions, though he foreknows them. God never prompts us to sin; he never predestinates that we sin. We sin because we are corrupt and fallen. The fault is ours, not God’s. Thus in biblical theodicy (why is there evil), there is evil because God gave us free will and we abused it. Free will in itself is not evil, since God has free will. How that free will is used is the issue. God bears no responsibility for the fall and our sin, since free will is not evil in and of itself as an attribute of God.
13. After the fall, God is at work to redeem humankind.
13. After the fall, God is at work to redeem humankind.
He does this through the use of his Spirit, his Word, human beings, and divine beings (e.g., angels). His work is one of influencing human beings to make the right choices based on the revelation he gives; to respond correctly to the light he has given.
14. God has the ability to turn any act of evil toward the end of all things as he has desired:
14. God has the ability to turn any act of evil toward the end of all things as he has desired:
the salvation of the elect, the reclamation of the nations, the destruction and banishment of evil, and the Ne w Heaven and Earth.
THIS is my definition of sovereignty-God’s peerless control over all free decisions. Only he has the power, wisdom, and knowledge to steer the wreckage of human evil toward the good ends he desires. To have all decisions, including the fall and evil, predestinated before any event occurred, makes God a lesser being in my view. The decked was entirely stacked and robots were making decisions that had been predestinated.
15. God acts to ensure there will be an elect remnant.
15. God acts to ensure there will be an elect remnant.
He does this through individual election unto salvation. This salvation is one of the things God tells us he did in fact predestinate (Romans 8).
16. Election does not involve the removal of human free will.
16. Election does not involve the removal of human free will.
Rather, before a human being is quickened/regenerated, they are spiritually dead, unable to make one particular choice-the choice of the gospel.
Prior to that quickening, humans had genuine freedom. They could choose evil, and they could choose to do good, but the could not choose the gospel.
This runs contrary to Augustinian thought. Augustine taught that fallen people could never please God, but this is unscriptural, and that is easily demonstrated. For example, God calls Cyrus the Persian his anointed (mashiach – messiah) in Isa 45:1 and his shepherd in Isa 45:28.
Cyrus was a pagan, but he was God’s instrument, doing exactly what God moved his heart and mind to do. If Cyrus accomplished what God moved him to do, God was pleased with that, not displeased.
God cannot be displeased when his will is done as he directed. There are also other examples of people who, before finding Christ, are called “God-fearing” by the NT writers. In the example of Cornelius (Acts 10:2, 22), God sent an angel to this lost man in response to his prayers, and the angel directed him to Peter for the gospel. It’s clear this unsaved man’s prayers were heard and that God didn’t react to them with more wrath (as Augustine is famous for saying).
Despite this, humans have to be quickened to receive the gospel. Rather than remove free will, the quickening makes the lost person aware, for the first time, that the gospel is true and is the way of salvation.
Regeneration enables a choice; it doesn’t remove freedom. And when someone is regenerated, they want to make that choice. The quickening is irresistible and in line with the will.
17. Lastly, the biblical God is not the god of deists.
17. Lastly, the biblical God is not the god of deists.
He has, does, and will interact with human affairs. In fact he does so constantly, for he is behind all the influences toward the gospel and righteousness anyone experiences. He can invade “our world” with the miraculous if he wants in the course of influencing human beings to turn to him.
The short version of all this: All I’m really saying is that God foreknows all events, predestinates certain (but not all) events, and is not responsible for sin and evil.
The short version of all this: All I’m really saying is that God foreknows all events, predestinates certain (but not all) events, and is not responsible for sin and evil.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.