The Genesis cycle begins again as I read thru the Bible with Bible Pathway. This year I am joined with others of varying perspectives as we compare insights. I would encourage anyone reading this to join in and share your own insights. The depths of the riches of Scripture cannot be fathomed. This is why the Bible is usually on the short list of books for desert island reading.
I continue to trust the KJV, as I believe it is the faithfully preserved Word of God in English. The manuscripts behind it are reliable, not like the hodgepodge that underlies modern versions. We can be Bible critics or we can receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save our souls (James 1:21).
So what am I seeing this time around? After more than 20 times thru the Bible, I am just beginning to get a grasp of the theme that permeates and weaves its way throughout Scripture. It all begins in Genesis.
In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth.
Seven Hebrew words underlie the text, yet only six are translated. There is one little word in the very center that is puzzling to scholars. It is a two letter word composed of the first and last letters of the Hebrew aleph bet. It is the Aleph-Tav. And Who is the Aleph Tav in the Book of Revelation that we just completed? It is YESHUA!
I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End......
Of course, in Hebrew this would translate to Aleph-Tav.
The beginning of the Bible connects with and parallels the ending of the Bible. Reading these two books in tandem reveals the parallelism. It is just one example of the depths and the riches of the Scriptures. I am awed and fascinated by the mysteries. How did forty or more human writers, writing over a period of many centuries and millennia produce such a unified composition? Divine plenary inspiration is evident, yet not apparent to the casual reader.
Is there a gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2? I am investigating the “gap theory” and was leaning towards accepting it, when I noticed in today’s reading the statement in Gen. 2:3 that God created and made everything in six days. The KJV has its own built-in dictionary. Words are defined in the surrounding text, sometimes in the very verse. So created and made could be synonyms, spoiling the nuanced argument of Arthur Custance and others that bara and asah are distinct. Now I am leaning against the Gap theory of ruin/reconstruction. I continue to weigh the evidence pro and con.
The Hebrew word for Heaven is shamayim, a plural word, yet translated in the singular in the KJV in verse 1. There is a good reason for this, one that the modern versions have overlooked. Plurality in the Hebrew does not necessarily denote more than one. It can also refer to the superlative. The Heaven referred to in verse one is God’s abode. We learn in other parts of Scripture that there are three heavens: the atmosphere, outer space, and the abode of God.
According to one of the proponents of the Gap theory, the abode of God is separated from the other two heavens by a frozen, crystal Sea. The Firmament separates the Earthly realm from this Holy Abode. It is a fascinating possibility and may explain the ancient domed cosmology. [Details at Featured/Favorite Links: The Firmament, Third Heaven, and Structure of Things Biblical]
Genesis 2 should actually begin at verse 4. This is a separate account and introduces God as LORD God (Y-H-V-H) and introduces us to God’s relationship with Man, a test of obedience, temptation, sin, Satan, consequences, and the beginning of the theme of Redemption which continues throughout the 66 books of Scripture.
When did Lucifer fall from Heaven and become The Adversary (Satan)? Why is he hell-bent on tripping up Mankind? Was there a previous civilization that was destroyed, leaving a fossil record? Did God re-create and make everything “good” on top of a fossil graveyard? These are questions explored in the gap theory and refuted by Young Earth Creationists.
Did animals originally have vocalization? Eve does not seem surprised that the serpent is talking to her. Was it telepathic? What did this creature look like before consigned to lost limbs? Was it a dragon? Why is the word for serpent related to the word for soothsayer/enchanter/divination?
I notice that this Edenic world is vegetarian, both for man and beast. Meat-eating is not authorized until after Noah’s Flood. In the Millennial Kingdom to come, vegetarianism is again the diet of man and beast, and again there is peace among the species.
Who wrote these Creation accounts? Did Adam write on clay tablets? Was Moses the editor of various clay tablets? Was Proto-Hebrew the original language? The puns and word play seem to indicate this.
Does our English word “woman” indicate “womb-man”? Are we equally “men” yet assigned a certain role......women having a womb and the hormone balance necessary to fulfill the role of wife, help-meet, mother?
There are no contradictions in Scripture, only puzzles to be resolved through piecing together the various verses throughout the Bible until harmony is the result. Did you ever watch a movie that starts out with a few sketchy scenes? Not until later in the film does the viewer understand certain things that make no sense in the beginning. Many times, a clever, intelligent screenplay has to be viewed again and again to catch the cryptic details. Should the Bible be any less a literary masterpiece that requires some thought? Simplistic reading has turned doubters to atheists. It is important to gain more than a superficial understanding of Scripture. Yet seeing Scripture through the eyes of faith reveals more of its treasures than looking through the lens of logic. Some mysteries are only revealed. To the skeptic, they are concealed.
This Book called the Bible is accessible to a child, yet challenging to an intellectual. Genesis 1 would make a suitable bedtime story for a toddler, yet it challenges and perplexes scholars as they try to reconcile it with the study of Earth history. Rabbis have argued late into the night over a single verse. Commentaries are voluminous. Honest questions can be satisfactorily answered. And more questions can be asked that continue to perplex. This Book is fascinating and compelling. Never boring is the study of God’s Word!
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. Romans 11:33
2 comments:
Simplistic Reading
You state, “Simplistic reading [of the Bible] has turned doubters to atheists.” I can see how you might conclude this as many atheists exhibit a simplistic and literalistic reading of the Bible. Yet, I see less of a problem with doubters becoming atheists and a far greater problem with “simplistic readers” becoming fundamentalists.
It is a great irony that the very people who herald the words of the Bible as infallible and inerrant disavow critical studies of the same. If the Bible is infallible and above approach, then the light of current studies and research should only buttress its claims. Jesus said. “…he that doeth truth cometh to the light.” Apply this axiom to the Bible. If Jesus were a believer in the inerrancy of the Bible, this statement may have read in another context as, “…the book of truth cometh to the light.” What light would be referred to? The light of knowledge and learning.
In all of your 20 or so readings of the Bible, have you ever submitted the Bible to the light? I do not think you have. I think that you are closer than ever to the watershed issues of the Bible, but you are afraid to come into the light.
The Bible contains contradictions. The contradictions of the Bible are real and not merely perceived. Belief in inerrancy forces the reader to reconcile or harmonize otherwise contradictory facts, doctrines, and psychologies in the Bible. Such forced readings are non-exegetical and take away from the message of the Bible.
Hello Peter,
Jesus was and is a believer in the inerrancy of Scripture. Otherwise, why would He have made these statements in support of:
1) The Genesis account of creation (Matt. 19:4-6; Mk. 10:6-8);
2) The Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (Matt. 8:4; Jn. 5:46; 7:19);
3) The historicity of Abel (Matt. 23:35; Lk. 11:50-51);
4) The historicity of Noah and the Noahic Flood (Matt. 24:37-39; Lk. 17:26-27);
5) The historicity of Abraham (Jn. 8:56);
6) The historicity of the account of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 10:15; 11:23-24; Lk. 10:12);
7) The historicity of Lot and the account of his wife having been turned into a pillar of salt (Lk. 17:28-32);
8) The historicity of the account in which Israel was given manna from heaven (Jn. 6:31,49,58);
9) The Davidic authorship of some of the Psalms (Matt. 22:43; Mk. 12:36; Lk. 20:42);
10) The historicity of the account of Jonah’s having been swallowed by a whale (Matt. 12:39-41; Lk. 11:29-32);
11) The unity and single authorship of the book of Isaiah (Matt. 13:14-15; Mk. 7:6; Jn. 12:38-41);
12) The Danielic authorship of the book of Daniel (Matt. 24:15);
13) The canonicity of the entire Jewish Old Testament, which excluded the Apocrypha (Matt. 23:35; Lk. 11:50-51; 24:44);
14) The Christ centeredness of the Old Testament (Lk. 24;25-27, 44-46);
15) The verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture (Matt. 4:4; 5:17-18);
16) The divine preservation of Scripture (Matt. 5:17-18; 24:35; Lk. 16:17; Jn. 10:35);
17) The vital importance of studying and knowing Scripture (Jn. 5:39; Matt. 22:29);
18) The judgment of all mankind by God’s Word (Jn. 12:47-48).
http://www.baptistpillar.com/bd0096.htm
YESHUA never corrected or criticized Scripture, even though He did not possess the original autographs. He did not teach His disciples to engage in Higher Criticism. Disciples are instructed to “Search the Scriptures,” not become followers of atheistic scorners, scoffers, and skeptics. Contradictions are not necessarily errors or mistakes. It could be paradox put in the text for a good reason, perhaps, as Friedman suggests, to cause us to interact with the story and its moral lesson and extract its gem or ask a good question.
While I have my disagreements with Baptist theology, I commend KJV Baptists for their strong stand on the integrity of Scripture. I have found the “KJVism” waters refreshing to balance some of your reading suggestions that I have been willing to wade into with some trepidation. You wouldn’t be trying to subvert my faith, would you?
I think there is an infectious spiritual disease going around called “Fundaphobia”......fear of fundamentalism.....that is, despite the scorn and ridicule, firmly believing and confessing the fundamentals of the faith once delivered. I also think I know who is behind this virus....the enemy of our souls.
As I mentioned at torahtimes forum, one indication of a possible pre-Adamic world is Jesus’ words in John 8:44:
John 8:44 tells us that Satan was a murderer and a liar "from the beginning." Beginning of what? THIS Creation perhaps? We are also told that "Lucifer" was originally "perfect" (Ezekiel 28:15). So this archangel Lucifer was created perfect, yet became a liar and a murderer and full of iniquity. Is it possible that after Lucifer's rebellion in the first Creation, that resulted in the destruction of that Creation, that the LORD started over with a reNEWed Creation, and Satan, full of all subtilty (2 Cor. 11:3), sneakily seduced Eve with his masterful question: "yea, hath God said..." putting doubt in her mind and corrupting her, as he continues to seek to duplicate to all generations since? This is his modus operandi....and it has been working well for millennia. He is like a mutating virus, making his rounds, contagious, sinister, leaving a wake of destruction. He is the destroyer of all that is good and true and righteous. Yet we do not recognize this "Adversary", which serves his purposes well. He is behind the rash of popular atheistic evolution books, yet his cleverness is not detected and the authors receive accolades. How many souls have been won over to the dark side through this form of evangelization through these Dawkins, Dennett, Shermer, Price type books? This is enlightenment? I trow not.
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