Genesis

Genesis tells some of its stories more than once. The creation, Adam´s begats, and Abram/Ahraham to name three.

They have a sort of time traveling quality, something like a science fiction movie in which event repeat. Or the message might be that the creative process is non-linear.

It was common in those days of Moses to give the subject matter first and then to give the accounting of that subject second.
 
Works for me :) I'm doing a study on the "shmita" (Sabbath) year and I am utterly shocked at the number of things that happen in the shmita year. It is a year of rest for the land for a blessing, but if it is not observed, a year of cursings. Here's a small taste of my study still in progress:

Going backwards just to the beginning of the 20th Century:
2014/15
  • The day before the shmita begins, Obama attacks ISIS in Syria
  • 4 Blood Moons Tetrad bookending the shmita with two solar eclipses on the end of the Civic and Biblical Jewish calendar (Gen 1:14). The next set will not happen for 568 years.
2007/08
  • Comet Holmes
  • Aug 01, 2008: Total eclipse of the sun – First of three 1 Av eclipses: July 22, 2009 (1st of Av), July 11, 2010 (1st of Av)
  • Last day of the shmita, the DOW loses 777 points, the most ever, when the House votes down a $700 billion bank bailout plan. The Stock market crash around the world - sub-prime collapse
2000/01
  • 9/11 (major life changes for the world) - exactly one cycle (7 years) and one week.
  • Sharon visits the Temple Mount - Second Intifada begins
  • USS Cole attacked
  • Bush vs. Gore debacle
  • In the Netherlands, the Act on the Opening up of Marriage goes into effect. The Act allows same-sex couples to marry legally for the first time in the world since the reign of Nero
1993/94
  • Savings and Loan crisis
  • Israel established diplomatic relations with the Vatican
  • Oslo Accords
  • Arafat and Rabin sing a peace accord
  • Shoemaker -Levy 9 hits one hour after the start of 9 Av having 21 impacts
  • Israel and Jordan Peace Treaty ending the 1948 war
1986/87
  • Black Monday (market crashes 508 points) one week after the end of the shmita
  • First Intifada begins in Gaza and West Bank
1979/80
  • First day of shmita, Israel and South Africa test their first atomic weapon - called the South Atlantic Flash
  • Iran hostage crisis begins
  • Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations
  • Mt. St. Helen explodes
  • Tim Berners-Lee begins work on ENQUIRE, the system that eventually leads to the creation of the WWW in 1990.
1972/73
  • 4 Days before the shmita, the Munich massacre. 11 Israeli athletes a murdered in 1972 Summer Olympics
  • Recombinant DNA technology announced changing biology as we know it by opening the door to GMO's
  • Last human on the moon
  • Stock Market crash kicking off the 1973 Oil Crisis
  • Roe v. Wade - America legalizes abortions
  • America loses it's first war signing a peace treaty with N. Vietnam
  • Watergate Scandal
  • Jun 30, 1973: Very long solar eclipse occurs - only 7 in 2000 years exceeds 7 min in totality
  • Immediately after the end of the shmita the Yom Kippur War begins and later Egypt and Israel sign a cease-fire accord
1965/66
  • Time magazine's cover in Apr was "Is God Dead?"
  • "Church" of Satan is formed in San Francisco
  • The National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded in Washington, D.C.
  • Groundbreaking takes place for the World Trade Center (destroyed 35 year, 1 month, and 6 days later – 5 Shmitas later)
  • Lunar Orbiter 1, the first U.S. spacecraft to orbit the moon, is launched
  • After this shmita, the last Tetrad Blood Moon event occurred (1967/68) and Israel took back Jerusalem
1958/59 - quiet, although Castro arrives in Havana

1951/52
  • Before this one, Israel became a nation in 1948, and the Blood Moon Tetrad occurred in 1949/50
  • World's first nuclear power plant open in Idaho
  • Discovery of DNA made with a paper published in 1953 on the discovery
1944/45
  • Hitler dies (8 shmitas and 10 days from his birth in 1889, also a shmita)
  • Trinity Test - first atomic bomb test - 2 days before 9 Av
  • Week later, Truman approves the atomic bombs be used against Japan
  • UN Charter ratified
  • Zionist World Congress approaches the British gov to discuss honoring the 1917 Balfour Declaration (also a shmita year)
  • WWII ends
  • Ho Chi Minh establishes Viet Nam
  • The very day after the end of the shmita, American troops occupy south Korea while the Russian move into the north
1937/38
  • Because of FDR's New Deal, the great recession begins
  • 450-metric-ton meteorite explodes 12 miles above Chicora, PA, USA
  • Evian Conference on Refugees is convened in France - no one wants the Jews
  • One week after the end of the shmita, German troops march into the Sudetenland. The next month Kirstallnacht occures beginning the holocaust and ending "Day Two" of Hosea 6
1930/31
  • The Creditanstalt, Austria's largest bank, goes bankrupt, beginning the banking collapse in Central Europe that causes a worldwide financial meltdown
  • Nazi's come into power, winning 107 seats int eh German Parliament
1923/24
  • Turkey becomes a republic ending the Ottoman Empire for 1400 years. The last Caliphate.
  • Hyperinflation hits Weimar Republic (4.2 trillion papiermark to 1 USD)
  • Stalin comes to power and begins his "purge"
  • USA ends the Renegade and Apache Wars after 302 years of fighting the "natives"
1916/17
  • Margaret Sanger opens the first birth control clinic in the USA - forerunner of Planned Parenthood
  • WWI: USA declares war on Germany
  • The very day after the end of shmita General Allenby fulfills Isa 31:4-5 by taking Jerusalem, taking it by the air without a single shot fired. One Jubilee later it is united to the State of Israel.
1909/10
  • First aviation meeting in Los Angeles which leads to the Wright Brothers to sell planes to France and England because the USA didn't want them, allowing Allenby to be used to take Jerusalem in one of their inventions!
  • Slavery in China is outlawed for the first time since 1600 BC
  • Halley's Comet becomes visible
1902/03
  • Just before this shmita the stock market panic of 1901
  • Dec after the end of the shmita Orville Wright flies at Kitty Hawk, NC, USA
Interesting... I'm working in the 1500's now. We'll see where it goes.

Very interesting stuff! That has the appearances of becoming a really good Bible study subject!

I wonder if you might PM me with the results when you are finished?????
 
Works for me :) I'm doing a study on the "shmita" (Sabbath) year and I am utterly shocked at the number of things that happen in the shmita year. It is a year of rest for the land for a blessing, but if it is not observed, a year of cursings. Here's a small taste of my study still in progress:

Going backwards just to the beginning of the 20th Century:
2014/15
  • The day before the shmita begins, Obama attacks ISIS in Syria
  • 4 Blood Moons Tetrad bookending the shmita with two solar eclipses on the end of the Civic and Biblical Jewish calendar (Gen 1:14). The next set will not happen for 568 years.
2007/08
  • Comet Holmes
  • Aug 01, 2008: Total eclipse of the sun – First of three 1 Av eclipses: July 22, 2009 (1st of Av), July 11, 2010 (1st of Av)
  • Last day of the shmita, the DOW loses 777 points, the most ever, when the House votes down a $700 billion bank bailout plan. The Stock market crash around the world - sub-prime collapse
2000/01
  • 9/11 (major life changes for the world) - exactly one cycle (7 years) and one week.
  • Sharon visits the Temple Mount - Second Intifada begins
  • USS Cole attacked
  • Bush vs. Gore debacle
  • In the Netherlands, the Act on the Opening up of Marriage goes into effect. The Act allows same-sex couples to marry legally for the first time in the world since the reign of Nero
1993/94
  • Savings and Loan crisis
  • Israel established diplomatic relations with the Vatican
  • Oslo Accords
  • Arafat and Rabin sing a peace accord
  • Shoemaker -Levy 9 hits one hour after the start of 9 Av having 21 impacts
  • Israel and Jordan Peace Treaty ending the 1948 war
1986/87
  • Black Monday (market crashes 508 points) one week after the end of the shmita
  • First Intifada begins in Gaza and West Bank
1979/80
  • First day of shmita, Israel and South Africa test their first atomic weapon - called the South Atlantic Flash
  • Iran hostage crisis begins
  • Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations
  • Mt. St. Helen explodes
  • Tim Berners-Lee begins work on ENQUIRE, the system that eventually leads to the creation of the WWW in 1990.
1972/73
  • 4 Days before the shmita, the Munich massacre. 11 Israeli athletes a murdered in 1972 Summer Olympics
  • Recombinant DNA technology announced changing biology as we know it by opening the door to GMO's
  • Last human on the moon
  • Stock Market crash kicking off the 1973 Oil Crisis
  • Roe v. Wade - America legalizes abortions
  • America loses it's first war signing a peace treaty with N. Vietnam
  • Watergate Scandal
  • Jun 30, 1973: Very long solar eclipse occurs - only 7 in 2000 years exceeds 7 min in totality
  • Immediately after the end of the shmita the Yom Kippur War begins and later Egypt and Israel sign a cease-fire accord
1965/66
  • Time magazine's cover in Apr was "Is God Dead?"
  • "Church" of Satan is formed in San Francisco
  • The National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded in Washington, D.C.
  • Groundbreaking takes place for the World Trade Center (destroyed 35 year, 1 month, and 6 days later – 5 Shmitas later)
  • Lunar Orbiter 1, the first U.S. spacecraft to orbit the moon, is launched
  • After this shmita, the last Tetrad Blood Moon event occurred (1967/68) and Israel took back Jerusalem
1958/59 - quiet, although Castro arrives in Havana

1951/52
  • Before this one, Israel became a nation in 1948, and the Blood Moon Tetrad occurred in 1949/50
  • World's first nuclear power plant open in Idaho
  • Discovery of DNA made with a paper published in 1953 on the discovery
1944/45
  • Hitler dies (8 shmitas and 10 days from his birth in 1889, also a shmita)
  • Trinity Test - first atomic bomb test - 2 days before 9 Av
  • Week later, Truman approves the atomic bombs be used against Japan
  • UN Charter ratified
  • Zionist World Congress approaches the British gov to discuss honoring the 1917 Balfour Declaration (also a shmita year)
  • WWII ends
  • Ho Chi Minh establishes Viet Nam
  • The very day after the end of the shmita, American troops occupy south Korea while the Russian move into the north
1937/38
  • Because of FDR's New Deal, the great recession begins
  • 450-metric-ton meteorite explodes 12 miles above Chicora, PA, USA
  • Evian Conference on Refugees is convened in France - no one wants the Jews
  • One week after the end of the shmita, German troops march into the Sudetenland. The next month Kirstallnacht occures beginning the holocaust and ending "Day Two" of Hosea 6
1930/31
  • The Creditanstalt, Austria's largest bank, goes bankrupt, beginning the banking collapse in Central Europe that causes a worldwide financial meltdown
  • Nazi's come into power, winning 107 seats int eh German Parliament
1923/24
  • Turkey becomes a republic ending the Ottoman Empire for 1400 years. The last Caliphate.
  • Hyperinflation hits Weimar Republic (4.2 trillion papiermark to 1 USD)
  • Stalin comes to power and begins his "purge"
  • USA ends the Renegade and Apache Wars after 302 years of fighting the "natives"
1916/17
  • Margaret Sanger opens the first birth control clinic in the USA - forerunner of Planned Parenthood
  • WWI: USA declares war on Germany
  • The very day after the end of shmita General Allenby fulfills Isa 31:4-5 by taking Jerusalem, taking it by the air without a single shot fired. One Jubilee later it is united to the State of Israel.
1909/10
  • First aviation meeting in Los Angeles which leads to the Wright Brothers to sell planes to France and England because the USA didn't want them, allowing Allenby to be used to take Jerusalem in one of their inventions!
  • Slavery in China is outlawed for the first time since 1600 BC
  • Halley's Comet becomes visible
1902/03
  • Just before this shmita the stock market panic of 1901
  • Dec after the end of the shmita Orville Wright flies at Kitty Hawk, NC, USA
Interesting... I'm working in the 1500's now. We'll see where it goes.


Here is a book that might help.

Cycles: The Science of Prediction by Edward R. Dewey

It was a book that belonged to my great grandfather. I tried to read it when I found it in my great grandmother's storage locker. Dewey must have spent his whole life trying to find cyclical changes in the world economy.
 
Very interesting stuff! That has the appearances of becoming a really good Bible study subject!

I wonder if you might PM me with the results when you are finished?????
Sure. It might be a while... my last study took 10 years because it was the Chronology of Man... this one is just on the shmita years so I won't take so long.
 
Here is a book that might help.

Cycles: The Science of Prediction by Edward R. Dewey

It was a book that belonged to my great grandfather. I tried to read it when I found it in my great grandmother's storage locker. Dewey must have spent his whole life trying to find cyclical changes in the world economy.
Thanks :)
 
Sure. It might be a while... my last study took 10 years because it was the Chronology of Man... this one is just on the shmita years so I won't take so long.

I hope it does not take 10 years......I may not live that long. But I do hope you will remember.

I have read and given a lot of thought to the process of the USA telling Israel what to do with the Promiased Land and how with in just hours, a disaster hits the USA. Your study would compliment that fact.
 
Continuing on:

Genesis 36 says that Esau is the father of Edom. Like Elam it has been studied archaeologically. Even better Edom appears in both Assyrian and Egyptian historical records.

Genesis 37 and the story of Joseph’s brothers having envy about Jacob’s relationship with Joseph, that’s kinda scary. I’m the youngest, but I think my brothers were never jealous of me, They, being older, did things forbidden to me. So if there were any envy, it came from me. I have my own room, but I never had my own bathroom. I miss my brother’s, but now that i think about it, having a shorter line for the bathroom is kinda cool.

In Genesis 38, Judah had three sons. The first born, Her, married Thamar. Her died. Thamar dressed like a harlot, and Judah paid her one young sheep to rent her. He left jewerly as a pledge that he would pay her the sheep. She became pregnant. She was charged with adultery. She testified that Judah was her consort, and when she produced the jewelry, he admitted that he may have fathered the child.

Seems like Thamar would be a woman in the Danielle Steel version of Dinah’s story.
 
Continuing on:

Genesis 36 says that Esau is the father of Edom. Like Elam it has been studied archaeologically. Even better Edom appears in both Assyrian and Egyptian historical records.

Genesis 37 and the story of Joseph’s brothers having envy about Jacob’s relationship with Joseph, that’s kinda scary. I’m the youngest, but I think my brothers were never jealous of me, They, being older, did things forbidden to me. So if there were any envy, it came from me. I have my own room, but I never had my own bathroom. I miss my brother’s, but now that i think about it, having a shorter line for the bathroom is kinda cool.

In Genesis 38, Judah had three sons. The first born, Her, married Thamar. Her died. Thamar dressed like a harlot, and Judah paid her one young sheep to rent her. He left jewerly as a pledge that he would pay her the sheep. She became pregnant. She was charged with adultery. She testified that Judah was her consort, and when she produced the jewelry, he admitted that he may have fathered the child.

Seems like Thamar would be a woman in the Danielle Steel version of Dinah’s story.
So true.
 
The stories of Dina and Thamar could combined to form a trashy novel. Maybe Leah, the unloved wife, could be the third woman.

Genesis 39

Joseph lived as a slave in Egypt. For a while he was in prison. I’m surprised the the Egyptians had prisons.

In Genesis 41 a famine forces people to buy food in Egypt.

Genesis 42 deals with the idea that sin causes misfortune. In one example, Joseph’s brothers go to Egypt to buy food. He recognizes them, and he holds one of them hostage while the others go home to fetch the youngest brother. They believe that this misfortune results from their having sold Joseph into slavery.

Misfortune as a result of sin is also a common idea in Buddhism.

The brothers return to Jacob, who does not want to let Benjamin go to Egypt. Reuben offers his sons as hostages for the safe return of Benjamin. That is definitely a Holy Cowabunga moment.

Life in Genesis seems cheap. For example, in Genesis 43, Jacob’s family eats the Egyptian grain before considering a second trip to Egypt while Simon, the brother, rots in an Egyptian prison, and Reuben offers his children as hostages.

Joseph, at least in the English translation, pays for the grain with money. One wonders what form the money took in the second millennium BC. Maybe silver.

So the famine continued in Genesis 43. Even in the famine, Jacob has “... a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds … “ to bride Joseph. That seems odd in a famine.

The brothers, all eleven, return to Egypt to buy grain. Joseph torments them. Why? Because he can?

The King James Bibe in Genesis 44 uses the word bondsman, which could mean slave. The absence of the word, slave, in the King James Bible might be an early indication of how Europeans had begun to turn against slavery.

In Genesis 45 the brothers return to Canaan, and Jacob decides to go to Egypt to see Joseph. In Genesis 46, Jacob takes his whole clan to Egypt, and we learn that “every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.” Okay, farmers hate shepards. That's why the Emperor of China built the Great Wall.

Joseph’s last confrontation with his brothers would make a great short story, or so it seems to me.
 
Genesis 47:26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's.

The description of Egypty in Genesis 47:26 sounds like the late eighteenth century France just before the French Revolution when the peasants paid taxes, but the clergy did not pay taxes.

Genesis 47:30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place.

Tradition says that the Patriarches are burried in modern Hebron on the West Bank in The Cave of the Patriarchs, whch is mentioned in Genesis 47:30. My impression is that it forms a sort Victory Mosque or Temple for both Muslims and Jews.

Genesis 48:22 mentions “the Amorite.” The Bible mentions the Amorite or the Amorites continually. I have no clue about why.

In Genesis 49 Jacob blesses his sons, and in the process he explains their nature. Judah, the father of the Jews, gets top billing(no supprise there), when Jacob says, “Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you.” It reminds me somewhat of how in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Professor Dumbledore explains the difference between Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin.

Genesis 50 says Joseph buried Jacob in Canaan with much pomp and ceremony. It also says that Joseph was buried in Egypt. By tradition, Joseph was buried at The Cave of the Patriarchs. Maybe that is a Muslim tradition.

Well, that is all of Genesis. I have this impression that only one verse has a major impact on Christianity.
 
Genesis 47:26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's.

The description of Egypty in Genesis 47:26 sounds like the late eighteenth century France just before the French Revolution when the peasants paid taxes, but the clergy did not pay taxes.

Genesis 47:30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place.

Tradition says that the Patriarches are burried in modern Hebron on the West Bank in The Cave of the Patriarchs, whch is mentioned in Genesis 47:30. My impression is that it forms a sort Victory Mosque or Temple for both Muslims and Jews.

Genesis 48:22 mentions “the Amorite.” The Bible mentions the Amorite or the Amorites continually. I have no clue about why.

In Genesis 49 Jacob blesses his sons, and in the process he explains their nature. Judah, the father of the Jews, gets top billing(no supprise there), when Jacob says, “Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you.” It reminds me somewhat of how in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Professor Dumbledore explains the difference between Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin.

Genesis 50 says Joseph buried Jacob in Canaan with much pomp and ceremony. It also says that Joseph was buried in Egypt. By tradition, Joseph was buried at The Cave of the Patriarchs. Maybe that is a Muslim tradition.

Well, that is all of Genesis. I have this impression that only one verse has a major impact on Christianity.
1. Why are you surprised that Egyptians had prisons?
2. Which one verse has the major impact?
 
1. Why are you surprised that Egyptians had prisons?
2. Which one verse has the major impact?

About Egyptian prisons:

I should have known about Egyptian prisons. I learned Joseph’s story in a Protestant sunday school. Besides that I was a harem dancer in a middle school production Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.

However, in school I learned about how Pharaoh was an absolute monarch. Maybe execution would be his preferred form of punishment. I read part of a book about juries, I think maybe the title was The American Jury. To find the title in this case Google helps very little since tons of folks write about juries. The introduction said that in Britain most felonies were capital crimes until within the last two centuries, so would pharaoh have been any different?

We think of prisons as places where convicts live for years, and then return to ordinary life. But we also think of prisons as places where people go prior to there execution. That must be the kind of prison in which Joseph was incarcerated.
 
1. Why are you surprised that Egyptians had prisons?
2. Which one verse has the major impact?

Genesis 3:15 must be the most important verse in Genesis. Theologians use it as a prediction of the coming of Christ. Catholics think it refers to the Virgin Mary, but Mary infers Christ, so seems to me, it amounts to the same thing. Disagreement about the details get heated, but I would take that as evidence of its importance.

From a Catholic view, Genesis has other important verses. (If anyone wants to know, my mother and father are Catholic, but the extended family is very ecumenical.)

Genesis 1:1, God created the world. Genesis 2:7, God created man, which according to my mother is God’s first mistake. Genesis 3:20, God created woman, which according to my mother is the goal of evolution. Genesis 2:16-17, God created obedience. Genesis 3:6, God created disobedience, which some say is the only sin. Genesis 3:19, God created consequences. Genesis 2:2 God created the sabbath. If I had my druthers, this would be the most important verse. Mass gets me charged for the week. It’s like stretching before weight training. Stand up, sit down. Stand up, sit down. Genesis 1:27-28, God created marriage.

That makes eleven verses rather than one. If I had to pick one, I would pick Genesis 3:15, but the lessons in the trashy, Anna-Karenina-like stories might offer more practical understanding.

Protestant Sunday schools teach children about the trashy stories, which in my experience include Adam and Eve, but not Dinah and Tamar, maybe for obvious reasons. The stories have a this-is-real-life-warts-and-all quality about them.
 
Genesis 3:15 must be the most important verse in Genesis. Theologians use it as a prediction of the coming of Christ. Catholics think it refers to the Virgin Mary, but Mary infers Christ, so seems to me, it amounts to the same thing. Disagreement about the details get heated, but I would take that as evidence of its importance.

From a Catholic view, Genesis has other important verses. (If anyone wants to know, my mother and father are Catholic, but the extended family is very ecumenical.)

Genesis 1:1, God created the world. Genesis 2:7, God created man, which according to my mother is God’s first mistake. Genesis 3:20, God created woman, which according to my mother is the goal of evolution. Genesis 2:16-17, God created obedience. Genesis 3:6, God created disobedience, which some say is the only sin. Genesis 3:19, God created consequences. Genesis 2:2 God created the sabbath. If I had my druthers, this would be the most important verse. Mass gets me charged for the week. It’s like stretching before weight training. Stand up, sit down. Stand up, sit down. Genesis 1:27-28, God created marriage.

That makes eleven verses rather than one. If I had to pick one, I would pick Genesis 3:15, but the lessons in the trashy, Anna-Karenina-like stories might offer more practical understanding.

Protestant Sunday schools teach children about the trashy stories, which in my experience include Adam and Eve, but not Dinah and Tamar, maybe for obvious reasons. The stories have a this-is-real-life-warts-and-all quality about them.
My fav in the book is Genesis 50:20
20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

I think that says sooooooo much about the Christian life.

Also important is Genesis 15:6
6 And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.
 
My fav in the book is Genesis 50:20
20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

I think that says sooooooo much about the Christian life.

Also important is Genesis 15:6
6 And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

When I read Genesis 50:20, I heard my father's voice in my head saying, "When your hand is in a toilet, look for a gold watch." That describes Joseph's life, and it describes my life, too. I definitely found the gold watch.

And Genesis 15:6 is a kind of early version of John 3:16. To be a Christian, yagotta believe. I always laugh when I think about that. Sometimes people think I'm being rude, but it is such a cool idea. It makes me want to get down and boogie.

So totally Red Rider, I agree. I could vote for those two verses.

To continue reading the Bible, I should open a thread for Exodus.
 
It might also be possible, but not entirely probable, that the grasses etc were created in seed form and would germinate in the presence of sunlight.
Personally I don't buy this, but it is an idea.

I don't think I've ever thought of the grass being created in seed form. I guess I kind of just thought of the grass just 'being' there.
I have to admit though I do think that God would enjoy watching His creation grow and mature.
 
I don't think I've ever thought of the grass being created in seed form. I guess I kind of just thought of the grass just 'being' there.
I have to admit though I do think that God would enjoy watching His creation grow and mature.

Since I started this thread, I have thought about how Genesis 1 might be a lesson in the creative process and about how ideas, questions, problems, solutions, or methods don't come in any particular order, and Genesis 1 might be an example there of.
 
Since I started this thread, I have thought about how Genesis 1 might be a lesson in the creative process and about how ideas, questions, problems, solutions, or methods don't come in any particular order, and Genesis 1 might be an example there of.

I'm inclined to agree with you. The longer I've been on this Christian journey, the more I realize I can't put God in a box. Just because my puny human understanding fails to grasp something, it doesn't mean it can't be done.
Whenever I struggle to comprehend something it's as if He gently reminds me of the words written in Isaiah. I love the way The Voice translates it;

"My thoughts and My ways are above and beyond you, just as heaven is far from your reach here on earth."
 
Cain and Abel

Abel must have been happy that his harvest was successful and that he had an offering for God. Cain must have had pride. Abel must have been happy that God accepted his offering. Maybe Abel had more than happy. Maybe he had pride, which resulted in his death. Cain must have had greed, or fear of not gaining God’s approval, He was sad and angry that God did not accept his offering. Cain had anxiety, fear of loss, that someone (In my head I hear Harry Potter’s owl croaking, “Who? Who?”) would kill him. He must have been sad that he left his family, but he must have been happy that he found a wife.
 
I love the book of Genesis and I grow more enamored of it as time goes by. I read it again, and think it can't hold any more surprises and discover new levels! As a child, it was my favorite book to stump the adults game (where did Cain & Abel get wives, etc. :^) later as an adult thinking everything was a metaphor to now where I have wandered to breath taking literal. I never would have guessed my educated trail would lead there. Reading thru these 4 pages of humorous, non rancorous. off kilter, and unexpected posts, I'm sorry I missed it.

RE: the Matrix. There are actually people who believe that like in the computer's virtual reality, the world we believe is real is illusion who function according to programming. Whereas, Christians believe that the soul is host to the flesh - in the Matrix, the flesh is the energy needed to uphold the reality, the "soul" is enslaved to the unreality. The 3 Matrix movies are fascinating. But then I adore science fiction - well and science too.

The Jewish apocrypha tells of a first wife to Adam, named Lilith who refused to acquiese to Adam's desire to be on top during intimacies. Lilith left, using the name of God, hooked up with a chief demon and became a demon herself. Apocrypha also indicates that Cain slew Abel because Abel got the sister Cain wanted as a wife.

I like when science appears to agree with scripture. Like the fact that the anatomy of snakes still shows where they used to have legs (grin)...or how 6 days could be seen also as 15 billion yrs.

@Abdicate - I loved your schmi?? erm 7th year rest study. Please let me know too how that comes out. I was born in 1952...

May God bless our ears, eyes, and hearts.
 
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