Continuing through the account of the beginning of time, Genesis after the first three chapters moves into the story of Cain vs Abel (which I’ve also known of since childhood), a brief genealogy from Adam to Noah, as well as a brief genealogy of Cain’s descendants (which, ironically, have 2 names that are the same as the line that produced Noah, as well as a third, similarly placed, that is very similar but not quite the same…), and finally, the account of Noah and the flood.
In 2014, a movie about Noah and the flood came out. I never
saw it, nor do I plan to. I read reviews of the movie describing how the movie
portrayed God as an immature teenager who threw tantrums. Then I caught wind of
the executive director and his affiliation: Darren Aronofsky, who I've heard is an atheist. Well, no wonder!
[Back to "Noah": to drive the point further home, this one article has some even more pointed words than I to describe the film.]
While deception has been at an all-time high the last two
years, it has been gradually building for some time. One thing I’m noticing – a
personal confusion I had related to my faith that I also see at large in the world
– is a widespread confusion of who God is vs who Satan is.
(Briefly, when I say that I myself had confusion over this,
I mean to say that intellectually I knew that God was in heaven and that Satan
was connected with hell, but experientially, when bad things happened I assumed
for a long time that God was not only behind the bad things happening but that He
caused it. It really wasn’t until the last two years that I had that lie
broken, that those hard times when life felt really terrible was actually the
work of Satan, and not God, trying to hurt me.)
A verse that speaks clearly to this can be found in John 10:10 (NKJV): The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have
come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Jesus Himself is the one who said that, and still says that.
Considering that Jesus is truly the Son of God, and therefore God in the Second
Person, this would therefore mean that God is the one who wants us to have life
and have it to the full. Conversely, the thief (Satan, the devil, the enemy) is
the one who is the thief who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. Just this verse
alone, if I don’t use any other verse, clearly states that God is good and
Satan is bad. God loves you and Satan hates you. God wants to bless you and
take care of you and shower His love on you, and Satan wants nothing more than
to destroy you and hurt you and steal from you. It really could not be more
clear.
But that’s what I’ve needed for my faith. As great as the
Vineyard was in other ways, I cannot recall even one time when I heard any kind
of sermon that ever spelled this out for me. And as far as the Episcopal church
or the ELCA churches (Lutheran, for those who don’t know) I visited on occasion
during my period in exile, forget it; they didn’t preach about the devil, and
rarely did they preach about sin, unless it was related to a social/political topic
that they opposed.
Similarly, the last few years, this deception has been so
widespread that so many people don’t even know it! How, in a country founded on
(among other things), free will, and especially freedom of religion, and the freedom
to make our own independent choices, so many people favor mandates and forcing those
that disagree with them to comply with their agendas! If that isn’t wickedness,
I don’t know what is.
And yet, once we get into the story of Noah (not Aronofsky's movie), I see so many
parallels between Noah’s day and now. However, one key difference is that God
has promised to never again flood the earth, so even with said parallels, I
know that we can count on no flood occurring like it did in Noah’s day.
(Genesis 9:11)
Now, to the study: one thing that is jumping out to me is
the amount of time that Noah et al were in the ark. On the one hand, it rained
for 40 days and 40 nights. On the other hand, Noah et al had to remain in the
ark an additional 11 months after the rain stopped, including the time required
for the waters to recede and for the earth to dry up again, enough for God to
say, “OK, you may come out now.” (Genesis 8:11-16) I was reading through these
chapters, especially before the flood, and couldn’t help but notice the aforementioned
parallels. And then when God did what He did (not because He was an angry tyrant
upset at not getting His way – that’s not who He is; that describes Satan perfectly,
however) it was necessary for the floodwaters to remain an additional 150 days
after the rain stopped. It was necessary in order to wipe out all the evil in
the world.
I’m sad at how this part of scripture seems to get ignored
most places. Even in the church I grew up, after the first three chapters of
Genesis, I knew about Cain vs. Abel and about Noah and the flood, but that’s
it. I suspect that that’s about all most churches teach in this area of Scripture.
I do realize that there are parts of Scripture, particularly in the Old Testament,
that are decidedly unpopular because of what appears to be the “cruel,
upsetting nature” of some stories in the Bible: yes, God allowed all of earth to
be completely wiped out except for Noah and the animals that were chosen to
enter the ark; similarly He not only allowed but ordered cities like Jericho
and Ai, along with their inhabitants, to be completely destroyed (except for
Rahab and her family in Jericho, because she helped Joshua’s spies).
I get it; it’s not pleasant to read about these aspects of
history: “a people were utterly destroyed.” Unfortunately, genocides,
particularly over the last 100 years, have occurred, entirely for evil reasons,
and are seared (still) in the memory of many, as well as their descendants,
that the horror and pain associated with mass killings have left so many of us unable
to differentiate. Unfortunately, many people simply cannot differentiate
between genocides that have occurred for evil reasons vs times when God had to
wipe people out because of their evil ways. What we should be claiming back is the
truth about how much God simply hates evil. And in a day and age where it seems
like every other new movie that comes out, especially for children, appears to “repurpose”
an older film, retelling the same story but from the perspective of the
villain, to “explain” how and why “they became that way.” It’s a sneaky little
trick, among many other tricks, and sadly, it’s been working.
However, any honest history book will include events such as
these. The Holocaust did happen. The Rwandan genocide did happen. Along with other
similar horrific events. Similarly, Noah’s flood also happened. The difference
between the first two and the last is that the first two genocides occurred for
evil purposes, evil people killing innocent people; on the contrary, God let almost
all the planet’s inhabitants die because it was they who were all evil.
(Genesis 6:5-7)
Having done this reading program once before, at this point
the reading shifts over to the book of Job, after which it picks up back in
Genesis, beginning with the story of Abram (later Abraham), the father of the
nation of Israel. I have heard it thrown out there (from church-goers who
generally agree with the Bible but maybe not all of it) that the part of
Genesis before the days of Abraham may have been fabricated or exaggerated.
Having grown up indoctrinated by evolutionary science, that sounded good to me.
I could believe in Jesus and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and still
have the theory of the “Big Bang” still be true. However, as I grew in my
faith, I realized that I needed to decide whether I was going to trust all of
God’s word, even when I didn’t understand it, or not. God either wrote the whole
thing, or He didn’t.
[As for the “the Bible was written by humans” argument: their human
authors took dictation from the Holy Spirit. People physically wrote down the words,
but it was dictation, and not composition (writing whatever they felt like).]
I’m not planning to blog on every Bible reading I do; that would be 365 blog posts for every entry! On top of committing to continuing to post sermon notes from my church, as well as the occasional “miscellaneous” post (as I’m calling it for now), this would become a full-time job! I’ve already got one, as well as some other responsibilities in the works. But I will as things jump out to me that I feel perhaps God may want me to post. Or perhaps in my spirit I want to share.