The sad joke of Genesis 1

Some of the arguments thrown about over what we can/should read out of Genesis 1 amuse me slightly. Ultimately though, when you look beyond the funny exterior, it is a deeply sad affair that this passage causes so much controversy. Doubtless the author expected the passage to bring unity to an Israelite nation surrounded by peoples with a whole range of unhelpful beliefs about creation. Whether or not the author intended it to address these foreign creation stories or not isn't entirely important, but the account we have of creation certainly does fly in the face of stories of the earth being created as a by-product of gods at war. It is hard to imagine that this passage is in anyway designed to cause a huge war of words over what it tells us about the exact scientific method used by God in creation - in fact it seems a little odd to use this as a scientific text on any level. To me these arguments really contain little interest, and I suspect the author of the passage would agree on that point. My reason is this: within this passage we find some absolutely phenomenal claims about the greatness of God. If these aren't to be our main focus in studying this text, then what does that say about our priorities? Certainly I'm not saying its wrong to try and see what restrictions this passage may put on our beliefs about creation, but if this dominates our thinking on this passage, and furthermore if this causes us to start accusing commited brothers and sisters who are earnestly seeking the truth of not really being Christians, then we need a reality check urgently. To be frank, I don't think it matters whether it took God six days to create the universe, or if he chose to use a process of evolution with each 'day' being a much longer period of time. I'm not even entirely convinced that it is intended to be anything more than a poetic structure to help illustrate more theological truth.

Looking at this passage a few things jump out and are worth dwelling on:

1. 
   
   "In the beginning" - God was there at the start of time, before the universe existed even.
2. 
   
   "And God said... and there was..." - God has incredible power, to create with a word
3. 
   
   "And God saw that it was good" - God creates as he intends to; with perfection
4. 
   
   "the first/second/... day" - God creates with order, creating and filling the universe in turn
5. 
   
   "God created man in his image" - God put representatives on earth, to reflect his character

There are obviously loads more great truths (and much more detailed explanations) that we can draw out of this passage, but even in these five we have much reason to worship and celebrate. It's always fine to debate all the implications of passages, and to disagree over what we think they say, but if we are dividing over the issue of what science this passage allows, whilst forgetting these great truths, then we just further add to the sad situation where Christians become a joke in the eyes of the world. In Christ we see the perfect human life lived out and, whilst at times he was seen as a joke by some, he never fell to ridicule for turning his eyes from God to argue over human concerns, so let's not make that our habit.

Touchdown

This whole blogging malarky looks fun, and I want in... luckily I am now in, so no need for tears. I figure I can just upload some random musings every now and again, and see where that lands me.

This is making me wonder a little at the moment, though perhaps it really is just as obvious as it seems... Appearing twice in Philippians 4:4 this is the second person plural imperative present active (or whatever order those words should appear in) form of the verb rejoice. I suppose at the simplest level it really is as simple as a command from Paul, to all the Philippian church, to rejoice constantly in view of everything God has done. My wondering is of course about how one goes about this on a daily basis - after all, Paul was a man who would rejoice in the face of suffering quite readily; for most of us that is, at best, incredible. Beyond simply reminding ourselves of the great blessings God has poured out, then responding by active seeking to respond with celebration, is there anything practically we can do? In itself that is already quite a lot of work, of course, but it never hurts to find practical ways to respond to God more fully. For now, I think, it is best left at this; then I can go on wondering some more at how something that should be so natural, should end up being so difficult in practice. As Jonathan Edwards put it:

"He has chosen you that you might be holy and without blame, that you might have your filth taken away, and that you might have the image of God put upon you, and that your soul might be adorned, to be the bride of his glorious and dear Son. What cause for love is here!"