Thursday, September 18, 2008

Genesis


It was a book which greatly influenced me in my childhood (even today) with it’s unique story of creation then the rude sounding story of expelling Adam and Eve from the garden.

I have listened an hour long sermon a pastor preached trying to prove that 6 days of creation weren’t really 24 hrs days instead 1000 years days. All because somewhere in Bible it said 1000 years is like one day to God. Some people find it so difficult to believe that God really created the dry land in 24 hours. Using my limited common sense I thought that was ludicrous to think that way. If God took 1000 years for creating light (for example), what does it mean? Did he create a little light such as a candle light and waited 1000 years to get it evolved to sun and moon and stars? Or did he do a lot of research in his heavenly laboratory to figure out how he can produce light which will cover the entire earth? Or was he raising fund for this experiment? I thought he just SPOKE and it came into existence.

The way he created man was amazing. It was a unique creation. He didn’t just utter ‘Let there be a man’, but he was really involved in his creation. I had a picture of an artist with a long grayish hair and long beard, who is specialized in creating sculptures, bending down near to the sculpture's face and breathing his breath in to it through the nostrils. All of a sudden the sculpture became alive and started moving. His heart started beating, his skin became glossy, he can now think, see, taste, hear and talk. It’s pretty amazing, if we think.

My Mom always wanted us to read Bible from cover to cover and there were some special days such as the week of Easter, which is considered holier than any other week, she would insist us to take up our reading.

Then I would pick the only bible we had then and start reading loudly from Genesis chapter 1. As far as I can remember I had read it may be up to the sixth chapter then I will yawn and feel tired. I even thought, 'why am I reading this fairy tale?' I will look around to see if my Mom is there, if she isn’t then I will slowly close the Bible sneak out to play.

I thought God was rude not to let Adam and Eve eat from that one tree. He sounded even ruder when he said ‘when you eat of it you will surely die’. That wasn’t fair, I thought. But until few years ago, I didn’t even know that Adam didn’t really 'die' on the day he ate that fruit. It came to me as a huge revelation where I almost jumped out of joy. I read he lived 930 years and produced few children. A dead man cannot produce children!

So, did God lie? Did He say that they will die if they eat that fruit just to scare them? Was it to show them that He is capable enough to take their lives if He wants? Did he have a superiority complex?

Then the revelation hit my brain, a light bulb went on. He died spiritually! He didn't die physically or even mentally. It is very difficult for a mentally dead person to produce children! The element of godliness in his being left Him. He lost his wholeness and was broken. The spirit of God indwelled Him is no more indwelling him. It left an emptiness in Him. It opened the eyes of his flesh and he found that he was naked. He didn't feel close to God and he tried to hide. He felt unfulfilled and restless. He gained his knowledge of good and evil, declared his independence from God and lost (spiritual) LIFE. Wow! Now it makes sense why Jesus came to give us LIFE and He is called the 'second Adam'. Now it makes sense what it means to be 'born-again', being born from God and indwelled by his spirit. Now it makes sense why we feel so unfulfilled and restless until we find that life in God. Now it makes sense why we feel so empty even after gaining all the money, fame, glamor and power.

When ever I get a revelation from Bible, I get so excited that I feel that I will die if I don’t share it with someone. I hadn’t started blogging then (about 5 years ago). I hadn't even heard about such a thing. So I preach to my wife and she would try to conjure up her entire energy to listen to my long, boring, theological ramblings. Then she will yawn. Then I will feel sad and discouraged. (Now a days my preaching to her is not about Adam and Eve but about the difference between law and grace) These days she has learned to yawn while keeping her mouth closed. I wouldn’t even know if she really yawned until I see tears in her eyes. Now I am practicing it as it is very helpful while attending some meetings at work. I wish I had known this technique earlier while I was in the "church".

Recently when I got a chance to share some spiritual stuff with my Mom, the first thing I told was that Adam didn’t really physically die on that day and explained to her what it meant. It said, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image. If the Dad was dead, his son was also dead; and all of us, down to this century born dead spiritually into this world, helplessly fallen short of god's glory. No wonder why we don't have to teach people to sin, they will learn it by their own. The restoration, forgiveness and life Jesus offered makes much sense now.

There is sin, independence, deception, ungodliness, sacrifice, blood, covering, grace, law, punishment, death and pretty much everything scattered throughout Bible, are in the book of Genesis. Tear the book out and the entire Bible wouldn’t make any sense at all. Thank God, for using your servant Moses to write down this book for us!

16 comments:

lydia said...

"These days she has learned to yawn while keeping her mouth closed. I wouldn’t even know if she really yawned until I see tears in her eyes." - Bino you had me rolling laughing on this........!!!!
I know what you mean about getting a revelation on something and you just have to tell someone, you just can keep quiet....... !!

Jamie said...

We as believers can now look at the world and see "dead men walking." A lot of people like to apply that phrase to Christians, and it's true our Adamic, sin nature is dead, but we have been made alive again through Christ's indwelling Life.
Isn't it interesting that it took Adam's body so long to die physically? The remnants of eternal Spirit life still clung to his flesh. How long will it take for eternal Spirt life to work out through our flesh? Do we think it's even possible? Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

Bino,
I love your description of Adam and Eve's relationship with Father in Genesis. Just beautiful how you laid it out.
So true how they didn't "die" in the physical sense immediately (but went on to live many, many more years) but did die spiritually. And how wonderful it was for Jesus Christ to come and renew our relationship with Papa!

"No wonder why we don't have to teach people to sin, they will learn it by their own. The restoration, forgiveness and life Jesus offered makes much sense now..There is sin, independence, deception, ungodliness, sacrifice, blood, covering, grace, law, punishment, death and pretty much everything scattered throughout Bible, are in the book of Genesis. Tear the book out and the entire Bible wouldn’t make any sense at all. Thank God, for using your servant Moses to write down this book for us!" -Bino

Amen! Thank goodness, indeed, that we have Genesis (and all the other OT books) because they are important to all of us in understanding our history, to know God in relationship to us better, and to see His amazing work, and love AS AN ENTIRE OVERALL PICTURE of His relaitonship with humanity FROM THE BEGINNING. How awesome is that?! To be able to KNOW the entire Journey of Mankind!

Ha ha ha ha! I loved your mentioning preaching to your wife and her yawns evolving into closed-mouth, teary-eyed ones. I just loved your little story there.

Well, I must say that I get a lot out of your blog posts, Bino. I always look forward to reading them.

Blessings,
~Amy
http://amyiswalkinginthespirit.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Bino,
That was really a good post, very enjoyable and involved things which have often been in my mind. Great insight! On an encouraging note, I can relate to your wife lol, my wife often does the same thing to me as you do to your wife :-) however I have to say, if it were not for her inspirations, sudden revelations, and ardent searching for the truth, I would still be the depressed, legalistic, can't do good enough to please God so I surely I will be cast out from His presence in the last day person I used to be. Don't stop that preaching!! Every word of truth has a fertile growing spot in the heart of the ones we love.
Ron

Leonard said...

Fun read thanks....

Joel Brueseke said...

Bino,

I've been meaning to comment on this for a couple of days. In short, I'll just say, "great post!" :)

The whole "First Adam / Second Adam" thing is something that I don't think is very much understood today, except that the first Adam is Adam and the second Adam is Jesus. Beyond that, I don't think it's really understood what that means, so I love what you said here about all of that.

I can also relate to your preaching to your wife... LOL! My pastor asked me one time about what my wife thinks about all the various things that I have to say about grace and such, and I put it to him very simply: My wife is quite content with "saved by grace, apart from works." Period. End. Nothing else needs to be said. :)

Of course she knows and understands that there is more to it than that, but she's not really all that interested in hearing me talk about it all the time! That's probably why I talk about it all the time with whoever else will listen to me. ;)

Joel Brueseke said...

BTW,

Speaking of my pastor... I haven't seen him or talked with him for over a year (since I haven't been "going to church"), and he called me a few weeks ago and said he'd like to get together. So we're getting together this coming Thursday.

He's a wonderful man, and we've had some great talks in the past, and have agreed to disagree on a few things (regarding law & works, and the predominant teaching of 'principles' in the church), and I don't want to come into this 'meeting' with any agenda other than what God wants. I ask you all for your prayers.

Bino M. said...

Lydia,
Thanks! :)

RJW,
To me, one of the biggest revelation regarding salvation was that it isn't just getting our sins forgiven. Forgiveness was a pre-requisite to impart life to us. A cleansing before God can dwell in us. Since we are cleansed for ever, He is going to dwell for ever!

I agree with you about the "dead men walking". Salvation is really an issue of dead people being alive. Jesus said, He came to give us LIFE (the life we lost in Adam).

I am not sure if it was the remnants of eternal spirit clinging to his flesh is what made Adam live 930 years. Interesting thought though!

Bino M. said...

Amy,
As I get more clarity on the New Covenant, I am being more interested in learning from OT. It may sound ironic but it is amazing how the OT was loudly pointing us to Jesus and the NEW covenant he was going to assure us into and the differences it was going to make.

I think OT is there for a reason : to understand the significance, majesty and beauty of New covenant. But unfortunately people use the OT for all the wrong reasons.

Glad this post helped you!

Ron,
Thank you!
I can totally relate to what you shared about your wife. My wife, though she is not 'crazy' like me about all these stuff, she has been a great encouragement to me. Even while I was trapped in religion and riding the roller coaster christian life, she was quite steady and she told me later she knew that it was God's grace alone what sustains us. On the contrary, I believed we were saved through grace but sustained through 'works'.
My wife often simplifies things for me :) There were many things I thought were very complicated but she can put everything into perspective through simple, spontaneous sentences.

Thanks for sharing!

Bino M. said...

Leonard,
Thanks!

Joel,
I think one of the reason for a lot of confusion around Christian beliefs is the lack of understanding of basic things such as salvation. Many people do not even know what salvation really is. You ask 10 people how they define salvation, you get 11 answers!

For some people it is getting our sins forgiven, for some it is going to heaven one day etc, while all these are true it's not the full picture. One answer you may not even get is - the salvation is imparting LIFE. Jesus said He came to give us LIFE. The obvious question is why we needed life in the first place? because we were DEAD! And that takes us back to the story of Adam and what happened to him on the day he sinned.

"First Adam / Second Adam" thing is really amazing!

Hey, I will pray for your meeting with your pastor. You don't need an agenda, just go with the flow. Let Jesus love him through you. He can talk to him through you.

Joel Brueseke said...

A friend of mine was once talking about "methods" for "witnessing," and she said that she often asks people if they know if they're going to heaven or not. I understand what she means by that, and heaven indeed is not a bad thing to know about in regards to salvation (!) but really the question falls short of what salvation really is. Like you say, for some "salvation" simply means that they'll go off to heaven someday. Or for others it simply means that they're forgiven. But yep, it's much more than that.

I'm reading Jim Robbins' book "Recover Your Good Heart." In one part he's talking about the issue of "life," and he mentions a few verses about life, such as the verse about "abundant life," and "the letter kills but the Spirit gives life."

Robbins says:

"But don't we typically interpret those verses on 'life' to mean 'life after death,' or 'the life to come' rather than the life right here and now? This is part of our problem. Dallas Willard suggests that a perfectly adequate understanding of 'salvation' in the New Testament is 'life.' The Gospel is an offer of life, a vibrancy of heart and being, lived in the very vitality of Jesus himself - this moment..."

I pray for people to know life right here and now, rather than just thinking they're sinners who are fortunately forgiven, and who are living a life that is nothing more than waiting for that day by and by "when we all get to heaven." I think it's a wonderful, wonderful thing to look forward to, but right now we have Christ's very life, so I hope people will come to see it as a present reality.

Bino M. said...

Joel,
You made it even more clearer. I am intrigued by "Recover Your Good Heart." The quotes sound great! It resonate well with my understanding of the 'life' issue. I think I will get this book.

Yes, it is about "life right here and now". Heaven is our eternal destination but we don't have wait till then to experience the life Jesus offered, the life regenerated us, the life which made us born again, the life which made us alive to God.

Thinking logically - if we are to wait till we reach heaven to experience his life, what is the significance of regeneration today?

You know, people keep talking about 'end times' and even dedicate their entire ministry to teach about end times. But Jesus said, do not worry tomorrow. Live today! and trust Jesus for tomorrow.

The Gospel is an offer of life, a vibrancy of heart and being, lived in the very vitality of Jesus himself - this moment...

Wonderfully said!

Thanks for sharing this...

Ike said...

Bino,
I agree with you and Joel that the believer has life now. My wife has cancer. She has had more organs removed than you have fingers on both hands. She is finally done with her chemo infusions....and we are thankful for that!!! but she has been in a lot of pain. I can tell you that she we be glad when she will some day get that new body....a perfect one!!!!

Bino M. said...

Ike,
I am sorry that your wife has cancer. I will keep her in my prayer.
We have a new spirit and new heart but we still have the old body which is aging and deteriorating. But the good news is that we are going to get a new perfect body one day. Until then this is what we have and we have to deal with this. This is true for all of us. None of us are less prone to any disease.

My son, who is 2 years old has a skin disease called Vitiligo, a condition that he loses the pigmentation of his skin. Today's medical science categorize it as an autoimmune disease. It's been very tough on me and my wife. Though he is physically okay, it has a very tough emotional, social and psychological impact on all of us.

Joel Brueseke said...

Bino,

I really like Jim's book. I'd have to say that as with a lot of books, I don't necessarily agree with all of the theology, but the overall point of the book is that we are new creations who have new hearts. We aren't the same as before we were born again. Instead of living with a focus on sin and external rules and principles, we have a new heart that is indwelled by Christ, and we live from there. I told Jim I would review the book, so hopefully I'll finish the book soon and post a review.

Ike said...

Bino,
Thanks for your prayers. I will pray for your son. I will also pray that the Father will take your children and give them to His Son. I might check in once in a while but I think I'm done commenting.
One last thought.....if you ever have the time.....google Paul Washer and listen to his sermon on regeneration or any of his sermons. God bless you my brother. I'll see you on the other side when we will worship Him forever, and "we" will agree on everything!! Bye Amy!!!