FIRST FLESH
I.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creepers creeping on the earth.
27 And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heavens, and all animals that move upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold! I have given you every herb seeding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree seeding seed; to you it shall be for food.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to every creeper on the earth which has in it a living soul shall be every green plant is for food; and it was so.
31 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
(MKJV)
Eden.
Say it again.
Eden.
Some psychologists think all our efforts are based on our longing to return to paradise. That place of perfection buried in our racial memory. Of course, they see that paradise as where we were ape cousins, a place lush, verdant, a savanna, warm, food growing all over. Or perhaps the jungle. Overgrown. Pre-us safe in the trees like lemurs or chimps. Natural predators mere mammals like us. The dinosaurs wiped out by a meteor. Our supposed ancestors loved the timelessness, the heat, the greenery, the free food, the joy of just living.
But supposedly evolution robbed us of that with the silly accidental arrival of the developed cerebral cortex. We are said to have a triune brain:
The brain is made of three main parts: the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. The forebrain consists of the cerebrum, thalamus, and hypothalamus (part of the limbic system). The midbrain consists of the tectum and tegmentum. The hindbrain is made of the cerebellum, pons and medulla.
The triune brain is a model of the evolution of the vertebrate forebrain and behavior, proposed by the American physician and neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean. MacLean originally formulated his model in the 1960s and propounded it at length in his 1990 book
As Carl Sagan observed in The Dragons of Eden:
"Despite the intriguing localization of brain function in the triune model, it is...an oversimplification to insist on perfect separation of function. Human ritual and emotional behavior are certainly influenced strongly by neocortical abstract reasoning; analytical demonstrations of the validity of purely religious beliefs have been proffered, and there are philosophical justifications for hierarchical behavior, such as Thomas Hobbes' "demonstration" of the divine right if kings...
"Nevertheless, wile bearing these caveats in mind, it seems a useful first approximation to consider the ritualistic and hierarchical aspects of our lives to be influenced strongly by the R.complex and shared with our reptilian forebears; the altruistic, emotional and religious aspects of our lives to be localized to a significant extent in the limbic system and shared with our non-primate forebears(and perhaps the birds); and reason to be a function of the neocortex...While ritual, emotion and reasoning are all significant aspects of human nature, the most nearly unique human characteristic is the ability to associate abstractly and to reason. Curiosity and the urge to solve probelms are the emotional hallmarks of our species..."
But there were further problems with this idea: http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/capsules/histoire_bleu09.html
Evolutionary theory on our sudden appearance: First in a female of the species, then 2500 years later in a male. This is from a study made by reversing evolution in genes. The problem with this being: if evolution doesn't exist, then the scientists doing the research were merely mutating healthy genes to arrive at a conclusion they had preordained. Another problem being that a female arriving with "our" genes would have had to mate with a male of the same genetic mutation to "fix" that genetic change. Meaning a lone female with this change would have died and taken that mutation with her, probably forever. Only a pair mating together will permanently seal that change in a species. If you raise animals like dogs or horses or cattle, you know breeding procedures work that way, to crossbreed until you arrive at a desirable trait, then you breed the litter members with that trait together over generations to keep that trait, to "fix" it.
The Bible tells it differently. Curiously, what it describes better "scientifically" explains the human "evolution" that "fixed" our cerebral neocortex than what science has concocted. The Bible says openly the male and female were created together, then says surreptitiously that their children mated, never stating the obvious openly. But castigating Cain for marrying outside the "family." (More in a later blog on that.)
Think of our first home.
In any case, we would surely miss Eden since God created the perfect place for us. It was in the Tigris-Euphrates area:
Tigris-Euphrates river system,![Tigris–Euphrates river system [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]](https://media1.britannica.com/eb-media/50/5950-004-D71E89EE.jpg)
great river system of southwestern Asia. It comprises the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which follow roughly parallel courses through the heart of the Middle East. The lower portion of the region that they define, known asMesopotamia (Greek: “Land Between the Rivers”), was one of the cradles of civilization.
We were created directly from the elements of the Earth. Every chemical analysis made of our bodies shows that to be true. Sagan, in Cosmos, suggested: "We are all made of star stuff." since the modern theory suggests stars live and die and produce the elements which go into shaping planets. But that merely means those things of the Earth from which we were created are even more remarkable, more a sign of the power and depth of the design. Science that seeks to reduce us to mere accident consistently arrives at the conclusion our creation was planned from the start.
And they looked out on the universe. He shaped for the first time, the first time humans saw it, the stars, space, the sun, moon, Everything fresh and they walked in genuine wonder.
Modern man seeks the wonder underlying the universe.
Our First Flesh was the result of a great deal of design, of purpose, of cause. Years ago, that theory of quantum reality did not mesh with the ideas of relativity. It didn't make sense, one of the things discussed by Michael Brooks in the book 13 Things That Don't Make Sense. In the 1927 Solvay physics conference, a plethora of experts met to formally and informally discuss this mismatch of theories. Physics strove then and strives now to explain the nature of the universe. Relativity was fine except radiation was discovered and didn't fit the way the theory works. Which eventually led to the quantum theory. Which didn't mesh with relativity theory. String theory, the idea that the universe is composed a tiny strings that vibrates at different rates and hold things together was the most promising answer. All of this having meaning to our discussion because of the informal meetings between Einstein and Neils Bohr, two resounding scientific geniuses trying to reason out the fact that certain things occurred for which there was no explanation under current theories.
"They had two entirely different philosophical approaches to dealing with that mystery however, To Bohr, it meant some things might be beyond the scope of science. To Einstein, it meant something was wrong with the theory; it was here in this hotel that Einstein made his famous remark that "God doesn't play dice." Bohr's reaction faces up to scientists' biggest frustration: that they don't get to set the rules. 'Einstein," he said, "Stop telling God what to do." (page 2-3)
String theory itself began to unravel (Yes, I couldn't resist.) In 1997 when light from a distant supernova was analyzed by astronomers and they discovered the universe was actually expanding and speeding up in the expansion. This, it should be noted, could easily be seen as a disproof of the Big Bang since the energy of that would logically be in the process of dissipating and so the universe should be slowing. But discarding that would mean something else must have started the universe in motion and that could lead to God sooo...Scientists after a theory of everything are certain a theory must exist to explain it, Some "dark energy". Why not "light energy", you know as in "Let there be..." is anyone's guess.
1. In the beginning--a period of remote and unknown antiquity, hid in the depths of eternal ages; and so the phrase is used in Pr 8:22,23.
God--the name of the Supreme Being, signifying in Hebrew, "Strong," "Mighty." It is expressive of omnipotent power; and by its use here in the plural form, is obscurely taught at the opening of the Bible, a doctrine clearly revealed in other parts of it, namely, that though God is one, there is a plurality of persons in the Godhead--Father, Son, and Spirit, who were engaged in the creative work (Pr 8:27; Joh 1:3,10; Eph 3:9; Heb 1:2; Job 26:13).
the heaven and the earth--the universe. This first verse is a general introduction to the inspired volume, declaring the great and important truth that all things had a beginning; that nothing throughout the wide extent of nature existed from eternity, originated by chance, or from the skill of any inferior agent; but that the whole universe was produced by the creative power of God (Acts 17:24; Romans 11:36). After this preface, the narrative is confined to the earth.
All this to lead to our next section. Keeping in mind we were created with a complexity we could only touch on in a million blogs, one I've given just a breathe of touch here, we were the Crown of Creation. But a crown created to serve. Created. Serve. "Take care of this for me while I'm gone." No promise of anything else. Like a Father grooming a child. You let the child do this one small thing and let them prove they can take care of the small things, let them build their confidence, then give them something bigger. "Here, mow the lawn." Then, when you see they can handle that: "Okay. Let's learn how to drive the car."
Our First Flesh was made for this world and was being honed for something more.
(The Twitter for Christian persecution: https://twitter.com/persecutionind?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
I.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creepers creeping on the earth.
27 And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heavens, and all animals that move upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold! I have given you every herb seeding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree seeding seed; to you it shall be for food.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to every creeper on the earth which has in it a living soul shall be every green plant is for food; and it was so.
31 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
(MKJV)
Eden.
Say it again.
Eden.
Some psychologists think all our efforts are based on our longing to return to paradise. That place of perfection buried in our racial memory. Of course, they see that paradise as where we were ape cousins, a place lush, verdant, a savanna, warm, food growing all over. Or perhaps the jungle. Overgrown. Pre-us safe in the trees like lemurs or chimps. Natural predators mere mammals like us. The dinosaurs wiped out by a meteor. Our supposed ancestors loved the timelessness, the heat, the greenery, the free food, the joy of just living.
But supposedly evolution robbed us of that with the silly accidental arrival of the developed cerebral cortex. We are said to have a triune brain:
The brain is made of three main parts: the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. The forebrain consists of the cerebrum, thalamus, and hypothalamus (part of the limbic system). The midbrain consists of the tectum and tegmentum. The hindbrain is made of the cerebellum, pons and medulla.
The triune brain is a model of the evolution of the vertebrate forebrain and behavior, proposed by the American physician and neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean. MacLean originally formulated his model in the 1960s and propounded it at length in his 1990 book
As Carl Sagan observed in The Dragons of Eden:
"Despite the intriguing localization of brain function in the triune model, it is...an oversimplification to insist on perfect separation of function. Human ritual and emotional behavior are certainly influenced strongly by neocortical abstract reasoning; analytical demonstrations of the validity of purely religious beliefs have been proffered, and there are philosophical justifications for hierarchical behavior, such as Thomas Hobbes' "demonstration" of the divine right if kings...
"Nevertheless, wile bearing these caveats in mind, it seems a useful first approximation to consider the ritualistic and hierarchical aspects of our lives to be influenced strongly by the R.complex and shared with our reptilian forebears; the altruistic, emotional and religious aspects of our lives to be localized to a significant extent in the limbic system and shared with our non-primate forebears(and perhaps the birds); and reason to be a function of the neocortex...While ritual, emotion and reasoning are all significant aspects of human nature, the most nearly unique human characteristic is the ability to associate abstractly and to reason. Curiosity and the urge to solve probelms are the emotional hallmarks of our species..."
But there were further problems with this idea: http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/capsules/histoire_bleu09.html
MacLean’s concept of the “reptilian brain” also has its share of problems. First of all, we now know that the brains of current reptiles contain a cortex organized into layers, just like the brains of mammals. Reptiles were long thought to have a very small cortex and a large striatum (a structure more primitive than the cortex), but this idea was based on an erroneous anatomical interpretation that has since been corrected. The error was that the dorsal ventricular ridge in reptiles—a mass of neurons in their anterior brain—was thought to be analogous to the striatum in mammals, which lies in a similar position. And because the mammalian striatum is involved in executing movements in potential reward situations, a primitive, “reptilian” role was erroneously ascribed to this dorsal ventricular ridge. But subsequently, neurochemical data and the nature of this structure’s connections have shown that it is actually part of the reptile’s cortex.
Now that we know that the brains of current reptiles have such a well developed cortex, it is hard to speak in terms of a “reptilian brain” whose functions are purely visceral. And equally hard to sustain MacLean’s theory that the human brain has been built up in successive layers, the oldest of which resembles the brain of current reptiles.
Today’s mammals and reptiles do indeed have a common, “reptilian” ancestor, but we know almost nothing about the structure of its brain. It was probably simpler, somewhat like an amphibian brain today. From this common ancestor, the brains of reptiles and mammals took divergent paths of differentiation. This means that the cortex of current mammals is not “more recent” than that of current reptiles; the two evolved according to the differing constraints to which they were subjected, thus resulting in the two different forms of cortex that we see in mammals and reptiles today.
I mention all this here, in a Biblical blog, because I want us to see a couple things.
First, the triune idea got such popularity since it confirmed the notions of Freud about the three levels of thought and then because it enforced the ideas you see both the science writers above using: the we are directly descended through evolution from the fish, then the reptile, then the primates and then into our "special" neocortex. But, as the second writer suggests even as he still clings to the notions, modern reptilian study clearly blasts the idea out of the water. Even as watching a cat will discourage any notions Sagan suggested that we are the only curious creatures.
Second, we cling to our precious theories despite their failings. We want them to be true. Our notions are defined by the theories we are raised on, by the books we study, by things said or written by our idols, men like Sagan, a now-dead hero to nerds everywhere.
Meanwhile, we can see the same phyical evidence as proof that a master designer built life to suit this environment and used the design from the beginning, from the smallest function of a single celled animal all the way up to his final creation of human beings. We can see the building blocks and we can see even more that the blocks were designed to fit together and share function from the start. The reason a fish brain was designed to handle automatic functions ike breathing and heart beat was that God knew his higher level life would be too busy ding other things to do that unconsciously. We can see that the specific levels of creation match the appearance of each of the various animals in their discovery in the fossil record. We can marvel at the plan.
But scientists who believe in evolution, who are constantly given evidence of this and of the miscues of their beliefs cling to their system becoming the new priesthood that worships a "god" of nature who created us with "natural selection" even as they deny such "reptilian" thinking. Go back to the idea of our "arrival" on Earth.
Evolutionary theory on our sudden appearance: First in a female of the species, then 2500 years later in a male. This is from a study made by reversing evolution in genes. The problem with this being: if evolution doesn't exist, then the scientists doing the research were merely mutating healthy genes to arrive at a conclusion they had preordained. Another problem being that a female arriving with "our" genes would have had to mate with a male of the same genetic mutation to "fix" that genetic change. Meaning a lone female with this change would have died and taken that mutation with her, probably forever. Only a pair mating together will permanently seal that change in a species. If you raise animals like dogs or horses or cattle, you know breeding procedures work that way, to crossbreed until you arrive at a desirable trait, then you breed the litter members with that trait together over generations to keep that trait, to "fix" it.
The Bible tells it differently. Curiously, what it describes better "scientifically" explains the human "evolution" that "fixed" our cerebral neocortex than what science has concocted. The Bible says openly the male and female were created together, then says surreptitiously that their children mated, never stating the obvious openly. But castigating Cain for marrying outside the "family." (More in a later blog on that.)
Think of our first home.
9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[a] and onyx are also there.)13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.[b] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
In any case, we would surely miss Eden since God created the perfect place for us. It was in the Tigris-Euphrates area:
Tigris-Euphrates river system,
great river system of southwestern Asia. It comprises the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which follow roughly parallel courses through the heart of the Middle East. The lower portion of the region that they define, known asMesopotamia (Greek: “Land Between the Rivers”), was one of the cradles of civilization.
The two rivers have their sources within 50 miles (80 km) of each other in easternTurkey and travel southeast through northern Syria and Iraq to the head of thePersian Gulf. The total length of the Euphrates (Sumerian: Buranun; Akkadian: Purattu; biblical: Perath; Arabic: Al-Furāt; Turkish: Fırat) is about 1,740 miles (2,800 km). The Tigris (Sumerian: Idigna; Akkadian: Idiklat; biblical: Hiddekel; Arabic: Dijlah; Turkish: Dicle) is about 1,180 miles (1,900 km) in length.
The rivers usually are discussed in three parts: their upper, middle, and lower courses. The upper courses are restricted to the valleys and gorges of easternAnatolia, through which the rivers descend from their sources, lying 6,000 to 10,000 feet (1,800 to 3,000 metres) above sea level. Their middle courses traverse the uplands of northern Syria and Iraq, at elevations varying from 1,200 feet (370 metres) at the foot of the so-called Kurdish Escarpment to 170 feet (50 metres) where the rivers empty onto the plain of central Iraq. Finally, their lower courses meander across that alluvial plain, which both rivers have created jointly. At Al-Qurnah the rivers join to form the Shatt al-Arab in the southeastern corner of Iraq, which empties into the sea.
And we read of rivers throughout Scripture, echoing that call to our past:
The eternal living water calls, called to them back then.
By any stretch of the imagination, the "Garden of Eden" could have covered a vast area. I want this in your mind so you can begin to see the size of this discussion. We are talking about an area as large as several Middle Eastern countries. Some of my contemporaries wish to limit the expanse to certain areas around the rivers, where they cross, where they are nearest or farthest. I stink at geography but I do know that one river alone will alter it's flow over the course of years, cutting new wider swathes here, shrinking there. Considering the number of years since Eden, we are foolish to say specifically where it must have been. Worse, those efforts reduce the Garden in our minds. Imagine God giving them a massive mansion and we, in our minds, shrink it to a clothes closet.
Remember, He created the whole universe around us. The stars, planets, the nebula, the dark matter, the quantum singularities. He magnetized the Earth to repel various forms of radiation. The odds were a few million to one this universe itself could ever exist so scientists postulate there must be millions more existing in quantum reality to have it make any sense of the odds of this one being. One scientist even suggested we came from some sort of intercosmic bubble and here is somewhere these bubbles grow. The scientist was Isaac Asimov who wrote science fiction and it relates here since he proposed it in his Guide to the Bible. (The book offers the perfect example of someone who doesn't understand the Bible at all impressing the little he knows of God and the many things he knows of science on it.) One can also look at it that the odds are actually 100% in favor of this universe existing just because it does exist. Also the odds are the same if a Supreme Being decided to create it.
God made a perfect environment filled with enough wonder to pack all our days in awe if we merely stop and look at it. Stop to admire the roses. The stars. The blue and black of our skies and the pastiche at nightfall and breaking dawn. The varied birds. There are people who spend their entire lifetime studying birds and don't think it odd or a waste. And insects. And whales. and fish. Light. Light can be a broad engulfing something we dub daylight or the precisely channeled force of a laser.
Life is so huge, we all end up some type of specialist.
Now, imagine the people who first walked this planet who had the first semblance of reason and thought above the animals. Consider it as we reprint their creation story:
Ge 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. {of the dust...: Heb. dust of the ground}
8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. {Ethiopia: Heb. Cush}
14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. {toward...: or, eastward to Assyria}
15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. {the man: or, Adam}
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: {thou...: Heb. eating thou shalt eat}
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. {thou shalt surely...: Heb. dying thou shalt die}
18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. {meet...: Heb. as before him}
19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. {Adam: or, the man}
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. {gave: Heb. called}
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. {made: Heb. builded}
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. {Woman: Heb. Isha} {Man: Heb. Ish}
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
(KJV)
8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. {Ethiopia: Heb. Cush}
14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. {toward...: or, eastward to Assyria}
15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. {the man: or, Adam}
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: {thou...: Heb. eating thou shalt eat}
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. {thou shalt surely...: Heb. dying thou shalt die}
18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. {meet...: Heb. as before him}
19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. {Adam: or, the man}
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. {gave: Heb. called}
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. {made: Heb. builded}
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. {Woman: Heb. Isha} {Man: Heb. Ish}
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
(KJV)
We were created directly from the elements of the Earth. Every chemical analysis made of our bodies shows that to be true. Sagan, in Cosmos, suggested: "We are all made of star stuff." since the modern theory suggests stars live and die and produce the elements which go into shaping planets. But that merely means those things of the Earth from which we were created are even more remarkable, more a sign of the power and depth of the design. Science that seeks to reduce us to mere accident consistently arrives at the conclusion our creation was planned from the start.
And they looked out on the universe. He shaped for the first time, the first time humans saw it, the stars, space, the sun, moon, Everything fresh and they walked in genuine wonder.
Modern man seeks the wonder underlying the universe.
Our First Flesh was the result of a great deal of design, of purpose, of cause. Years ago, that theory of quantum reality did not mesh with the ideas of relativity. It didn't make sense, one of the things discussed by Michael Brooks in the book 13 Things That Don't Make Sense. In the 1927 Solvay physics conference, a plethora of experts met to formally and informally discuss this mismatch of theories. Physics strove then and strives now to explain the nature of the universe. Relativity was fine except radiation was discovered and didn't fit the way the theory works. Which eventually led to the quantum theory. Which didn't mesh with relativity theory. String theory, the idea that the universe is composed a tiny strings that vibrates at different rates and hold things together was the most promising answer. All of this having meaning to our discussion because of the informal meetings between Einstein and Neils Bohr, two resounding scientific geniuses trying to reason out the fact that certain things occurred for which there was no explanation under current theories.
"They had two entirely different philosophical approaches to dealing with that mystery however, To Bohr, it meant some things might be beyond the scope of science. To Einstein, it meant something was wrong with the theory; it was here in this hotel that Einstein made his famous remark that "God doesn't play dice." Bohr's reaction faces up to scientists' biggest frustration: that they don't get to set the rules. 'Einstein," he said, "Stop telling God what to do." (page 2-3)
One important thing to note: Einstein and Bohr both assumed they were finding God's rules and Al assumed God MUST have designed rules into the system that were consistent if we could only find them while Bohr assumed there may be things we could never know. Their argument was really more about the way God is.
String theory itself began to unravel (Yes, I couldn't resist.) In 1997 when light from a distant supernova was analyzed by astronomers and they discovered the universe was actually expanding and speeding up in the expansion. This, it should be noted, could easily be seen as a disproof of the Big Bang since the energy of that would logically be in the process of dissipating and so the universe should be slowing. But discarding that would mean something else must have started the universe in motion and that could lead to God sooo...Scientists after a theory of everything are certain a theory must exist to explain it, Some "dark energy". Why not "light energy", you know as in "Let there be..." is anyone's guess.
No one, it seems, wants to stop telling God what to do and how to make it work. It reminds us of a bad relationship where the wife will not listen to the husband who knows how to cook a steak or the husband won't listen to his mechanic wife when the car shuts down. We don't always listen to God when we should and the atheist seems to have a blind spot. Defiance or single-mindedness or stubborn human will. We must have a theory of how it all began. Well, there is one reason some don't see.
Romans 1:19 Because the knowledge of God may be seen in them, God having made it clear to them.
20 For from the first making of the world, those things of God which the eye is unable to see, that is, his eternal power and existence, are fully made clear, he having given the knowledge of them through the things which he has made, so that men have no reason for wrongdoing:
21 Because, having the knowledge of God, they did not give glory to God as God, and did not give praise, but their minds were full of foolish things, and their hearts, being without sense, were made dark.
22 Seeming to be wise, they were in fact foolish,
(BBE)
But still they long to see.
Our First Flesh didn't need to know. They walked in the cool of the evening with the Creator. They knew there was no string theory. The "string" spoke to them. They knew the universe didn't come from a Big Bang but from a large God.
See again that first verse Genesis with the Jamieson, etc. commentary:
Ge 1:1,2. THE CREATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH.
created--not formed from any pre-existing materials, but made out of nothing.
the heaven and the earth--the universe. This first verse is a general introduction to the inspired volume, declaring the great and important truth that all things had a beginning; that nothing throughout the wide extent of nature existed from eternity, originated by chance, or from the skill of any inferior agent; but that the whole universe was produced by the creative power of God (Acts 17:24; Romans 11:36). After this preface, the narrative is confined to the earth.
All this to lead to our next section. Keeping in mind we were created with a complexity we could only touch on in a million blogs, one I've given just a breathe of touch here, we were the Crown of Creation. But a crown created to serve. Created. Serve. "Take care of this for me while I'm gone." No promise of anything else. Like a Father grooming a child. You let the child do this one small thing and let them prove they can take care of the small things, let them build their confidence, then give them something bigger. "Here, mow the lawn." Then, when you see they can handle that: "Okay. Let's learn how to drive the car."
Our First Flesh was made for this world and was being honed for something more.
(The Twitter for Christian persecution: https://twitter.com/persecutionind?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
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