Ian Thomson

I am sure you are familiar with the Lord’s word in Matthew 6 : “seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and his righteousness …”. These words are addressed to his disciples and the verb and pronouns in the original Greek are all plural not singular. For the Kingdom of Heaven cannot be experienced alone (as individuals only) but in community and fellowship with one another. God is building a body all over the world and in every place, with members through which he may express his splendour and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the action of the Holy Spirit, here, there and everywhere.

The Kingdom of God cannot be experienced solo.

Many people still think that church-going pleases God. What we see in most churches is a mob of individuals turning up for their weekly dose of religion, saying their private prayers, making their private communion, taking in their private thoughts from the professional religionist.

But the Lord’s plan has always been to form groups of people as a body that reflects both the human body with many members who act together in harmony and who reflect the love and fellowship that exists within the Godhead.

To think and act otherwise is to ignore or even to disobey the will of God. Or is it because we can be so indoctrinated by traditions?

We are journeying along a road less travelled–so few today have undertaken a serious study of the Hebrew Bible which Jesus himself read and used. So we continue to meet weekly and have serious and often hilarious conversation emerging from the texts of the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. Here are some of our discoveries from Genesis, chapter 1.

We recognised these texts are controversial. So in fear and trepidation and above all humility, we venture into some interesting conversations.

Genesis explains the meaning of the universe : why are there all these wonderful things around us and why is there anything here at all? Why are we here? Scientists set out to explain how it all came about and so we should be very thankful for scientists. They are describing the created order and the laws of nature. Let’s celebrate their work.

Genesis does not describe the laws of nature or maths or science. Genesis tells the story to truthfully explain why. Today, the amazing discovery of the DNA and the results of the human genome project show us some wonderful  things about the information technology there in the very beginning! Our Creator made our digital world! But, why?

Genesis 1 tells a story to show the most significant truth of all is about the relationship between the Creator and his special creation, all of us, made ‘in his own image’. All people are meant to reflect his glory on earth. God can communicate to all people, even those who are opposed to his ways. Anyone can talk to, and listen to their Creator, if they have the ears to hear. So how valuable we all are–you are. How very significant we all are. How each life is sacred and important to our maker, along with the whole created order.

Genesis 1 declares that our universe had a beginning, using the Hebrew word bara, created. Many scientists call this beginning, ‘the Big Bang’. But this was not the beginning of everything–God and his memra were there from before the beginning. So God said let us make make man in our own image.

Surprisingly, the first two verses tell us this created universe in the beginning had no form, and describe it as “void”. Then in verse 3 follows the “six days”, six periods or stages, when God is seen to systematically bring about the immense astronomical complexity of the intricately ordered universe. Thus God did not bring it all about at once, in an instant. The length of these six ”days” are unspecified unless we adopt a strictly artificially literal approach to the word day. But there are many meanings of the Hebrew word for day.

As countless people have pointed out, the 24 hour period between sundown to sundown does not fit the events of verses 3 and 4 (before the advent of the sun) and in v.5 it is clear that day is contrasted with night as in Jesus’ retort aren’t there 12 hrs in a day? (Gospel of John, 11:9).  The word week (Hebrew yom) in v.3 and following, is quite unrepeatable because God never becomes fatigued like us! And when we reach Genesis 2:2, God “rests” meaning the work of creation is finished and God declares it so good that it cannot be any better. And 2:2–3, the seventh day is special and the phrase evening & morning is omitted.

So we can see that the text does not commit us to six days as we measure days today.  And we can see there was a period of time between the ‘beginning’ and the ‘first day’. Renowned mathematician, John Lennox in his intriguing book, (Seven Days that Divide the World, 2011) has so ably pointed out these matters and much else and is a delightful read. Highly recommended.

My fellow traveller and friend Carol, pointed out the other evening, that it is important not to be dogmatic and arrogant in our thinking when we come to the biblical texts. We must ask not only what the text says but also what it leaves unsaid. How much do we unconsciously add to the text or read into it, to make it easier to understand or to fit in with our world view or our preconceived ideas?

Genesis 1:3–28 says all this creative work was accomplished by God (elohim Hebrew, a word used only in the Hebrew language) “speaking” creation—information—into existence. God created by his word, his memra (Heb), who is the agent of creation. The memra is sometimes distinct from God and sometimes it is the same as God. The rabbis never could explain this paradox—they taught the truth of both. The Gospel of John chapter 1, reflecting this, identifies Jesus as the Word, the logos, the memra, the agent of creation!  Pre-existing.

Another possible reading of Genesis 1 is seeing that between the events of each of six stages there may have been enormous lengths of time, thus creation taking place over extremely long periods with the possibility of the emergence of new species –some scientists call this macro evolution—which might excite us with wonder and awe that God should go to so much trouble over us and our environment, our universe. Certainly scientists tell us that exceptionally long periods were necessary for certain elements to be produced e.g., helium and hydrogen. If this is so, what an outrage that we should not care for it as a precious gift from God.

The period after sunset is the start of the Hebrew/Jewish day. The writers of Genesis were Hebrews and this is how they described every day.

The ancient Hebrew storyteller is not concerned with certain details of history as we might be today. Genesis 1—11 is generally seen by many scholars as “pre-history” as the events took place long before writing was invented (around 3000 BCE). The storytellers are selective, as we sometimes are in telling a story. The telling had to be simple so as to be able to be transmitted faithfully.  I think we have to give the ancient writers the benefit of the doubt. I mean we have to accept that they were intelligent and instructive, even though they don’t tell the story as we in the 21^st Century feel it should be told. They knew that their hearers (not readers, mind you) would not raise the questions that we tend to raise. Yet the genre used, means the truth would be understood universally by all peoples and cultures and in all ages. Just imagine the limitations of understanding should the texts have been written in a purely literal manner as if describing how it was all put together! Of course, all the books in the whole world would be grossly insufficient in volume to do so.

Thus for us moderns, questions arise like who did Cain marry?  The storyteller doesn’t tell us and didn’t have to. We assume that Adam and Eve were extremely fertile. They certainly lived a long time and had a lot of time to have many children. And some of them were several hundred years old when they had kids.

Remember, the Genesis account is not necessarily chronological in the details. Certainly Gen 2:4b and verses following do not seem chronological. Getting stuff chronologically down was not seen as important to the storytellers. Such a literary device was not essential in those ancient days of writing. Often people today may tell a story which is not strictly chronological. I might write about the construction of a research facility and because I am an architect, I am likely to tell it chronologically; but a scientist will tell it differently, from her point of view, her interests being focussed on the floor where the laboratories are located—she will certainly skip any information about excavation and foundation works.

When we get to look at the gospel accounts of the New Testament, we find that the chronology of each of the four writers is different in some of the details and this may rattle the faith of some who expect that people of a different time and culture must conform to modern principles of historical literature. Of course, the main events about Jesus (birth, boyhood, public ministry, arrest, trial, death and resurrection are in the order we might expect today.

We need to try to understand the literary form we are dealing with. Not easy. But when we raise questions in our minds about what we may call “the account” or “story”, we may have to admit that this literary form is not what we today have come to expect of a story that is told like our history.

For any storyteller to have written about creation he or she would either have had to be there—an utter impossibility—or it was revealed, and this is the plain claim of scripture: creation is revealed. Creation in the Bible is based not on conjecture or ‘blind faith’ but on God revealing it to people. When God reveals something it is evidence. Not proof, but certainly evidence.

This prophetic revelation of Creation is confirmed by us every day– it fits reality we experience daily, hourly. This revelation is also confirmed by anyone who sees the creation’s beauty and the indescribably mathematical complexity of the human body or the night sky –you don’t need to be a scientist.

To be continued …….

Recently an email arrived from a person worried about a movie which he said portrayed Jesus in a blasphemous way and asking for prayer that the movie would be banned.

I could not bother God about this.

This reminded me of other numerous protests from concerned pew-sitters worried that our precious “Christianised Australia” is headed for Sodom and Gomorrah, and that faith and peoples’ religious comfort zone is under threat. But Australia is not a “Christian” country, never was and never will be. In Australia we have, and will continue to have, a clear separation between church and state.

Jesus in his flesh suffered abuse and the most extreme humiliation and calls us to bear the same when it comes. It’s time Christians all realised we do not live in a society where we can just expect everyone to fall into line with our preferences. We are in the minority. We live in a nation which has forgotten its substantial Judeo-Christian roots. We live in the midst of a pagan, fun-loving, don’t-tell-me-what-to-do society, a society which thinks in terms of ‘what is true for me’ and ‘what is true for you’—which is an illogical way to live, but it removes the pagan mind from God’s existence and from God  botherers like you and me.

We have to expect more and more of this sort of thing.

Our mighty sovereign LORD—the one who is actively present in our universe—is not threatened but He puts His people in the midst of an unbelieving world in order to bear witness to Him. He does not call us to settle down and be comfortable and have an easy lifestyle where there are no movies, books, news articles, TV shows, neighbours, journos, etc who are going to ignore us or upset us. We are called to take up the cross and follow him. And that can mean abuse, misinformation, isolation and rejection even by members of one’s own family, let alone the general pagan community.

When a movie like this is shown, let’s not squeal and winge about it, as so many did when Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ was screened here or more recently the Da Vinci Code book and movie. Rather, let’s see these things as opportunities to contest the counterfeit and present the real Jesus and his courageous apostles, as recorded in the historical gospel documents and letters. Or are we going to be like the Islamists who respond with anger and threats if their prophet is even criticised in the slightest way?  To do that, we would be admitting that our God needs some help, needs defending. Nah. Not a bit. Not our sovereign Lord.

Actually, what is happening is that our Enemy and followers are threatened, not us. If there are insults and blasphemies against Jesus, he must truly be someone truly significant. He is and always will be the target. And we will targets also.

Let’s get used to it.

Please dear fellow believer in God and his righteousness,

Watch this. Get the facts about the destruction of our good farmlands and the persecution of Aussie farmers by filthy rich mining corporations. Yes. Coal seam gas and open cut coal mining. This is dirty in more ways than one.

http://youtu.be/Yd1nOHvCS_Q

Hurry. There is plenty more evidence if you look for it.

You will not get the truth about this from our Queensland State Government or from their conservative opponent Campbell Newman. This is a web of deceit, money-grabbing, plundering, threatening our food supply—

–while hunger increases around the world.

–while Aust is the world’s largest coal exporter and our food growing is diminishing and we are importing more.

–while we Aussies are white-washing in our efforts in sustainability.

–while all this and more is negating the efforts of many people like us are making to practice sustainability. Would you like a list?

 –while and why I go to public meetings to show my support for farmers whose lives and livelihoods are being destroyed.

 –while and WHY I have every spare bit of ground where I live growing food and learning to grow and teach others.

–while my wife and I support the enterprise FoodConnect (see Foodconnect.com.au) by opening our garage weekly for 5 hrs so neighbours can come and pick up their pre-ordered box of fruit and veg and milk and sourdough bread and yoghurt and …. —people do this not only because of the excellent, wonderfully fresh, chemicals-free produce all grown within a few hrs of the city and arranged by a great and dedicated team of people who believe in doing the right thing … but because it is growing food sustainably and encouraging farmers to grow organically, preserving our soils and who are under real stress and are ripped off by the BIG 2 supermarkets (the world’s biggest duopoly at over 80% of retail) …. come on become a F/C subscriber!

 –while I take the time to send you this and voice my concerns.

 –while we foresee all of the little children about us who when grown will have to clean up all this mess we –our generation—have made, please do what you can. For example, our 11 grandchildren. Your children and grandchildren.

 [[Sometimes I feel it’s all too hard, too late. Dear friend do you think I should just give up? Let human stupidity and/or evil take its course? What will I say to my Judge?]]

Do you think you could join us in being serious about the threats to sustainability and good farmland being destroyed? And more?

Do we still believe that the Lord is sovereign? You bet we do. But we must demonstrate our beliefs by our lives. Otherwise our faith is unfaith.

Please help spread this short video EVERYWHERE, NOW especially now in the next few days.

http://youtu.be/Yd1nOHvCS_Q

Our only security is Yeshua, his anointed one. He is all about real salvation—from bondage, enslavement to the great dictator, the accuser. This is all way beyond ‘getting to heaven when you die’.

 God says : Abandon all empty religion, all religious games and charades. All false gods and securities will fail.

Don’t count on the high ones who dispense religion.

Continue in humble, unknown, unpublicised, unsung, non-marketed, tiny groups—we are heard on high. We are precious in his sight. we are known.

 We are his children.

 We are still the people of God, though we suffer abuse and discouragement and misunderstanding.

 Do not be fazed at the extent of the subversion of the truth by Christendom. With formality, legalism, coldness, smugness, arrogance, the lord-it-over-them leaders, Big Worship, the hoo-ha, the microphone and PA dependant minders, the masses flocking to be entertained while the world is dying .

We, the unheard of ones, can celebrate His ways— the LORD used ruthless Cyrus to further the salvation of his people Israel and their mission to a sea of lost humanity. Now he uses ‘unchurched’ people in their hundreds of thousands to show loving-kindness and concern and rescue from the humblest blokes who drove 200 klms to helped flooded people in Brisbane, and to a ‘unbelieving’ PM who wept openly. And in Victoria. And in Christchurch. Just watch as He moves people—his creation—everywhere, with compassion—people who march but not under the name of some churchy group.

People like 12 year old girl, ‘Ambi’ in Pakistan who was recently abducted from her family, raped repeatedly by her captors, forcibly wedded to one of them and held and horribly abused for months until she managed to escape and now she and family live with the constant threat of being found in a relocated place. But she is known by God and nothing would persuade her otherwise!

He will share his glory with no one. He alone is LORD. The only One worth our allegiance, our devotion, our trust.

“Our God reigns!”