sickness

I once attended a class entitled, Creation vs. Evolution. I thought it was a given because the class was being taught by a group of Reverends, theologians, doctors, professors. I mean, seriously, thought this was going to be God created the heavens and the earth, hands down, discussion. I was surprised to find out it was not. However, the point of this is a presentation that was made by the eight professors teaching the class. They presented the eight models of God. Each presented a box into which they shoved God. In this case, eight boxes, but boxes, nonetheless. I don’t believe we can put the Lord in one or a million boxes.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Moses goes on, verse 26, Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” There are three points to this. First, the concept that God created everything in six days, or not. Second, the plurality of “Let us, in our image.” Finally, the use of the words, image, and likeness. These are all open for discussion. I know that many simply want to accept what they are told and not dig into these points.

Going back to the first paragraph, the eight boxes the professors put God into and the discussion between creation and evolution. Faith is not a big word, but it is especially important. Your faith can lead you to simply believe that the Lord created everything in six days. I’ve heard Christians say that if he did not, then he is a liar and he cannot be a liar. Others have said that the entire bible is pinned on this. If the Lord did not create everything in six days, then they cannot believe the bible. These are teachings of the church to keep people in line. After 15 weeks of discussion in the Create vs. Evolution, my conclusion was thus. The Lord created everything, plain and simple. That is my faith in Him. How it did it, how long it took him is not the point. My faith dictates to me that the Lord created the heavens and the earth and all that is in it. Do I need to parse it out and try to figure out how or how long? No. I just need to believe in him.

The plurality of the statements, Let us, and in our image. This is also open to debate. Many do not understand this and try to figure it out. The pat answer pastors and others use is, “There was God the father, The Holy Sprite and Jesus.” John notes the idea of Jesus being there at the beginning as he was the word, according to the apostle John. A second theory is that God was referring to himself and the angels in heaven. A third concept is the majestic plural, a figure of speech. Surely, the first option is a very plausible option, however, one would think the writers of the New Testament would reference back to Genesis 1:26. The second option is highly unlikely. The third option is also plausible as God was stating himself to the people as a king, a ruler.

The third point, image, and likeness. What does the Lord mean by these words? What is image and likeness, do we look like God? Moses could not look fully upon the Lord. God had to place him in a nook in the rock and cover him as he passed by. Does that sound like we look like God? Just asking. Another idea is that God is saying he will create man as he sees in his mind how we should look and be. Some theorists think we are more God like than we know. I am not so sure of that. We are like a painting that was an image that the painter had in mind. Let’s go back and consider those eight models of God, but instead, let us consider God’s attributes that Christian authors create.

1. God is infinite 2. Immutable 3. Omnipotent 4. Omniscient 5. Omnipresent 6. Wise 7. Faithful 8. Good 9. Just 10. Merciful 11. Gracious 12. Loving 13. Holy/glorious 14. Provider 15. Wrathful 16. Creator

Such attributes can be found in people, sometimes all of them, well, not glorious as the way the Lord is. God is a creator, if he created us in his image, which is with similar attributes, then we too are creators, just not like him, creating from nothing. We are designed to create works of art, songs, music, great feats of engineering, medicine and so on. However, let us ponder the internet for a moment. I am a huge fan of the internet, file transfer, video streaming and all that. I see it as a great invention that can serve humankind. Unfortunately, like all other things we create, there is a dark side, corruption, such as porn, online gambling, and swindles galore. This is the bad side of human nature, our desire to corrupt things. This is an attribute not listed under the Attributes of God. Yet, when we consider it, God did create Satan. Did he create Satan before or after he created humankind? There is no mention of Satan until 1 Chronicles and then Job. Of course, scholars try to say the serpent in Genesis is Satan but in truth, it doesn’t say that. If we look at Satan in Jewish context, the name means adversary. However, they see Satan as Yetzer ra, or bad, wrongful desire that drives us to do wrong, disobey God’s commands. To do wrong is a human attribute that the Lord gave us. The question would be why? He gave us free will, the ability to think, he allowed us to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and…evil. We have choices. We cannot fall on the defense, “The Devil made me do it.”

We are left with only faith as always. I have faith the Lord created us. I have faith that there is but one God. I also have faith that God created us to have most of those attributes listed above and to be creators like him. I don’t need to read a thousand commentaries, listen to endless sermons, these things don’t give your faith, believing is the foundation of faith. Simply believe and faith will come.