When Jeffrey and I were trying to determine a course of biblical study to help us grow in the knowledge of God, we concluded, through a variety of promptings, that the best course might be the complete course. It turns out that one can read the Bible in the span of a year if they read three chapters a day six days a week, and five chapters on the seventh day. So, on January 24th, 2008, we commited to this course of action and began with Genesis chapter 1.
That particular day, I personally managed only to read through the first chapter, but the discussions we had over what we had read excited us. Over the next few days, I realized that through this course, and through this year, God will be revealing many things through His Word. I felt that it would be important to document what God had shown us.
However, documenting is not enough. God's Word is Living - by this, I mean that it engages us not only in our mental or spiritual faculties, but that it engages us in the entirety of our existence, of our narrative. It speaks to the daily routines, rituals, and realities; it informs our perspectives on community and locality. Above all, it is transformative.
This transformation, however, is a mystery. It is not bound to simply a clearer propositional understanding of faith (which, comes from our place of knowing), rather, its stirs within the hidden parts of us, and transforms us from a place of our unknowing.
What we hope to do is to initiate a discussion. This discussion may be limited to a dialogue between the two of us and God, but it also may involve you and whoever else is drawn to this dialogue. This is dialogue may contain more questions than answers. It is not wrong to be confused about what the Bible has to say. It is not wrong to be confused with how the Bible engages us. That is part of the great mystery! Our uncertainty concerning parts of scripture do not reveal a lack of faith, rather, our willingness to participate in this dialogue despite our uncertainty is an act of faith.
So let us be faithful and engage scripture from the beginning. Let us check our preconceived notions at the door. Who knows what better things we may find!
2 comments:
That is interesting stuff. I have been thinking for a long time about the curse. I was always taught that the curse included "sin nature" or the inherited irresistable urge to sin. After thinking about things I believe that the curse expels man from Eden (direct interaction with God) and places us in an environment where man has to work to provide food and shelter for himself and family. This work curse diminishes the time one spends contemplating God and His goodness, and so sin becomes more readily available in this new environment. This new environment is then the "sin NATURE" we have inherited from the fall. Tell me what you think.
That is an interesting hypothesis. I think there is some validity to that. We know that it is not impossible to contemplate God and His goodness while working (especially if the work is of purely physical work), but I agree that it is more difficult to accomplish such meditation while working than while naturally in direct, unhindered interaction with God. (Where do you contemplate God more? At church, or the office?)
So, I do believe there is something to that. I think more can be gained from God's first mention of sin, and its characteristics, to Cain - who was a worker of the field (and thus, a direct sufferer of the curse).
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