Friday 18 May 2007

Creation Story

My many hours of surfing the net finally bear fruit, culminating in my finally stumbling across something beautiful and worth my time to share.

Got this from "I AM'sSon's Thoughts" of "Unexplained Mysteries". Found it to be thoroughly enlightening and in good taste (unlike the garbage that is spewed forth in in most churches).



""Recently, a young man who is attending our church approached me. I was aware that he is an atheist, and has been attending our church because he enjoys the friendly atmosphere. He and my son have become good friends and through my son, he knew that I enjoy discussing interesting questions about Christianity, God, and the Bible and he had a question. Here is basically our conversation (not an exact transcript).

YM (Young Man): If Creation is perfect, then why is there sin, illness, war, decay, death?

Me: Good question. OK, before we begin this discussion, just as with any discussion we need to figure out what we're going to take as givens. First, since we are talking about Creation, I believe we are talking about something that has a Creator, so we are talking about God. Also, since you are talking to me, I assume you want to look at this from a Christian standpoint, so we are talking about God as described in the Bible. So, we are talking about God who is perfect, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient. Does this sound like what you want to talk about?

YM: Well, yes, but if Creation is not perfect then what does that say about God?

Me: Very good! But first we need to discuss this based on those givens, if we find that we cannot find an answer which fits within those grounds, then we have to question whether our foundations were sound. So, if we can't figure out why Creation is the way it is given that God is perfect, then we will have to figure out if maybe God isn't perfect, OK?

YM: OK, so if there's no way Creation could be perfect then maybe God isn't perfect?

Me: Right.

YM: OK.

Me: Now, I am going to use analogies based on my understanding of the Bible and Christianity, if that's OK. We can look at verses, but I don't have my Bible and so, we'll have to wait until we can get our hands on one if you want to just look at verses.

YM: No, I've read Genesis, and that's why I have questions. I know you've been a Christian for a long time, have read the Bible and have some understanding.... That's what I want, I want to know what you understand... how it makes sense to you.

Me: OK, good. Let's say I build the perfect ball. It is perfectly round, no microscopic bumps or dents, perfectly smooth, perfect in any way you can measure. It's so perfect it also fits just perfectly in my hand, and is just the perfect weight, made out of an unbreakable material, so that it's absolutely perfect. Now, can we go out and play baseball with this ball?

YM: Not really.

Me: But if I take a brand new baseball and look at it, it's not a perfect ball. The stitching changes it's shape so it's not a perfect sphere and also creates bumps and dents and the leather itself is grainy. So, it's not a perfect ball, but it's the perfect ball to play baseball with. So, purpose is immensely important in determining whether something is perfect or not, right?

YM: Yeah, OK, I can see that. Even a new baseball would not be the perfect ball to play tennis with or football.

Me: Very good, so in order for us to determine whether Creation is perfect, we need to know it's purpose. What did God intend for Creation to do? Because in the Creation Story, at the end of every day God looked at what He had made and said it was good, and at the end of the 6 days, after man had also been created, He said it was "Very good," even though as an omniscient being He knew what was going to happen in Creation in the future. So if He knew what was going to happen, sin, illness, war, tornadoes, earthquakes, hatred... all of that He still saw it as very good, that means that Creation is perfect for it's purpose.

YM: OK. So, what's it's purpose?

Me: Very good, so in order for us to determine whether Creation is perfect, we need to know it's purpose. What did God intend for Creation to do? Because in the Creation Story, at the end of every day God looked at what He had made and said it was good, and at the end of the 6 days, after man had also been created, He said it was "Very good," even though as an omniscient being He knew what was going to happen in Creation in the future. So if He knew what was going to happen, sin, illness, war, tornadoes, earthquakes, hatred... all of that He still saw it as very good, that means that Creation is perfect for it's purpose.

YM: OK. So, what's it's purpose?

Me: Well, I think God gave us the answer in Genesis. Creation was not complete until man was on the scene, so I believe the purpose of Creation has to do with man.

YM: OK, but wasn't man perfect until he sinned so, isn't man a flawed creation?

Me: I think part of the confusion there comes from an assumption people make. In the story of Creation, God says, "Let us make man in our own image," and then we see the story of Adam and Eve, and we assume that Adam and Eve represent man made in God's image, but I don't think that's true since it does sort of lead to the idea that God "messed up."

YM: So you don't think that Adam and Eve were perfect?

Me: I think what's more likely true is that Adam and Eve were just the beginning of making man in God's image. They were physically perfect, and I believe they were also significantly smarter than we are and that they knew more about astronomy, biology, physics, chemistry, than we'll ever know since they walked with God, and I figure God told them all about it. So, they were perfect in those ways, but they lacked something which they needed in order to be "made in God's image." I believe that they were smart enough to understand completely when God told them, "Do not eat from the fruit of this tree, or you will die." I believe they understood what death meant and that they were supposed to obey or face consequences, but they lacked the one thing that eventually kept them from obeying. Although they had an intellectual understanding that disobeying was wrong, they had never experienced the results of disobedience. In order for man to be made in the image of God, for some reason he needs to have a full understanding of the effects of disobeying Him.

YM: So, why did God say He was going to make man in His own image if Adam and Eve weren't?

Me: I believe that we don't see man created in the image of God until the end of the Bible, until after the Final Judgment, when those who accepted the responsibility for their sins, accepted that their sin had separated them from God, that there was nothing they could do to repair the situation and accepted God's gift of His sacrifice... they are man made in God's image. And then the purpose of creation becomes apparent. The purpose is to provide a place where man will be able to experience all that he needs to experience to be made in God's image.

YM: OK, so Creation is perfect because it fulfills God's purpose, and Adam and Eve were also perfect, sort of, because they also fulfilled God's purpose as the beginning of making man in His image. So you're saying Creation is not flawed because it's exactly the way God intended it to be?

Me: Sort of, I guess I'm saying Creation is perfect because God intended for it to have all the "flaws" it has so it would fulfill its purpose.

YM: And the purpose of Creation is to make man in God's image, which for some reason requires that we go through all this crap.

Me: Yeah.

YM: So, it's kind of like being a teenager!

Me: What do you mean?

YM: Well, being a teenager sucks because it's when you start realizing that life is tough. As a kid, someone's always protecting you from all the crap of real life, but as you become a teenager you start experiencing some of the tough parts of life, and it sort of prepares you to become an adult, and you sort of need to go through the experiences of being a teenager to be a good adult, just like man needs to go through the crap of this life to be what God wants us to be.

Me: That's pretty good, I'm not sure I would have thought of that. So, were we able to figure out why Creation is the way it is while staying within the boundaries we set when we started?

YM: Yeah, I think we did. But I may have some more questions later.

Me: That's cool, I may have some more answers, or we may have to find someone who can give us both the answers.""

Wednesday 16 May 2007

My First Time

N it's not about that, you sick perverts.

Anyway, I, the one and only Michael (who looks like me anyway) is finally here....taking my baby steps into the blogosphere or whatever the hell bloggers call it.

Big up to Acolyte. "My Part of the World" was the first blog i ever read. It's been downhill from there.....and now i'm finally typing sh*t as well.

Anyway, shall use this blog to do my rants, give my one-sided view of the world around me, curse, praise n piss on what i want, when i want and just generally release the demons within me!! (i'm sure that that sentence broke alot of grammar rules, but then again, who gives a flying fish!!)

I'm here.....i'm gone. Time to learn my way around this blog options.
(freaking lot of "anyways" in this post........gotta get me a new conjunction)