What's Your World View?

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".
Genesis 1:1

 

 

Your response to the opening line of the Bible will be the determining factor of how you view this world.  Will it be through Scripture, which doesn't change...or by cultural/societal views that can change on a dime?  The memory verse for this week seems so simple, but even looking through different translations of the Bible it's interesting to see the differences in how this verse is explained. 

 

The NET (new english translation) was especially interesting to me because it broke down the verse into three sections just like The Joshua Code does (this is the book I mentioned yesterday).  It takes a very simple verse and makes you look at the three parts of the verse that raise quite important questions...When?, Who? and What?

 

When:  "In the beginning..."

There's a translation note in the NET that says "...beginning has to be defined from the context since there is no beginning or ending with God".  This can get the wheels turning!  "In the beginning..." isn't really the beginning - God was at work before this, and The Joshua Code gave a few other verses to support this (John 17:24, John 17:5, Titus 1:2, and John 1:1,14). 

 

Who: "...God..."

From the beginning of the Bible we are given a view of who God is.  The Hebrew word that was translated is "Elohim", which is a plural.  When used in this way we are shown God as three in one - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  It's a tough idea to explain (Will asked me about it once and I had a hard time explaining how Jesus could be God with us, yet God was still God.)  The Joshua Code brought up a way to explain it that I will have to use as a science experiment with the boys as a great visual of how one thing can actually be three different things.  Water.  It's a liquid, but can also be a solid (ice) or a vapor (steam).  All three different, but still break down to H20.

 

What: "...created the heavens and earth."

The word create was translated from a Hebrew word "bara", a verb that is always used to describe the divine activity of fashioning something new, fresh, and perfect.  When I make something I need the supplies, hopefully some instructions, and the patience to do it over when I make a mistake.  There's quite a big difference between my ability to create something, and God's ability to create something!

 

I hope you found all of this to be as interesting as I did.  I love how it gets me thinking a little deeper about the memory verse for this week, rather than just trying to be able to repeat it.  In general it's not a difficult one to remember -  but having a better understanding of the Truth behind it makes it more meaningful, and we can become more aware of what our own world view is.