So things were going well in the garden, but God was starting to notice that Adam wasn't taking the trash out, wasn't showering, and had a pile of dishes in the sink that was starting to smell so bad he was just eating off napkins he kept on the living room table. God then realized that maybe a world of just men is not a great idea.
So God thinks "Well, maybe one of the other things I created can help him out," and has Adam take a look at each one and give them a name while he's at it. None of them worked, so God made a new plan.
There's a growing group of people who think it's not really necessary to go to church. They're not satisfied with the way most churches run the show, so they stay home and do their own Bible reading and thinking deep theological thoughts about what utterly fantastic people they are and how great church would be if they ran it even though they're not really going to start a church. The justification from this comes from their satisfaction with their own relationship with God and that their bitter, ranting blog posts get comments so they're kinda getting fellowship.
To think that you're okay without regular fellowship with other believers is to ignore this fact: when the world was nothing but one guy, God, and animals, God considered Adam alone. This is at a time when God was coming to Earth and literally walking around and talking with Adam, and He still said Adam was alone. So no matter how good your "quiet time" is, and how much you love your dog/cat/human centipede/parakeet, if you are not getting regular fellowship with other believers, you are alone, and it is not good.
[2:21-25]
Adam wakes to find Eve, and says "ooh...yeah...she wins" and is really grateful he didn't go with the giraffe.
People often see an excuse for sexism in the Bible declaring woman as "a helper." But, in the Latin Vulgate, the word "helper" used to describe woman is the same "helper" used to describe the Holy Spirit. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the only sin that God won't forgive, so I don't think "helper" is considered a demeaning term here. Woman's entire existence was because God looked at a world without her and went "Wow...okay, wow, this isn't gonna work."
God set out to make man in His image, and wasn't satisfied when there was only one kind. God Himself consists of three Persons, so man alone was not a satisfactory representation of His image. To remedy this, God took a part out of man, and made it into woman. Those two together represent the image of God He intended, because now intimate relationship is part of the nature. They become "one flesh" and one single unit in a way that resembles how God is One being.
Well that finishes off the chapter and the next section doesn't divide up into small chunks quite as easily, so I'm gonna end it here.
Yeah, I pretty much agree with everything said here. I was talking to someone recently who was saying that she wasn't a Christian. I said "Yeah, you are." and she said that she wasn't because Webster's Dictionary and the whole world in general has a skewed definition of what a "Christian" is. When I told her that she should be an example and re-define it, she just got fed up with me. This attitude is something that I've come across more and more over the years and it concerns me because I feel as though these people have a twisted superiority complex that will inevitably end up segregating them from anyone who calls themselves Christian.
ReplyDeleteI hate the whole "I'm not religious" movement because it's done as much harm as it has done good. On the one hand, we've begun to realize as a church that there is more than just going through the motions when it comes to being Christians, but for those of us who are "less pious" it gives them an excuse for their apathy and sin.
It seems to be that whenever we start to come together to try and move towards one direction it ends up splintering us in the end. Perhaps it's because Satan knows what'll happen if we actually start to come into agreement with something
So glad that I've read something of substance today. Thanks for that. It's really given me something to think about and I believe that the Holy Spirit is really opening up an understanding with you. A true Yoda in the making.
-Joanna
Flatter me, you do.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, the "It's not a religion, it's a relationship" line, while a good thought, is more annoying than anything now. I get the point of it, to make sure you think of your relationship with God as a relationship and not just as a list of rules to follow to make sure you get into Heaven, but it's mainly served as a catchphrase that doesn't change the way people act. Especially when it's taken too literally, and they feel like corrective people with other beliefs whenever they mentioned it.
"Well I just don't think the government should support one particular religion becau-"
"HA! That's where you're wrong! Christianity ISN'T a religion! It's a relationship!"
*facepalm*