Porn's and the Partial Kingdom

Really enjoying the vast sweep through human history with Vaughan Roberts' God's Big Picture as guide, a few hundred years between spoonfuls of dessert. We're still in Genesis so the best is yet to be. But already we can see the pattern of God's dealings with man and man's less-than-adequate response to God, and hence the characters of both God and man.

Some quick questions we used. Not terribly good but mildly useful for pointing out bits here and there on our speedy tour through Genesis:
Recap:
Genesis 12
Q: Who was Abram worshipping when God called him?
cf Joshua 24:2

Q: What were God's promises to Abram?

Q: What did Abe do to deserve them?

What seemed to stand in the way of the fulfilment of promises?

Genesis 12 - 20
Q: In what ways did Abe show his trust that God could/would fulfil his promises?

Q: In what ways did Abe show his distrust that God could/would fulfil his promises?

Q: How did God respond each time?

Q: What purpose did God have in fulfilling his promise to make Abraham a great nation?
Genesis 18:18-19

Genesis 21
Q: Coming hot on the heels of distrust of Genesis 20, what does Genesis 21 show about God?

Q: On which of Abraham's would God's promises rest? Why?
Isaac. Because God decided so. The son who was given by God, not the son made by Abraham. Genesis 17:17-19, 21:12.

Genesis 22
Q: So Abraham and Sarah were pleased to announce the birth of their first born. Mother and baby were healthy. All seemed on track for a short while until Genesis 22. What does God ask Abraham to do?

Q: How would this hinder the fulfilment of the people promise?

Q: Why then did God ask this of Abraham?
Sacrifice son. Test if Abraham feared God or feared losing his son (22:1, 22:12, 22:18)

Q: Why did Abraham obey God? What exactly did he have faith in?
Hebrews 11:17-19

Genesis 24
Q: So Isaac grows up without being a burnt offering. They lived amongst the Canaanites, having left the Sin-worshipping Ur of the Chaldeans. Why did Abraham insist on his servant getting Isaac a wife from his own people but not allow the servant to bring Isaac back?
Genesis 24:7

Q: So Isaac gets Rebekah. But what hindered the fulfilment of the people promise?
Genesis 25:21 - Rebekah was barren for 20 years.

Q: Who did they depend on to clear roadblock to fulfilment?
God

Q: Rebekah conceived and had only two sons. On which son did the promises rest? Why?
Jacob (He who cheats)(27:27-29, 28:3-5). Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew (25:29-34). Jacob tricked Isaac (Genesis 27). God chose Jacob before he was born or had done anything to deserve it (25:23, Romans 9:10-13).

Genesis 29-30
Q: So we look at Jacob's line. How did God's people promise work out in Jacob's life?
Due to trickery by Laban, Jacob gets two wives for double the price. A progeny competition results in twelve sons (cf 35:22-26).

Genesis 35
Q: Jacob & Co. certainly didn't see much further than their current circumstances. Who were they worshipping when the LORD came to Jacob?
35:2.

Q: In light of this, what was so surprising about what God said when he met Jacob?
35:9-15. Reiteration yet expansion of promises to Abraham, esp kings.

What was the assurance/basis for the promise?
35:11.

Genesis 37
Q: What happened with Jacob nka Israel's youngest son?

Q: One would have thought that the promises would continue through Joseph's line but instead, Matthew 1 tells us that Jesus was of Judah's line, emphasising the incident with Tamar. What part did Judah play in Joseph's captivity?
37:1-28.

What do we learn about him in the Tamar incident?
Genesis 38. Ee-yur.

Genesis 38-45, 50
Q: Meanwhile, how was God working out his people promise through Joseph?
45:5-8, 50:19-21. God sent Joseph to preserve the people so that there would be many survivors through the famine. What they meant for evil, God meant for good.

So Israel & Co. moved to Egypt.

Exodus 1
Q: What glorious sight greets us in Exodus 1:1-7?
The people promise certainly looks closer to fulfilment.

But the land filled with Abe's people was Egypt and not their own land. Jingoism, xenophobia, oppression and genocide followed.

Akan datang!

What we have seen so far though, is that God takes the initiative to have relationship with his people. No one deserves the blessing that are given to them. But despite their disobedience and failure to worship him, God continues to workout the fulfilment of his promises in people's lives.

We'll see how God manages to get this lot out of a land that isn't their own and into their promised land, so that they can do what God had always meant them to do - worship him.

Crumpets and The Promised Kingdom

Outside the laundry is flapping on the line in the hot sun. Inside we are absently listening to Sufjan Stevens’ All The Delighted People EP and contemplating crumpets.

We're some way into a whirlwind tour of the history of God's people via the Bible with Vaughan Roberts as tour guide, and are fancying a bit more of a linger around all this fantastic stuff than God's Big Picture requires. More reaching out and touching and sniffing, and even tasting.

Not quite proper questions, just a few notes from lingering, somewhat gobsmacked, in The Promised Kingdom chapter.

Genesis 11:10-30 - Trace the bloodline of Abram.
Shem - [Flood](+ 2 years) Arpachshad (+ 35 years) - Shelah (+ 30 years) - Eber (34 years) - [Earth divided] Peleg (+30 years) - Reu (+32 years) - Serug (+30 years) - Nahor (+29 years) - Terah (+70 years) – Abram

Genesis 11:30 - What is the abrupt conclusion of the genealogy of Abram?
Stops at the barrenness of Sarai, Abram's wife. Oh noes! Bloodline ends here…

Terah took Abram, Sarai and Lot and moved from Ur of the Chaldeans to Haran and settled there. Ur and Haran were known as centres for the worship of the moon god (ironically called “Sin”). The descendants of Shem had no qualms about worshipping Sin (see Joshua 24:2).

So why did God call Abram and give him these wonderful promises?
No meritorious reason. Abram was not looking for God and certainly wasn’t worshipping him or pleasing him in any sense to deserve God’s promises. Totally God’s sovereign and gracious initiative in calling and promising.

Genesis 12:1-7 - What did God promise Abram?
- loads of descendants
- a great name
- blessing for Abram and through him, blessing for the whole world!

Sarai is unable to fulfil the creational mandate of multiplying and filling the earth. Yet, God will give them descendants enough to be a great nation.

The people at Babel tried to make a name for themselves (Genesis 11:4). But here, God will make a great name for Abram.

The Babelites were fearful of being scattered and tried to unite themselves independently of God. But here, God promises universal blessing through one man.

- the whole land of Canaan for his offspring

What obstacles seem to stand in the way of the fulfilment of these promises?
Problems in the descendants department. Plus other people are occupying the land.

Genesis 12:4-9 – How did Abram demonstrate that he believed God?
He obeyed him. He called on the name of the LORD.

Genesis 12:10-20 – How did Abram demonstrate that he believed God?
He didn’t.

What did God do to show his faithfulness despite Abram’s lack of faith
He cursed those who dishonoured Abram even though it was Abram who was deceitful! (cf 12:3).

Genesis 13:14-18 – How did God react to Abram’s patent lack of faith?
Reiterated his promises of offspring (like dust) and land.

Why does God do this? Why not just abandon Abram?
Because he promised and he is faithful.

Genesis 15 – After quite a bit of excitement, Abram is still childless and landless and questions God, asking for confirmation. Basically, “you say, I say, who confirm?” Instead of striking him dead for his unbelief, what does God do?
Reiterates his promise of offspring (like stars) and land.

And in fact, intensifies the promise by making a covenant with Abram. (Most commentators take this as a self-maledictory promise – that if God did not keep his promises, he would himself be torn apart like the animals. Not entirely convinced but regardless, this ratified covenant emphasises yet again, God’s commitment to his promises and therefore his faithfulness and trustworthiness.)

(Also, God counts Abram’s somewhat dodgy belief towards him as righteousness, even though it falters in the next chapter.)

Genesis 16 - How does Abram demonstrate his trust in God and his word?
He doesn’t. Sarai is still childless and Abram decides that if God wasn’t going to do anything about it, he would. He was 75 years old when God gave the promise first and is now 86.

Moreover, he “listened to the voice of Sarai” (cf Genesis 3:17).

Genesis 17 – God’s reply comes 13 years later when Abram is 99 years old. What’s so amazing about God the Almighty’s (El Shaddai’s) response?
Not only does he not do away with Abram, he reaffirms the promise, and not just that but also expands on it.

- people
Fruitfulness – cf Genesis 1:28 how humans were to exercise dominion over the earth on God’s behalf. Re-establishment of creation mandate?

Seems that the covenant with Abram and his offspring, the everlasting covenant, will reverse effects of the Fall.

- place (17:8a)

- under God’s rule (17:8b)

God gives Abram the mark of circumcision as a sign to them of this covenant (17:9-14).

Abram and Sarai’s names to reflect the certain fulfilment of the promise (17:5,15).

God also makes a specific promise that the covenant shall be with a son from Sarah – a son he will give her supernaturally, rather than Ishmael, the son that Abram made to force the fulfilment of the promise (17:19).

[On a side note, the promises given to Ishmael are interesting, especially since Arabs and their Muslim brothers consider themselves to be from the line of Abraham via Ishmael. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_view_of_Ishmael. And here’s a compelling documentary “Behind Enemy Lines” by Norwegian journalist Paul Refsdal on the Taliban/Mujahideen in Afghanistan, shown on SBS Australia in August 2010. One of their brothers in arms possibly killed Karen Woo and the rest of her medical aid mission team, apparently mistaking them for Christian missionaries.]

However, inclusion into the covenant is not automatic. What must Abraham and his male offspring and household members do to be included in the covenant?
Be circumcised. Circumcision would distinguish those who believed that God would fulfil the divine promises to Abraham from those who did not.

Again, however, it seems that all these people did not need to do any other work than trust that God would deliver on his promise if they trusted him!

God does not change and neither do post-Fall humans. Several centuries later, this act of faith became any but! See Galatians 3. The Galatian Christians were being led astray by false teaching that suggested that it is not enough to believe in Christ but that they also need to fulfil Jewish law (including circumcision) to be right with God.

Galatians 3:6 - How did Abraham receive the promises?
By faith.

How do we non-Jews inherit the promises then?
- promises given to Christ (Galatians 3:16)
- those who believe are given the promise in Christ (Galatians 3:22) because they are one in Christ so therefore Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:28-29)

Paul seems to be contradicting the Abrahamic covenant, saying that it’s not that you’ll be cut off from God’s people if you don’t circumcise yourself; rather you will be severed from Christ if you seek to be justified by your own deeds, eg, circumcision. How does Paul show, by argument from Abraham, that righteousness has always been by faith and not by obedience to the law?
- the promise was made 430 years before the law was given (Galatians 3:15-18)
- no one could keep the law so the law could never have given life, in fact, the law was given so that the promise by faith could be given to those who believe (Galatians 3:22).

In what way was the gospel preached to Abraham?
The gospel is God’s promise to Abraham that through his offspring all nations will be blessed.

Why are those who have faith in Christ Abraham's true children, and therefore inheritors of the blessing?

Galatians 3:10 - What happens instead to those who "rely on works of the law"?
Cursed

How might we "rely on works of the law" today?

Why is this futile?

How is it possible for us to receive God's blessing instead of the curse of judgement?

(Also happen to be doing John 3 at a second session of Just Looking and again amazed at the solid consistency of Scripture yet rich complexity of simple truths: a promise/the gospel passed down through centuries, made to a man of faith whose faith was not quite as pure as one would expect, us Gentiles being able to become inheritors of the blessings made to a Semitic man who lived thousands of years ago by being in that man's offspring, the need to be born again by believing in Jesus and trusting him, being born again by cleansing by water and given a new heart and the Spirit as promised in Ezekiel, the dire situation we who chose not to worship God are in now foreshadowed by the dire situation the snake-bitten Israelites were in when they distrusted God, and the solution then and now being itself a turning away from and corrective of the original sin (pun intended). The wonderful reversal of the consequences and curses of the Fall.)

Orin applies: good for food, a delight to the eyes, a fragrance that fills a room

Aviva Ironman 70.3 Triathlon, Zorbing, Swave-boarding, Genesis 1-3

All psyched up for a bike trek from the distant end of East Coast Park to Changi Village, we soon ran into the canary-yellow end of the Aviva Ironman 70.3 Triathlon 8 hours after it'd begun. So we stood near the finishing line shouting encouragement. There is something about sporting competitions, and especially great sporting carnivals like the recently concluded Beijing Olympics that stirs the human heart. They are not so much celebrations of peace and friendship than celebrations of youthful vigour, of physical and mental prowess, and of ultimately, the greatness of humankind - ever growing faster and stronger. This may explain why couch-sportsmen will even watch competitive knitting if it was on ESPN.

Adrenaline junkie-dom hit a new high for certain couch-sportsmen when they discovered that zorbing had come to Singapore courtesy of zovb singapore. Except that the lack of rolling green Kiwi fields resulted in a somewhat neutered adrenaline shot.

Ended abandoning the unpadded bikes after a fertility-endangering 10km for some swave-boarding until it was far too dark to distinguish trees from people, ever mindful of Macbeth's sticky end upon encountering a large group of shrubbery. Also, small children had taken to stopping in my direct path and pointing boggle-eyed at the disco-lights on my wheels.

There is great pleasure in having control over one's body - to be able to angle the arm or the leg just so or to deliver just the right amount of strength to drop the tennis ball at the far corner of the court, and over one's mind - to be able to persevere in intense training and endure the heat and the pain of muscle spasms during a gruelling marathon and the jeers of the home crowd at the foreign nature of one's talent.

This may be why Nike can sell, as NA brilliantly described it, "packaged motivation" to the flabby masses who like to think themselves recreational sportsmen.

In all this celebration of human achievement, in all this glorying in what we can do, it would be small-townly narrow-minded to assume that there is no broader perspective to it. Surely even a frog in the well must look up to the heavens and consider his creation and creator.

Running through Genesis this week got my head out of that ostrich-head-sized hole in the ground.

Genesis 1:1 - 2:4
Q: In attempting to understand what is being written in a passage, one of the things to look for is the repetition of phrases or words. What phrases are repeated in this passage?
- God said,"Let there be...", "Let the..."
- and it was so
- God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:10, 12, 18, 25), very good (Genesis 1:31).

Method of Creation
Q: What does this tell us about how God made the world?
by his word

Q: How would you describe the creative process?
Q: What does God create on these days?
Day 1 (Genesis 1:2-5)
- light, darkness
- Day, Night

Day 2 (Genesis 1:6-8)
- expanse (sky)

Day 3 (Genesis 1:9-13)
- dry land (earth), seas
- vegetation

Day 4 (Genesis 1:14-19)
- sun, moon, stars
- days, seasons, years

Day 5 (Genesis 1:20-23)
- creatures for waters and sky

Day 6 (Genesis 1:24-25)
- animals
- man

Creator - Creation Nexus
The Bible has 2 main subject matters: it tell us firstly about God, then it tells us how creation relates to God.

Creation
Q: What does this tell us about God?
Creator, duh

Q: What did he create?
everything

Q: What didn't he create?
nothing! (no philosophical flack about God not creating nothingness please!)

Q: What does God know about the world?
everything

Q: What can God not control in the world?
nothing

Q: If nothing in the world has not be created by God, then how should God's creation treat/relate to God?
- obey him (Deuteronomy 32:6), what other gods/masters/kings are there to obey? the greatness of God! (Isaiah 40)
- serve him (Romans 1:32)
- give him worship, honour, praise (Psalm 95:3-7), who else is worthy?
[- fear him]
- find meaning in him (Isaiah 43)

Note: the Bible thinks these response are all quite common-sensical = don't be stupid lah.

Q: God blesses 2 groups of created things. Which ones?
- creatures of sea and sky (Genesis 1:22)
- man (man and woman) (Genesis 1:28)

Q: But what's so special about man? (Genesis 2)
- extended page space for a long lingering look at man's creation!
- delegated dominion

Q: What was man's relationship with God, man's relationship with woman?
- very good
- very pleasant

The story didn't just end happily because there was no sunset to ride into at the end of Day 6. Joke lah. Read Genesis 3:1-7, 23-24
Q: How is the serpent described?
"more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made" (Genesis 3:1)

Q: How does the way the serpent tempted Eve demonstrate this characteristic?
(1) misquoted God's word (cf Genesis 2:16)
- exaggerates prohibition
- possibly, Eve is then drawn into debate on serpent's terms, that is, in her reply, she overcorrects serpent's "error" and magnifies God's strictness (Genesis 3:3 "and you must not touch it")
= implication of unreasonableness

(2) cast direct doubt on the word of God (Genesis 3:4 "you will not surely die")
- cast doubt on the truth of God's word about reality
- cast doubt on the authority of God's word
= assured her that there were no consequences or repercussions at all
= assumption that God's word is subject to her judgement (but on what basis could Eve evaluate God's word? any standard for testing the truth of God's word would itself have to be an authority higher than God himself!)

(3) cast direct doubt on the character of God (Genesis 3:5 "God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil")
- denies basic goodness of God
- accuses him of lying
- accuses him of being selfish and withholding something they ought to have. what about their human rights?!
= God cannot be relied upon as absolute authority and source of truth/interpretation of reality for mankind.

Serpent is crafty because he does not explicitly ask Eve to join him.

(Q: How do we see him using the same tactics today?)

Q: Why does Eve believe him instead of God?
(1) decides that God and God's word cannot be trusted
(2) decides to rely on her own judgement (Genesis 3:6). Why cannot? I see, I like, I take.
- fruit of tree was good for food
- fruit of tree was pleasing to the eye
- fruit of tree was desirable for gaining wisdom

(Note: "knowing good and evil"
- cannot be that it gives them knowledge of distinguishing between good and evil. in judgement, they are treated as having known.
- cannot be to experience doing an evil act because knowing good and evil seems to be an act only to be performed by God (Genesis 3:22) and he does only good.
- more likely, making up own definition of what is good and what is evil; making up rules that are only God's prerogative to make (2 Samuel 14:17, 1 Kings 3:9) = grasping equality with God.)

Q: What is the essence of Adam and Eve's sin?
- kenna magic fruit? no there are no magic objects in the Bible
- curiousity? nope
- sex (as some sections of society think)? huh? no, that's God blessing on them.
- disobedience (not fundamentally)

sin = rebelling against God and his word (the same word that created the world!). And rebellion because we don't think he really exists, or we don't acknowledge him as creator, or a good one. We deny his authority as creator, his goodness, the truth of his word. Instead, we understand the world best and try to put ourselves in place of God by deciding what's right and wrong, thereby denying our creatureliness.

Q: In what way are we guilty of the same sin?

Q: What are the immediate consequences of Adam and Eve's sin have on:
- their relationship with God?
fear (Genesis 3:8) (cf. no fear, easy access, relaxed open
relationship with God)
broken

- their relationship with each other (cf 2:22 – 25)?
shame, distrust.
broken

Q: What does God's punishment mean for:
- the serpent?
- the woman?
- the man?
- the ground?
- all humans?

Q: How does God punishment relate to:
- the immediate consequences of A&E's sin?
- the original creational order?
Pronouncement of the natural consequences of their sin. Yet some glimmer of hope of restoration.
Being thrown out of Garden means there is a limit to their lifetime of sin. It is actually a mercy of God.

Q: So who was right about reality – serpent or God?
God, surprisesurprise

Q: What does the serpent's punishment tell us about the theory of dualism of good and evil?
Satan and God are not equal forces battling for dominion. God has been and will always be in control. He punishes the serpent.

Q: How does Genesis 3 help to explain the state of the world today?
Q: Why is it important to understand the world in light of Genesis 3?

But, as one DG member pointed out, the story doesn't end at Genesis 3 because...well...Genesis 1-3 takes up just 3.5 pages in a 1,252-page Bible. It is impossible to summarise the magnificent story that follows to do justice to magnanimity of an almighty God reaching out time and time again with such mercy to save such an undeserving bunch as us humans.

Just taking a look at God's appointing of Abram in Genesis 12 to gather a specially chosen people for God. You'd have thought that there'd be cries of "We're not worthy!" and "Woah. Even better than the chances of a Large Hadron Collider creating a blockbuster-worthy black hole!" But the undeserving people stared stupidly at the proferred salvation, sneered and continued on their acclerated path to certain destruction (Jeremiah 7:22-25, Isaiah 65:1-2). It boggles the mind to consider God's patience in even bothering with all this ass-headedness and to trace God's work in all the intricately-woven threads of human history that ultimately cumulated in the coming of our saviour Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:18-23, Luke 2:29-32). That God's son, on top of everything else, died to pay the price for our sins just blows the mind wide off to a neighbouring galaxy.

A few days ago, was asked to take photos at the wedding of a greatly-admired photographer. "...would you do us the honour" said the email, and I was all: wow. OMG. AYKM? I'm not worthy! It is you who do me the honour of asking me to be your wedding photog. (And also, uh oh, I hope I don't mess up big time.) Unfortunately, oftentimes, there is a lack of even a scintilla of such overawed descent into OTT internet slang when considering that God not only sent his Son to save us, he even entrusted to us incompetent humans what he counts as closest to his heart for this world: the ministry of reconciling the rest of mankind to himself.