CHAPTER 1:
CREATION. THE BEGINNING OF LIFE
AS WE KNOW IT
Originally this was going to be session 1 and 2. Well, I think you know why I need to split
this out!!! =-)
Creation: The Beginning of Life as We Know It
First of all let's clarify this Study Group, both present in
person and those studying remotely, will not read every single word of the
Bible. As our class opened up, Michelle
exclaimed her obsession of wanting to read from cover to cover and she still
hasn't gotten past Leviticus. Yes, it is
a winding story that if you get off track just the slightest,
"SQUIRREL!!!!, oh sorry, um", then you almost need to start over. I agree.
Every time I attempt a read, I don't get very far. This study is not an attempt to read every
word from cover to cover; rather, we will cover the major themes throughout the
bible to give a better understanding of the upper and lower stories of the
bible. The Upper Story is God’s Story of
unending love and grace. The Lower Story is how we relate to God’s story and
how we can apply it to our everyday lives.
Enjoy it. There is a LOT to
cover.
Read Chapter 1. Read
Genesis 1-4 and 6-9.
Discussion Questions:
1. In what ways was life in the original creation different
from life as we know it today?
In the beginning,
when God created the universe and all that was in it, we were pure. We were at
peace with one another. There was no
sin. AND what was the most awesome thing
ever??? We walked with God on land and
had a personal relationship with Him.
Can you imagine that? I
cannot. What a wonderful time it must
have been to not know hurt, pain, suffering or to only see life as a beautiful
experience??
2. Why did God create humans in his own image? What does this mean?
The answer to this so so simple. I had studied this in grade school bible
study but had forgotten the reason. In grade school, I didn't have my own
children yet. When you have children it
is much easier to understand. Just think
about when you had your child (yes this is a personal reference) and how much
you love that child?! You made him/her
through God. He is a part of you and
your significant other, etc! God made us
in his own image so He could have a relationship with us. That is the answer to the What part of this
question. Why? To glorify HIM. Read 1 Corinthians 11:7 "For a man
indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of
God..."
3. What was the root cause of Adam and Eve's sin against God?
And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to
eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly
die." God stated this to the man
before he created the woman from man.
Now that serpent was very crafty and I did not catch it at
all. That serpent stated to the woman,
"Did God really say, 'You must not eat from ANY tree in the garden'?"
So why did Eve give in to the temptation of the Enemy? She
knew what God's true command was and so did the serpent. The purpose was to
plant the seed of doubt in Eve’s mind, ultimately Eve was the one to choose to
disobey the Lord’s command. She doubted God’s heart toward her, she second
guessed His love for her and decided that she knew better. This is a consistent
theme that we will see from women throughout the course of History. We will
also see this doubting heat again, very soon.
Adam isn't the root cause of the fall, but neither is
Eve. The point is that neither one of them
are solely responsible for the fall.
They both are.
Adam was with her when she took that first bite. Read the
scripture more closely and you will see.
I had to dig and read again myself and challenged Michelle!!! But it is there.
As Man is charged with being the spiritual leader, provider
and protector of his wife, Adam failed in this respect. You can see that at
this moment he went passive. He failed to lead.
4. Why did God put the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil in the garden?
God wanted to give them the CHOICE. God doesn't force Adam
and Eve to worship Him, to accept Him. Think about it. If God threatened them
what would that relationship look like? Here is an example Michelle gave in our
session: Ladies, say you threaten your husband with divorce of he doesn't buy
you a dozen roses for Valentine’s Day. The day comes and you get the roses. How
does that gift of love feel? God still give us the choice to love him
today. He gives us, the sinner, to
choose to walk with Him. God did not force them to fellowship and worship with
Him and He doesn't do that today. He
wants you to follow Him out of choice.
Remember as well, that God's love is omnipotent. He knew what would happen before He began
creation. Michelle gave a fast interpretation of how God's plan unfolded.
"God the spirit hovering over the waters; like a flash he sees the
beginning of his creation and all that comes between right down to the end of
time. He knows of man’s wickedness, their fall from Eden and everything that it
will take to get man back."
If you understand the trinity, then you understand that
Jesus was present at creation.
John 1:1-4 says this, “In the beginning the Word already
existed. The Word was with God and the Word was God. He existed in the
beginning with God. God created everything through Him and nothing was created
except through Him.
We know that Paul consistently refers to Jesus as the Word.
So replace Jesus with “Word” in that verse.
The point here is, God gave Adam and Eve a choice to follow
Him. He gives us a choice to follow Him. Jesus was never, “plan B”. He was
there at creation, He is part of the trinity and has always been. Jesus also
knew we would fail. Jesus knew before creation that He would have to carry the
burden of the word’s sin, and He (think of the trinity here) created us anyway.
THAT IS LOVE.
5. Why did God bring the flood upon the earth?
God brought the flood to the earth to cleanse the earth of
wickedness and take one man whom He considered righteous to start creation over
again. Again, remember that God is showing us that even the best of us will not
make the right choices. We have a sin nature. That sin nature is passed down
from Adam and Eve and their decision to sin against God. By eating the fruit of
The tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil sin was able to enter the world.
If you read the scripture we also studied what what happened
almost immediately after Noah and his sons got off the Ark. Read Genesis 9: 20-27. Noah immediately begins farming the land,
grows a vineyard, drinks too much, becomes drunk in his tent and passes out
naked. One of his sons saw him naked in
his tent and passed out and gets his other two brothers and shows them
(ultimately making fun of him.) Yep,
mankind screwed up again. We chose sin
over good. Thank goodness God loves us
so much, right?? I can think of all the
time I screw up. The fact that man can not live a blameless existence is
pointing directly to our need for the savior.
6. What does this act of judgment tell you about God?
Read Genesis 6:
6-12. God was sorry he made man. He found Noah who walked with God faithfully,
that is not to say that he was without sin, but he trusted God and built the
ark. This is why God chose Noah to build the ark. God had seen how much hurt, evil, and sin was
made as a result of the first bite of that apple. He wanted to give man a second chance. He did.
He still does. Wow!! He really must love us. Think about how
awesome that love is.
Here is my note from the study:
™Genesis 6:6-8
™God was expressing sorrow
for what the people had done to themselves.
™He is broken hearted that people continue to choose sin and
death instead of a relationship with Him.
Video Session:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36vUlc_5VlQ
What is a place in creation that really reveals God's glory
to you an helps you feel really close to him?
This is a personal question for you to answer. Some of the group's answers included: going
to church and how that makes her get through each week; the love of a child
that God made through them and how this has made her a better person, the ocean
and stars and how close they feel to God when they look at the magnificent
creation and even a red bird whose significance is related to the death of a
close loved one which brings them closer to God.
1. When God looked at the creation and declared it both
"good" and "very good" what do you think he was trying to
express?
The first things God created was the earth, sky, animals,
etc and this was "good." The
last thing God created was man. And this
was "very good." It was very
good because we were created in His image.
From the video, Randy suggested that God looks at you and says,
"Looking at you is better than an ocean view...or watching a
sunrise." Think about
that!!!!! How does that make you feel?
2. Genesis 1:26-27 says that we are made in the image of
God. How do we, as people, actually
reflect the image of God?
Think about that? Is
what others see in you and I a reflection of what God wants others to see? Do others look at us and think...you're a
Believer and Follower? It is not easy to
take the higher road. I mess up from
time to time as do all of us. For me, I
try my hardest to be I can be for Him and pray to him when I fail Him.We are
the image bearers of God. God is perfect, without flaw. What in you represents
the glory of God? Beauty, Grace, Kindness, Compassion, sympathy, love. Any
spiritual gift that you possess that can serve others, or bring love to others,
those are facets of our Creator. Some of the other answers include our good
actions, our kind deeds (you have to have a servant’s heart while doing these
things).
3. If you could take a walk with God in the perfect garden
of paradise, just like you would with a friend, what would you as him and
why? A few examples of our group
included: abuse of children, why? the loss of a loved one? What would you say?
4. In a normal day, what gets in the way of you taking a
walk with God and talking about what is on your heart? There are so many things in this world today...the
normal grind of the day, Facebook, being possessive of the time you do get to
yourself (finally) and keep it for yourself...These were answers. For me, it was CNN. Funny huh?
I commute for a living so it sure is hard sometimes for me focus on God
with my drive. Okay, I'm lazy!!! I have an hour commute. I find I am closer with God when I drive and
listen to Family Talk. It keeps me on
HIS path, teaches me scripture and how to be a better person. However, I love CNN. I don't listen for the debates and judgments
as much as what IS going on in the world.
I feel connected to all the goings-on but I really need to focus on
God. I will pray about this!
5. Even though Adam and Eve began walking in perfect
fellowship with their Maker, God still gave them freedom to reject this perfect
life. What does this spiritual reality
say about the power of the choices we make each day?
We are giving this choice daily. We are not forced to walk with God. He does give us the choice to make decisions
each day on how we will be. He gave us
the choice then and we can make the choice now.
6. Adam and Eve made a choice to eat from the tree of
knowledge of good and evil. They
rejected God's vision for their lives and declared that they wanted to run
their own universe and be their own god.
How do you see that same sinful desire and behavior in our lives today
and how does it influence our daily walk with God?
(God's grand vision was to go on walks with his children; to
be in their presence. God creates the
Lower Story so he can come down from the Upper Story and do life with us.) If
you are Studying this with us, you know that we live in this time of sin...and
this does influence our daily walk with God.
Some chose to sin; other choose to do the best they can living in the
world we are in and making it as good as we can before we leave this
earth.Remember that we CHOOSE to sin. We also choose the influences that
surround us.
Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is
the wellspring of life”.
This scripture is cautioning us not to guard to heart,
refusing to let people into it. This scripture warns us of the evil influences
that are found from man. Remove as much temptation, as it is what the enemy
uses to draw to away from the Lord.
7. If God truly loved Adam and Eve, why would he throw them
out of the garden? Randy said that God's
choice to drive Adam and Eve out of the garden was really an "act of
grace." Do your agree or disagree
wit this statement and why do you feel this way?
This is absolutely an act of Grace. Think about what God
wants for His children. To walk with us. To be with us. There was no pain
before the fall, no sin, no hardships, no child abuse, no death. God’s plan for
us has always been for us to be with Him.
It is an act of love and grace that He does not curse us to this sin
filled earth, filled with disease, corruption, hatred, murder and all sorts of
other evils for eternity.
8. What are ways to identify that we are about to enter
sinful and rebellious actions and how can we stop before we have crossed the
line? I think we can all answer
this? It is sometimes so easy to go past
that line and do what you want an sin.
9. Read Movement 1 of The Story in the Getting Started
Section. What is the big theme of this
first movement?
This concludes session 1.
Please take this time to close in prayer.
Movement 1: The Story of the Garden (Genesis 1-11)
In the upper Story, God created the Lower Story. His vision is to come down and be with us in
a beautiful garden. The first two people
reject God's vision and are escorted from paradise. Their decision introduces sin into the human
race and keeps us from community with God. At this moment God give a promise
and launches a plan to get us back. The rest of the bible is God's story of how
he kept that promise and made it possible for us to enter a loving relationship
with him. God doesn't give up. He cleansed the world and we sinned
again. He gives us the choice to follow
him. He LOVES US that much.
