"Origins"....Part 1
Been neglecting this due to a ton of uni work anyways taking some free time to blog. Woohoo!
*FUN FACT*
** The bible is history written from gods point of view compared to political or physical history. God selects the things that are important to him. * *
Okay so there are two "wats occuring" (re occuring) themes in the Bible These are "what went wrong" and "how can it be put right". The book of Genesis tells us exactly what the problem is, were as the rest of the bible tells us how God plans to put it right. ("by rescuing humanity from itself")
David Pawson has a really cool analogy for looking at genesis and the other 66 books of the bible. He says that together it forms one great drama/story, "The drama of Redemption"
Genesis is an important episode of the drama it is the pilot, it introduces us to the setting, cast and the plot of gods plan, and its history. To put it another way the bible is Eastenders or Stargate for any, if any americans that read this. - however i would just like to point out i am not saying the bible is a fiction story its truth written by god (albeit through man).
Without this pilot episode specifically the first few chapters (opening monologue) the rest of the season/bible would not make sense.
The hebrew title for the book is "in The Beginning" so here is our opening monologue, the title i have put as "Origins" because when the bible is translated into greek in 250BC the meaning for 'in the beginning' became 'origins', which apart from sounding sci fi (I'm a Geek) is a fitting title for the book, as it tells us about the origins of our universe & world. Plants, birds, fish and other animals, humans, sex, marriage, family life's, and the dawn of civilization with government, culture, sin death murder and sacrifices of animals and humans. It is the history of humanity. Eastenders meets discovery and sky arts, the history channel and *SYFY*. The first 11 chapters are the prologue.
Genesis doesn't just deal with origins though, it looks at some of life's ultimate questions. Where did our universe come from? Why are we here? Why do we have to die?
historians these days can record there findings and tell us how the world began but they cannot tell us why. philosophers may speculate over the origins of evil and suffering in our world but they cannot tell us why it exists. the only person who can is *god the creator.*
It is the foundation book and covers all if not most of the biblical truths that are told throughout the bible. To us its the key that unlocks the whole of the bible. Teaching us of the one true god the creator. We are also told about the nations god chooses for his blessing (Israel) scholars call this "The scandal of particularity" god choosing israel is a theme that runs throughout the bible.
I spoke before of the first leader being Abraham, Genesis is the book that helps us to understand why his descendants are significant as slaves, it also tells us of the agreement made with abraham to prosper and bless his family. this is why god protects them (slaves) - Abraham's family are like our favorite sitcom characters, take for example the character of Rodney Mckay from Stargate Atlantis (My favorite Character) as the plot began to develop with The show i found a love if you like for the character, who reminds myself of me. You begin to see that he is the back bone of the group, it is him the others turn to for his problem solving brain and he gets the crew out of some tough situations that is why the others protect him at all costs. However he not being the brightest tool in the shed when it comes to dealing with people can get into trouble himself and have to rely on being rescued by his team. In a similar kind of way god choose Abraham's Family Because they Helped him and trusted in him to fore fill his ultimate plan.
TO BE CONTINUED......(OH THE PUN, ACTUALLY I PUT THE BOOK DOWN AT THIS POINT AND FEEL ASLEEP MY BAD will continue as soon as possible)
P.S this way of looking at the bible has really opened my eyes. I am surrounded with drama in a day to day life at uni and it just made me chuckle when i read the analogy and started to think of various people playing different characters :)
Thursday 26 August 2010
Tuesday 17 August 2010
Unlocking the bible"David Pawson" First Blog Post - Woop!!!
Hey
So yeah I decided to share what this Book is teaching me and give some info on the bible and what i am learning so here goes.
Just to let you know a bit about me i grew up on the outskirts of Blandford Forum in Dorset (South west United Kingdom) and i have believed in god for all my life, I just knew he was there but didn't accept him as my saviour until i was about 12-13, when i went on a south west youth ministries (SWYM) Camp called XL. An amazing thing happened to me at the camp, when we were asked if we wanted to become a christian i was a bit afraid at the time and decided to hang back with some of the cooler people on the trip (at the time they were cool), however god had other plans, for the next thing i remember was walking across the floor and sitting and saying a prayer that i will never ever forget. once i got back from the camp i tried out a few differnt churches but didn't find somewhere i felt at home. So i forgot about it all for a while, until i got invited to the church i grew up in when i was younger, Blandford Parish Church. I got involved with the youth group 'Thirst' and after a couple of months i decided to be baptised and confirmed. However after a short time i decided to switch churches to Blandford Evangelical Church i had been a member of the youth Group "Focus" At B.E.C for over a year and attended a couple of evening services and found the church to be more my cup of tea. I have had many amazing experiences at B.E.C going on Outreach Trips Such as RE:ACT run by urban saints and Outreaches in Manchester with Make Jesus Known. I left Home Two Years ago to go to university were i am currently in my third and final year Studying sound engineering. Over the past two years i have been involved with Hillsong church london on there sound team and a smaller newfrontiers: new community church which i am now committing too so in at nutshell thats me a jesus freak sound geek :)
anyways on with the book,i have only read the overview of the old testament at the mo but i am going to crack off with genesis in the next few days, as i am swamped with uni work.
History of the Old Testament
So the greek word 'Biblio' which is where we get the word bible means Library/series of books, and this is what the bible is a series of books that tell the story of god written by many different authors, focusing on his creation and his character, his people and his ultimate plan. It is also a guide in a sense to how to live a good life for his glory and kingdom.
The old testament as we know it today was written over a period of 2000Years and consists of 39 Books.
It presents life before christ came to earth following the promise people (The hebrews). Genesis 1-11 covers In the grand scheme of things what we know as 'Prehistoric history' in biblical terms it covers creation, the fall of man from the garden of eden, the great flood and the tower of babel. the focus on this chunk of history is humankind.
The period of the 2000 years begins with god calling abraham and can be split into four sections of 500 years.Each of the periods have 3 things in common 1.A key event 2.A specific person 3.And a Type of Leadership.
Dates Events Leader leadership type
2000-1500BC = 1.Election, 2.Abraham, 3.Patriachs
1500-1000BC = 1.Exodus, 2.Moses, 3.Prophets
1000-500BC = 1.Empire, 2.David, 3.Princes
500-0BC = 1.Exile, 2.Isaiah, 3.Priests
Leaders
Patriachs = Abraham, Isaac, Jacob & Joseph
Prophets = Moses to Samuel
Pinces(Kings) = Zaul to Zedakiah
Priests = Joshua (who arrived back from exile under Zerubbabels rule to caiaphas in the time of christ
However there was a problem none of the above leaders where ideal types and each bought there own flaws to there people. Not until a baby Was Born In Bethlehem was a sufficient leader called to power. Were a baby called 'jesus' (Meaning 'the lord is salvation') was born,who was not only a king but a priest as well.
Timeline of the old testament books
During this timeline there are two gaps were god is silent and inactive these are around 1900-1500BC between Patriach Rule and the Prophets. And the other around 400-0BC after the priests reign and before jesus' life.
2000BC = Genesis
1500BC = Exodus,Leviticus,Numbers,Deuteronomy,Joshua,Judges,Ruth.
1000BC = 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings, 1&2 Chronicles
750-400BC (Before Exile) = Psalms,Song of Solomon, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,Joel, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, Jonah, Nahum, Obadiah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah
(During Exile) = Jeremiah, (Lamentations), Ezekiel
(After Exile) = Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Daniel, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah.
During the 4000 year Gap Before Christ philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle Rose also leaders such as Buddha, Confucius, Alexander the great and Julius Caesar rose to power. thats a brief look at the history of the old testament now to look at the geography.
Geography
Figure 1 "Taken From David Pawson's book unlocking the bible."
Too Understand the old testament we need to know two maps the first is of the middle east. The second is of The Promise Land.
Above is the map of the fertile crescent which stretches from the river nile north/north east through Israel and the south/south east to the plains near the Tigris and Euphrates which used to be called Mesopotamia. (which means middle of rivers)The Fertile crescent refers to the area of power during the time of the old testament it is also the only green area within the surrounding desert and mountainous areas. Because of this it was often the battle ground between egypt and babylon so most of there battles took place in the israel area.
Below is the picture of the promise land.
The area known as the crossroads of the world is located near Megiddo, which Nazareth overlooks, so jesus would probably would of sat and watched the people come and go during his lifetime. spiritually though god planted these crossroads so that his whole people could be a light to the world and lead by example to everyone on their travels. The area the promise land covers is probably the size of Wales and has every kind of climate and scenery. The place most like england is just south of Tel Aviv.
ok so that pretty much is the overview of the old testament the history and setting it may seem like info overload, but once you get you head around it all, its pretty interesting its the first real time i have looked into the history of the old testament or any of the bible sections. But the conclusion of the overview says this:
okay so its nearly 2AM and i think i am going to close this with a prayer so here goes.
God Bless, Mike X
So yeah I decided to share what this Book is teaching me and give some info on the bible and what i am learning so here goes.
Just to let you know a bit about me i grew up on the outskirts of Blandford Forum in Dorset (South west United Kingdom) and i have believed in god for all my life, I just knew he was there but didn't accept him as my saviour until i was about 12-13, when i went on a south west youth ministries (SWYM) Camp called XL. An amazing thing happened to me at the camp, when we were asked if we wanted to become a christian i was a bit afraid at the time and decided to hang back with some of the cooler people on the trip (at the time they were cool), however god had other plans, for the next thing i remember was walking across the floor and sitting and saying a prayer that i will never ever forget. once i got back from the camp i tried out a few differnt churches but didn't find somewhere i felt at home. So i forgot about it all for a while, until i got invited to the church i grew up in when i was younger, Blandford Parish Church. I got involved with the youth group 'Thirst' and after a couple of months i decided to be baptised and confirmed. However after a short time i decided to switch churches to Blandford Evangelical Church i had been a member of the youth Group "Focus" At B.E.C for over a year and attended a couple of evening services and found the church to be more my cup of tea. I have had many amazing experiences at B.E.C going on Outreach Trips Such as RE:ACT run by urban saints and Outreaches in Manchester with Make Jesus Known. I left Home Two Years ago to go to university were i am currently in my third and final year Studying sound engineering. Over the past two years i have been involved with Hillsong church london on there sound team and a smaller newfrontiers: new community church which i am now committing too so in at nutshell thats me a jesus freak sound geek :)
anyways on with the book,i have only read the overview of the old testament at the mo but i am going to crack off with genesis in the next few days, as i am swamped with uni work.
History of the Old Testament
So the greek word 'Biblio' which is where we get the word bible means Library/series of books, and this is what the bible is a series of books that tell the story of god written by many different authors, focusing on his creation and his character, his people and his ultimate plan. It is also a guide in a sense to how to live a good life for his glory and kingdom.
The old testament as we know it today was written over a period of 2000Years and consists of 39 Books.
It presents life before christ came to earth following the promise people (The hebrews). Genesis 1-11 covers In the grand scheme of things what we know as 'Prehistoric history' in biblical terms it covers creation, the fall of man from the garden of eden, the great flood and the tower of babel. the focus on this chunk of history is humankind.
The period of the 2000 years begins with god calling abraham and can be split into four sections of 500 years.Each of the periods have 3 things in common 1.A key event 2.A specific person 3.And a Type of Leadership.
Dates Events Leader leadership type
2000-1500BC = 1.Election, 2.Abraham, 3.Patriachs
1500-1000BC = 1.Exodus, 2.Moses, 3.Prophets
1000-500BC = 1.Empire, 2.David, 3.Princes
500-0BC = 1.Exile, 2.Isaiah, 3.Priests
Leaders
Patriachs = Abraham, Isaac, Jacob & Joseph
Prophets = Moses to Samuel
Pinces(Kings) = Zaul to Zedakiah
Priests = Joshua (who arrived back from exile under Zerubbabels rule to caiaphas in the time of christ
However there was a problem none of the above leaders where ideal types and each bought there own flaws to there people. Not until a baby Was Born In Bethlehem was a sufficient leader called to power. Were a baby called 'jesus' (Meaning 'the lord is salvation') was born,who was not only a king but a priest as well.
Timeline of the old testament books
During this timeline there are two gaps were god is silent and inactive these are around 1900-1500BC between Patriach Rule and the Prophets. And the other around 400-0BC after the priests reign and before jesus' life.
2000BC = Genesis
1500BC = Exodus,Leviticus,Numbers,Deuteronomy,Joshua,Judges,Ruth.
1000BC = 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings, 1&2 Chronicles
750-400BC (Before Exile) = Psalms,Song of Solomon, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,Joel, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, Jonah, Nahum, Obadiah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah
(During Exile) = Jeremiah, (Lamentations), Ezekiel
(After Exile) = Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Daniel, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah.
During the 4000 year Gap Before Christ philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle Rose also leaders such as Buddha, Confucius, Alexander the great and Julius Caesar rose to power. thats a brief look at the history of the old testament now to look at the geography.
Geography
Too Understand the old testament we need to know two maps the first is of the middle east. The second is of The Promise Land.
Above is the map of the fertile crescent which stretches from the river nile north/north east through Israel and the south/south east to the plains near the Tigris and Euphrates which used to be called Mesopotamia. (which means middle of rivers)The Fertile crescent refers to the area of power during the time of the old testament it is also the only green area within the surrounding desert and mountainous areas. Because of this it was often the battle ground between egypt and babylon so most of there battles took place in the israel area.
Below is the picture of the promise land.
The area known as the crossroads of the world is located near Megiddo, which Nazareth overlooks, so jesus would probably would of sat and watched the people come and go during his lifetime. spiritually though god planted these crossroads so that his whole people could be a light to the world and lead by example to everyone on their travels. The area the promise land covers is probably the size of Wales and has every kind of climate and scenery. The place most like england is just south of Tel Aviv.
ok so that pretty much is the overview of the old testament the history and setting it may seem like info overload, but once you get you head around it all, its pretty interesting its the first real time i have looked into the history of the old testament or any of the bible sections. But the conclusion of the overview says this:
"God has inspired the writing of the old testament and will meet with you through its pages."it is so true if we look through the old testament alone it shows us various images of god, creator, loving father, destroyer and just. These are only a few not only does it give us imagery of god it also foretells of a coming king (jesus) and has many prophecies of tasks jesus will commit during his life.
okay so its nearly 2AM and i think i am going to close this with a prayer so here goes.
"Father God
In reading this overview it has taught me more about you, in the next few days as i begin to delve into your word properly for the first few times alone, i pray you will give me the understanding of you word and more knowledge of you. Also i pray if anyone reads this blog of my thoughts and feelings and history that they would feel inspired to delve into you word also. And Maybe open the hearts of some of the people who have not yet found you.
Amen "
God Bless, Mike X
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