grace, faith, forgiveness, and creation

     I have a feeling this post is going to be a little incoherent, but please bear with me. I'm just writing out my thoughts...which may be incomplete at the moment.

     My first class at OCC at 7am (hasn't been too horrible...) is Christian Life with Brother Greg Hafer. Our verses for this week were Ephesians 2:1-10, Romans 1:16-17, and 2 Corinthians 5:21. These verses deal with grace, faith, and forgiveness. The Lord has had this planned for me, I'm serious. I need to understand grace, I need to keep up with my faith, and I so need forgiveness.
     Brother Hafer has us reading this book called Radical by David Platt. Yes, this book and this class is what has inspired my blog. In the first chapter, Platt explains how we tend to replace what is radical with what is comfortable. Such as, we have a bad habit of making Jesus into something he's not so it's easier for us to feel comfortable following him. When instead we need to know the Jesus of the BIBLE.
     Another question posed was 'Is His Word enough?' When we take away the sound system, the band, the entertainment, the heated or air-conditioned buildings (Radical, p. 26)...is God's Word enough to satisfy us?

     The perception of man - dead in transgressions and sins. Transgressions are mistakes, false steps, blunders. Sin is missing the mark. We are helpless and hopeless without God. Just a note I made in class that's worth thinking about.

     In History of Ancient Israel 1...oh man. Such a good class. Taught by Brother Woody Wilkinson. He is like all the cool grandpa's combined into one AWESOME grandpa. We've been starting at the beginning of Genesis. We established that:

• Day One: God created Light.
• Day Two: God created Expanse (Firmament).
• Day Three: God created Vegetation (Land).
• Day Four: God created Sun, Moon, and Stars.
• Day Five: God created Birds and Fish.
• Day Six: God created Land Animals and Man.
• Day Seven: God rested. (Or ceased).

     There are some questions Brother Woody has us think about. Such as, on day three when God created vegetation (trees for example), was there age? Were baby trees created as well as old, tall trees?
     Something that was pointed out to me was that light was created BEFORE the sun, moon, and stars were created. It's just interesting to think on the fact that there was light without what is the source of light today. I like to think that that light was the light of God's glory.
     There's a lot of controversy with Young Earth and Old Earth. Personally, I believe in Young Earth. I was talking to a friend about this and he made a good point. Genesis is a history book. We're LEARNING about what had happened. When reading a history book...if they say that this piece of machinery was made in a day...you'd assume that yes, it was made in a 24-hour period. It's the same with Genesis. It's telling us the history of creation. When I read that God made something in a day, I don't think "hm...a day in God's time must be millions of years in our time." No, I truly believe it was in a 24-hour period. Wilbur Fields makes an excellent point in his book, Old Testament History: An Overview of Sacred History & Truth...on page 25 Fields says, "Adam was created on the sixth day. He lived in the garden of Eden through the sixth and seventh days. Some time after the seventh day, he was expelled from the garden. He had two sons. They grew to maturity. Son Cain killed son Able. Still later a third son, Seth, was born. Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born (Gen. 5:3). Plainly, the sixth and seventh days do not refer to periods of time thousands of years long. We assume the word 'day' refers to the same period of time in all the references in Genesis 1." Pretty plain and simple to me, right? Fields makes a lot of other good points concerning this, as well.

     Here are some other questions to think about...
• How long were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before they were cast out?

• Did Adam and Eve have children before the Fall?

• Did Adam and Eve have to sleep before the Fall?

• Did they feel pain? Did they bleed?

• Have a belly button?

• Was there death before sin entered the world? If God warned Adam and Eve that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would cause them to die...how would they know what death was? Was there any form of death in the Garden for them to understand the concept? Did plants wither away and die after time? Did any animals pass away?

• Was there paradise outside of the Garden of Eden?

• Was female (Eve) created on the sixth day?

• Did the taking of Adam's rib leave a scar on him?

     These were most of my thoughts today. I have some on Acts, as well but I'll leave this post for now. I have one more day left of the first week. I'm ready to have a weekend to get caught up on sleep and some homework.

-jrw