" Beginnings" first in series of ten on the Bible

Sermon by Pastor David Latman

June 3, 2007

Genesis 1:1, 2:4-9, 3:8-13, Psalm 8, John 1:1-5.

This morning marks the first of ten messages, seeking to summarize the basics of the Bible. In World War I, a soldier was preparing to leave his trench to face the deadly fire of the enemy. He came up to the chaplain and said "What do you know about God, fast?" Most chaplains, and preachers, for that matter, would prefer not to have such time limitations on their messages. After all, we can never exhaust the heights or depths of God's truth. But we live in an age of sound bites, where people want the highlights of the news, without great detail. If I had to summarize the Bible into 10 messages, "beginnings" seems like the logical place to start. After all, the first word in the Hebrew Bible means "in the beginning".

Sam Harris, an atheist who has written the best selling book, "Letter To A Christian Nation", notes with disgust that a recent Gallup poll revealed that only 12 percent of Americans believe that life on earth has evolved through a natural process, with no involvement from God. 31% believe that evolution has been "guided by God." In other words, belief in "intelligent design" would trump belief in evolution almost 3 to 1. Harris ridicules the Genesis account of creation as leading people to believe that dinosaurs marched two by two onto Noah's ark, and the first members of our species were fashioned out of dirt and divine breath, in a garden with a talking snake. Because of this, Harris says "Our country now appears...like a lumbering, bellicose, dimwitted giant." (p. xi)

Elton Trueblood has pointed out that there are no consistent literalists when it comes to interpreting the Bible. Because when Jesus said in John "I am the vine, and you are the branches", none of us thinks Jesus meant by that that he had leaves and grapes growing out of him. But the fact that the Bible utilizes differing literary styles to communicate truth has led some to conclude that it is a book of fiction and myth. Consider this: if the Bible had been written in the scientific language of the 21st century, all those who lived until the last hundred some years would have been totally mystified as to its meaning.

If we are to faithfully understand the truth presented in the scriptures, we need to understand the historical context and cultures in which the Bible was written. A. B. Rhodes points out the Bible differs from pagan myths of creation. The Enuma Elish, the ancient Babylonian account of creation, tells of how Marduk, the champion of some of the ancient gods, met the "dragon" goddess Tiamat in mortal combat. When they came together, Marduk enmeshed Tiamat in his net. When Tiamat opened her mouth to swallow him, Marduk drove in the wind that stretched her body. Then he shot an arrow thru her open mouth, which pierced her heart and killed her. Marduk split her carcass in two: out of one half he formed the heaven, and out of the other, the earth. Finally, he created humankind from the blood of Kingu, a lover of Tiamat's. While there are some parallels between the Genesis account of creation and the Babylonian, such as the sequence of creative acts: light, firmament, dry land, luminaries, and humankind, the Genesis account tells of one God, and the Babylonian many. The Genesis account makes the creation of humankind the climax of creation.

Drs. John Iverson and Steve Stoller taught an Adult Church School class this past fall entitled "God, Science and the Bible." They suggested that the opening chapters of Genesis "were written to communicate theological truth, over and against the creation myths of the Ancient Near East. Genesis 1 employs a poetic and symbolic literary framework to communicate its truth. Chapter 2 stresses the primacy of humankind in God's creation, as opposed to the pagan idea that man is but a pawn of the gods. It is not the purpose of either chapter to scientifically describe how the universe, earth and humankind came to be!" (Class notes, p. 5 of Lesson # 5, "Can Creation and Evolution Be Harmonized?") The May 26 Pal Item carried an article about the opening of "The Creation Museum" in Northern Kentucky, a $27 million dollar effort seeking to dispute the theory of evolution and emphasize a literal rendering of Genesis. Christians differ in how they interpret different passages of the Bible. This shouldn't be surprising to us today. We have 9 supreme court justices, and they vary in how they interpret the constitution, a document far briefer than the Bible!

What I want to focus on this morning is the question Al Winn, former president of Louisville Seminary, posed, "Was the world made for no reason by nobody? Or was it made for good reasons by God the Father Almighty?" (Plain Talk About the Apostles' Creed, Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1986, p. 11) Science rarely delves into the "why" questions, seeing instead its purpose as discerning the "how". We currently find ourselves in a world where increasing numbers of people seem to view existence as coincidental, and fail to believe in an underlying purpose in life.

Since my successful heart bypass surgery, I must confess that I haven't been driven to learn more about how the surgery which prolonged my life was performed. I haven't been studying anatomy text books. If they made a video of my surgery, I wouldn't want to watch it. I'd probably pass out if I did! I'm very grateful that Dr. Kevin Murray, my surgeon, did learn to do such surgeries, and for those who went before him, making bypass surgery possible. But I haven't been going to bookstores looking to buy "An Idiot's Guide to Bypass Surgery", or to Morrison Reeves looking for "How to Perform Your Own Bypass Surgery". I have been doing a lot of thinking about why is it I'm still on this earth, and what does God want me to do with the time I have left?"

I ask these questions, because the Bible says that human life does not just happen. There is a God who created, brought into being, humankind. The mechanics and time frame in which this happened, to me, is not of primary importance. But what is important is that this God who created us desires to have a relationship with us, and has a purpose for human life. This is the theological truth that the first three chapters of Genesis reveal to us. The opening verses of John 1 remind us of Genesis: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John is talking about Jesus, the supreme revelation of God, the One who came to make our purpose clear, and enable our forgiveness and eternal fellowship with God! Some view their existence as an accident or a mistake. But God has a purpose for each one of us. Each human being is of value in God's eyes. Maybe a child born with Down's Syndrome would be considered to be without value to someone in Nazi Germany, and be sent off to extermination. But that child is valued by God, and God wants a personal relationship with him or her! Genesis makes a bold claim, that the creator of the universe, a VIP indeed, is interested in a personal relationship with us! And the gospels make that purpose clear!

This God not only cares about us when life begins, but throughout the trials and tribulations of our existence. When Adam and Eve sinned and partook of the forbidden fruit, God didn't wash His hands of the human experience. He came looking, calling out "Where are you? What have you done?" It's pretty important that we believe there is a God who calls us into being and has a purpose for each of us. A God who cares for us even, and especially, when we wander astray. A God who notices even when a little sparrow falls to the earth lifeless. All things came into being through Jesus, the Word of God. The creator of all the universe calls us by name, and wills to be in relationship with us until we breath our last breath, and beyond!

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