First of all, sorry this post was a lot later than it should have been. I am still nursing the after effects of the Chinese New Year :)
It is interesting that I am starting my section with the 9 of the most challenging chapters of the Bible to me.
Genesis 1: The story of creation.
It is interesting that the Big Bang Theory was proposed by a Belgian priest, George Lemaitre, after being inspired by Genesis 1, and theorizing that the Universe did in fact have a beginning. As someone trained in the field of science for the past 16 years, it is somewhat difficult to reconcile the accounts of Genesis 1 with the scientific discoveries. I have heard many different interpretation of Genesis 1 (the Day-Age, recreation, the 6-day creation), mostly in an attempt to reconcile the apparent disparity between what we know about the origins of the Universe and the accounts in Genesis 1. In the end, whether or not Genesis 1 is meant to be taken literally or allegorically, the only thing that really matters to me in Genesis 1 is that God made everything in the universe, and we belong to God.
Genesis 2: The first pair
I taken a special interest in 2013 after reading some articles regarding gender roles (in church in particular). As an outsider (not female) ironically both easy to make judgements on what are the gender roles for women and girls, but at the same time difficult to understand the implications of such judgements. Just a few days ago, I met up with some of school friends, and we got into discussion on this after reflecting on a friend's adjustments to a newly married life. We went into discussions on family life, parenthood, and other things married couples should be concerned about. It was really easy to give opinions from a guy's perspective as only one of my friends' wife joined us (their 2 year old daughter isn't old enough to give her own opinions yet :) ) In the end, while it was easy for a guy to say what is the characteristics of a Biblical wife, and mother and of the perfect woman, what is more important for the guys is to know what it means to them to be a Biblical husband and the right man for the wife.
One new term that I learnt from my study on gender roles came from Genesis 2, which was the Hebrew term "Ezer Kenegdo" which is rendered in KJV as help meet. Literally, Ezer means a helper, a support, to make you strong, to save, and Kenegdo means appropriate for or fitting to. This term is a little disconcerting to me, as for a very long time as it implies that there is someone suitable that would make , it challenges my desire to settle down and start a family, against what is possibly a call to singlehood for me. Looking back I know that I am where I should be now because my past relationships did not work out, and looking forward it would be financially irresponsible for me to start any relationship with the intention of settling down and starting a family anytime in the near future, which puts me somewhat at peace with my dating situation. (Ironically, my friend's wife made me pose underneath a sign that said "I will not die until I get married" during our meet-up). To be honest I really wish I know what are God's plan for me in this area, and I mostly laugh it off with a joke whenever my friends ask me about my own plans, but to paraphrase Gen 2:24 I guess that how it is in a Biblical marriage, that the hopes, dreams and plans are no longer my own, but are one with the spouse and in God.
Genesis 3: The entrance of sin
I won't sugar coat it, the concept of sin challenging to me. One key aspect was on the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.
No comments:
Post a Comment