In the Beginning

I feel like a complete moron, but I have only just realized that the Bible takes the timeless entity of God, from the very beginning, and puts it into the timeliness that man needs to understand.

בְּרֵאשִׁית (trans. b’rashit)- In the beginning.  Without time, there is no beginning, middle or end – there simple “is”.  God’s own name, “I am, that I am” takes Him out of time, and yet, we are provided evidence after evidence of linear time in the Bible.

I’m really stuck on time – both the presence of and the lack of, and am fascinated with the dichotomy.  I think part of it may be because I cannot comprehend why God would create us within the four dimensions of space.  And then my brain takes off in other directions, pointing out that we actually exist in multi-dimensional space that gets into string theory, and definitely exceeds the bounds of this blog.  But, it’s cool to contemplate.  🙂

Advertisement

The Bible and History

I like this quote:  “Biblical history is not objective history – that is, uninterpreted history – but rather, history narrated with a divine purpose.”  (Introduction to the Old Testament)  The authors talk about reading and understanding the Bible, not just within itself, but in context of both literary and historical perspectives.  Knowledge and “facts” are assumed by the author of any particular Biblical book, because they were commonplace knowledge in his time, and there is no need to explain, because everyone knows.

History narrated with a divine purpose – this is the story God wants us to know.  But then you have to think – God is omniscient.  He knows the historical perspective.  And again going back to the theme that always gets my attention – God is timeless, outside of time.  History would therefore be a uniquely human creation to explain facts in linear time.  To God, the invention of the wheel and space travel are either simultaneous or irrelevant in a linear perspective, but when applied to humans, it must lead one from the other.  One has to wonder if they aren’t simply labeled in some cosmic filing cabinet as “science” – or most likely “travel.”

However, being omniscient, God would realize the human need for time, and provided methods of tracking it – the sun, the moon, the seasons – age.  In the Garden was the Tree of Life, which made everyone immortal.  But after the Fall, we aged.  We had children and grew old.  So then the question becomes, was the science God provided in the circle of life the gift of linear time?

More questions than answers, and I’m still in the introductory section of the book.