1:2

Generally I don’t pay attention to numbers.  I mean, the mystical significance of numbers is often the result of the human desire to assert pattern and semblance of order to otherwise random distributions and occurrences.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the crazy conspiracy theories around the number 23 if you want to see what I mean.

This time however, for some reason I don’t really understand, I got caught up in the significance of sequential numbers.  Is Genesis 2:3 significant for example?  1^st book of the bible, 2^nd chapter, 3^rd verse? I like Gen 2:3 but it didn’t really speak to me so I decided to look at the beginning of the bible and was amazed that right off the bat, we are given an incredible revelation of God’s character.  I don’t mean the revelation of God as Creator.  That’s incredible, but we talk about that a lot and we see His hand constantly creating and guiding creation and we tend not to forget the part about God as Creator.

"Storm Warning" by Katrin Blumenschein

So I guess this is the second revelation of God’s character which is presented in Genesis 1:2.

What’s with the list?

The lists of families, usually father to son, are very carefully listed in the Bible. Now ignore for a moment the fact that these are painfully boring to read especially since most of these people have no later mention in the biblical texts, and consider what it means that these lists are preserved.  Remember most scholars agree that the Hebrew Scriptures were not written down until after the Babylonian exile.  The only parts of scripture that were recorded were the books of prophecy while everything else was known by rote.

That’s old school for “memorized.”

Can you imagine what it took to memorize those long lists?  I mean the stories are pretty easy to remember on some level because there’s a story arc and a series of events to recall.  But if you just look at Genesis 9-11 (OT bible reading for today on the Tapestry Church app) for example there area whole lot of “begats” in there.  I’m a theatre person so I know what it takes to memorize something like that and it is time and effort.  So I ask, “why?”

What’s the point?  Why is this important?

God in Art: NINE

So I know I’m a little behind on this one, NINE came out back in 2009 (haha, Nine, 2009) but I just saw it last night, and it spoke to me very clearly.  Now I’m reasonably certain that a great many Christians probably looked down on this movie….very very far down.  The main character played by Daniel Day Lewis (who put on a stunning performance in my opinion) is plagued by an addictive personality.  I mean this guy smokes, drinks, and sleeps around like it’s his job.  Nevermind that he’s supposed to be a film director this guy is in all kinds of trouble and completely unrepentant.  What really got me personally about him was the casual acceptance of extra-martial affairs.

7th Day Slumber

This is the name of one of my favorite bands. They were one of the first Christian bands I saw perform live, AND they didn’t put me to sleep with soft acoustics.  What makes me think of them today however, is the name.  “7^th Day Slumber”

On the Seventh Day God rested.

Courtesy Vivek Chugh @ sxc.hu

Meditation on Light pt 2

Someone asked if it was significant or meant anything that even though God created light in the first day, He didn’t create the sun, moon and stars until day 4.  You can see my response here and it isn’t a bad response, but I’m also sure there’s more to it.  And that “more” goes something like this: