“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth…”
After rejecting Christianity (specifically Catholicism) as a tween in the late 90s, I’ve come back to my roots in my 40s. I’ve decided to read the Bible cover to cover and take some notes. Feel free to add any comments and thoughts. It’s time to give this a real chance and look into what this book of all books actually says.
I’m learning more about the history and context by following the Bible In A Year podcast with Father Mike Schmitz and researching the Church (Orthodox and Catholic) traditions. Please join in if you feel called to study with me!
I am using The Orthodox Study Bible: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today’s World as well as The Catholic Study Bible. But you can use any version. I like to have the history, context, and insights they add along with the text since the bible can be a tough read and the modern world is so different from the culture thousands of years ago. They’ve been invaluable!
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Summary of Genesis 1
Day 1: God creates night and day
Day 2: God creates the heavens and sky
Day 3: God creates dry land and vegetation
Day 4: God creates the sun, moon, and stars
Day 5: God creates fish and birds
Day 6: God creates land animals and humans in His image
Of course, I think the timeline of a literal week is not exactly what happened. Logically it doesn’t follow that God would create light on the first day and then the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day. I consider the creation story man’s way of revealing deeper spiritual truths rather than scientific truths. Not that I think these contradict each other.
A note on the line: Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Genesis 1:26
I never knew that God referred to himself in the plural Elohim in Hebrew. This may refer to the trinity: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.
I also didn’t realize that the bible specifically denotes male AND female are made in His image:
God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27
In my rebellious feminist days, I dismissed anything related to Christianity because I heard about the sexism in the bible. But of course, I never actually read the bible myself and only cherry-picked lines I thought were disgusting to justify my decision to leave Christianity and my position that I let be imposed on me from society. This line contradicts what I’ve been told.
So far.
Genesis 2
Again if taken literally, Genesis 2 seems to contradict the timeline of Genesis 1 a bit. Instead, I’m choosing to see the universal truth that is being revealed beyond the story. And to do that, you have to consider what was happening around the time the Bible was being written.
Genesis would have been written about 3,400 years ago. Back then people worshipped many pagan gods who were always causing chaos and were ambivalent about humans. They made human sacrifices to appease them. Life was not only unfair and lawless but brutal. People followed their own self-interest which didn’t lend itself well to fostering kindness.
I think what the authors of the Old Testament were trying to do was differentiate the pagan gods from the One True God who was revealed to them: The One who created everything and brought humanity into the world intentionally with love. As a former self-proclaimed pagan, I am only just beginning to understand that now.
That’s it for my first Bible Study entry! I will write more in-depth about my journey away from and heading (hesitantly) back toward the Church and Christianity. Let me know your thoughts and where you are in your journey.
<3
Nicole