Tag: faith

Genesis 6. Noah gets the call to build the Ark.

“Sons of God” is the literal translation of the Hebrew “ben Elohim,” but in Job 1:6 it is translated “angels”. Other translations call it “divine beings”.

Jude hints the “Sons of God” are angels.

After Jesus died on the cross, but was made alive in the spirit He did this:

In fact the Ark was so big that it was the largest wooden ship ever built. Larger ships, made of steel were not made until the 1880’s.

Has anyone found the Ark? Many have searched for it. Here is a drawing from someone claming to have seen it from a retreating glacier near Mount Ararat.

Notice, in chapter 6 it claims that you only take 2 of every animal. Stay tuned in following chapters.

Genesis 4. Cain and Abel.

 

Sounds pretty good to me. Cain worked the soil, and with the sweat of his brow he gave thanks to the Lord for it. Notice it does not say first fruits, only some of the fruits of the soil.

Abel offered the firstborn of his flock.

It takes faith to do the right thing. think of it! To sacrifice the firstborn!

 

And God ordained it so, that the acceptable perfect offer is the firstborn of the flock of sheep or goats. This got later codified in Leviticus.

This is a little jewel from the story of Gideon.

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The expression “my brothers keeper” is used often, but how many really know where the expression is coming from in this increasingly Bible illiterate world.

Yet, in the New Testament, after Jesus there is even better things promised.

Where is Nod? Here is a map from 1702. Nod is what is now Iran.

And with Abel dead and Cain gone, Adam and Eve started over.

 

Genesis 3. The Fall of Man.

Why the serpent? It has since the fall of man become the symbol of sin and Moses used this symbol during the Hebrews wandering in the desert when a disease broke out.

And Jesus himself used this symbol to explain its messianic and redemptive value.

And the serpent figures most prominently in Revelation, the last book of the New Testament.

Back to Genesis 3:

Satan quotes God, but changes one vital detail. Eve corrects the snake, but adds one touch.

 

Satan’s approach is always the same, repeated in the temptation of Jesus 40 days after His baptism:

The approach is: First flatter and appeal to vanity. If that doesn’t work, quote scripture to test God’s promises. Finally, if that doesn’t work, promise power and authority.

Fig leaves are lousy. They break very easily and does not cover well.

No, Adam and Eve did not die physically, but they both died spiritually, their perfect communication  and trust in God was broken.

Yes, the human mitochondria and RNA tend to suggest we all come from one mother.

And people have been dreaming of finding the tree of life ever since.

 

Genesis 2. Adam and Eve.

 

And this is the reason we are having a seven day week, starting with what we call Sunday, or more precisely Saturday evening after sunset, and ending the seventh day with a day of no creative work. This is called sabbath.

This is the second name of God, the covenantal name Jehovah, or Jahwe.

Jews and Christians have Jahwe or Jehovah as the main name for God, since Elohim just means “the strongest strong one” and is valid for any God. This is where Islam parts from Judeo – Christian belief, not accepting Jehovah, only Allah, (and 98 more names for God, the hundredth being known only to Allah himself.)

 

We are still in the early days of a functioning eco-system, and rains have not started yet. Yet there is plenty of water on the earth, the earth was formed before the sun was turned on. Yes, water was created before the luminaries.

So, the question is, where was the garden of Eden?

The river Euphrates and Tigris are mentioned, so the simplest guess is it must be between the two rivers.

And indeed, some early map puts the garden downstream of Babylon, a vast marshy land with meandering rivers between Euphrates and Tigris. On the map below the lower river is Euphrates.

But, the Muslims have another explanation, placing Eden nearer the Red Sea, this time in Ethiopia and Sudan.

And they place importance on Pishon and Gihon, being the Blue Nile and Atbarah river

The problem with this interpretation is manifold, Eden is East of the promised land, not south, and Euphrates is the most prominent of all rivers in the middle east.

So this will place Eden south of Babylon. An alternate location, is near the beginning of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris,

Tanotherhis interpretation is favored by the Kurds, a proud people living in Eastern Turkey and Syria, Northern Iraq and North West Iran. They are very proud of being the cradle of civilization.

The garden of Eden is still a picture of ideal conditions, peace and prosperity.

Only one restriction. I see trouble ahead. More to follow.

It means Adam named all the birds and beasts as he encountered them. His offspring continued the process, and it is still going on.

I have chosen to take this description spiritually. Feel free to take it literally, remembering, this is easy for God to do, compared to the rest of Creation.

Yes, Jesus himself took the spiritual lesson and applied it to mankind. God’s idea is, one man, one woman, one lifetime. This indeed would abolish a whole host of diseases, not to mention the hurt that comes from breakups, betrayals and falsehood.

 

 

Genesis 1. The Creation.

Now it must be said, it is attributed to Moses. He did not write it all down himself, but had help from the local scribes. After Moses death it was completed, including even his burial.

 

Yes there was a beginning. The question is, before energy and matter does time and space even make sense? Since we are bound in space and time, and all observations we can make are from our experiences in space and time. Yet the Bible is clear: Before Creation there was God!

Which leads us to

 

This is the first hint of the triune aspect of God, three, yet one. God the Father creator, God the Son – Jesus Christ is also called the Word, and the Holy Spirit – God’s spirit.

Footnote: Elohim is Hebrew, the corresponding Arab word is Allah, which is also plural.

 

Notice God omitted saying it was good – for the second day only! Why?

It takes time, and a full cycle to build a stable eco-system.

Clouds are God’s way of stabilizing temperatures. If there were no clouds, temperatures in the tropics would be as high as 140 degrees F.  There are many different cloud types:

Of these cloud types the cumulus clouds and the cumulonimbus (Thunder storms) are the most important in stabilizing the temperatures. They appear during day and afternoon if temperatures are rising enough, there is enough humidity and some form of aerosol or cosmic radiation to form a condensation point.  These clouds cool significantly, mostly by reflecting incoming sunlight back into space.

 

Footnote. We are all created into God’s image, male and female.

A man has an X and a Y chromosome, a woman has two X chromosomes. There are a few other combinations with an extra chromosome, rare, but they do exist. Total combinations, XX, XY, XXY, XYY.

 

Yes, it was very good. Time for a day of rest.

President Trump’s first foreign trip for peace, salaam, shalom; a Limerick. (Update 1)

Arabia, Israel, Rome;

then Belgium and Sicily, Home.

Donald Trump has the strength

and he talks to great length:

Bring peace, and salaam, and shalom!

This I call a welcome peace gesture!

Shalom! President Trump meets with Benyamin Netanyahu who said:

“I … look forward to working closely with you to advance peace in our region — because you have noted so succinctly that common dangers are turning former enemies into partners. That’s where we see something new and potentially something very promising. It won’t be simple. But for the first time in many years — and, Mr. President, for the first time in my lifetime — I see a real hope for change.”

Then it was time to lay a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. (Stephen Crowley/The New York Times)

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Off to Bethlehem to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas made no concessions and will continue to reward the families of “Martyred” terrorists when their sons have killed Israelis.

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Over to Rome to meet the Pope. Melania is again getting properly dressed for the occasion.

The audience with the Pope started out tense, but at the end all were smiles.

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After meeting with the Pope President Trump said: “Thank you. I won’t forget what you said.” Later  he tweeted: Honor of a lifetime to meet His Holiness Pope Francis. I leave the Vatican more determined than ever to pursue PEACE in our world.

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After the private audience the Pope was all smiles and even cracked a joke with Melania Trump. His Holiness the Pope asked Melania (in Italian): What do you feed your husband? ‘Potica?’  Melania laughed and answered in Italian “Potica, si”, the perfect answer. After all, Melania is fluent in six languages: Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian, Italian, German, English and conversational French. The Pope is fluent in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, German, Ukrainian and Piedmontese  and, of course, Latin.

The it was off to Belgium to meet the King and Queen. Melania Trump was again dressed in a bluish grey dress and coat, a color perfectly suited for the country of Belgium.

Will the rest of the trip bring forth peace? Tomorrow is NATO and then off to Sicily and G7. Keep praying.

The source of wisdom according to Job. Look up to the sky.

20 “From where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
And concealed from the birds of the air.
22 Destruction and Death say,
‘We have heard a report about it with our ears.’
23 God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
24 For He looks to the ends of the earth,
And sees under the whole heavens,
25 To establish a weight for the wind,
And apportion the waters by measure.
26 When He made a law for the rain,
And a path for the thunderbolt,
27 Then He saw wisdom and declared it;
He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.
28 And to man He said,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding.’” Job 28:20-28 (NKJV)

These are the words God gave Job, originally written in old Aramaic, before Moses wrote the Torah. We do not know much about him, but this we know: Before the law was given, God revealed Himself in his creation and how the environment works. Job even knew and wrote about his redeemer: “I know that my redeemer liveth“, and his language and images are from nature in all its form.

This is where it hit me. Even in this, the oldest book of the Bible they grasped the source of all wisdom: Fear God and shun evil. Truth comes from God and is manifested in His creation, even in the way water vapor plays a role in keeping the earth not only watered, but in ecological balance and prevents the earth from overheating no matter how much damage we as humans do to it.

Let me explain. If there was no water the earth would be a dry planet with the average temperature much colder than today at the poles, but warmer near the equator. The night would be more than 100 degrees colder than the day and no life would be possible. With water the oceans act as a stabilizer, and at sea there is really not much difference between day and night temperatures. What does matter is if you are in the sun or in the shadow. In the winter you welcome the sun, but in the summer “All sun makes a desert” as the Arabic proverb says. Thanks to clouds there will never be a risk of the earth overheating, or even get warmer than it was 6000 years ago during the Holocene peak temperature between the ice ages.

People living in the country side can and do look up to the sky to see what the weather is going to be. When they see the cumulus clouds (the fair weather clouds) form they know it is going to be a pleasant morning. Those clouds reflect up to 300 W/m2 of the sunlight back into the sky, heat that would otherwise warm the air.  This is a major reason the earth will not be overheated. Yes, water vapor is a greenhouse gas, and keeps the earth at an optimum temperature for plant growth and as long as there is enough humidity to produce clouds. The best example is the monsoon in India.  Springs are unbearable hot. The air is dry and temperatures can reach 120 degrees F during daytime. Come summer the monsoon arrives,  thunderstorms roll in and temperatures return back to the low 90’s, still uncomfortable because of the humidity, but the rains water the plains and produce a rich harvest.

People living in cities seldom make the connection that the clouds are the major temperature governor of the climate. In the tropics it works nearly perfectly, and as long there are clouds the amount of CO2 does not matter much, in fact a doubling of CO2 will heat up the earth much less than one degree.

Yes, people living in the country can see daily how the clouds work and keeps the earth from overheating. People living in the great cities are experiencing the urban heat island, it is getting warmer and warmer, and they are more likely to believe climate change leading to all kinds of catastrophes.

In short, next time you see a cloud forming in the sky, thank God for arranging everything so beautiful. If you see a thunderstorm, thank God, but get inside, if you are expecting a hurricane take precautions, if you are expecting a tornado take cover, but above all, in everything give thanks, for this is is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

If you are interested in a more technical explanation read  https://lenbilen.com/2017/04/10/thanks-to-clouds-the-temperature-governor-is-alive-and-well-on-planet-earth/