The Bible Project – Introduction

This was a random idea I have had the other day, but I really think I can do this. Basically, what I am going to attempt is to go through every single Chapter of the Bible and discuss it on here. My plan is to go through the whole Bible this way. Maybe I can give some of you inspiration, maybe it helps you with something you are going through, who knows. I just decided to do this because I havent actually read much in the bible lately.

If you find anything I say offensive, please say so. I am open for discussion, but do not mean to insult anyone by what I post.

Thank you. Have fun reading!

Asthma

It is funny….not the topic of this post, but more the story behind it. Well…..let’s say funny, but with a pinch of sarcasm.

Almost two months ago, I went to the Hospital here in the U.S.. I was complaining of severe allergies, to include blood in my throat when coughing or sneezing. I thought that a simple hospital visit would finally determine what is going on and let’s face it….im bleeding when coughing and sneezing….that is a little unsettling, even for me. So I went, and after a few hours of waiting, the doctor finally came to see me. I described all the things that I was experiencing in great detail to make sure that he can finally tell me what is wrong and i can do something against it. Well, it turns out that he just listens to my lungs for a few minutes, tells me that he is prescribing a nose spray and that should help the situation. I left and got the medicine….yes, before i move on i should state that it actually helped…..not for very long though.

So….I am on vacation in Germany, for two weeks, visiting my family. One day, I woke up and went to the dining room to have breakfast with my mom. I sit down at the table, and the next thing i know is i dont get nearly enough air as I should. I got up and went to the window, in an attempt to suck in some fresh air….well….that didnt work. My mother, who took “Asthma Training,” meaning a training to determine when someone has an asthamtic attack and such (due to my brother being sick all the time), told me to lay on the floor as far stretched as possible and to try and take deep breaths. This works, so i decide to get up again. BAD IDEA let me tell you, three seconds later, I am back on the ground in the same position. Needless to say, it is time for another doctor’s appointment, this time in Germany, where the doctors care about their patients.

The doctor there takes three looks at me, listens to my lungs and does some tests. Then the words I never thought I’d hear in my life: “You have Asthma.” My first reaction was that she was lying and that the doctor in the US would have told me if I did. Then the realization that this is something that isnt reversible, that this is something I would have to live with. At least this is managable to a degree.

A small vacation….that’s all it was supposed to be.

 

Genesis 8

Genesis 8 is the story about Noah sending out birds to determine whether the earth has dried again so that he may get out of the ark. He sends out a raven first, then a dove. Then he sends out the dove again after some time, and the dove returns with an olive branch in it. Then, after a few more days, Noah sends out the dove again, and it doesnt return.

To me, this story is a story of patience. Patience because Noah knows that the Lord will fix things for him, if he just waits. He trusts in the Lord and the Lord gives him the sign that everything worked out for Noah by returning the dove with a n Olive leaf. There is a lot of symbolism in this passage, one with the Olive leaf and two with the fact that the dove doesnt come back after it is being sent out a third time. (Dove doesnt come back + THIRD time).

From a historical standpoint, the story of Noah and the flood could correspond to the “creation” of the Black Sea….I mean, if you think about it, that must have been a great flood for the people who have lived in the area that is now the Black Sea.

Genesis 7: The Flood

This passage is about God telling Noah to build the ark, and he also gives Noah specific instructions on what needed to be on the ark, and a timeframe for when Noah needs to have completed the ark. Again, the magic number “7″ plays a big role in this section, as it is 7 pairs of animals for sacrifice, and 7 days until the flood comes. Apart from that of course, God wants one pair of each animal on the ark as well.

Then the flood comes….for 40 Days and Nights.

God follows through with the punishment that he told everyone was going to come. No last minute change as you would have anticipated, since God is a loving, kind God….or NOT. God from this point forward is both kind and loving, but also some kind of punisher for screw ups, and enforcer of punishment. He’s like the adult punishing a child for doing bad deeds….loving and kind, but when punishment is necessary, it will be carried out just the way that he said it would be done.

There’s really not much more I can get out of this. Does anyone have any additional ideas? I’d love to hear them.

GENESIS 6: The Lord Will Send a Flood

This is the part where God looks at earth and pretty much says “Man, I screwed up big time.” This is the part where he wants to destroy all mankind with the exception of Noah because he thinks that Noah is awesome (pretty much).

So the LORD tells Noah to build an ark and bring with him 2 of each kind of animal.

To me, this is the part where God admits that he goofed. He sees that man is bad and full of sin, so he wants to rid the earth of this evil. This is the first time we see that God isnt good at all times. (yes, he kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden, but thats not nearly as bad as this). God is like the father that caught his child being bad. Punishment is in order, and we are getting a spanking of epic proportions here. So why didnt God just get rid of all of us? After all, many believe that the biggest evil on earth is man. I tend to agree. God gave us this earth to take care of it. We really suck at it so far. But instead, God decides to give us another chance and tells Noah to build and ark for him and the animals. To give us another chance. So, let’s not waste it!

GENESIS 5: Descendants of Adam

I was debating on whether to even put this in here. Genesis 5 details the decendants of Adam, who had which children etc. It isnt really that exciting unless you’d like to know that back in those days the life expectancy must have been much much higher than it is today. Dang High Fructose Corn Syrup and such!

Genesis 4: Cain murders Abel

First, I would like to apologize for the long period of inactivity. I’ve had some things I wanted to take care of in the real world, and I’ve gained some perspective on that as well…more about that later. Now to the real reason of this post, Genesis 4, where Cain murders Abel.

This tells about how Adam and Eve got two sons, Cain and Abel. The story then goes into how Cain and Abel gave offerings to the LORD, and how the LORD wasnt happy with Cain’s offering. Abel gave his first born lamb, whereas Cain jsut simply gave part of his crop. The LORD then calls Cain out on the fact that Cain doesnt look happy and told him that had he done the right thing, Cain would have been smiling, just like Abel. Cain then takes Abel for a walk and kills him. What follows is the LORD’s punishment on Cain due to his actions.

This is an intense story to me. I mean, these two kids are the first kids basically, and it’s also the first murder of the bible, and the fist account of Jealousy. I mean, let’s think about this one. The whole reason Able gets murdered is because the LORD wasn’t happy with Cain’s offering. Why? It isn’t clear, but it seems that the reasoning here is that Abel gave a more meaningful offering than Cain. He gave his first-born lamb. That is a pretty good deal. Cain, on the other hand gave a few of his crops. Not really that much of a big deal, crops grow quickly. But to give a first born lamb? That seems like a major and very meaningful thing. I mean, how many times are we like Cain, and just give part of something but not all of it? Suppose, just for a minute, that the offering that we are talking about here is faith. How many of us give part of our faith? To give an example, how many times have you said you’d go to church but you really never went because there was something “more important” to take care of? How many times have you said “i’ll pray tonight,” but never actually got around to it? To make it more real: How many times have you told your wife/husband, girlfriend/boyfriend or whomever that you would take care of something but you never did? I know I have, and after reading this story, I feel guilty just like some of you might. 

I encourage every single one of you readers to follow through on one thing this week that normally gets out to the side because there are “some more important things” to do.  And then, if you’d like, share your story by way of commenting on this post.

GENESIS 3: The first Sin

In this part of the bible, we are told about how the snake convinces the woman to eat from the treee that she wasnt supposed to eat from and then convinces Adam to also eat from the tree. It then goes to detail how God found out and the punishment that then follows.

Quite simply put, we could compare the snake to Temptation. When someone says not to do something, aren’t we all tempted to do it, even though we are specifically told not to? The fact that something is forbidden makes it that much more interesting. Unfortunately however, God found out what happened, so God punished the man and woman for what they did. Rightfully so, because as we all know, whatever the action you werent supposed to do, it always has consequences.

The consequences that God gives us basically determine how we are living the rest of our lives, after all due to Eve, women now have to go through immense pain when giving birth, and men now need to shave and be the bread winner of the family. I’d say those are pretty harsh consequences, but I guess that’s what you get for disobeying the Lord.

What about a time where you felt tempted by something? Did you go after whatever it was? Were you able to overcome that temptation?

GENESIS 2:The Garden of Eden

This is the account of how GOD created the Garden of Eden, all the animals in it and humans. It details how God created the Garden first and where it is located. Then he creates man, who gets to name all the animals. God also creates a partner for man, the woman.  Further, they are instructed that they can eat from any tree in the Garden but one.

I enjoy this part of the bible because there is so many things one can draw from it. For example, as we will ultimately learn, Man’s first sin will happen. In a lot of ways, God went wrong with telling man that you can eat from everywhere but that one tree…everyone knows that this makes that one tree so much more interesting to eat from than any others! I guess Adam and Eve are to blame for why we always try to do something we are specifically told not to do. It’s a very normal concept that we have always known and now can trace back all the way to Adam and Eve.

Not only that but this section, as it details, although not 100% exactly, where the Garden of Eden is, makes me understand why that general area is so well liked by all faiths. It is the area where most of Earth’s life began and also one of the nicest areas in the world. No wonder people fight over it.

Apart from all that it seems to me that God initially wanted us to have paradise (heaven) on earth, which, because of Adam and Eve’s sin, we now have to work for. Go figure someone had to ruin it!

When you read about the Garden of Eden, what are your thoughts? What can you draw from the passage?

GENESIS 1: The Story of Creation

This is the account of how God created the Earth, all living creatures and mankind. It establishes days and that the seventh day was to be the rest day. After reading this part of Genesis, many things go through my head. First, I marvel at the amount of care that God has taken in creating everything. Second, it makes me wonder why God has created something so beautiful and left us in charge of it, considering how horribly we take care of the gift that he has given us. We are careless about where we get rid of our trash, it does not seem to matter whether we do it on the roads, in the backyard, in someone else’s garden or whether we throw it in the trash can. It does not take much to throw trash away in the appropriate places and attempt to keep the earth clean.

Have any of you ever considered recycling? Recycling is a great form of taking care of the environment. Reusing as much material as it is possible and safe helps eliminate so much trash. Even if you do one environmentally safe thing a day, you can help take care of God’s gift. It is as easy as switching your light bulbs to light bulbs that are environment friendly.

What are your thoughts about the story of Creation? Recycling? Keeping the Earth clean? I’d like to hear your thoughts about this!

Thanks for reading today’s Segment of The Bible Project.