In a previous post listed here https://www.senseofthecommon.com/in-the-beginning-god-created-and-formed/ the idea of creation versus formation was discussed. We’ve also explored the idea of the original sin a bit, but not at length. So after God formed man from the dust and breathed life into his nostrils and the formation of woman thereafter God informed them to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Ultimately, Adam and Eve were tempted into doing this and all evidence shows that they made the choice of their own freewill. Adam and Eve knew shame at this point when they ate of the fruit and they knew they were naked. They tried to hide themselves from God and they feebly told God that they were naked and they hid. God called to Adam and Adam responded that he was afraid because he was naked. Naturally God knew what happened, but asked Adam who told him he was naked. It was obvious they ate of the tree. So God cursed each of them for defying his only command and cast them out of Eden and placed Cherubim around it to protect the Tree of Life. Here is where it gets interesting to me. How long were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before they defied God? Was it ten years, a million years, a billion? There is no mention of how long they were in the garden before they transgressed. It is my assertion that they did not begin to age until they had been eaten of the fruit and that they could have been here for a long time. How long, I don’t know.

This idea does shed interesting light on the ridiculous debate that creationists and evolutionists like to have. The staunch creationists like to argue based on genealogy that earth is something like 7000 years old, and then the evolutionists argue that it is billions. Well, to me that is just a debate of extremes. Are there winners when both sides of an argument are incorrect?

When we originally defied God we became imprisoned in our flesh by our flesh. It separated us from God.

When I was able to humble myself and realize that my limited understanding of the world was not sufficient to answer that question of whether we as humans were the greatest consciousness in the universe, it necessitated the existence of faith. I’ve seen the world fall into the behavior of animals, almost worse at the absence of faith. People are so confused now they cannot even determine their own biology. We need a savior now more than ever as we are in a fallen world. Unfortunately, as a species we chose this. We chose the original sin and free will dictates outcomes.

It is bothersome that people will step back and be like “God lets this happen. How could he let this happen”. Like I referenced in a previous post, it wouldn’t be much of free will if he controlled us like robots. The true test of character is to be given the choice, to choose good, to choose love, and to choose the love of God.

These are just the confessions of my heart. To accept the gift of being saved from flesh and resurrected in spirit. The way I see it is this. We are fleshly and spiritual beings simultaneously and the spirit and flesh are at odds. The flesh tries to destroy the eternal spirit through vice, demons, and obsessions. If we give into flesh we are trapped in flesh. To give into the holy spirit we give into eternal life. The flesh will decay and rot away. So I choose to lay up my treasure and my life in the spirit, the spirit of God.

This is best captured in Matthew 6:19-21.

“19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

The spirit of God came to this 3d earthly existence to live among the muck and sin, to become sin so we didn’t have to and to conquer death through his spirit so that we may live in the spirit forever. It’s this that is my testimony, to have chosen Christ, the Messiah by faith, because it is beautiful and noble. To follow Christ who would give it all up for me being the perfect blameless sacrifice, to fulfill the old law and purchase me from sin, it brings a lump to my throat. To know that I need not be guilty anymore, for the price has been paid is why I owe it all to my Messiah, Christ Jesus, the son of Yahweh, who is Yahshua. This was the price he paid because I could not pay because I was trapped in flesh. When the price was paid and the law of the old testament was fulfilled with his innocent sacrifice, Christ made it very simple for us, which I hardly believe I deserve sometimes. It is stated very plainly in Romans 10:9.

Romans 10:9

“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Thank you Jesus.

How long were they here?

I hear much from people talking about if God exists and if he is so great then how can he “let” all of this badness happen in the world. How can he stand by as we kill each other indiscriminately. The answer is fairly straight forward if you look at it. We were created in God’s image in a state of innocence and God had commanded us not not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but with that command God did not tie our hands, for he gave us free will and given a choice to either eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil or to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We chose to defy God and as a basic principle of free will there are consequences. We as a people seem to have become detached to the idea of consequence for actions and the responsibility of autonomy. If God stepped in and decided to control everything, what would differentiate us from robots or any of the other choiceless entities or constructs? It would eliminate free will and we would become automatons. What this system of freewill does for us, is allow us to prove ourselves through the choice of good versus evil and whether we choose God or we do not choose God. It is a proving ground to show that we are capable of learning and capable of seeking the Source, which is God even in our fallen state. It shows that even though we have messed up we are capable of coming back to heal so to speak. It shows God that we trust him and ultimately that we trust the Messiah or Messenger that is God’s son, Jesus. When Adam and Eve ate of the tree they broke God’s commandment for them. What they did next was a compounding event and that compounding event was to think they could hide from God and to conceal their rebellion. God knows we are fallen and what he desires instead of us running and hiding from him, is to seek him out, to confess our sins in repentance and to be welcomed back into his presence. Trust in the Son of God for he trusted God to the point of going to Sheol(abode of the dead) to pay for our transgressions as an innocent sacrifice, and arose, defeating death so that we may live through him. Trust in the Messiah.

A commonly missed thing that many people take for granted or read over when it comes to scripture happens very early in the Bible when we look at Genesis. It actually happens in Genesis Chapter 1 and then spills into the beginning of Genesis Chapter 2. In Genesis Chapter 1 God goes through the creative process one day at a time and then God gets to the sixth day and

“²⁶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

So we can see quite apparently God created man in his own image. We will dive deeper into this verse later, but for the sake of this post I just wanted to point out something. So if we move ahead to chapter 2 and

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” and we know that God rested on the seventh day. Now keep in mind man was already created on the sixth day. Here is a quote from Genesis Chapter 2.

“⁵ And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

⁶ But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

⁷ And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Does something seem redundant here, because at first glance it does. In Genesis 2:7 it shows that man was formed by God of the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils. So, in Genesis 1 we have God creating man in his image and in Genesis 2 we have God forming man of the dust. Notice the two different verbs being used here, created versus formed. These two verbs are very different in English and we will find that they are also very different in Hebrew. In Hebrew we will see that make or form is called asah and create is bara. Bara is only ever used with God as the subject. To me, as I have thought about this, it is as if when God was creating us, it was a framework as God designed us in the image of God’s Spirit. To me, what is happening in Genesis 2, is the formation of our physical body and God breathing that Spirit of Life that was created in God’s image into the clay man that was formed of the dirt and animating us as a living sentient being. These are just my personal views and if I am wrong I pray for guidance and correction. It is simply food for thought.

This blog is going to be quite simple and will address issues of culture, faith, and the state of affairs that we are in presently as a collective group of people on this planet as well as the individual. It is so easy to become disillusioned by the course of events that are happening in the world. It is no longer a battle between left and right, or conservative and liberal, it is a fight between good and evil forces. The sliding window of what is morally acceptable has slid so far that even relativistic morality has become poisoned. I don’t want the reader to view this opening as complete, for this will become a living blog as we break down topics in greater depth throughout the journey.

I intend to address some philosophical issues here, share my faith, and dive into some scripture. I am not a minister, nor am I formally trained in theology, but merely have a degree in mathematics and a passion for the scripture. It presents itself as a contradiction sometimes to be so mathematically driven, but yet fall into faith because within mathematics we develop rigorous proofs based on sets of axioms, or if you prefer, first principles. What I realized is that I can never prove nor disprove God, for it would diminish the need for faith, but what I did do, was axiomatically accept the existence of God and the fact that he presented me a savior through Jesus Christ, whom I have accepted as such. It is with a sense of humility that I did accept this as an axiom, because any other assertion would presume I know all and that is indicative of arrogance. It would be arrogant to think we are the highest form of consciousness on this planet. If we were to start with the bacterium, onto the jelly fish, the dog and the dolphin all of which thinking they are of the highest form of consciousness and power, that would seem silly. So, how much more silly would it be for a group of humans on a tiny planet in the middle of a vast cosmos to think they are at the apex of power and consciousness.

“True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.”-Socrates

Knowledge has its limits, but faith cannot be contained.