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hello my name is dawn Carson
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you are watching the first in a series
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of fourteen talks given in Minneapolis
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in early 2009 these talks are designed
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to help you find out what the Bible says
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more accurately they're designed to
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introduce you to God as he is talked
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about in the Bible as he discloses
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himself in events and narrative in
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worship in love and holiness through the
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pages of this book if you know nothing
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about the Bible but would like to learn
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this series is for you if quite frankly
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you are in principle skeptical about
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whatever the Bible says your first step
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ought to be finding out what it says and
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so this series is for you to if you have
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become a believer in Jesus only recently
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and worried that you know far too little
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about the Bible the series is for you as
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well some of you will watch the video
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series or listen to the corresponding
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audio series perhaps in your car and
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nothing more that's fine but some may
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want to dig a little deeper but before
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you start let me warn you
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whether you are beginning this series
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out of the mildest curiosity or are
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embarking on it out of a passionate
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hunger to know and trust and worship the
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God of the Bible I am quite sure that at
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least some of you will find yourselves
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strangely drawn to this God you may find
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in delighted and shocked astonishment
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that you can no longer push him away
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some of you he will capture you'll
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probably find it easier to follow this
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series if you have a Bible at hand I'll
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explain in the series how the Bible is
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organized and how to find things in it
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as we go along so sit down and let me
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have your undivided attention for a few
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minutes as we begin at the beginning and
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think about the God who made everything
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it is an enormous privilege for me to be
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with you for this series the God who is
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there before plunging into the first
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talk it might be helpful if I tell you
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where we're going in this series there
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was a time in the Western world when
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many people had read the Bible
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reasonably thoroughly and therefore they
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knew how it was put together even those
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who were atheists were shall I say
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Christian atheists that is to say that
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God they disbelieved in was the God of
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the Bible their understanding of the God
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whom they found incredible was
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nevertheless in some measure shaped by
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their reading of the Bible but today of
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course there is a rising number of
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people who really don't know how the
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Bible works at all they have never
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really read it and so the first place to
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begin in trying to understand what
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Christianity ought to be who Jesus is is
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to start again by reading the Bible
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there are lots of ways in which we could
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in theory talk about Christianity we
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could for example do a brief survey of
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the history of the Christian Church or
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we might start analyzing what Christians
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in various parts of the world believe
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but the best way to get at it is to
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examine Christianity's foundation
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documents there are 66 of them they vary
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in length from one page to small books
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they were written over a period of 1500
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years in three languages the biggest
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part was written in Hebrew a very tiny
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part was written in a language like
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hebrew called aramaic and the last part
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was written in greek so all of our
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Bibles today the bibles that we hold in
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our hands and and pick up and read at
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leisure all of these of course are
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translations of what was originally
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given in these languages these
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sixty-six foundation documents are
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astonishing light astonishingly diverse
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in form in literary job
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are letters some are Oracle's some are
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written in poetry
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some are laments they have genealogies
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they have sections that are said to be
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Oracle's from God himself
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some are horrible wrestling's as as
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believers try to understand what on
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earth God is doing some are written in a
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genre that we just don't use anymore we
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call it apocalyptic literature will come
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to that next week with astonishing
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symbolism that is visually striking and
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then on top of that they they they are
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astonishingly varied as well in terms of
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accessibility some parts you can read
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and in anybody with an ability to read a
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novel today can make sense of the text
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and other parts are full of symbolism
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that is archaic no longer used today out
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of date because it is located at a
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certain time in history now all of these
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foundation documents have been put
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together and when they're put together
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they form the book that's all Bible
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means it's it's the book it's the book
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of Christianity's foundation documents
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and we who are Christians insists that
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God has disclosed himself supremely in
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the pages of these documents in this
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series I shall sketch in what the Bible
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says so as to make sense of what
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Christianity means what Christianity
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looks like if it is constrained by its
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own foundation documents because truth
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must be said very often Christians
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themselves have abandoned those
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foundation documents and betray the very
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heritage that they have received the
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Christian claim however is that this
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Bible discloses the God who is there now
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in this first session we reflect on the
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God who made everything and we begin by
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the first book
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in this collection called Genesis these
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books are put together with chapters and
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verses that is if you open the Bible
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anywhere you'll find a break with a big
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number that's a heading of a chapter and
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then some small numbers if you're not
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familiar with the Bible if you've never
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read it at all the easiest thing to do
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to orientate yourself is to open up to
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the first few pages where you'll find in
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the series order within the Bible all
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the names of the books of the Bible
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Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers and so
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on all the way through the whole
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sixty-six and then you'll get the page
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number and you can find the book and
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then you'll see there's a chapter number
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and a verse number so if I say something
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like Genesis 1:26 I mean the first book
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of the Bible the first chapter verse 26
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and over the course of these fourteen
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sessions all would be referring to a lot
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of books of the Bible a lot of passages
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you won't have time to look them all up
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but it's all recorded you can look them
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up later and that's how you find them if
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you have not become familiar with
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handling the Bible in the past
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so we begin then with Genesis 1 I'm not
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going to read the whole chapter but I
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want to pick up parts of it and into
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chapter 2 this is what the opening line
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of the Bible says in the beginning God
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created the heavens and the earth now
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the earth was formless and empty
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darkness was over the surface of the
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deep and the Spirit of God was hovering
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over the waters and God said let there
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be light and there was light God saw
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that the light was good and he separated
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the light from the darkness
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God called the light day and the
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darkness he called night and there was
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evening and there was morning.the first
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day
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and then in successive days various
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things are created by this God who says
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let there be this or let there be that
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and occasionally there is a refrain
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added at the end of verse 10 and God saw
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that it was good so eventually you get
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today 5 and the water teems with living
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creatures and birds fly above the earth
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across the vault of the sky God created
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the great creatures of the sea and every
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living and moving thing with which the
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water teems according to their kinds and
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then the sixth day Let The Land produce
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living creatures according to their
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kinds livestock creatures that move
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along the ground wild animals each
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according to its kind and at the end of
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the description and God saw that it was
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good then God said let us make human
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beings in our image in our likeness so
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that they may rule over the fish in the
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sea and the birds in the sky over the
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livestock and all the wild animals and
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over all the creatures that move along
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the ground so God created human beings
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in his own image in the image of God he
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created them male and female he created
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them God blessed them and said to them
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be fruitful and increase in numbers fill
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the earth and subdue it rule over the
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fish in the sea and the birds in the sky
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and over every living creature that
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moves on the ground
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then God said I give you every
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seed-bearing plant on the face of the
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whole earth and every tree that has
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fruit with seed in it they will be yours
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for food and to all the beasts of the
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earth and all the birds in the sky and
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all the creatures that move on the
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ground everything that has breath of
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life in it I give every green plant for
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food and it was so God saw that he had
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made and it was very good and there was
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evening and there was morning the sixth
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day thus the heavens and the earth were
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completed in all their vast a
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by the seventh day God had finished the
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work he had been doing so on the seventh
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day he rested from all his work then God
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blessed the seventh day and made it holy
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because on it he rested from all the
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work of creating that he had done and
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then in the rest of chapter two there's
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a kind of expansion on the creation of
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human beings that we'll come to in due
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course now because much of 21st century
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culture is convinced that contemporary
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scientific thought is fundamentally
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incompatible with the opening chapters
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of Genesis I'd better say something
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about the approach I adopt here four
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things number one there is more
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ambiguity in the interpretation of these
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chapters than some Christians recognize
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some Christians are convinced for
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example that this pair of chapters read
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responsibly insists that the world is
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not more than four thousand years older
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than the coming of Jesus others insists
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that it is entirely compatible with vast
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ages some think that each day represents
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an age others insert a huge gap between
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verse 1 and verse 2 some see this as a
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literary device creation week is a
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creation week all right but it it is
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symbol Laden and and and full of other
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things rather than describing a literal
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week others devote their energy to
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comparing it with other creation
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accounts in the ancient world in which
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it was written in the Babylonian era for
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example there was a document called the
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Enuma Elish which describes the creation
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of the world and they try to say that
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the Christian documents are basically
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shaped along the lines of those
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Babylonian myths there are huge
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diversity of opinion amongst Christians
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let alone amongst those who want to
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write the entire account off what shall
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we do with this
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I hold that this is transparently a
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mixed Jean that feels like history and
275
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really does give us some historical
276
00:13:36,550 --> 00:13:39,850
details that is by history I don't mean
277
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that which has been written down at the
278
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time but that which takes place in
279
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space-time reality yet it is full of
280
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demonstrable symbolism and sorting out
281
00:13:51,579 --> 00:13:54,249
what is symbolic and what is not is very
282
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difficult now how should we shall
283
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negotiate that I will tell you in a
284
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moment
285
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second there is more ambiguity in the
286
00:14:03,610 --> 00:14:06,420
claims of science than some scientists
287
00:14:06,420 --> 00:14:12,309
recognized recently of course the media
288
00:14:12,309 --> 00:14:16,269
have focused on the fresh literary
289
00:14:16,269 --> 00:14:18,399
adventures of people like Richard
290
00:14:18,399 --> 00:14:21,549
Dawkins The God Delusion Sam Harris
291
00:14:21,549 --> 00:14:23,920
Christopher Hitchens and others together
292
00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:26,110
their writings comprise what is now
293
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sometimes called the new atheism and
294
00:14:30,629 --> 00:14:32,769
correspondingly there are robust
295
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responses that have been written of
296
00:14:34,449 --> 00:14:38,670
various sorts all of these books are
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predicated on the assumption of
298
00:14:42,149 --> 00:14:44,829
philosophical materialism that is all
299
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that exists all that can exist is matter
300
00:14:48,730 --> 00:14:54,759
energy space and time nothing else so
301
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that anything that claims to go beyond
302
00:14:56,649 --> 00:14:59,559
that or belong to some Dement domain
303
00:14:59,559 --> 00:15:01,480
that cannot be reduced to that must
304
00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:04,360
necessarily be dismissed even laughed at
305
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as the trailing edge of an antecedent
306
00:15:08,170 --> 00:15:13,360
superstition that was declared foolish a
307
00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:15,939
long time ago and shouldn't immediately
308
00:15:15,939 --> 00:15:24,419
be abandoned and yet and yet I
309
00:15:24,419 --> 00:15:27,389
personally know many front-rank
310
00:15:27,389 --> 00:15:31,839
scientists who are Christians I have
311
00:15:31,839 --> 00:15:34,449
spoken in many universities and one of
312
00:15:34,449 --> 00:15:36,009
the surprising things that I have
313
00:15:36,009 --> 00:15:38,510
observed is that
314
00:15:38,510 --> 00:15:43,010
if I go to nearby local churches and
315
00:15:43,010 --> 00:15:45,540
meet some of the faculty in the
316
00:15:45,540 --> 00:15:48,600
universities that are attending these
317
00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:50,250
local churches and are committed
318
00:15:50,250 --> 00:15:54,329
believers there actually tends to be a
319
00:15:54,329 --> 00:15:57,230
preponderance of science teachers and
320
00:15:57,230 --> 00:16:00,390
math teachers and the like over against
321
00:16:00,390 --> 00:16:03,540
arts and psychology and English
322
00:16:03,540 --> 00:16:07,620
literature teachers it's not really that
323
00:16:07,620 --> 00:16:09,720
anybody who's a scientist can't be a
324
00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:11,760
Christian Mysti tissa Khalid that really
325
00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:16,079
is with all respect nonsense so I'm
326
00:16:16,079 --> 00:16:17,970
impressed for example by the little book
327
00:16:17,970 --> 00:16:21,480
by Mike Poole God and the scientists or
328
00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:23,700
another one edited by demske called
329
00:16:23,700 --> 00:16:26,820
uncommon descent intellectuals who find
330
00:16:26,820 --> 00:16:29,310
Darwinism unconvincing there is more
331
00:16:29,310 --> 00:16:31,170
debate going on than is sometimes
332
00:16:31,170 --> 00:16:36,209
perceived but even if you allow some
333
00:16:36,209 --> 00:16:39,329
understanding of origins that belongs to
334
00:16:39,329 --> 00:16:42,329
the dominant modern paradigm in which
335
00:16:42,329 --> 00:16:46,829
our entire known universe developed out
336
00:16:46,829 --> 00:16:49,829
of a big bang something like 15 billion
337
00:16:49,829 --> 00:16:53,209
years ago from highly condensed
338
00:16:53,209 --> 00:16:56,700
unimaginably condensed everything a big
339
00:16:56,700 --> 00:16:59,160
bang that eventually became our universe
340
00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:02,130
even if you subscribe to that whether
341
00:17:02,130 --> 00:17:06,089
under the ages of God or not sooner or
342
00:17:06,089 --> 00:17:07,559
later you're forced to ask the question
343
00:17:07,559 --> 00:17:09,300
where did that highly condensed material
344
00:17:09,300 --> 00:17:15,140
come from now here some get very very
345
00:17:15,140 --> 00:17:18,770
clever there's a book by Alan Guth
346
00:17:18,770 --> 00:17:19,919
called
347
00:17:19,919 --> 00:17:23,490
the inflationary universe and he tries
348
00:17:23,490 --> 00:17:28,380
to work it out that this very very
349
00:17:28,380 --> 00:17:30,809
condensed material which ultimately
350
00:17:30,809 --> 00:17:34,020
exploded in the Big Bang emerged out of
351
00:17:34,020 --> 00:17:39,000
nothing and if you say that the physics
352
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:44,370
doesn't work he says yes but at the Big
353
00:17:44,370 --> 00:17:46,679
Bang there is what physicists call a
354
00:17:46,679 --> 00:17:50,700
singularity a singularity
355
00:17:50,700 --> 00:17:56,070
is an occurrence in which the normal
356
00:17:56,070 --> 00:17:59,550
laws of physics no longer work but that
357
00:17:59,550 --> 00:18:02,340
means we don't really have any access to
358
00:18:02,340 --> 00:18:05,580
them at that point it's a while this
359
00:18:05,580 --> 00:18:09,180
speculation which causes a critic by the
360
00:18:09,180 --> 00:18:12,000
name of bet linski to write a lot of
361
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,040
stuff that gets into print is simply
362
00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:17,640
nonsensical alan guth derivation of
363
00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,060
something from nothing is simply
364
00:18:20,060 --> 00:18:23,430
incandescent horse manure now he uses
365
00:18:23,430 --> 00:18:27,440
another word for manure but I spare you
366
00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:30,120
don't tell me you're deriving something
367
00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:32,850
from nothing when it's transparently
368
00:18:32,850 --> 00:18:35,070
obvious to any mathematician that this
369
00:18:35,070 --> 00:18:40,070
is incandescent nonsense in other words
370
00:18:40,070 --> 00:18:43,530
there are complications in the domain of
371
00:18:43,530 --> 00:18:45,450
science that show that there is not
372
00:18:45,450 --> 00:18:48,870
simply a solid wall a solid front that
373
00:18:48,870 --> 00:18:51,930
makes it impossible for Christians who
374
00:18:51,930 --> 00:18:53,250
want to bow to the authority of
375
00:18:53,250 --> 00:18:54,840
Scripture and Christians who really want
376
00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:56,640
to learn from science to talk
377
00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:00,560
intelligently with each other third
378
00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:04,520
whatever one makes of intelligent design
379
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:07,980
one of the dominant debates of the day
380
00:19:07,980 --> 00:19:09,990
whatever one makes of intelligent design
381
00:19:09,990 --> 00:19:13,410
as a scientific theory there is a
382
00:19:13,410 --> 00:19:15,480
version of it which I find almost
383
00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:18,500
inescapable let me explain
384
00:19:18,500 --> 00:19:21,690
during the last twenty five years there
385
00:19:21,690 --> 00:19:25,170
have been groups of people mostly
386
00:19:25,170 --> 00:19:26,880
Christians but some non-christians
387
00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:29,520
amongst them as well who point to what
388
00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:36,590
they call irreducible complexity that is
389
00:19:36,590 --> 00:19:40,470
structures in the human being that are
390
00:19:40,470 --> 00:19:43,920
so complex that it is statistically
391
00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:46,200
impossible to imagine how they could
392
00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:49,590
have come to be by chance or chance
393
00:19:49,590 --> 00:19:52,950
mutation or mere selection of the
394
00:19:52,950 --> 00:19:55,800
fittest or any of the standard appeals
395
00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:57,870
that are made in traditional Darwinism
396
00:19:57,870 --> 00:20:01,740
this irreducible complexity demands that
397
00:20:01,740 --> 00:20:04,300
you postulate a designer
398
00:20:04,300 --> 00:20:08,000
now there are some non-believers who
399
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,700
argue that point and of course there are
400
00:20:10,700 --> 00:20:12,050
many Christians who argue that point
401
00:20:12,050 --> 00:20:15,650
then some argue back many unbelievers
402
00:20:15,650 --> 00:20:18,800
and believers yes yes yes but that might
403
00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:20,120
simply mean that we don't know enough
404
00:20:20,120 --> 00:20:22,610
about the mechanisms if you start
405
00:20:22,610 --> 00:20:25,340
filling God in wherever we don't have an
406
00:20:25,340 --> 00:20:28,250
explanation then you're putting God into
407
00:20:28,250 --> 00:20:30,440
the gaps of our ignorance but as we
408
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,350
learn more then the gaps get filled up
409
00:20:33,350 --> 00:20:35,780
and God gets smaller we don't need a god
410
00:20:35,780 --> 00:20:39,790
of the gaps and so the debate continues
411
00:20:39,790 --> 00:20:42,020
but whatever you make of that debate
412
00:20:42,020 --> 00:20:43,310
it's interesting and the literature is
413
00:20:43,310 --> 00:20:46,940
already voluminous what I find
414
00:20:46,940 --> 00:20:49,430
interesting is that many many writers
415
00:20:49,430 --> 00:20:52,790
who are not Christians in any sense by
416
00:20:52,790 --> 00:20:55,910
their own declaration sometimes speak of
417
00:20:55,910 --> 00:20:58,430
their marvel almost to the level of what
418
00:20:58,430 --> 00:21:04,030
I would call worship at the unimaginable
419
00:21:04,030 --> 00:21:07,250
complexity and splendor and glory of the
420
00:21:07,250 --> 00:21:10,430
universe there's a fascinating book by
421
00:21:10,430 --> 00:21:12,890
Frank Reese Reese without an e at the
422
00:21:12,890 --> 00:21:22,010
end our EES who titles his volume just
423
00:21:22,010 --> 00:21:27,050
six numbers the deep forces that shape
424
00:21:27,050 --> 00:21:29,420
the universe these numbers are bound up
425
00:21:29,420 --> 00:21:33,320
with physical realities such that if the
426
00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:35,120
realities that these numbers describe
427
00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:37,700
were just a little higher in number or
428
00:21:37,700 --> 00:21:39,740
just a little lower in number the
429
00:21:39,740 --> 00:21:41,030
universe as we know it couldn't exist
430
00:21:41,030 --> 00:21:48,460
just exactly the right distance between
431
00:21:48,460 --> 00:21:51,230
one particle and another particle at the
432
00:21:51,230 --> 00:21:52,130
subatomic level
433
00:21:52,130 --> 00:21:57,230
just six numbers out of that Avenue or
434
00:21:57,230 --> 00:22:00,190
others describe the astonishing
435
00:22:00,190 --> 00:22:02,780
complexity of the eyeball and although
436
00:22:02,780 --> 00:22:06,490
they may be completely philosophical
437
00:22:06,490 --> 00:22:08,690
materialists and their orientation they
438
00:22:08,690 --> 00:22:12,770
are so impressed by the complexity and
439
00:22:12,770 --> 00:22:14,480
glory of it all that they almost begin
440
00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:16,160
to teach to treat nature
441
00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:19,550
as a god I would want to say from a
442
00:22:19,550 --> 00:22:20,660
Christian point of view that their
443
00:22:20,660 --> 00:22:24,230
instincts are jolly good except that
444
00:22:24,230 --> 00:22:27,140
there is a God who has disclosed himself
445
00:22:27,140 --> 00:22:30,740
in the glory of what we call nature I'm
446
00:22:30,740 --> 00:22:34,100
not sure that it's right to argue from
447
00:22:34,100 --> 00:22:37,010
the complexity and glory of the six
448
00:22:37,010 --> 00:22:41,480
numbers or the woodpecker's tail
449
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:45,650
feathers or the eyeball that you can
450
00:22:45,650 --> 00:22:51,650
infer in some demonstrable powerful way
451
00:22:51,650 --> 00:22:54,590
that God exists I don't think that at
452
00:22:54,590 --> 00:22:57,050
the end of the day God is the end of the
453
00:22:57,050 --> 00:23:00,020
argument the conclusion at the end but
454
00:23:00,020 --> 00:23:04,010
if you begin with this God the testimony
455
00:23:04,010 --> 00:23:06,050
to his greatness in what we see all
456
00:23:06,050 --> 00:23:10,880
around us is heart-stopping it's
457
00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:11,900
mind-boggling
458
00:23:11,900 --> 00:23:16,220
and it takes an enormous act of will on
459
00:23:16,220 --> 00:23:17,780
the part of the most cynical of
460
00:23:17,780 --> 00:23:20,840
scientists instead to look at it all and
461
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:25,520
say ah it's just physics stop admiring
462
00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:29,270
it don't do that there's no design it's
463
00:23:29,270 --> 00:23:34,450
just molecules bumping into molecules
464
00:23:34,630 --> 00:23:39,890
and finally let me say then where I'm
465
00:23:39,890 --> 00:23:41,300
coming from as we work through these
466
00:23:41,300 --> 00:23:46,160
texts about thirty years ago a Christian
467
00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:48,050
thinker by the name of Francis Schaeffer
468
00:23:48,050 --> 00:23:49,730
wrote a little book called Genesis in
469
00:23:49,730 --> 00:23:53,860
space and time what he argued was that
470
00:23:53,860 --> 00:23:56,150
to get rid of some of these endless
471
00:23:56,150 --> 00:23:59,870
heated debates one of the ways to begin
472
00:23:59,870 --> 00:24:03,650
is by asking what is the least the
473
00:24:03,650 --> 00:24:07,160
Genesis one and following must be saying
474
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,110
for the rest of the Bible to make any
475
00:24:09,110 --> 00:24:14,780
sense so I don't want to tell you
476
00:24:14,780 --> 00:24:17,000
everything that I think these chapters
477
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:20,600
are saying it would take too long in any
478
00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:24,230
case we've only got one hour to devote
479
00:24:24,230 --> 00:24:27,200
to these first two chapters what I want
480
00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:28,970
to suggest to you is
481
00:24:28,970 --> 00:24:31,250
whatever the complexities of symbolism
482
00:24:31,250 --> 00:24:33,110
and literary Jean and the relationship
483
00:24:33,110 --> 00:24:37,040
to science and so forth there is an
484
00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:39,170
irreducible minimum that these chapters
485
00:24:39,170 --> 00:24:41,300
must be saying for the Bible to have any
486
00:24:41,300 --> 00:24:45,020
coherence at all and that's what I want
487
00:24:45,020 --> 00:24:47,090
to lay out for you in the next few
488
00:24:47,090 --> 00:24:49,730
minutes so what do these two chapters
489
00:24:49,730 --> 00:24:54,800
Genesis 1 and 2 tell us first some
490
00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:55,880
things about God
491
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,270
second some things about human beings
492
00:24:59,270 --> 00:25:02,780
and finally some things about how
493
00:25:02,780 --> 00:25:05,630
Genesis 1 and 2 fit into the whole Bible
494
00:25:05,630 --> 00:25:09,920
and into our lives so first some things
495
00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:20,300
about God number one God simply is the
496
00:25:20,300 --> 00:25:23,030
Bible does not begin by a long set of
497
00:25:23,030 --> 00:25:28,430
proofs to prove the existence of God it
498
00:25:28,430 --> 00:25:32,140
does not begin with a bottom up approach
499
00:25:32,140 --> 00:25:35,930
nor does it begin with some kind of
500
00:25:35,930 --> 00:25:39,770
adjacent analogy or the like it just
501
00:25:39,770 --> 00:25:46,000
begins in the beginning God
502
00:25:48,210 --> 00:25:50,669
now if human beings are the test of
503
00:25:50,669 --> 00:25:52,759
everything this makes no sense at all
504
00:25:52,759 --> 00:25:55,259
because then we have the right to sit
505
00:25:55,259 --> 00:25:57,869
back and judge whether it's likely that
506
00:25:57,869 --> 00:26:02,460
God exists evaluate the evidence and
507
00:26:02,460 --> 00:26:06,240
come out with a certain probability that
508
00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:08,580
perhaps god of some sort of other exists
509
00:26:08,580 --> 00:26:14,700
and thus we become the judges of God but
510
00:26:14,700 --> 00:26:17,190
the God of the Bible isn't like that it
511
00:26:17,190 --> 00:26:21,619
just begins in the beginning God he is
512
00:26:21,619 --> 00:26:26,340
he is not the object whom we evaluate he
513
00:26:26,340 --> 00:26:29,159
is the Creator who has made us which
514
00:26:29,159 --> 00:26:35,159
changes all the dynamics this is bound
515
00:26:35,159 --> 00:26:37,409
up with some developments in Western
516
00:26:37,409 --> 00:26:40,289
thought that we should appreciate before
517
00:26:40,289 --> 00:26:43,259
the honey sauce but even right through
518
00:26:43,259 --> 00:26:45,960
the early part of the Renaissance really
519
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:49,440
down to the time of the Reformation most
520
00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:53,429
people in the Western world presupposed
521
00:26:53,429 --> 00:26:56,700
that God exists and that he knows
522
00:26:56,700 --> 00:26:59,210
everything
523
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:02,519
human beings exist and because God knows
524
00:27:02,519 --> 00:27:04,619
everything what we know must necessarily
525
00:27:04,619 --> 00:27:07,740
be some small subset of what he knows in
526
00:27:07,740 --> 00:27:10,679
other words all of our knowledge because
527
00:27:10,679 --> 00:27:13,379
he knows everything must be a subset of
528
00:27:13,379 --> 00:27:15,409
what he knows exhaustively and perfectly
529
00:27:15,409 --> 00:27:18,090
that means that all of our knowledge in
530
00:27:18,090 --> 00:27:21,090
this way of looking at reality must come
531
00:27:21,090 --> 00:27:24,509
in some sense by God disclosing what he
532
00:27:24,509 --> 00:27:25,580
knows
533
00:27:25,580 --> 00:27:29,549
by God disclosing it in nature by God
534
00:27:29,549 --> 00:27:31,559
disclosing it to by his Spirit by God
535
00:27:31,559 --> 00:27:34,139
disclosing it in in the Bible that that
536
00:27:34,139 --> 00:27:37,679
was simply presupposed but with the rise
537
00:27:37,679 --> 00:27:40,259
and the sixteen hundred hundreds of what
538
00:27:40,259 --> 00:27:43,230
is now called Cartesian thought under
539
00:27:43,230 --> 00:27:44,909
the influence of Hyundai Descartes
540
00:27:44,909 --> 00:27:48,990
and those who followed him the way of
541
00:27:48,990 --> 00:27:52,169
thinking about knowledge changed and the
542
00:27:52,169 --> 00:27:55,259
axiom that more and more people based
543
00:27:55,259 --> 00:27:58,830
their knowledge upon was the axiom that
544
00:27:58,830 --> 00:28:00,899
Descartes introduced to us although
545
00:28:00,899 --> 00:28:01,680
others had
546
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:06,170
said something similar earlier I think
547
00:28:06,170 --> 00:28:09,650
therefore I am
548
00:28:09,650 --> 00:28:11,790
he thought that that was a foundation
549
00:28:11,790 --> 00:28:13,170
for knowledge you couldn't deny that you
550
00:28:13,170 --> 00:28:14,220
were thinking even if you were thinking
551
00:28:14,220 --> 00:28:15,510
the very fact that you were thinking
552
00:28:15,510 --> 00:28:18,300
showed that you exist so he was looking
553
00:28:18,300 --> 00:28:20,370
for a foundation that Christians and
554
00:28:20,370 --> 00:28:23,310
atheists and Muslims secularists
555
00:28:23,310 --> 00:28:26,540
spiritual types could all agree was
556
00:28:26,540 --> 00:28:29,760
indisputable and from this foundation
557
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:32,790
and other approaches he then gradually
558
00:28:32,790 --> 00:28:34,710
built up a whole system of thought to
559
00:28:34,710 --> 00:28:36,480
try to convince people to become Roman
560
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:40,950
Catholics but notice how his axiom runs
561
00:28:40,950 --> 00:28:45,500
I think therefore I am
562
00:28:45,500 --> 00:28:47,850
two hundred years earlier no Christian
563
00:28:47,850 --> 00:28:50,690
would have said that very easily because
564
00:28:50,690 --> 00:28:55,020
God thinks God knows everything if we
565
00:28:55,020 --> 00:28:58,460
exist that it's because of God's power
566
00:28:58,460 --> 00:29:01,950
our knowledge even our existence are
567
00:29:01,950 --> 00:29:05,730
finally dependent upon him but this side
568
00:29:05,730 --> 00:29:08,810
of Cartesian thought we begin with I I
569
00:29:08,810 --> 00:29:12,030
begin with me and that puts me in a
570
00:29:12,030 --> 00:29:15,510
place where I start evaluating not only
571
00:29:15,510 --> 00:29:18,770
the world around me but morals and
572
00:29:18,770 --> 00:29:24,420
history and God so that God now becomes
573
00:29:24,420 --> 00:29:29,570
simply at best the inference of my study
574
00:29:29,570 --> 00:29:31,800
that changes everything the Bible
575
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:35,040
doesn't run along those lines God simply
576
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:40,230
is second God made everything that is
577
00:29:40,230 --> 00:29:45,690
non God God made everything else this
578
00:29:45,690 --> 00:29:49,710
introduces an irreducible distinction
579
00:29:49,710 --> 00:29:54,480
between creator and creature God is not
580
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:58,110
a creature in this absolute sense we are
581
00:29:58,110 --> 00:30:05,850
not creators his existence is thus self
582
00:30:05,850 --> 00:30:09,780
existence somehow I can use the word I
583
00:30:09,780 --> 00:30:11,670
don't really understand it very well
584
00:30:11,670 --> 00:30:14,930
that is he has no cause he just is
585
00:30:14,930 --> 00:30:18,820
he always has been whereas by contrast
586
00:30:18,820 --> 00:30:21,460
everything else in the universe began
587
00:30:21,460 --> 00:30:24,940
somewhere whether in a Big Bang or in
588
00:30:24,940 --> 00:30:30,860
human conception or somewhere God made
589
00:30:30,860 --> 00:30:34,370
it all that means that everything in the
590
00:30:34,370 --> 00:30:37,160
universe apart from God is finally
591
00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:44,330
dependent upon God number three there is
592
00:30:44,330 --> 00:30:49,160
only one of them this emerges strongly
593
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:54,200
in the Bible God openly says let there
594
00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:56,180
be this let there be that God made
595
00:30:56,180 --> 00:30:58,310
everything he saw that it was very good
596
00:30:58,310 --> 00:31:00,680
and later on in the Bible this point is
597
00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:03,590
stressed again and again for example in
598
00:31:03,590 --> 00:31:07,730
verses that Jews reverently recite to
599
00:31:07,730 --> 00:31:11,090
this day called the Shema you find it in
600
00:31:11,090 --> 00:31:13,730
the fifth book of the Bible Deuteronomy
601
00:31:13,730 --> 00:31:16,850
chapter 6 we read the words here o
602
00:31:16,850 --> 00:31:21,940
Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one
603
00:31:22,630 --> 00:31:28,880
there's only one of them and yet yet
604
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,340
even in this very first chapter there is
605
00:31:31,340 --> 00:31:34,100
a hint of complexity to his oneness
606
00:31:34,100 --> 00:31:37,640
it's just ant it's hard to know exactly
607
00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:40,120
what it means but it is quite striking
608
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,650
we read through the account of creation
609
00:31:42,650 --> 00:31:45,350
God said this God said that God said the
610
00:31:45,350 --> 00:31:47,210
other and then when it comes to human
611
00:31:47,210 --> 00:31:53,300
beings we read verse 26 God said let us
612
00:31:53,300 --> 00:32:00,380
make human beings in our image that
613
00:32:00,380 --> 00:32:04,640
could be a royal we if you listen to BBC
614
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:06,770
broadcast you might have listened to Her
615
00:32:06,770 --> 00:32:08,540
Majesty Queen Elizabeth the second
616
00:32:08,540 --> 00:32:11,690
saying we and us where the referent is
617
00:32:11,690 --> 00:32:16,520
clearly herself and even the comics pick
618
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,430
it up and picture her saying we are not
619
00:32:19,430 --> 00:32:20,420
amused
620
00:32:20,420 --> 00:32:22,820
it could be conceivably a royal
621
00:32:22,820 --> 00:32:28,230
reference a kind of royal editorial we
622
00:32:28,230 --> 00:32:30,700
but it is striking that it's introduced
623
00:32:30,700 --> 00:32:35,500
here when human beings are made and that
624
00:32:35,500 --> 00:32:37,990
it goes on not only to speak of the
625
00:32:37,990 --> 00:32:40,540
first person plural when God says let us
626
00:32:40,540 --> 00:32:45,940
but in our image you you can't build too
627
00:32:45,940 --> 00:32:47,860
much on that yet it is strange language
628
00:32:47,860 --> 00:32:50,050
just the same especially in a Bible that
629
00:32:50,050 --> 00:32:51,700
insists again and again and again that
630
00:32:51,700 --> 00:32:55,180
there is but one God and later on this
631
00:32:55,180 --> 00:32:56,650
will get filled out in quite a variety
632
00:32:56,650 --> 00:33:03,850
of ways as we'll see in particular he
633
00:33:03,850 --> 00:33:07,870
makes creatures who bear his image let
634
00:33:07,870 --> 00:33:11,830
me reread verses 26 to 28 let us make
635
00:33:11,830 --> 00:33:13,270
human beings in our image in our
636
00:33:13,270 --> 00:33:14,830
likeness so that they may rule over the
637
00:33:14,830 --> 00:33:16,540
fish in the sea and the birds in the sky
638
00:33:16,540 --> 00:33:18,550
over the livestock and all the wild
639
00:33:18,550 --> 00:33:20,680
animals over all the creatures that move
640
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:23,260
along the ground so God created human
641
00:33:23,260 --> 00:33:27,730
beings in his singular own image in the
642
00:33:27,730 --> 00:33:31,030
image of God he created them male and
643
00:33:31,030 --> 00:33:34,300
female he created them and God blessed
644
00:33:34,300 --> 00:33:38,410
them now we'll come back to thinking
645
00:33:38,410 --> 00:33:40,270
through what this language of image
646
00:33:40,270 --> 00:33:43,590
bearing means in a moment
647
00:33:43,740 --> 00:33:49,750
number four God is a talking God he is a
648
00:33:49,750 --> 00:33:53,920
talking God the first action that is
649
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:57,460
described under this general rubric God
650
00:33:57,460 --> 00:34:00,730
created the heavens and the earth is God
651
00:34:00,730 --> 00:34:03,460
said let there be light
652
00:34:03,460 --> 00:34:06,370
now you could understand this to be of
653
00:34:06,370 --> 00:34:08,168
the kind of metaphorical way of saying
654
00:34:08,168 --> 00:34:10,389
that God brought it into being by his
655
00:34:10,389 --> 00:34:13,360
power and he didn't other any words fine
656
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:17,350
could be except that once Adam and Eve
657
00:34:17,350 --> 00:34:20,590
are made then he actually addresses them
658
00:34:20,590 --> 00:34:22,418
and gives them some responsibilities
659
00:34:22,418 --> 00:34:26,020
this is what you are to do this is what
660
00:34:26,020 --> 00:34:28,780
marriage will look like he speaks to
661
00:34:28,780 --> 00:34:31,899
them so the God of the Bible in the very
662
00:34:31,899 --> 00:34:36,170
first chapter is not some abstract
663
00:34:36,170 --> 00:34:41,190
unmoved mover some spirit impossible to
664
00:34:41,190 --> 00:34:44,540
define some ground of all being some
665
00:34:44,540 --> 00:34:47,909
mystical experience he has personality
666
00:34:47,909 --> 00:34:52,020
and dares to disclose himself in words
667
00:34:52,020 --> 00:34:55,590
that human beings understand right
668
00:34:55,590 --> 00:34:58,170
through the whole Bible that recurs and
669
00:34:58,170 --> 00:35:05,220
recurs and recurs and then in the fifth
670
00:35:05,220 --> 00:35:05,730
place
671
00:35:05,730 --> 00:35:09,290
we're told everything he makes is good
672
00:35:09,290 --> 00:35:10,860
very good
673
00:35:10,860 --> 00:35:15,450
even as the account unravels you
674
00:35:15,450 --> 00:35:19,220
discover here that there is no hint in
675
00:35:19,220 --> 00:35:22,860
chapters 1 & 2 of death or decay of
676
00:35:22,860 --> 00:35:25,170
butchery of malice of hate of
677
00:35:25,170 --> 00:35:27,720
one-upmanship of arrogance of pride of
678
00:35:27,720 --> 00:35:30,210
destruction that there is no hint of any
679
00:35:30,210 --> 00:35:37,460
of this it is very good and constantly
680
00:35:37,460 --> 00:35:39,870
regardless of all the complexities about
681
00:35:39,870 --> 00:35:41,670
God's sovereignty in a world where there
682
00:35:41,670 --> 00:35:43,110
is suffering and the like will come to
683
00:35:43,110 --> 00:35:44,700
more of that as we progress in this
684
00:35:44,700 --> 00:35:47,400
series constantly the Bible insists that
685
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,670
God is good and the foundations of it
686
00:35:50,670 --> 00:35:54,890
are already here in the first chapter
687
00:35:54,890 --> 00:35:59,230
and finally
688
00:35:59,230 --> 00:36:02,800
he comes to an end of his creative work
689
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:07,990
and he rests that is he stops doing it
690
00:36:07,990 --> 00:36:10,180
it doesn't mean that he's saying am I
691
00:36:10,180 --> 00:36:12,640
tired I have really got to sit down with
692
00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:15,640
my feet up that is rather miss reading
693
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:18,280
the text he comes to the end of his week
694
00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:21,910
of creation however we understand this
695
00:36:21,910 --> 00:36:24,040
week and at the end of his creative work
696
00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:28,420
he stops he rests and designates this
697
00:36:28,420 --> 00:36:31,450
seventh day in a special way so these
698
00:36:31,450 --> 00:36:33,910
are some of the things about God that
699
00:36:33,910 --> 00:36:36,160
these opening two chapters say right on
700
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:38,230
the surface of the text now some things
701
00:36:38,230 --> 00:36:42,790
about human beings number one they were
702
00:36:42,790 --> 00:36:46,600
made in the image of God now in one
703
00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:52,450
sense human beings are creatures and
704
00:36:52,450 --> 00:36:57,730
thus they have in common the attributes
705
00:36:57,730 --> 00:37:00,700
of other creatures we know this today
706
00:37:00,700 --> 00:37:04,420
from genetics what percentage of my
707
00:37:04,420 --> 00:37:09,130
genes are shared with a chimp or a
708
00:37:09,130 --> 00:37:13,780
piglet and when the piglet dies and
709
00:37:13,780 --> 00:37:17,109
returns to the dust he does exactly what
710
00:37:17,109 --> 00:37:22,570
I do I return to the dust - we're part
711
00:37:22,570 --> 00:37:28,810
of this created order and if you keep
712
00:37:28,810 --> 00:37:30,460
stressing the continuity and keep
713
00:37:30,460 --> 00:37:32,800
stressing the continuity then eventually
714
00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,770
you might come out with a kind of
715
00:37:35,770 --> 00:37:38,109
position that Peter Singer adopts at
716
00:37:38,109 --> 00:37:40,260
Princeton University
717
00:37:40,260 --> 00:37:44,080
who wants in effect all animal life to
718
00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:46,420
have so far as it's possible to work out
719
00:37:46,420 --> 00:37:49,000
at all exactly the kind of rights that
720
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,160
human beings have because after all were
721
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:53,859
genetically the same stuff we are
722
00:37:53,859 --> 00:37:56,109
physical beings they're physical beings
723
00:37:56,109 --> 00:37:58,150
they live they're born they have they
724
00:37:58,150 --> 00:38:03,480
are born they die so also is our course
725
00:38:03,540 --> 00:38:05,530
Genesis doesn't see things quite that
726
00:38:05,530 --> 00:38:06,890
way
727
00:38:06,890 --> 00:38:10,410
it insists that human beings and human
728
00:38:10,410 --> 00:38:14,400
beings alone are made in the image of
729
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:18,510
God now as you can imagine that
730
00:38:18,510 --> 00:38:21,450
expression image of God has over the
731
00:38:21,450 --> 00:38:24,000
millennia generated analyst discussion
732
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,550
what does it mean to be made in the
733
00:38:26,550 --> 00:38:29,640
image of God and so philosophers and
734
00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:31,680
theologians have written long tomes
735
00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:33,720
saying well it has something to do with
736
00:38:33,720 --> 00:38:36,600
the facility of language or it has
737
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:38,369
something to do with our self-identity
738
00:38:38,369 --> 00:38:42,450
of our reasoning processes of love that
739
00:38:42,450 --> 00:38:44,970
might be altruistic of our capacity to
740
00:38:44,970 --> 00:38:49,369
know God and so on and so on and so on
741
00:38:50,510 --> 00:38:53,520
but if you were picking up this book for
742
00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:56,220
the first time and read it and didn't
743
00:38:56,220 --> 00:38:57,869
know anything about all of these debates
744
00:38:57,869 --> 00:38:59,580
I suspect that your approach to this
745
00:38:59,580 --> 00:39:01,080
image of God language would be a little
746
00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:05,609
simpler it becomes a kind of master
747
00:39:05,609 --> 00:39:08,670
concept which is filled in as you go
748
00:39:08,670 --> 00:39:09,150
along
749
00:39:09,150 --> 00:39:14,880
that is we reflect God and the ways in
750
00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:17,130
which we reflect God will get filled in
751
00:39:17,130 --> 00:39:21,330
as the Bible unfolds there's so from
752
00:39:21,330 --> 00:39:25,680
this first chapter God is a talking God
753
00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:29,040
he speaks to human beings and they speak
754
00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:31,710
back to him well there is a commonality
755
00:39:31,710 --> 00:39:35,280
of speech of propositions of knowledge
756
00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:37,109
that is not merely felt but that can be
757
00:39:37,109 --> 00:39:42,859
articulated there is also something of
758
00:39:42,859 --> 00:39:45,869
creativity of course our creativity is
759
00:39:45,869 --> 00:39:50,940
not like gods but God makes things and
760
00:39:50,940 --> 00:39:53,250
he makes things out of nothing we don't
761
00:39:53,250 --> 00:39:58,230
do that but there is implanted in human
762
00:39:58,230 --> 00:40:00,300
beings as a reflection of God because we
763
00:40:00,300 --> 00:40:03,950
are made in His image a certain
764
00:40:03,950 --> 00:40:06,510
creativity we work with our hands my
765
00:40:06,510 --> 00:40:10,460
wife does spectacular needlepoint and
766
00:40:10,460 --> 00:40:13,980
silicon metal thread and quilts things
767
00:40:13,980 --> 00:40:16,200
like that my daughter does the cooking
768
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:18,570
my wife does this sort of thing I like
769
00:40:18,570 --> 00:40:21,110
working with my hands and wood
770
00:40:21,110 --> 00:40:24,650
some right some some are remarkably
771
00:40:24,650 --> 00:40:26,990
creative in their physicality I have a
772
00:40:26,990 --> 00:40:30,170
son who just looks at every new physical
773
00:40:30,170 --> 00:40:31,670
challenge that comes along and and
774
00:40:31,670 --> 00:40:34,100
plunges in and he is he is almost an
775
00:40:34,100 --> 00:40:36,920
artist as he as he learned scuba diving
776
00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:39,380
or spelunking in a cave or whatever the
777
00:40:39,380 --> 00:40:41,120
new challenges he's in it and he's
778
00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:43,580
almost artistic in his creative ability
779
00:40:43,580 --> 00:40:48,200
to explore some new challenge where does
780
00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:51,830
that come from by and large does not
781
00:40:51,830 --> 00:40:55,210
characteristics of characteristic of
782
00:40:55,210 --> 00:41:04,550
elephants black widow spiders rocks and
783
00:41:04,550 --> 00:41:09,530
then there is there is the capacity to
784
00:41:09,530 --> 00:41:13,130
work God is said to work all of this
785
00:41:13,130 --> 00:41:15,440
creation week and then come to the end
786
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,200
of it and what he gives to the man and
787
00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:20,090
the woman are certain responsibilities
788
00:41:20,090 --> 00:41:24,790
to work in this world to tend the garden
789
00:41:24,790 --> 00:41:27,410
which has teased out across all of
790
00:41:27,410 --> 00:41:29,830
Scripture as as something honorable
791
00:41:29,830 --> 00:41:31,820
Christians should never descend to the
792
00:41:31,820 --> 00:41:36,470
place where working at the manufacturing
793
00:41:36,470 --> 00:41:40,930
floor or working as a secretary or
794
00:41:40,930 --> 00:41:43,640
working driving a bus are doing research
795
00:41:43,640 --> 00:41:48,080
chemistry that's secular I I do that to
796
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:49,640
pay the bills and then I'm supposed to
797
00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:52,550
be spiritual on Sunday but what I do on
798
00:41:52,550 --> 00:41:56,660
Sunday in spirituality that's just for
799
00:41:56,660 --> 00:41:59,320
Sunday then Monday I go back to my
800
00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:01,400
reagents as I try to develop a new
801
00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:05,030
chemical that will fight cancer rather
802
00:42:05,030 --> 00:42:07,460
if it's God's universe and we are made
803
00:42:07,460 --> 00:42:11,510
in His image then as we work our work to
804
00:42:11,510 --> 00:42:14,090
reflects him and is offered back up to
805
00:42:14,090 --> 00:42:18,650
him with integrity and gratitude it is
806
00:42:18,650 --> 00:42:20,360
significant because we are made in the
807
00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:22,840
image of God
808
00:42:23,470 --> 00:42:25,450
it changes our perspective about who we
809
00:42:25,450 --> 00:42:27,630
are
810
00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:36,990
and then although we have to recognize
811
00:42:36,990 --> 00:42:39,540
that there are differences between God
812
00:42:39,540 --> 00:42:41,910
and us there are other things where we
813
00:42:41,910 --> 00:42:46,319
are similar where we reflect him later
814
00:42:46,319 --> 00:42:48,869
on the Bible God will say things like be
815
00:42:48,869 --> 00:42:51,109
holy for I am holy
816
00:42:51,109 --> 00:42:54,420
so proper image bearing up to reflect
817
00:42:54,420 --> 00:42:56,250
God's holiness will come to what
818
00:42:56,250 --> 00:42:58,950
holiness is a little later on God never
819
00:42:58,950 --> 00:43:01,890
says be omnipotent for I am omnipotent
820
00:43:01,890 --> 00:43:05,309
that is be all-powerful and do anything
821
00:43:05,309 --> 00:43:06,750
that you choose to do because I am
822
00:43:06,750 --> 00:43:08,160
all-powerful there are some differences
823
00:43:08,160 --> 00:43:09,630
between the God who is the creator and
824
00:43:09,630 --> 00:43:11,040
we who are creatures there are some
825
00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:13,710
differences we're not God we're His
826
00:43:13,710 --> 00:43:17,150
image bearers were made in His image and
827
00:43:17,150 --> 00:43:21,089
we reflect him in certain ways God in
828
00:43:21,089 --> 00:43:22,859
the Bible is not only the creator he's
829
00:43:22,859 --> 00:43:24,930
finally the sovereign over all but the
830
00:43:24,930 --> 00:43:27,180
fact that he puts these human beings
831
00:43:27,180 --> 00:43:29,849
this man and this woman in charge over
832
00:43:29,849 --> 00:43:33,240
the rest of the created order not to
833
00:43:33,240 --> 00:43:40,829
rape it not merely to exploit it not to
834
00:43:40,829 --> 00:43:44,220
become ecologically selfish but to be
835
00:43:44,220 --> 00:43:46,680
God's own stewards over the good world
836
00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:51,319
that God has made really makes us I
837
00:43:51,319 --> 00:43:53,220
don't know what else to call it
838
00:43:53,220 --> 00:43:58,140
Vice Regents were made in His image and
839
00:43:58,140 --> 00:44:01,589
as God has made it all and were under
840
00:44:01,589 --> 00:44:03,660
him and charged with the responsibility
841
00:44:03,660 --> 00:44:07,980
of looking after it we're reflecting
842
00:44:07,980 --> 00:44:12,000
something of God even the capacity to
843
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:18,890
know God to delight in him is wonderful
844
00:44:18,890 --> 00:44:21,660
there's a book by Peter Williams called
845
00:44:21,660 --> 00:44:27,200
I wish I could believe in meaning a
846
00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:31,589
response to nihilism that is a response
847
00:44:31,589 --> 00:44:34,109
to the view that we've merely emerged
848
00:44:34,109 --> 00:44:38,369
from the primordial muck where where is
849
00:44:38,369 --> 00:44:41,670
the meaning in this from the Bible's
850
00:44:41,670 --> 00:44:43,150
point of view
851
00:44:43,150 --> 00:44:45,560
meaning in life is bound up with the
852
00:44:45,560 --> 00:44:47,330
fact that we were made by God and for
853
00:44:47,330 --> 00:44:50,840
God in His image with an eternal destiny
854
00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:53,780
it changes our perception of what human
855
00:44:53,780 --> 00:44:59,150
beings are otherwise we slink into what
856
00:44:59,150 --> 00:45:01,900
one philosopher has called self
857
00:45:01,900 --> 00:45:05,480
referential incoherence what he means by
858
00:45:05,480 --> 00:45:07,430
this is we compare ourselves with
859
00:45:07,430 --> 00:45:10,880
ourselves we have no external standard
860
00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:12,830
by which anything should be judged and
861
00:45:12,830 --> 00:45:15,470
we cannot find an anchor for our being
862
00:45:15,470 --> 00:45:21,320
anywhere and we we then drown ourselves
863
00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:25,340
in temporary pleasures or pursuit of
864
00:45:25,340 --> 00:45:29,930
money or self-promotion but there is no
865
00:45:29,930 --> 00:45:32,840
anchoring that locates us and gives us a
866
00:45:32,840 --> 00:45:34,670
meaning beyond ourselves there's no
867
00:45:34,670 --> 00:45:39,950
scale human beings were made in the
868
00:45:39,950 --> 00:45:40,850
image of God
869
00:45:40,850 --> 00:45:44,240
and in this connection they were made to
870
00:45:44,240 --> 00:45:47,990
work to rule to service God stewards to
871
00:45:47,990 --> 00:45:53,720
be surpassingly God centered then second
872
00:45:53,720 --> 00:45:57,440
they were made male and female now in
873
00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:01,609
Chapter 1 where the creation account is
874
00:46:01,609 --> 00:46:03,560
first given we're told God created human
875
00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:06,650
beings in his own image 1:27 in the
876
00:46:06,650 --> 00:46:08,210
image of God he created them male and
877
00:46:08,210 --> 00:46:11,359
female he created them but in the second
878
00:46:11,359 --> 00:46:13,130
chapter where the creation of human
879
00:46:13,130 --> 00:46:16,280
beings is expanded upon then not only
880
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:19,250
their commonality what they hold in
881
00:46:19,250 --> 00:46:22,550
common but their differentiations are
882
00:46:22,550 --> 00:46:28,490
also exposed so chapter 2 verse 18 the
883
00:46:28,490 --> 00:46:30,200
Lord God said when madda
884
00:46:30,200 --> 00:46:33,050
when Adam alone lived it is not good for
885
00:46:33,050 --> 00:46:34,580
the man to be alone I will make a helper
886
00:46:34,580 --> 00:46:38,210
suitable for him older English versions
887
00:46:38,210 --> 00:46:42,320
have a help meet for him and hence we
888
00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:44,600
get our word help mate a helper suitable
889
00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:48,619
for him now the Lord God had formed out
890
00:46:48,619 --> 00:46:50,119
of the ground all the wild animals and
891
00:46:50,119 --> 00:46:51,920
all the birds in the sky he brought them
892
00:46:51,920 --> 00:46:53,750
to the man to see what he would name
893
00:46:53,750 --> 00:46:56,119
them and whatever the man called each
894
00:46:56,119 --> 00:46:56,720
living creature
895
00:46:56,720 --> 00:46:58,849
that was its name so the man gave names
896
00:46:58,849 --> 00:47:00,290
to all the livestock the birds in the
897
00:47:00,290 --> 00:47:02,330
sky all the wild animals but for Adam no
898
00:47:02,330 --> 00:47:05,359
suitable helper was found so the Lord
899
00:47:05,359 --> 00:47:07,580
caused the man to fall into a deep sleep
900
00:47:07,580 --> 00:47:09,290
and while he was sleeping he took one of
901
00:47:09,290 --> 00:47:11,270
the man's ribs and then closed up the
902
00:47:11,270 --> 00:47:13,340
place with flesh then the Lord God made
903
00:47:13,340 --> 00:47:15,290
a woman from the rib he had taken out of
904
00:47:15,290 --> 00:47:17,359
the man and he brought her to the man
905
00:47:17,359 --> 00:47:19,490
the man said this is now bone of my
906
00:47:19,490 --> 00:47:22,040
bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be
907
00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:23,630
called woman for she was taken out of
908
00:47:23,630 --> 00:47:26,030
man for this reason a man will leave his
909
00:47:26,030 --> 00:47:28,310
father and mother and be united to his
910
00:47:28,310 --> 00:47:35,540
wife and they will become one flesh so
911
00:47:35,540 --> 00:47:37,330
while the opening chapters insists that
912
00:47:37,330 --> 00:47:40,580
human beings male and female were
913
00:47:40,580 --> 00:47:45,230
equally made in the image of God it also
914
00:47:45,230 --> 00:47:50,270
insists that the woman was made as a
915
00:47:50,270 --> 00:47:53,390
helper but they come together in one
916
00:47:53,390 --> 00:47:56,690
union a sexual union a marriage union
917
00:47:56,690 --> 00:48:00,710
which as the story unfolds develops a
918
00:48:00,710 --> 00:48:03,920
separate unit generation after
919
00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:07,310
generation with the man leaving his
920
00:48:07,310 --> 00:48:09,550
family the woman leaving her family and
921
00:48:09,550 --> 00:48:12,710
settling into a new relationship the two
922
00:48:12,710 --> 00:48:19,240
becoming one that's a little different
923
00:48:19,240 --> 00:48:25,220
picture of marriage than animals merely
924
00:48:25,220 --> 00:48:32,980
doing it or ancient near-eastern harems
925
00:48:32,980 --> 00:48:35,570
with the most powerful monarch having
926
00:48:35,570 --> 00:48:42,260
the most or woman being nothing more
927
00:48:42,260 --> 00:48:49,150
than chattel and possession or a
928
00:48:49,150 --> 00:48:53,200
decidedly intrinsically inferior being
929
00:48:53,200 --> 00:48:55,670
she comes from the man she is one with
930
00:48:55,670 --> 00:49:01,119
him different transparently
931
00:49:01,670 --> 00:49:03,920
but here there is a vision of marriage
932
00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:05,510
which ultimately becomes a model of a
933
00:49:05,510 --> 00:49:06,650
whole lot of other things through it all
934
00:49:06,650 --> 00:49:13,160
of the Bible and then the last thing to
935
00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:16,309
be said about these human beings they
936
00:49:16,309 --> 00:49:21,079
were innocent we read in the last verse
937
00:49:21,079 --> 00:49:22,880
of chapter 2 the man and his wife were
938
00:49:22,880 --> 00:49:30,109
both naked and they felt no shame I'm
939
00:49:30,109 --> 00:49:32,329
sure you've seen these line drawing
940
00:49:32,329 --> 00:49:34,670
cartoons of Adam and Eve in the garden
941
00:49:34,670 --> 00:49:36,740
and there's a little snake coming and an
942
00:49:36,740 --> 00:49:38,750
apple hanging down from somewhere and in
943
00:49:38,750 --> 00:49:40,339
these line diagrams you don't want to
944
00:49:40,339 --> 00:49:42,230
make them indecent so the woman's hair
945
00:49:42,230 --> 00:49:44,059
covers their breasts appropriately and
946
00:49:44,059 --> 00:49:46,280
fig Leafs and other branches they can
947
00:49:46,280 --> 00:49:48,109
they cover the man and the appropriate
948
00:49:48,109 --> 00:49:49,940
slots and so forth and then there's some
949
00:49:49,940 --> 00:49:56,210
one line or two and we all giggle but
950
00:49:56,210 --> 00:50:02,030
what is nakedness signify here do you
951
00:50:02,030 --> 00:50:03,770
know that there is a theory to nudist
952
00:50:03,770 --> 00:50:08,119
colonies oh I know some nudist colonies
953
00:50:08,119 --> 00:50:10,819
are merely an excuse for rounds of
954
00:50:10,819 --> 00:50:14,630
orgies I know that but the best nudist
955
00:50:14,630 --> 00:50:16,790
colonies if I may speak of nudist
956
00:50:16,790 --> 00:50:21,980
colonies on a moral scale the best
957
00:50:21,980 --> 00:50:24,970
nudist colonies had a certain kind of
958
00:50:24,970 --> 00:50:28,160
philosophy to them the idea was that if
959
00:50:28,160 --> 00:50:30,200
you could be completely open and
960
00:50:30,200 --> 00:50:33,440
transparent in one domain then sooner or
961
00:50:33,440 --> 00:50:35,990
later you could foster openness and
962
00:50:35,990 --> 00:50:39,440
transparency in every domain so we begin
963
00:50:39,440 --> 00:50:41,510
with physical transparency complete
964
00:50:41,510 --> 00:50:44,150
openness and maybe down the road we'll
965
00:50:44,150 --> 00:50:46,910
all become wonderfully open candid
966
00:50:46,910 --> 00:50:53,829
honest caring loving people never works
967
00:50:54,069 --> 00:50:57,640
but that's a theory
968
00:50:59,960 --> 00:51:03,060
and it's that association that is behind
969
00:51:03,060 --> 00:51:07,020
this text these two had nothing to hide
970
00:51:07,020 --> 00:51:11,420
and therefore nothing to be ashamed of
971
00:51:11,420 --> 00:51:17,730
tell me you men would you like your
972
00:51:17,730 --> 00:51:24,680
mother wife daughter to know absolutely
973
00:51:24,680 --> 00:51:29,810
everything you think and feel you women
974
00:51:29,810 --> 00:51:34,940
would you like your father husband son
975
00:51:34,940 --> 00:51:37,020
to know absolutely everything you think
976
00:51:37,020 --> 00:51:45,440
and feel or even across the same genders
977
00:51:48,299 --> 00:51:50,899
we hide all kinds of things don't we
978
00:51:50,899 --> 00:51:53,849
because we have so much of which we
979
00:51:53,849 --> 00:51:58,619
ought to be ashamed what would it be
980
00:51:58,619 --> 00:52:04,429
like never ever ever to have told a lie
981
00:52:04,489 --> 00:52:07,139
never ever ever to have nurtured
982
00:52:07,139 --> 00:52:12,929
bitterness never ever ever to have
983
00:52:12,929 --> 00:52:20,129
succumbed to controlling lust never ever
984
00:52:20,129 --> 00:52:28,499
ever to be burning up with hate never to
985
00:52:28,499 --> 00:52:30,869
be puffed up in arrogance always to be
986
00:52:30,869 --> 00:52:32,579
loving God with heart and soul and mind
987
00:52:32,579 --> 00:52:34,709
and strength always always to be loving
988
00:52:34,709 --> 00:52:39,389
the other as yourself then you'd have
989
00:52:39,389 --> 00:52:42,049
absolutely nothing to be ashamed of
990
00:52:42,049 --> 00:52:45,349
you'd be naked
991
00:52:52,930 --> 00:52:56,250
no wonder the very word Eden means
992
00:52:56,250 --> 00:53:03,160
delight now finally here I'm merely
993
00:53:03,160 --> 00:53:05,859
going to prime the pump it'll prepare
994
00:53:05,859 --> 00:53:07,300
the way for things we do in the rest of
995
00:53:07,300 --> 00:53:09,910
the series some things about how Genesis
996
00:53:09,910 --> 00:53:13,030
1 and 2 fit in the whole Bible and in
997
00:53:13,030 --> 00:53:16,270
our own world very quickly number one
998
00:53:16,270 --> 00:53:18,910
this is a necessary background to
999
00:53:18,910 --> 00:53:20,650
chapter three that we'll look at in the
1000
00:53:20,650 --> 00:53:22,720
next hour well that makes sense doesn't
1001
00:53:22,720 --> 00:53:24,780
it Genesis 1 and 2 come before Genesis 3
1002
00:53:24,780 --> 00:53:27,190
but without understanding how good
1003
00:53:27,190 --> 00:53:29,470
everything is then we cannot speak of
1004
00:53:29,470 --> 00:53:30,910
what happens in the chapter that we
1005
00:53:30,910 --> 00:53:33,430
sometimes called the fall to show what
1006
00:53:33,430 --> 00:53:37,420
rebellion looks like number two this
1007
00:53:37,420 --> 00:53:40,450
creation this doctrine of creation God
1008
00:53:40,450 --> 00:53:43,569
made everything actually comes out again
1009
00:53:43,569 --> 00:53:46,270
in the writings after the coming of
1010
00:53:46,270 --> 00:53:51,839
Jesus as new creation and ultimately and
1011
00:53:51,839 --> 00:53:56,079
you heaven and a new earth that is
1012
00:53:56,079 --> 00:53:58,680
looking back to the old creation which
1013
00:53:58,680 --> 00:54:02,549
by means we'll see succumbed to
1014
00:54:02,549 --> 00:54:05,589
rebellion and hatred and idolatry and
1015
00:54:05,589 --> 00:54:09,970
sin what what is finally needed is for
1016
00:54:09,970 --> 00:54:13,299
God to do to do a new creative Act to
1017
00:54:13,299 --> 00:54:17,200
begin again to create people over again
1018
00:54:17,200 --> 00:54:20,470
and that in the writing of some of the
1019
00:54:20,470 --> 00:54:24,130
New Testament writers is called new
1020
00:54:24,130 --> 00:54:27,400
creation and we we press toward and you
1021
00:54:27,400 --> 00:54:29,049
heaven and a new earth the home of
1022
00:54:29,049 --> 00:54:30,849
righteousness we'll come to that in our
1023
00:54:30,849 --> 00:54:33,790
very last session next week the
1024
00:54:33,790 --> 00:54:35,829
terminology is all drawn from Genesis 1
1025
00:54:35,829 --> 00:54:39,790
and 2 likewise Adam becomes the
1026
00:54:39,790 --> 00:54:43,359
progenitor of the race which falls away
1027
00:54:43,359 --> 00:54:47,260
in all kinds of ugliness and decay and
1028
00:54:47,260 --> 00:54:51,970
self referentiality idolatry Jesus is
1029
00:54:51,970 --> 00:54:56,230
called the second Adam that is he begins
1030
00:54:56,230 --> 00:54:59,349
another humanity and you race that works
1031
00:54:59,349 --> 00:55:01,900
on quite different principles Christians
1032
00:55:01,900 --> 00:55:06,220
must belong to this second Adam or
1033
00:55:06,220 --> 00:55:09,070
all that the Bible speaks about as the
1034
00:55:09,070 --> 00:55:11,890
gospel the good news just makes no sense
1035
00:55:11,890 --> 00:55:20,050
at all and this theme of rest will
1036
00:55:20,050 --> 00:55:22,810
continue as we'll see the theme of a New
1037
00:55:22,810 --> 00:55:25,900
Eden will continue as we'll see above
1038
00:55:25,900 --> 00:55:32,920
all this vision shapes our worldview for
1039
00:55:32,920 --> 00:55:37,960
example in pagan polytheism that is in
1040
00:55:37,960 --> 00:55:39,849
views of the world in which there are
1041
00:55:39,849 --> 00:55:41,920
many gods the gods have different
1042
00:55:41,920 --> 00:55:45,780
domains of operation here's one God
1043
00:55:45,780 --> 00:55:50,080
who's made it all it's different from
1044
00:55:50,080 --> 00:55:52,800
the world view for example of hedonism
1045
00:55:52,800 --> 00:55:55,240
where the point of the exercise is
1046
00:55:55,240 --> 00:55:57,400
simply to find as much pleasure as you
1047
00:55:57,400 --> 00:56:04,020
possibly can and then you die but here
1048
00:56:04,020 --> 00:56:07,240
the pursuit of pleasure is bound up with
1049
00:56:07,240 --> 00:56:08,640
God himself
1050
00:56:08,640 --> 00:56:11,859
we were made initially by God and for
1051
00:56:11,859 --> 00:56:14,950
God and the best the highest pleasure is
1052
00:56:14,950 --> 00:56:18,250
a god-sent earnest that secular hedonist
1053
00:56:18,250 --> 00:56:21,010
cannot possibly imagine their pleasures
1054
00:56:21,010 --> 00:56:24,780
are too fleeting too small too narrow
1055
00:56:24,780 --> 00:56:32,020
and then pantheism teaches us that all
1056
00:56:32,020 --> 00:56:35,080
the created world and God are all part
1057
00:56:35,080 --> 00:56:36,910
of the same thing there's no
1058
00:56:36,910 --> 00:56:39,820
differentiation and thus I am God and
1059
00:56:39,820 --> 00:56:42,550
you are God and we're all in this God
1060
00:56:42,550 --> 00:56:44,140
existence together and I'm really quite
1061
00:56:44,140 --> 00:56:46,060
a spiritual person you know and it's the
1062
00:56:46,060 --> 00:56:48,609
crystals that are vibrating in my system
1063
00:56:48,609 --> 00:56:50,280
that actually make me feel
1064
00:56:50,280 --> 00:56:56,250
transcendently other I'm not mocking
1065
00:56:56,250 --> 00:56:58,330
that this is a frame of reference that
1066
00:56:58,330 --> 00:57:03,130
many adopt it simply is in the worldview
1067
00:57:03,130 --> 00:57:06,780
of the Bible God made everything
1068
00:57:06,780 --> 00:57:10,119
which brings us perhaps for our purposes
1069
00:57:10,119 --> 00:57:13,030
to the most fundamental and striking
1070
00:57:13,030 --> 00:57:15,810
reality of all
1071
00:57:17,930 --> 00:57:21,359
it's these two chapters what the Bible
1072
00:57:21,359 --> 00:57:25,049
says about creation that grounds the
1073
00:57:25,049 --> 00:57:29,309
notion of human accountability of human
1074
00:57:29,309 --> 00:57:38,999
responsibility in other words why should
1075
00:57:38,999 --> 00:57:45,239
I obey God I mean if he wants to take me
1076
00:57:45,239 --> 00:57:47,210
in directions that I don't really like
1077
00:57:47,210 --> 00:57:51,390
then I can choose other gods or invent
1078
00:57:51,390 --> 00:57:55,640
my own I I can sing I did it my way
1079
00:57:55,640 --> 00:57:58,710
III I can simply declare my independence
1080
00:57:58,710 --> 00:58:09,839
who is he to boss me around unless he
1081
00:58:09,839 --> 00:58:15,269
made me he designed me and I owe him
1082
00:58:15,269 --> 00:58:18,289
everything life and breath and
1083
00:58:18,289 --> 00:58:23,130
everything such that if I don't see it
1084
00:58:23,130 --> 00:58:24,589
that way
1085
00:58:24,589 --> 00:58:29,969
then I am out of line with my maker I am
1086
00:58:29,969 --> 00:58:32,130
out of line with the one who designed me
1087
00:58:32,130 --> 00:58:34,680
I am the one that is fighting against
1088
00:58:34,680 --> 00:58:38,789
myself as God made me for all of human
1089
00:58:38,789 --> 00:58:40,440
accountability all of human
1090
00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:44,789
responsibility before God is grounded in
1091
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the first instance on creation he made
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00:58:49,410 --> 00:58:54,710
us and we owe him
1093
00:58:55,290 --> 00:58:58,240
and it's for our good that we recognize
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it not because he's the supreme bully
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00:59:02,280 --> 00:59:07,150
but because without him we wouldn't even
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be here and now we're set up for the
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00:59:14,500 --> 00:59:18,870
Bible's analysis of what's wrong with us
1098
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let's take a break
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00:59:27,910 --> 00:00:00,000
you
83851
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