Tag: Genesis

Trump Is King Saul

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Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 1-20-2021

There are a lot of parallels made about Trump. Even more so within the American Christian community. From Cyrus the Great (2) to Nebuchadnezzar (3), some Christians associated with the current conservative political movement or the Republican party have made such comparisons. I’ve even read of a few people making the bold statement that Trump is just like King David because they’re both flawed leaders that God is using for divine means to an end (4).

I’m not here to talk about those obviously wrong parallels. I think of all the comparisons that could be made, Trump is most like King Saul. Let’s see why that’s more likely the case from a character perspective.

But before I do that, let’s clarify something. Comparing anyone to any figure in the Bible is just an exercise in identifying who someone is like, not who they are in reality. For instance, I could make the case that I’m a parallel to Joseph in Genesis. We are known for our analytical intellect, God speaks to us in dreams, and we both have autism (5).

With that said, it’s just a comparison to aid in our understanding and not a pinpoint accurate psychological look into who someone truly is in real life. This is a common and normal exercise, so now I’m simply applying it to President Trump. With all of that said, who was King Saul?

Who Was King Saul?

Saul under the Influence of the Evil Spirit by William Wetmore Story | 1865

For the sake of time, I’ll paraphrase Saul’s story. In other words, this is the highlight reel and doesn’t cover everything we know about the guy. Here’s the gist of what happened.

At this point in history, Israel was ruled by way of a kritarchy which is a nation run by judges. After years of mixed results and finally with the failure of the prophet Samuel’s own two sons, the people of Israel demanded a new form of leadership like the neighboring nations. They wanted to be ruled by a king.

So Samuel went to God in prayer and asked what to do for the Israelites. Here in 1 Samuel 8:7, we have God’s response: “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.”

Like God had instructed, Samuel informs the people of Israel on how things are going to change under this new leadership style. He will take their children and use them for his own means to fulfill economic, political, and even war purposes. He will take the best of everything in the land for those most loyal to him and enslave the people under his rule. Lastly, when the people realize they have made a mistake God will not save them from the collateral consequences of their collective choice.

As time went on, Saul quickly went from a promising first king to a tyrant that threw out all of the traditions of his own people for personal gain. He made promises before God and others, but broke them with little remorse. He cast out anyone that questioned or threatened his power. He even hunted the man God chose to replace him which was David and his own son Jonathan who chose to obey God, rather than his unruly father.

History now knows that Saul was the king of compromise. Saul was a people-pleaser, but God was never pleased with him. David did become king of Israel and gave God the glory, yet Saul was always wondering who would give glory to him.

In the end, Saul had no faith in God and his lies only led to loss. Our response to conflict reveals our character and Saul will forever be known as a coward. The promising king was now just a man whose promises meant nothing.

Who Is President Trump?

President Donald Trump via axios.com

Now look at the Trump presidency and how it ended. The parallels speak for themselves. It began with a lot of promise for some people. He claimed to end abortion, build a wall, and fix the economy so that everyone would benefit. Whatever you think of those issues for yourself or any other issues for that matter, there are people who saw this outcome as extremely positive in 2016.

Actually, even a few as life-changing on par with the reactions that the Black American community had for Obama during the election of 2008. Like usual, both figures failed to deliver and live up to the hype. Although, for Trump his term ended with the shameful storming of the US capitol by his most ardent fans in a sad attempt to overturn the election. They took the bait of a lie that led to the death of 5 imagers of God, which is horrific for all involved.

Like an incel on OnlyFans, some Christians have crawled in lust to worship Trump and it’s shameful. Your ignorance doesn’t prove his innocence. In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s the blind eye of the Church that has built up the ego of a man who craves the adoration of all. Several of those who voted for him were so focused on winning for once that they never considered what would honestly happen if he had won the presidency. Well, now we know.

Now can I criticize a public figure like Trump and be consistent as a Christian? Absolutely. Do I need to remove the plank in my eye before telling someone else to remove the speck in their eye? Of course. As I like to tell people, I’m a shit-show of a human being and need God to save me on-the-daily because I’m the worst. In humility, I admit I’m a failure and sin more often than anyone will ever know.

God gives grace to the humble and I’m glad he does because that’s all we can give him. We must approach God in humility and faith, if we want to be in his good graces. The problem is that Trump lacks the spine to be humble before God and his faith is a farce.

His actions have spoken for him in that regard. He doesn’t fear God because he’s too afraid of the god that is his own graven image. That’s disgusting and it’s even more so when we consider that some of us supported such crass behavior in our leadership that claimed to follow Jesus.

We as Christians should be the first to publicly oppose a political leader in sin and the last to publicly support anyone in politics. Our gaze should be fixed on the Kingdom of God, not our own kingdom that was never a nation under God. Participate in the present and that includes politics, but remember to remain focused on the future for that is where we will find rest under the sovereignty of Jesus as king. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless.

Footnotes

  1. www.pbs.org
  2. https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/3/5/16796892/trump-cyrus-christian-right-bible-cbn-evangelical-propaganda
  3. https://communalnews.com/king-nebuchadnezzar-and-president-donald-trump/
  4. http://www.sfltimes.com/opinion/looking-to-the-bible-to-justify-allegiance-to-a-flawed-leader
  5. For more on this theory see Samuel J. Levine’s book, Was Yosef on the Spectrum?

Deception Part I: After An Innocent Mistake | Mark Cribari

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Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/27/2019

In this first segment of a three-part series on deception, I would like to focus on where it all began: in the beginning. Since the Bible clearly tells us in multiple places that Satan was the source of the very first lie spoken through an animal in the Garden of Eden, we have our starting point. Then, we will follow the progression of deception from the serpent to separation to “The Secret” in parts II and III.

The Genesis record reveals that every physical thing God made in its original state was declared “good” in the opening two chapters. The only exception to this was loneliness as described in Genesis 2:18, but then again, the LORD wasn’t finished creating at that point. The results from His short surgery (v21‭) included the beauty of ceremony (v22), poetry (v23), unity (v24), and shameless transparency (v25). Even verses 16‭-‬17 imply God’s love by the mere fact that He warned the first man within His first command. Then things took a turn for the worse in chapter 3 when doubt was introduced by that serpent of old (Revelation 20:2).‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

One of my favorite aspects about the Bible is that God used progressive revelation to continue revealing to us things He wanted us to know. What amazes me is that He was also able to use different types of literary genre to do so like historical narratives, poetry, prophecy, and even letters. A good example of this can be found in John 8:44 where Christ gave us more insight about the devil than Moses did in Genesis 3:1 when Jesus said, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” Details like this should be helpful as we take a closer look at the subject of deception throughout Scripture.

Since the Gospel according to John and Genesis are both in the genre of historical narratives, it becomes almost seamless to use Scripture to interpret Scripture since that literary style deals primarily with people, places, things and events. It could get interesting when we use other styles to help us understand this historical event and possibly assist in answering some of the questions I have for you as well. Now before I get to these specific questions so you can come to your own conclusions about the first deception and, at the same time, test what I’m saying based on the facts presented (1st Thessalonians 5:21), I’d like to remind you about the difference between explicit and implicit observations.

Explicit facts are those that are usually obvious to most people whereas those that are implicit would be those truths that are implied by the text within its context. I’m clarifying this distinction so that you as the reader know that if the things I share from this point forward are not supported by the text and the context, you’re welcome to throw them out as assumptions. There is a phrase used by many to describe this as “chewing the meat and spitting out the bones.”

Now there are two reasons why I titled this “After An Innocent Mistake.” First of all, this brief conversation with the serpent reflects the purity and innocence Eve had when she made the mistake of trusting that what he said could be the truth, even though this creature was planting doubt in her mind and denying what God said to her husband in chapter 2. Secondly, the terrible consequences of sin took place only after they both broke God’s original command. At this point, I’d like to present you with some inductive questions to consider in regards to when Adam was actually with Eve during this account.

First off, working from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, why do Genesis 3:1 and Genesis 3:4 record that “the serpent said to the woman” instead of saying to them (i.e. Adam & Eve) if her husband was there when this initial conversation took place? Why do most people assume that “her husband (was) with her” during the serpent’s deception in the verses previous to verse 6 since we don’t know “when” Eve “saw, took, and ate its fruit” in Genesis 3:6?

Why does the wording in Genesis 3:6b, “She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate” appear to be an afterthought as if it could be a separate event from her choice? The Holy Spirit confirms a fact about this event in 1st Timothy 2:14 when it is written, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.” If Adam was there when the serpent lied to Eve as many people believe, wouldn’t “they” have been deceived instead of the strong clear wording of 1st Timothy 2:14? It’s safely been said that Scripture interprets Scripture, so we can’t ignore this New Testament insight into Old Testament history.

Since all the pronouns turn plural in Genesis 3:7-8 after Adam ate (e.g. them, they, themselves, up to the phrase “Adam and his wife”), why did Adam blame her instead of the serpent? As well as in Genesis 3:12 when addressed by God and she then blames the serpent in the singular when she admits in verse 13, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” instead of including her husband if he was actually there when she was lied to? When Paul expressed his concern in 2nd Corinthians 11:3, why didn’t he include Adam when he wrote, “as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness” if her husband was actually with her during moment that lie was delivered by the Devil?

Genesis 3:17‭ reads: Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of the serpent…” Oh, wait a minute. He didn’t say that at all! Adam’s curse and consequences were because he listened to his “wife.” Don’t you think this would have been a great opportunity to clear things up for us since “God is not the author of confusion?” (1st Corinthians 14:33a). God says what He means and means what He says. Nowhere in Scripture does He say nor infer that the serpent said to the man or that Adam heard from the serpent.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Finally, when reading through Romans 5:10-21, I find it interesting that the Spirit of God holds Adam solely responsible for disobeying the LORD’s command and bringing sin into the world instead of holding both Adam and Eve liable for it in phrases such as “through one man sin entered the world,” “those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam,” “by the one man’s offense many died,” “through the one who sinned,” “the judgment which came from one offense,” “by the one man’s offense,” “as through one man’s offense,” and lastly “as by one man’s disobedience.” My only question at this juncture is why do some sermons and many pieces of art depict both of them together in the garden with the serpent when the source material, Holy Scripture does not seem to support it? For more on this, click here and this here.

Although I’d prefer not to be dogmatic about this, I do believe that it’s important to understand the true circumstances of that first deception to the best of our ability in light of 2nd Corinthians 2:11 which warns us that “lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.” That last word has also been translated “schemes” and this brings me to my final thought. Could it be that the progression of the devil’s plan as recorded in Genesis chapter 3 to destroy Adam and Eve by introducing doubt, denial, deception, and disbelief of God’s loving warning in Genesis chapter 2 actually began with the strategy of separation? If the old adage, “there is safety in numbers” proves true, then his scheme worked if Satan intentionally waited for these two to be apart from each other before he approached the weaker vessel (1st Peter 3:7). Stay tuned for part two in this series on deception in the future.

Footnotes

  1. Free stock photos · Pexels
  2. https://answersingenesis.org/bible-characters/adam-and-eve/was-adam-with-eve-when-she-spoke-to-the-serpent/
  3. https://www.gotquestions.org/amp/Adam-with-Eve.html

Three Trees

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Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/27/2019

This is a tale of three trees.

One tree grants the beholder immortality,

While another gives knowledge of morality.

–

This tale begins in a garden.

At first there is only a human,

But he becomes accompanied by the mother of women.

–

As the two wander,

They begin to wonder,

And curiosity begets the female traveler.

–

For of the three trees, only one came with a warning.

The tree of life being one of the many meant for eating.

But the tree of good and evil symbolized mankind’s future erring,

With the underpinnings of sinning.

–

For the serpent of old has arrived,

Bringing with him his own pride,

That so happens to be why he died.

–

With the snake slithering past every leaf,

Is the ever encroaching presence of the prince of thieves.

As the cunning snake dangles downward,

The woman ever so slowly goes forward.

–

As the Devil invites her to taste and see,

She avoids her chance to run and flee.

With the slither of Satan’s lies,

Came Eve’s enraptured eyes.

–

As she aspires to be wise,

Her desires begin to rise.

The fruit is within Eve’s hand,

As she is one bite away from being damned.

–

With the very first bite,

Eve realizes that the Devil was right!

For when she ate of the fruit,

Eve soon discovered this strange compute.

–

From knowing only good,

The woman has only added fire to wood.

As the decay began that day,

Eve no longer had a say.

–

Her goodness had been tainted by sin,

And too would it be in all humans built-in.

Once sin took its foothold,

Eve did not want to stand alone in the cold.

–

So she gave to her man,

And suddenly took his unblemished lifespan.

Pretty soon the two were no longer good,

Yet if they could go back they would.

–

But it is too late now,

For man is now putting his hand to the plow.

For we are dust,

All because of lust.

–

To dust we shall return,

Before some will forever burn.

Although a few will get to waltz into a glorious new home,

Far more beautiful than the pinnacle of Rome.

–

This new home is for the Christian,

And with every fleeting moment there is a new addition,

Due to the adherence to the Great Commission.

For Adam gave life to sin in every human,

While Jesus gave His life for sin that we can be born again.

–

He did this so that we might be grafted into salvation,

In order to bring about the redemption of His Creation.

Since the day we brought forth this ruckus,

The Father has sought to bring about justice.

–

So the Father sent His Son Jesus,

To save us from the Fall in Genesis.

You see he died on the third tree,

A cross that changed history,

Jesus atoned for all on Calvary.

–

This all began because of a choice between two trees,

And the choice was left to Eve.

So when the snares of sin come swarming like bees,

Consider the consequences of your actions please.

Footnotes

  1. The Three Trees (1643) by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

What Happened to the Dinosaurs?

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Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/21/2019

As long as I can remember, I have always loved dinosaurs. From having dinosaur toys to watching Jurassic Park at least a dozen times growing up, I have always loved dinosaurs. This huge interest that I’ve always had in dinosaurs has given me the inspiration to write a blog-post about what happened to the dinosaurs. But before I give my theory, first let me lay out the 5 most common theories, along with the most common stance held among scientists. So, what happened to the dinosaurs and why do we no longer see them on Earth anymore?

The Cretaceous–Paleogene Extinction Event Theory

 According to some scientists (2), all the dinosaurs died from a cataclysmic event that wiped out every dinosaur from the face of the earth about 66-65 million years ago during the end of the Cretaceous period, hence the name. Admittedly, the article does go on to explain that there is no actual evidence for such a claim, but a lot of scientists adhere to this first theory. But there are some theories as well that use this cataclysmic event as a foundation for their answer to what happened to the dinosaurs like the following 5 major theories:

  1. The Meteorite Theory: “A big meteorite crashed into Earth, changing the climatic conditions so dramatically that dinosaurs could not survive.”
  2. The Volcano Theory: “Ash and gas spewing from volcanoes suffocated many of the dinosaurs.”
  3. The Plague Theory: “Diseases wiped out entire populations of dinosaurs.”
  4. The Drought Theory: “Food chain imbalances lead to the starvation of the dinosaurs.”
  5. The Bird Theory: Some have come to the consensus that dinosaurs after millions of years of evolution became birds and are flying among us today.

Now although all of these theories are plausible, I propose my own theory after having done some of my own research. so without further exposition let me present to you my theory on what happened to the dinosaurs and where they are today.

My Theory

So there are a few factors that make up my theory that actually include some of the previously mentioned theories and some new ideas as well. My theory includes the following: lack of food, hunted by humans, different terrain, and migrated to isolated/unexplored land. Now in order to understand my perspective on the state of dinosaurs, you need to know a bit about my worldview.

As a Christian, my stance on the Creation debate is very loose. I used to be a YEC (Young Earth Creationist) when this was written, but I now affirm the Big Bang model and evolutionary creationism. At the same time, I am no scientist so I am very open to suggestion on this issue. Within that former YEC worldview was the belief that land dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark with the other animals and lived after the events of the Flood recorded in Genesis chapters 6-9 respectively. So with that in mind, here are the 4 premises to my theory as to what happened to the dinosaurs.

1) Lack of Food

The first premise of my theory revolves around a lack of resources and this may have been caused by some imbalance in the environment that may have triggered a scarcity in food. Makes sense to me that after awhile the dinosaurs lacked the necessary amount of food to supplement their diet and slowly died off because of it. There is also the fact that the bigger the creature, the more health related problems could go wrong like the Square-Cube Law indicates (3). All health and dietary conditions considered, it seems likely that a few seasons of food shortage could significantly impact the dinosaurs as they would need more calories per day, in order to survive than most creatures.

2) Hunted By Humans

This point is rooted in the fables and fantasies of long ago where valiant warriors across multiple civilizations hunted these behemoths and dragons. Note that several world societies spanning hundreds, if not thousands of years all depict in some shape or form dragons. These societies range from Great Britain to China, displaying all sorts of terrible lizards. Dragons are a staple of many mythologies, but why?

Well, I theorize that they too were some form of dinosaurs that indeed roamed the earth at one point. They may have possibly been under the canopy of pterodactyls or something of that nature. Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to what type of dinosaurs dragons may have been, if they existed.

One may point out that dinosaurs and humans did not live during the same time period (the Cretaceous Period versus the Late Cretaceous Period), but from my worldview it may have been possible. There are even certain Scriptures that would lead one to believe that humans and dinosaurs coexisted together for a brief time (4).

Now these passages of Scripture are from the poetic and prophetic sections of the Bible, so it is hard to tell whether the original intent of the author was literal or figurative. Either way, I believe that at one point human society became advanced enough to hunt the dinosaurs and killed them for sport or survival of the fittest. In European mythology, killing a dragon was usually considered noble, so why not think that these “terrible lizards” were the dinosaurs? To me, it makes sense that if dinosaurs did coexist with humans, then humans would have hunted them for resources, sport, and/or survival of the fittest.

3) Different Terrain

During the days of Peleg, according to Genesis 10:25, the earth was divided. At first, this seems a little odd to add that detail into the text within this long list of genealogies, but under further examination this Scripture gives a clue as to what happened historically in those days. This dividing of the earth event happened sometime between the Flood mentioned previously and the events of the Tower of Babel, so this may have been a natural phenomenon like an earthquake or Pangea.

Then again an event like Pangea probably didn’t happen over night (5), so the most plausible answer is that the various people groups spread out and were divided because of the repercussions of the Tower of Babel. This could have affected not only humans, but all living creatures because what happens to one species can have a strong effect on another species within an ecosystem. With all of humanity spreading outward and beginning new civilizations across the Earth, it could have led to the dinosaurs being hunted for food and other resources.

4) Migrated to Isolated/Unexplored Land

Although humanity has discovered some of the most isolated parts of the world through exploration and expansion, there are still parts of the world that are hidden and isolated across the globe. Despite having such advanced map-making tools like Google Maps to chart the world, there are still aspects of our world that we have no idea exist. The BBC wrote a piece on this dilemma (6).

One point that the article mentioned was on the state of favoritism when it comes to map making. In the article, they point out that “This neglect [in properly mapping out certain regions due to a number of circumstances] means maps of remote regions can contain errors that go unnoticed for years.” In other words, certain areas are emphasized because the map-maker is either from there or knows of that area better, while other areas are completely ignored. For instance, an American map-maker would make America super huge compared to other countries.

This neglect has led to large portions of the world remaining unexplored entirely and only known to native tribes within the vicinity. With this in mind, there is still the possibility that dinosaurs that live on land could possibly be living in these very remote areas of the world, neglected by the map-maker’s own personal bias. Places such as Vale Do Javari, Brazil which is about the size of Austria and home to about 2,000 indigenous people scattered throughout the region could be the perfect habitat for dinosaurs.

There is also the Sakha Republic, Russia, which is one fifth of Russia and is largely untouched because of the extreme weather conditions. Although, large animals that can bare those conditions like reindeer do live in this remote region. For more on those unexplored areas of the world, Mental Floss has a good read on just fifteen places around the world (7).

What is most intriguing is the fact that sea dinosaurs are extremely more likely to still be roaming the Earth compared to land dinosaurs because according to the National Ocean Service, less than 5% of the ocean has been explored (8). Makes absolute sense to me that sea dinosaurs are still alive and living today if only such a small portion of the ocean has been explored. Something to consider for sure. Where are the dinosaurs and what happened to them?

Well, they could be living all over the world and we just don’t know it yet. So those are my thoughts on what happened to dinosaurs and where they are now, along with my theory as to why we do not see them today. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

Footnotes

  1. https://www.dinopit.com/5-awesome-pieces-of-cool-dinosaur-art-from-deviantart/
  2. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/why-did-all-dinosaurs-become-extinct
  3. https://youtu.be/X5rb3Kis6eY
  4. Job 7:12, 40:15-24, 41; Psalm 74:13, Psalm 104:25-26, Psalm 148:7, and Isaiah 27:1
  5. http://www.icr.org/article/what-happened-days-peleg
  6. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141127-the-last-unmapped-places
  7. http://mentalfloss.com/article/63902/15-unexplored-corners-earth
  8. http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html
  9. Disclaimer