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It's not sensible, as a scientist, to ask 'What is the meaning of scripture?' unless
you are prepared to know what scripture says.
Equally, as a Bible student, you can't ask 'what Creation means', unless you know
what creation says.
Nor can you look at science alone or the Bible alone, in isolation from the real
world.
READING CREATION
•You can't just interpret creation without reading the given explanations -- Try
discussing 'sex' without reference to the Bible!
•And you can't just interpret the Bible without reading creation. Try discussing
'sex' without reference to life around you.
•You can't just read the Bible without interpreting creation from it -- Try
discussing being 'born' or 'begotten' by the Spirit via a 'covenant', without
recognising the sexual and marital analogy of the Bible, or without seeing sex
and marriage in a new light.
•And you can't just read creation without interpreting the Bible from creation.
Try looking at ancient strata without puzzling over Genesis 1.
Don't be surprised when we leave behind rocks and mountains, and immerse
ourselves in death-issues. God's words focus on life and people, not leaves and
planets.
Geology seen through 'creationist' eyes, distracts us from the real debate. (The
commentary has a diatribe against such creationism-literalism.)
What is there left to talk about? Beauty and music? Yes, but No. Analogies in
nature? Yes, but No. I want to be more convincing.
It is, however, easy to see 'analogies' for good & evil, for resurrection, for
Judgment, etc in nature around us.
We wake up to a new dawn -- That's a lot like awaking from the dead to a new
life. And Jesus said so.
But it's 'only analogy' unless you can base it upon something more substantial,
more logical, more convincing. Yes?
Well, I want to spell out several more logically based reasons for 'reading God
into creation' if you like. I hope you haven't heard most of them before -- so that
it opens up quite a new scope for reasonable belief.
For instance, 'The Bible teaches a local Flood' is something you won't hear from
most Christians! But if I can prove it from scripture, you would have food for
thought. Yes?
Well, there are a dozen or so such new perspectives to consider and explore. The
important re-interpretations have a dedicated article in the commentary, and you
will have to read the full story there. E.g. Topics on Hell, Heaven, and Earth;
Questionable Doctrines about Sex; Imagery of Creation as a 'House'; Verse notes
at each verse in question; the commentary on the Koran.
•Firstly, we open our eyes to what is evident, and see 'Creation' -- any believer can
read 'a Creator' into that evidence. But more logically we should first read
only 'existence' from the evidence -- it's more convincing to say 'I see,
therefore there is something to see'. And build up from that. No scientist can
rule out a creator for what exists. You don't need the appearances of
intelligent design to see the possibility of it, merely because there is
something there.
•Pick up a freshly fallen leaf, and you hold the evidence for both good and
bad. It is beautiful, yet it is dying, doomed even. It probably is already partly
moth-eaten and sick, and certainly will soon be eaten by microbes. You see
things building themselves up, only to be pulled down by gravity, by
increasing entropy and by the forces of decay. So what? Are these mere
analogies or symptons of God? Don't we need more, before physical laws
impress us? Yes?
•Well, beyond rocks and water, and even beyond plants and organisms, you need
to acknowledge that to 'read about God' in what is created, we really ought to
concentrate on people, on life, on death -- on things like sin and sickness --
much more than on inanimate physics or explainable biological laws. Yes?
•Well, in that case, we see good and evil. We see a moral existence. Scientists
can't well explain that away.
Wars are an embarrassing paradox for an atheistic scientist. Homo sapiens is
mad it seems, and madness is not a medical condition fully plumbed by
neurophysiology, psychology, biochemistry, etc. It just defies our
understanding. So does the brain.
To deny the existence of good and evil, would only be evidence for how crazy
humans can be. Yes?
•Well, if you want to allow good and evil as evident, as evidence for being able to
interpret the Creation through the Bible, then a remarkable observation is
possible, which a child can understand: Evil has not won yet. Good has not
won. They seem locked into a stale-mate, an unresolved conflict. This almost
hands victory to evil as the Great Spoiler. But it also shows up the great
strength of good, to push on despite the awesome power of easy-spoilage.
•Another obvious piece of evidence, is that 'God and evil' is a live debate. The
more deeply thoughtful a person is, the more likely he is to have a well-
thought-out opinion on the supernatural. This shows that it is an unresolved
issue, relevant, deep, and important, and furthermore, that the Biblical world-
view is not something to be dismissed lightly, or even after thoughtful
consideration. There is something innately unresolved in prophecies of a
final spiritual judgment. If religion were not a living part of our creation, I
would not be talking about it.
•We now need to point out: that the Bible is not from Mars. It is part of the
history of this planet. It is there as evidence. To treat 'religion' as a
separate world is nonsense. Yet Homo sapiens is silly enough to do that most
of the time. 'Abraham, Moses and Jesus' do not belong to fantasy-land, but to
history. There is no split between 'religious vs real' or 'evidence vs words'. The
Words are evidence. Yes? Israel lives in Israel and speaks Hebrew, Yes?
The upshot of that last point about logically evident evidence is crucial: It is
logically crazy for a scientist to say 'I only want to study the visible evidence;
Don't give me all those mere words about invisible realities -- Show me the
evidence of God'. That would be like writing a book about the history of
democracy without mentioning Greece, revolution or America. Or like looking
at 'creation' but not at 'people'. If someone wants to ignore the written,
publicly documented, historical evidence, then they are wilfully blind and not
worth talking reasonably to on that issue. The Bible is also a record of 'God's
deliberate explanations and interpretations' of the world around us, past
present and future. That sounds comprehensive so far as it addresses the
issue, Yes? Wouldn't you like to read and admit as evidence, God's own
opinion on this topic? Yes?
As promised, we have progressed beyond rocks and leaves, to people and spirit,
and on into God's words of interpretation. We are still exploring the evidence.
•Well, continuing on with the evidence, part of the ongoing, eternal evidence is
consistent reports of 'spiritual' experience. Things like religion and
conversion are undeniably part of the evidence of what we can see around us.
It won't go away by ignoring it. Evidence is not proof, but it is evident. People
report and record miracles, supernatural visions, and they do predict the
future. Now it would be nice to prove that they get it right, by design not by
chance, Yes?
Well, That's what prophecy is. Proof. It is on the public record. It was recorded as
'prophecy by a prophet' because the 'prophet' first made some correct predictions
and performed some public miracles, until people were forced to retain his words
word-perfectly. Such records passed contemporary real-time public scrutiny
without being gain-said by other contemporary writers. The records themselves
record a sad story of skepticism, unbelief and opposition, of false-prophets
contradicting all that was prophesied. Be realistic and reflect that what survived
then, running the gauntlet of enemies, must have been powerful stuff -- divine.
Society was as antagonistic to God then, as it is now; worse even, since the
enemies of God gather their forces right where God threatens to break out.
•And the prophets got it right. For instance, the Middle-East is still the
centre of strife. Yes? And The Old Testament predicted someone who would
live, serve, die and rise as Messiah (The Dead-Sea community had
commentaries saying so, dating to before Christ), Yes? And more prophecy is
waiting for the End-times, Yes?
•Understanding humanity starts with the Garden of Eden 'myth', and seems to
run into problems right there, when a skeptic simply can't swallow it.
However, the garden of Eden story is more comprehensive than logic or
science or philosophy or religion. What! You seem surprised, bemused, still
skeptical? But look at it; at the very point where we think it drifts off into
spiritual fantasy about strange trees and talking snakes and such fable-like
nonsense, it is actually... ..addressing the most important issues we
face -- moral ones, for instance; false truth, for instance, opposing true
wisdom; the war between good and evil; law, sin and death; sex, shame and
clothes; and, yes, those constantly recurring 'spiritual experiences' which we
can't suppress. It is accurate, that these issues will last the distance. Didn't I
say that prophets got it right? Yes?
•Well, here's an important viewpoint: spiritual reality (such as is part of the Eden
story) is not 'instead of' physical reality, nor even a 'parallel reality', but 'in
addition to' this realm, and part of it. It's like the dimensions we can't (yet)
see into, yet someday may be able to. 'Reality' won't 'change' from one into
another, but we will -- like waking up from a dream -- so what is here now will
continue, but we will be initiated into a newer appreciation of it -- able to see
the invisible, the future maybe, angels and all that stuff. Man doesn't yet have
his eyes fully open to the future, like they were partly opened for Eve, but that
leaves room for a God who can predict the future. Have we drifted from 'the
evident'? No. I am filling in the publicly available explanatory background.
Eden talks about 'that stuff', does it not? Agreed? And part of the Eden story
included a prophecy of the human conqueror of the Serpent, at the cost of
being bitten? Yes?
•Well, Here's the next important viewpoint: God's. What I mean is a 'Top-
down' view. Scientists take an analytical approach -- cut it up into bits and
piece it all back together. But you need to play 'If I were God'. If you were God,
you would probably want to drop some written hints down into the
mysterious life below. He's the one who blinded us from the future, and He's
the one who says He wants to bring us out of it into something better. So He
would probably do just what He said He has done -- and deliberately place
physical images of invisible realities right in front of our nose, and say so.
'Man in My image' is a famous one, referring to the Son of God to come and
rule creation. Night&Day is another visible and vivid one, which images the
light and darkness which existed from before He made the Sun, stars, Earth
and Moon. Yes?
•Well there are dozens of similar images explored and expanded throughout the
Bible . The distinction between clean and unclean tells us about spiritual
judgment. Stars can represent angels and Birds can represent demons; and
predators eating prey is used for nations at war -- it says so itself. My point is
about their deliberateness. You cannot sensibly 'read creation' without
reading the instructions for interpreting it. Yes?
•Just one example: Sex. God has a fetish about 'multiplication' from page one,
filling the land seas and skies with His creatures, to filling the banqueting hall
with His Glory. He didn't have to design life to require the death of one seed-
form to give life to the next generation. But He did. And from then on there is
lots of sexual imagery as an illustration of God getting His spirit into your
heart, and as a deliberate picture of the resurrection. It's the continuing
prophecies over centuries which make it very evident that they carry a
deliberate message drawn from the things in our physical life. Thus we see
an intertwining of physical reality, moral facts of life, words of
explanation, laws of religion, and prophecies of the future. Yes?
•Well. Yes. So here is how to read scripture: Any way but
straightforwardly. Surprised again? Haven't I just described the divine
process, top-down, of dropping a puzzle in front of our blind eyes? Hasn't it
got us all speculating, arguing, trying, puzzling -- confused? Yes! And that's
just exactly how prophecy works. It's a mystery until it comes about. It's a
paradox until it is resolved. It's a puzzle until it is solved. And it catches us
hook line and sinker. When you read something unusual, paradoxical,
internally incompatible, outrageous, nonsense, upside-down -- That's just
God doing it His way -- teaching us unforgettably. You just keep reading on
and expect Him to explain Himself, and keep waiting to see it all come true.
Jesus will say 'Eat my flesh and drink my blood' to the Jews, but explain it to
his disciples as 'spirit, not flesh; words not meat'. Paul will say 'Jews disobey
the commandments', but explain it as refusing the words of the Messiah. Yes?
•Well, the point is that there is a huge need to come to grips with the way
scripture talks -- in picturesque idioms; in arresting figures of speech; in
images from this life about the next; in mystery and revelation, wonder and
interpretation. These are our clues to read what God has planted in our
creation, to lead us into His.
•The next point is well, evil. It's the Koran. The Koran is part of the evidence. The
evidence is helping to prove that you can and should read God and Judgment,
spirit and resurrection, into creation and from creation. You can't know your
Bible and miss that the Koran sets out to destroy and replace the Bible,
prophecy, Spirit, Christ, God and all 'good' things. Its replacement versions
are evil, and not a word in the whole book is trustworthy. It is war, lies,
extortion, coercion, distortion and much more. It is the Serpent still trying to
deceive Eve. Well, since it has an evil author, why would Satan spend so much
energy trying to destroy lies and nonsense? He wouldn't. He wants to destroy
sense and truth. Satan wishes that scripture weren't there on the
public record, so he tries to take it off their reading list.
•One upshot is that you should refuse to believe in Hell-fire for ordinary sinners
-- That's the Koran's version, opposite to the Bible. That's just an example of
being careful how you read the Bible's version of reality. In view of the very
real campaign of disinformation, distortion and confusion about
things in the Bible, you should attempt to shed old stereotypes about what
the Bible teaches. The Koran sets out to simplify the 6 days of creation, to
overliteralise the imagery of the Bible, to personify the inanimate things, focus
on the physical object-lesson, at the expense of the spiritual lesson, and
generally wreak havoc with the public perception of scripture's teaching. I
hope that's a new and fruitful perspective for you.
•Take another relevant example: The Bible teaches a local Flood, but the
translators make it sound global, following the melodrama of the Koran,
rather than the internal evidence of the Bible. Since most of us can't or don't
or won't see past the English translated wording, we don't stand much of a
chance to appreciate this. I hope you find this a fruitful field of
reinterpretation.
E.g: from the notes at Gen_7:19, 'under the whole heaven' refers to the people
in the land of Canaan, only:
Deu 2:25 This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee
upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report
of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee. 26 And I sent
messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon
with words of peace, saying,... 34 And we took all his cities at that time, and
utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we
left none remaining:
•Now let's mention the 'local creation'. Yes that's right, in Genesis 1, 'heavens and
earth' refers to the sky and land of Israel, specifically Mount Zion. Talk of
Creation is overlaid with promises for the future. This is sustained throughout
the Bible. For instance...
Rev 21:1-2 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and
the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. 2 And I saw the holy
city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven of God, made ready as a
bride adorned for her husband.
•It is hard to read a coherent story in both the creation and the Bible, if the
Bible's picture is muddied by misinterpretation and deliberate confusion
sourced from its enemies. How can you interpret 'war' without grasping
religious differences? And how can you cope with good and evil if some
viewpoints deny the existence of good and evil? And how can you evaluate
'sacred' scriptures, if the ones you read deny the existence of evil inspiration?
•Looking at the Creation teaches you just how serious God is about resurrection.
The fact that Creation shouts to us of Resurrection, is mirrored in the Bible.
The Bible is His book of Resurrection. It is the handbook accompanying the
Creation. Resurrection is a crucial Biblical claim on the future. We
would like to see evidence for it in creation, Yes?
O.K. So I've run out of sensible things to say. But I hope you have fuel for your re-
interpretation engine.
In summary, let it sink in a bit deeper, that 'Creation' is a package deal. Our
creation includes the history of spiritual experiences, of religious prophecies, of
Jesus, Moses and Abraham, and of false prophecies like the Koran. Creation
comes with people and wars, good and evil -- not just rocks and plants and
physics.
And it comes with the Bible.
The Bible itself is a package deal, claiming creation, appealing to creation,
prophesying de-creation and re-creation. It projects a continuing, coherent, and
comprehensive account of creation, past present and future. It is a top-down,
masterful, ever-relevant record, and its prophecies are evidently accurate. It is at
the centre of controversy, and has fierce competitors and critics.
Yet it has no real competition. Science, for instance, failed at the start of my list,
lost out in the middle of the list, and can't claim final relevance.
The other sacred world-views bomb out on evidence and inconsistency. I know of
no viable alternative moral codes. The imitation scriptures simply mimic God's.
Creation and the Bible are unavoidably interlinked -- history and prophecy, for
instance, are mated. Religious experience and scripture, for instance, are hand-
in-glove. Sexual morals and law, for instance, can't be divorced. Evidence and
interpretation, for instance, need to be 'read' together.