Genesis 1-3

Today we are discussing Genesis chapters 1 through 3; the creation. The first thing I want to point out is that the earth was without form, and void (verse 2). Before God there was confusion and darkness, just as our lives are before Him. But He put order to this world just like He can bring order and peace to our lives, if we let Him. The first thing He did was create light. If we turn to Him we turn away from the darkness and He gives us light. God created a perfect world; He saw that everything was good (verse 31). Different people interpret chapter 1 differently. People wonder if the days it speaks of are the length of day as we know it, or if they are perhaps longer. Because it speaks of a morning and night, I am led to believe that it is a normal day, but some say that the bible uses the word “day” to mean a special event, as in ‘the day of the Lord’ or ‘the day of the judgment’ so it could be describing the event of creation. But the fact that it describes 7 days; the 7th being the day of rest (Gen 2:2), makes me think it is talking about a normal week. I try to keep in mind that the bible was not written to give us knowledge of everything but to give us a guideline of what God has done for us and how we should live for Him. With that said, all the details are not important, as long as we know that we come from Him. We will have all our questions answered one day, but by then it won’t matter!
Chapter 2 is another subject of argument among people; some believe that it is contradicting chapter 1 by giving a different order of creation. I do not think chapter 2 is describing the order of creation; it is just giving a more detailed account. One thing I want to point out is verse 21, which says “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh thereof.” He did this so that He could make Eve out of Adam’s rib. The point I’m trying to make is the deep sleep; before man sinned, he was not caused any pain. God had a perfect plan for this world; a plan of no pain and eternal life in the Garden of Eden. His only condition was that man follow His rules (verse 17). So he created Eve as a companion for Adam, and so began the holy union of marriage. God created one man and one woman to be married for life-to love and support each other. In verse 23 you can see the loving way Adam describes his new wife.
In chapter 3 we see the first record of evil. Amanda questioned the fact that we are often taught that the serpent is the devil, but the bible does not say that is true. I believe it is more of a representation of the devil and the temptation he brings to man. Just as the devil sends temptation to us in the form of peer pressure or other things, he sent the serpent to tempt Eve. Another thing Amanda pointed out was that the serpent was talking to Eve, so shouldn’t Eve be frightened that an animal was talking? I don’t know if the serpent was talking like you and I do, but it definitely had a way of communicating with Eve. This could have been normal for all animals as part of God’s plan, since Adam was the ruler of all animals and named them. He could have had a way to communicate with them as part of naming them. If it was not normal and the serpent was the only one who could communicate, Eve probably wouldn’t have known that it wasn’t normal. She had not yet eaten from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, so just like she didn’t know she was naked, maybe she didn’t know the serpent wasn’t supposed to talk. One thing to keep in mind is that this was not the serpent we think of today. As part of his punishment for tempting Eve, his legs were removed and he was cursed to slither the ground on his belly (verse 14). So Eve listened to the serpent and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and tempted Adam to do the same (verse 6). This shows the nature of humans. God had given them everything and only gave them one rule: do not eat from this tree. But instead of being happy with what they had, they wanted more, as we as humans often do. When they ate the fruit they realized they were naked so they hid from God (verse 8). Another thing I noticed that we will see throughout the bible is that God gave Adam and Eve a chance to confess (verse 9). Even though He knows everything, He gives us a chance to tell Him what we have done. This goes back to what I said yesterday in the study of Romans 1-2; it is important to admit the sin. Adam blamed his sin on Eve and Eve blamed her sin on the serpent. This is another quality of human nature, for we often try to place the blame on others. It is important to realize that while the devil may tempt us, he can not force us to act; it is of our own free will that we commit the sin. So God punished the serpent for tempting Eve, then He punished Adam and Eve. It is because of this sin that we were cast out of the Garden of Eden and that we have to work for what we have, and that we have painful child birth (so ladies, we have Eve to blame!). The plan God had of us all living in harmony in the garden was destroyed the second Eve took a bite of that fruit. It is also important to realize that from this earliest record, we see that the devil is a liar! He sent the serpent to tempt Eve and told her that she would not die if she ate the fruit (verse 4). While she did not die instantly, her death was decided by the fact that she went against God’s will and ate from the tree. God cast them out of the garden so they would not eat from the tree of life, for that would have made them immortal. The garden was then guarded by a cherubim and flaming sword so that no one would be allowed back in. I believe that is why to this day, no one has been able to find the exact location of the Garden of Eden. God made sure that we never would!
In closing, I want to point out is that even though Adam and Eve went against God’s will, God still had compassion for them. He provided them clothing since they now knew they were naked. Even though we are all sinful creatures, God has compassion and kindness for us. He even sent His son to die for us!
I hope you enjoyed the way I interpreted Genesis chapters 1 through 3. If you disagree with any of the points I made, or you have something to add, please share your thoughts!

Romans 1-2

Today I’m going to discuss Romans 1 and 2. I’m not going to include the scriptures, so feel free to read the chapters before this blog. I am just going to share some of the things Amanda and I picked up from the scriptures. I have also included the video blog Amanda did so you may pick up something different from that as well.
The first thing I noticed in these chapters was how much Paul’s love for God showed in the pages! One of the first things he said, in verse 16, was “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.” It is important that we, as Christians, are not ashamed of the word of God, and that we tell others of the word of God. Some of us find that harder than others; you may be shy, or you may not want to offend someone. But it is our job as Christians to tell others about the Lord! The thing that Amanda pointed out, as you’ll see in the video, is that it is also important to go about this in a loving way. If someone thinks that you are attacking or judging them, they are going to close up and stop listening to you. So it is important to witness in a loving way, to show God’s love.
Paul goes on to say that God has shown us right from wrong, yet there are still some who choose to do wrong. In verse 27 he talks about homosexuality. I know this is a touchy subject and I do not want to offend anyone, but I am going to discuss my opinions on the subject based on the bible. Amanda and I disagree about this subject so I am going to tell you what she thinks as well. First off, let me skip ahead to chapter 2 for a minute because chapter 2 makes some very could points about judging. Verse 1 says “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.” It goes on to say most of the time when we tell someone they are guilty of a particular sin, we have at one point been guilty of the same sin. It is not my place to judge you! What you do is between you and God, just as what I do is between me and God! I would be a hypocrite if I told you that if you are a Christian you should not sin, because everyone sins! I can tell you what the bible says but it is not up to me to say that you are a sinner, or to judge your beliefs or your relationship with God. I am simply here to tell you what I get from His Word!
Going back to chapter 1, verse 27 says “And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.” Amanda and I both agree that being gay is a sin. I support that with this verse, as well as others from the bible (Leviticus 10:13 to name one). What we disagree on, however, are the consequences of that sin. Amanda interprets verse 32, which says “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” to mean those who commits those things are worthy of Hell. She says that if you truly ask for forgiveness of your sins you should turn away from those sins. Her point of view is that when God washes you clean of that sin, she does not understand how you can go back to the sin, because wouldn’t that mean you are no longer washed clean? I agree that you should want to turn away from the sins and that if you are a Christian you should want to be Christ-like, but I do not believe that if you turn back to the sin you will go to Hell. I believe that once you ask Jesus into your heart, as long as you are sincere, He is there to stay. Your salvation cannot be taken from you. I believe that we will all have to answer for our sins when we die, and that we will be humiliated and completely full of shame when we are judged by God, but that our sins will not keep us from Heaven. If that were the case none of us would go to Heaven, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) Chapter 1 not only talks of homosexuality as a sin but also lies, greed and gossip, among other sins. So I think that it is lumping all of those sins together, so if we commit any of those sins (I know I am guilty of some of them) then we are worthy of Hell if believe that way. I think the point the scriptures are trying to make is that it is important to admit that you are a sinner. I believe it is saying that if you try to justify a sin, such as homosexuality, that is worse than the sin itself. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the WORLD that he gave his only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” He does not specify who can go to Heaven; He says that anyone who believes shall have everlasting life! Romans 1:32 says that we are worthy of death, and we are! Every single one of us is worthy of death. But because God sent His only son to die on the cross for our sins, we are spared from that death and granted eternal life! Like I said before, I am no expert; I am just here to share my thoughts. Amanda and I have different opinions and you may have a different opinion as well. Feel free to share your thoughts with us; we would love to hear them!
I hope you have enjoyed this for it has been a blessing to write! I look forward to hearing your thoughts, and will see you next time when I discuss Genesis chapters 1-3.




Here is the link to the video in case the one above does not work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl3UNcvJ-Eg

Welcome!

My name is Lindsey, and my friend Amanda and I decided to do a bible study together. We are using a 52 week bible reading plan that takes you through the bible in 52 weeks. Neither of us has finished the bible in it's entireity before so this is our attempt to do so. In the past I have set out to do daily readings or studies but for one reason or another fall away from it. Now I have someone to hold me accountable so it makes it easier to follow through. I have never been so excited to read the bible! Every night I learn something new and I am amazed at how every night I can apply what I've read to my daily life. We have been doing this for a little over a week now and it has been such a blessing that we decided to share it with others. I'm going to do this written blog and Amanda is doing a video blog on YouTube (I will try to share those videos on here as well). Every night we read a few chapters (going by the list on bible-reading.com) and then we e-mail each other to share our thoughts. This is such a blessing because I not only have to think about what I am reading and put it into my own words and thoughts, but I also get to see what Amanda got from it as well. We usually get the same basic ideas but I might see something she does not see or vice versa. We may not always agree on everything we read but it is great to share our opinions either way. After we share what we got from the chapters we include a daily "God sighting." This just means that we tell the other person how we could see God working in our lives that day. And let me tell you, you will see Him every day! You just have to look.
I would recommend this to anyone! Find a friend, or a family member, or a spouse, and start a daily bible study! It's such a great way to not only bring you closer to God and help you understand God's word, but it also brings you closer to the person you are studying with. I feel so blessed to have someone to talk to every night about the Lord! You will be truly amazed and blessed at what this can bring you! If you don't have anyone to turn to for this, we welcome you to follow along with this blog and share your thoughts with us! It might take a little while for me to catch up on the previous studies but I will do my best!
In this blog I am going to attempt to share what Amanda and I get from our bible study. Please keep in mind that I am not an expert on the bible and neither is Amanda. You may not agree with what we say or you might interpret it in another way. If so, we would love to hear your thoughts on it (just please be respectful). We do not mean to offend or upset anyone. We are simply 2 servants of the Lord who would love to share with you His word. Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions, and share your thoughts with us. We would love to hear from you!

God Bless!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWNKDtoHGs0