Message Follow Up | Context: Part 1 – The Torah
By Matt Dawson
I hope you’ve enjoyed last week’s podcast on WHY we are doing this series CONTEXT. We really do hope that it moves all of us closer to understanding why the Old Testament matters to our lives and our faith.
This past Sunday, I started us off with the first 5 books of the bible – The Torah. This is the ORIGIN STORY that explains in great detail and with many, many examples WHO WE ARE and WHO GOD IS. I firmly believe that the MORE we understand those 2 things – the more we will DIVE IN to the fullness of His Word.
Genesis is one of my favorite books of the bible. Many people struggle with Genesis. It seems to be the most controversial book of the Old Testament. Many claim it to be fictional tales or allegorical examples for Christians.
Not to be taken literally or historically and certainly NOT inspired but just a story written by a man (or several men) to give credence to the Jewish faith. When you talk with someone who has “issues” with the bible, 95% of those issues are in Genesis!
Believe it or not, Genesis is actually the reason I believe that the bible, although penned by humans, is God inspired and God breathed! And it’s for ONE SIMPLE REASON: Because of how screwed up mankind is throughout the whole book.
Here is what we KNOW about History. The History that is written by men always highlights, amplifies, and exaggerates the accomplishments and successes of men AND always skirts, hides, or disguises the failures of men. We know this to be true!
If Moses (or whoever you might think wrote Genesis) wanted to create a document to help establish and support the Jewish faith – there is simply NO WAY he would have made mankind out to be as fragile, broken, and depraved as what is written. There is also no way He would have made God the “Hero” of the story – that would have been a man (some sort of saint, or buddha, or enlightened individual who God did something cool with and we can be “just like them” if we are committed enough).
Genesis is the origin story of an Almighty and Faithful God creating, interceding, and providing for an ungrateful creation who, left to their own way, will go completely off the deep end and destroy themselves. Genesis is all about HIM and why He continues to CHOOSE us! It’s beautiful – and it helps me know that there is no way this story would have been written by any one of us. It HAD TO BE Him!
I hope you will feel challenged by this series and that you will be pushed and prodded to WANT to learn more about WHO WE ARE and WHO GOD IS. I pray that you will have conversations with your life groups about the areas you STRUGGLE with, and that you will connect within your community, discovering more and more about our amazing and gracious Heavenly Father!