Creation- Segment 2

Let's continue our consideration of Creation...............


As my own scripture journey into creation deepened, one thing soon became clear- the bulk of scripture certainly did not seem to center on creation before or after what I’ll refer to as "age times", i.e., the record of Adam’s race. In fact, only a very small percentage of Holy Writ is devoted to shining light into this darkness and we, as Paul, see details of these events only "as through a glass darkly". God reveals the scriptural equivalent of only glimpses of these times, much like pulling a curtain aside to give a peek. The vast majority of the book centers on Adam and the history of his progeny, most notably God’s chosen people Israel. One such "peek" is provided by the Apostle Peter in 2Peter 3: 1-13. Here, Peter stirs up the minds of the believers by way of "remembrance" and makes these statements in verses 5-7 and 13:


5 "For this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens wereof old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."
13 "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."


Amazingly, the entire history of creation itself is contained within these four verses. Peter mentions three distinct periods of the heavens and the earth, and these can be listed as:

Remember, as we have already stated, the world that then was and the new heavens and the new earth are not the main focus of scripture. All that may be gleaned from the word concerning these time periods come from scant few scattered references. Let’s consider first "the world that then was" as referenced in vs. 6. This world of old was, at least at one time, "standing in the water and out of the water". It was also "overflowed with water" and perished. This word "perish" is the key to understanding that this flood is not the flood of Genesis 6. It is the Greek word appolumi, which means to utterly destroy, total ruin or loss. This word is one of the strongest words in the Greek language to express the idea of final and irretrievable destruction. This ancient world experienced a flood of such intensity and duration that the earth still bears the scars in its surface today. This flood transformed the original earth by a literal "baptism of judgment" that had a duration that only God knows. The flood of Genesis 6 certainly was a catastrophe, but Noah’s flood began and ended in the space of a year- a fact that clearly opposes the definition of appolumi. In addition the book of Genesis, in perfect harmony, only briefly introduces us to the earth in the first two verses before adding "and darkness was upon
the face of the deep." What is this deep, where did it come from, and why darkness in a perfect creation?

More about the deep later. For now, let’s concentrate on Genesis 1:1:

1 "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth."

Let’s stop here. "Heaven" here is the Hebrew word shamayim, and is always plural. It comes from the root word shameh (pronounced shaw-meh’), which means "to be high, lofty. " Shamayim means "the sky, alluding to the visible arch in which the clouds move as well as to the higher space where the celestial bodies revolve." The earth is created here also, at the same point in purpose called beginning. The idea that this scripture teaches is in perfect harmony once again with Isaiah 45:18:

18 "For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the
earth and made it; he hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to
be inhabited: I am the Lord."

More next time........God Bless!

Ronnie

Words Mean Something....

"ABSENT FROM THE BODY, PRESENT WITH THE LORD!"... how many times have you heard this preached from the pulpit? It seems to be a ralling cry here in the south on any given Sunday morning or most definitely at a funeral. This phrase is usually repeated several times with no reference to the book and verse. This phrase leaves out 13 words from the KJ version of
II Cor 5:8, which in it's entirety reads: We are confident, [I say], and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
And if you read the context of II Cor 5, I think you'll see that we live in an earthly tabernacle that we are current clothed with and a hope of a building of God in heaven, which is yet in the future. Paul's desire is not to be found in a naked state between the two, ie death.

So does this verse imply an immediate presentation in heaven upon death? If, as many preachers profess, you are absent from the body and present with the Lord upon death, then what is the "naked state"? In their scenerio a person would never be found "naked". Read the entire chapter and see if you think words mean something and does it really matter that 13 words are left out?

Creation: Segment 1

As I mentioned in my previous post, here is Segment 1 of "Creation". I hope you enjoy and get a blessing from it. Comments welcomed!

CREATION

We’ve all done it from time to time- wondered at the scope of it, marveled at its complexity, its beauty. I remember, as a small boy, lying on my back in the cool grass on summer nights after catching lightning bugs, gazing into the crystal-clear rural South Carolina night sky…there were so many stars! I recall how the beauty and vastness of the night sky used to boggle my small mind. To this day, many years later, the night sky still silently reminds me of the almighty wisdom of its Creator, and my mind is still small!

As an adult I still stand in awe of God’s creation and, as a believer, turn to the truth of the scriptures for the answers to my questions. Many of these questions I’ve wrestled with down through the years center on creation and its purpose- the old classics like "Why are we here?" and "What’s God’s purpose in creation?" Men have feebly attempted to answer these questions on their own for eons but, as always, the true answers lie in the scriptures.

The epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans contains a statement that gives us a bedrock foundation on which to begin our study on creation. Romans 15:4 states:

"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."

Paul says that the things which were written "aforetime", or scriptures that predated his then current point in time, contained learning that could, if understood, be a source of comfort and hope. I believe that ALL our answers are in God’s Holy Word. If we apply the "Berean" spirit to search the scriptures as the Bereans did in Acts 17:11 and apply the basic principles of rightly dividing the scriptures the answers will come, and we will be blessed and comforted workers that need not be ashamed. As we begin our study, I would ask of you only what Paul asked of Timothy:

"Consider what I say: and the Lord give thee understanding in all things." 2Timothy 2:7

More next time. God bless yall!

Ronnie

The Bible for Dummies

All of you are probably familar with the books for Dummies series. They have everything, you can think of; Computers for Dummies, Basketball for Dummies, Dating for Dummies, etc.

I even read Blogging for Dummies to help me get started with this blog. These books that I have read seem to do a pretty good job at the subject they're covering. Well yesterday, I had a chance to see a copy of one that I didn't know they had, The Bible for Dummies. Funny thing was it was about a 1/6th the size of the Bible. It makes me wonder what parts did they leave out that they felt were not worth covering? :-)

Isn't it nice to rightly divide the Word of God and then all you will need is the written Word, the Holy Spirit and time to devote to study. That's freedom!

John 8:32 - And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Lessons and rainbows.............

Well, I finally made it back to the site after all my Internet Explorer problems lately. My computer hasn't really worked correctly since I downloaded IE 7......or it downloaded itself! Either way, even after uninstalling it, I still have problems getting into this site. Luckily, I'm using another computer, so posting it is!

I wanted to post an article I've been writing "on and off" for a while. I've titled it "Creation", and I plan to post segments of it on the blog every few days. I hope you get a blessing from it, and most of all, that it helps someone in some small way "grow in the grace and knowledge of him." keep checking in occasionally to check out the article, but first, a little introduction to it.


Even though we live in God's creation all our short lives on this planet, I think we understand very little about it. I was reminded of this fact one afternoon this week as I was riding home from work. It was stormy and raining on and off that afternoon....sort of misty weather. It was shortly before sundown, when the sun was peeking over the edge of the clouds- and there it was! The largest, most colorful and well-pronounced rainbow I've ever seen in my short 47 years! I almost ran out of the road staring at it, trying to keep it in sight as I drove homeward. It was a perfect bow with a lighter reflection behind it, reaching from horizon to horizon, just over Lake Keowee. I pulled over after I remembered I had my camera......as luck would have it though, I had picked up several cases of Girl Scout cookies for the wife, and my bag with the camera was buried underneath. By the time I dug through the cases of cookies and had the camera in hand, darkness had claimed my rainbow, and I was "imageless". I do have my memory of it though, and as it faded I was thankful for having been blessed enough to see it. I sat there a minute and thought of how awesome it was and what an effect it had on me, but how quickly it had come and gone. Sort of like our lives, I thought......how quickly life comes and goes, and how many opportunities we have to effect others. It was a good ride home the rest of the way. I had my image- and my lesson- in my heart. This world is God's creation, as are we. :-)

"Creation" article coming next post! Thanks for reading!

Ronnie

The Website

Sorry, there hasn't been many updates on the website Carolina Bible Group recently. The audio pages are currently down, we're still trying to figure out the best way to set them up for either listening or downloading. There's also the possiblilty that we'll be able to have some conference videos accessible in the future, we'll keep you posted on this.

The blog will also be updated more frequently in the future as we've now got Ronnie and Artis in addtion to myself uploading posts. We plan to have something posted at least every couple of days.

Thanks for your time and may God bless your day.

South Carolina?

Is this really South Carolina? We woke up this morning to between 3 and 4 inches of snow here in the upstate. As it typically goes around here the schools were closed, everyone made a run to the grocery store for bread and milk and the snow was mostly gone by the afternoon. We're still not sure why we have to get bread and milk when snow is predicted, it has to be something generic that we got from our ancestors. Oh well, we should be back to normal tomorrow, of course only after the mandatory 2 hour school delay for the day after snow.