Arts and Culture on Genesis

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God’s Abundant Provision in Genesis 2

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:16-17, Proverbs 3:10, Genesis 1:29, Psalm 23:1-2, Psalm 34:10, Philippians 4:19, James 1:17

There is a tendency among readers and scholars of Genesis 2:16-17 to focus on the prohibition of verse 17: “but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” …I want to pause to cons...

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Mythology in Genesis

Author

Jonathan Walton

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null

Mythology by its nature seeks to explain how the world works and how it came to work that way, and therefore includes a culture’s “theory of origins.” We sometimes label certain literature as “myth” b...

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God’s First Menu

Author

Tim Chester

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:16

What is the very first thing God said to humanity after he created Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden of Eden? “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden” (Gen. 2:16). God’s first words a...

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Adapted from Genesis 1 / John 1 (WEB)

Author

Jacob Traeger

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null, John 1:null

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. And God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. In ...

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The Dickensian Approach to Storytelling (Or, Rather, the Biblical Approach)

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:, John 1:1-3

Sometimes great stories introduce the protagonist in the very first paragraph. In Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, for example, we are immediately introduced to Pip, the central figure of the nov...

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The Bible has its Own Garden Path

Author

Murray Andrew Pura

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:8, Genesis 3:23-24, Exodus 15:27, Song of Solomon 4:12-15, John 18:1, Matthew 26:36

The Bible has its own garden path. It runs from Genesis to Revelation. In fact, some of the most important events in the Christian faith take place in Biblical gardens, evens around which Christianity...

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Becoming a Tiller of Soil

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 6:7, John 15:5, Matthew 13:23, Isaiah 28:24-26, Proverbs 12:11, Genesis 2:15

One of my favorite sections of Home Depot is the power garden tool department. Even though I have all the tools I need, I still like browsing through Home Depot’s collection of power mowers, chainsaws...

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Paradise: A Set Apart Place

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 51:3, Genesis 1:28, Psalm 104:14-15, Genesis 1:31, Genesis 2:8-9

The first garden (Eden) was perfection. In it was the possibility not only for the purest fulfillment of the human race but for all of creation. It was meant to be a paradise, which is, in fact, no di...

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Author

Ellen DeGeneres

Keywords

In the beginning there was nothing and God said, “let there be light.” There was still nothing, but you could see it better.

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God's Image in Humanity

Keywords

Nahum Sarna writes in Understanding Genesis: Perhaps nowhere is the contrast between the mythological and the Israelite conceptions more striking and more illuminating than in their respective descr...

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A God Apart in Genesis

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

In Understanding Genesis , Nahum Sarna argues that a critical distinction between Genesis and the stories of contemporary pagan societies is that Genesis is not myth . Myth is associated with ritual...

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Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson | A Review

Author

Paul Koptak

Keywords

Robinson's Winsome Faith I’ve been reading Marilynne Robinson's novels and essays for some time now. Of her fiction, I’ve read Gilead , reflections of a retired minister written for his ...

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Author

Douglas Adams

Keywords

In the beginning, the universe was created. This has been widely regarded as a bad move. (for contrast, and humor)

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Shepherds versus Farmers?

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

In Understanding Genesis Nahum Sarna explodes the myth that in the story of Cain and Abel represents a biblical preference for the shepherd over the tiller of the soil. He points out that “there is no...

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Gracious God, sometimes I am so caught

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null, Philippians 1:6, 2 Corinthians 3:18, James 1:17-18, Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 2:10

Gracious God, sometimes I am so caught up in my failures, in all the ways I am not like you, that I neglect the deeper truth, the earlier truth of Genesis 1. You have made me, as a human being, in you...

Quote

Author

Craig G. Bartholomew

Keywords

What is clear on all accounts is that a garden was an enclosed area designed for cultivation... [so] what we have, then, rather than an image of primitivism, is one of an area that is bounded, probabl...

Quote

Author

Mike Cosper

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 3:8

The garden itself was more than an agricultural project. It was a meeting place for God and man, where God “walked” among humanity (Gen. 3:8). It was the first temple, the first sacred space, set apar...

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The Perfect Soil for Winemaking

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

My first call to ministry was in Eastern Washington state. It turned out to be one of the most prolific winemaking regions in the country. One of the things I learned from a local winery was really qu...

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A Smart-Aleck Question and Answer

Author

William H. Willimon

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 1:8, Hebrews 11:3, Colossians 1:17, Psalm 90:2, Isaiah 57:15, John 1:1, Genesis 1:1

They say that in Martin Luther’s class on Genesis, a smart aleck student asked, “Dr. Luther, since you know so much about the book of Genesis, tell us: what was God doing all that time before God crea...

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A Dual Identity

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:7

Some of my favorite heroes have a dual identity: Clark Kent is Superman; Bruce Wayne is Batman; Peter Parker is Spider-Man. The list goes on and on. You and I also have a dual identity, though, unlike...

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Adapted from Genesis 1

Author

Chip Hardwick

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null

Leader: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, Darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. People: Centuries before Jesus walked among us, Th...

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Music's Human Origin

Author

Nahum Sarna

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 4:21

Music, vocal and instrumental, played a significant role in the organized institutionalized worship of ancient Israel. It was an accepted constituent of religious self-expression. Nevertheless, Israel...

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Glorifying God in our Work

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null

Work is one way, perhaps even the main way, we can glorify God in this life. This may sound confusing if you tend to think of glorifying God as what we do in church when we sing praises to God. No qu...

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O Father of all creation, who hovered

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 1:25-26, Psalm 139:14, Genesis 1:2

O Father of all creation, who hovered over the deep at the beginning, who spoke light into darkness, who split the heavens open and descended upon the Son of God in the waters of the Jordan, who creat...

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My dear King, my own King, without

Author

The Northumbria Community

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 24:1-2, Revelation 4:11, Genesis 1:, Colossians 1:16-17, Job 38:4-7, Isaiah 40:28-31, Psalm 139:13-14

My dear King, my own King, without pride, without sin, You created the whole world, eternal, victorious King. King of the mysteries, You existed before the elements, before the waters covered the ocea...

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Dear Lord, we come before You today as

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:27-28, Psalm 104:24-25, Romans 8:14-16, 1 John 3:1-3, Genesis 1:1-31, Hebrews 11:3, John 1:1-3

Dear Lord, we come before You today as Your children. We praise You as the God of all creation and the giver of life. You have made us, saved us, and called us to be Your people and to serve in Your K...

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Adapted from the Brief Statement of Faith

Author

Chip Hardwick

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:27, Galatians 3:28

In sovereign love, you, O God, created the world good And made everyone equally in your image, Male and female, of every race and people, To live as one community. But we rebel against you; we hid...

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God blessed them, and God said to them,

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15, Exodus 20:9-10, Psalm 90:17

God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth' Lord be with those who work and worship The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to ti...

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Father God, You introduce yourself to

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Father God, You introduce yourself to us in Genesis (1) as the God who works. Who created this beautiful world we are privileged to inhabit. We thank you for your work You created us to till the ...

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Christians Can Cultivate Culture

Author

JR Woodward

Keywords

Scripture

Titus 2:7-8, Jeremiah 2:4-9, Romans 12:21, Matthew 5:13-16, Genesis 41:

While there is a place for condemning, critiquing, consuming and copying culture, the primary posture Christ followers are to have in the world is as culture makers. In regard to history, the word cul...

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