Bible and Theology on Created World

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Before I Knew God, I knew Nature

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 3:1-12, Deuteronomy 8:2-3, Revelation 12:6, Job 12:7-10, Isaiah 35:1

Before I knew God, I knew nature. I knew the feeling of warmth from the sun on my skin. The crunch of leaves on the sidewalk. The sparkle of the fresh powder snow. It was not until I was a teenager th...

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Still Creatures

Author

Rachel Clark

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 5:8-14

For all the gifts and abilities that God has given us, we are still his creatures who do not possess the divine control over life. But that limit is rejected in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The ...

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Searching for the Infinite

Author

Robert Burns

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:7, 2 Corinthians 4:18, James 1:17, John 1:9, Job 12:7-10

Robert Burns was a widely heralded poet and lyricist (1759-1796), considered by many as the National Poet of Scotland. Burns’ poems continue to be read around the world and many have been put to song,...

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God, The Hedonist

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

In this short excerpt from C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, the fictional demon Screwtape complains to his advisor Wormwood about all the pleasures God has created that point back to a loving creator: ...

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The Fire of Fairy Tales

Author

G. K. Chesterton

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:31, Romans 1:20, Psalm 118:24, Job 38:4, Lamentations 3:23

This elementary wonder, however, is not a mere fancy derived from the fairy tales; on the contrary, all the fire of the fairy tales is derived from this…. We all like astonishing tales because they to...

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Blaming Creation Instead of Sin

Author

Albert Wolters

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:31, Romans 8:20-21, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, Colossians 1:20, Psalm 24:1

The great danger is to always single out some aspect of God’s good creation and identify it, rather than the alien intrusion of sin, as the villain. Such an error conceives of the good-evil dichotomy ...

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Author

Basil of Caesarea

Keywords

The world is a work of art, set before all for contemplation, so that through it the wisdom of Him who created it should be known …"

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Author

John Calvin

Keywords

Wonder

[Every human being is] “formed to be a spectator of the created world and given eyes that he might be led to its author . . . first [to] cast our eyes upon the very beautiful fabric of the world in wh...

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Image Bearers in the Garden

Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

If we are to be God’s image-bearers with regard to creation, then we will carry on his pattern of work. His world is not hostile, so that it needs to be beaten down like an enemy. Rather, its potentia...

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God made it. God loves it. God cares for it.

Author

Emily Hunter McGowin

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:31, Psalm 104:24, Colossians 1:17, Isaiah 40:26, John 1:10, Romans 8:19, Hebrews 1:3

Julian of Norwich was a fourteenth-century mystic-theologian who maybe understood the belovedness of creation and new creation better than anyone. In the fifth chapter of her book Revelations of Divin...

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The Gloryscope

Author

Paul David Tripp

Keywords

Glory

Sadly, many of us live this way every day even though God has designed the world in which we live to be a gloryscope. What does this term mean? Just as a telescope points you to the stars and magnifie...

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Psalm 19 | Creation Reflects God

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:17, Psalm 19:

Introduction During my time in seminary (and the year after I graduated) I spent a lot of time at a church in southern New Jersey. It’s actually how I met Scott Bullock, TPW board member and creator...

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Psalm 8 | God's Majesty

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 8:, Psalm 144:3, Job 7:17, Hebrews 2:6-10, Matthew 21:16, 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

Ancient Lens What’s the historical context? Background Structure This Psalm of David is unique. “It is the only hymn in the Old Testament composed completely as a direct address to God.” [1] It e...

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Lord our God, we have sometimes not

Author

C. Hassell Bullock

Keywords

Lord our God, we have sometimes not listened for your summons to praise you; we have not acknowledged that this good news we proclaim is for the whole world; and we have too often been silent to the s...

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Author

Meredith G. Kline

Keywords

The city is not to be regarded as an evil invention of ungodly fallen man... The ultimate goal set before humanity at the very beginning was that human- culture should take city-form... there should b...

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Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Knowledge has to do with the interrelation of humans and the created world. This brings it within the sphere of the biblical belief that humans are made in the image of the creator, and that in conseq...

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Util and Frui

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:10, Hebrews 10:24-25, Psalm 8:, Genesis 1:31, Psalm 19:1, Ecclesiastes 3:11

Two Latin words are used to describe useful and beautiful things: util and frui. Util means useful, beneficial, helpful. Frui means enjoyable, pleasurable, and delightful. The created world is both fr...

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Author

Craig Dykstra And Dorothy Bass

Keywords

We long to see our lives whole and to know that they matter. We wonder whether our many activities might ever come together in a way of life that is good for ourselves and others. Are we really living...

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Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

God created the world to be a fabric, for everything to be woven together and interdependent. “

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Author

Jonathan Edwards

Keywords

Creation

The creation of the world seems to have been especially for this end, that the eternal Son of God might obtain a spouse towards whom he might fully exercise the infinite benevolence of his nature, and...

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Which “World” Are we Talking About?

Author

C. J. Mahaney

Keywords

World

Scripture

John 2:15, Genesis 1:31, John 3:16

The “world” of 1 John 2:15 doesn’t refer to the created order or to the blessings that come from living in a modern society, such as modern conveniences or medical and scientific advances. For God cre...

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God Speaks, God Listens Too

Author

Adam S. McHugh

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 18:22-33, Exodus 3:1-12 , 1 Kings 19:9-13, John 5:19-30, John 16:12-15, Psalm 116:1-2

The God who shares power is a listener. Listening is not something that becomes necessary for God only after the world is created. Listening is who God is. In God’s very being, communication does not ...

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The law of the Lord is indeed perfect, trustworthy, and right.

Author

Trinity Lutheran Church, Lisle, Illinois

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:6, 1 John 1:8-9, Psalm 19:7-8, Romans 8:29

Leader: The law of the Lord is indeed perfect, trustworthy, and right. When we examine ourselves in light of God’s law, we come face to face with the darkness of our sinful condition. God’s Word sa...

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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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Jesus Christ, the love that gives

Author

Hildegard of Bingen

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 3:17-19, Ephesians 5:25-27, John 15:15, 1 Corinthians 12:27, John 1:1-2, Genesis 2:7, Romans 8:11

Jesus Christ, the love that gives love, You are higher than the highest star; you are deeper than the deepest sea; You cherish us as your own family; You embrace us as your own spouse; You rule over u...

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Adapted from John 1:10-11; Isaiah 52:7-10

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:10-11, Isaiah 52:7-10

Father in Heaven, we confess that we never knew you had come down. We confess that we were in the dark as to your light among us. Though the world was created through your Word, we could not grasp the...

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Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Is God just a nice person who created the world, tells us to be “cool” to people, helps out with some of our problems (but otherwise leaves us alone), lets us do what makes us happy, and then takes us...

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The Gospel is Not Right Wing or Left Wing

Author

John Piper

Keywords

Gospel

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 1:16-17, Acts 4:12, Matthew 28:18-20, Colossians 1:16-17

Because the gospel of Jesus is not an ideology or a philosophy or a methodology or a therapy but a supernatural in-breaking of God into our lives, I am concerned at how many Christians do not bring it...

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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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Author

Wendell Berry

Keywords

Scripture

John 3:16, Genesis 1:31, Romans 5:8 , Ephesians 3:17-19, Romans 8:38-39, Colossians 1:16-17

I take literally the statement in the Gospel of John that God loves the world. I believe that the world was created and approved by love, that it subsists, coheres, and endures by love, and that, inso...

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