Saturday, December 31, 2016

And so it begins!

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. -Genesis 1:1

It is what we all deep down yern for, to know the origins of life. To understand the great mysteries of how this universe was birthed and breathed in its first breaths. Throughout time all great thinkers have attempted to unlock these mysteries and likewise all religions have tried to explain it.

And here we find ourselves fortunate enough to have a book, the Bible, inspired by God himself that begins there, in the very beginning. In that place that wraps itself in all wonder and confusion and blessed secrets . The opportunity for the unexplained to be played out and the cloud of mystery to be lifted.

Or not.

Which is perfect really because like so much that follows it, most everything in the Bible is left to our imagination, interpretation and I hate to say it, faith.

How easy it would have been for God to clear this all up for humanity and explain it scientifically, literally and in-depth. To remove all doubt and prove once and for all His existence and His hand in ours. However, He never does and the Bible never does more than hint at an explanation. 

All we really know is that in the Beginning God was there. The rest we kinda have to trust Him on, which begs the question do we trust this God?

It is so frustrating because we are left to argue, wage war and divide religions and churches and families over the unknown instead of being awed by it and worshipping it.

We are left to fill in the blanks and explain the questions but as we do the answers become murkier.

The Christian church finds itself trying to prove the passages of the Bible, the creation story and even go as far as to defend God himself when He never did this for himself. Jesus had many chances to spell it all out for us but spoke in parables and let people infer for themselves who He really was.

Although it goes against everything in our "Google it" if you don't know it world, we need to allow space for the mysteries of God. We can't definitely prove the Biblical creation story and somehow God is okay with this because he never attempted to himself.

Could the answer be evolution? Okay!

Does it have something to do with the Big Bang? Fine!

Maybe intelligent design theory, old earth/ young earth creationism, or the countless other theories that weaves God and science together in the explanation of the universes creation? Great!

I am sorry, but I don't subscribe to any certain idea, theory or teaching on our humble beginnings. They are interesting, entertaining, thought provoking and fun to discuss and playfully argue about but I am not losing any sleep over it.

How about we let go of the fight, the impulse to try to prove all the truths that we only hold grains of sand in the way of answers on a vast seashore of questions. The argument, the "fight" and the lost sleep is really just a distraction from what is really important. We miss the meaningful things God wanted us to focus on by being obsessed with the things He really didn't feel was important enough to fill the Bible with.

That is what this journey is about...embracing the doubt and finding the truth. Discovering the things that really matter to God.

So whether you believe in God but especially if you don't, I encourage you to follow this blog this year. Through all the BS that we filter our interpretations of who God is through, my hope is that we will get true glimpses of who God really is. And we might just get lucky enough to find Him!