Wednesday, August 12, 2020

How Genesis teaches us three things

I've told you the three major planks of the created life-world taught in Genesis 1.

Now, how does Genesis 1 teach these things?

A refresher with a bonus.

1. God is active in the time-space world of our experience in the terms of that experience. God thus makes the domain where he brings together our being and his for fellowship.

>> The succession of creative acts are real acts undertaken in real days. This places God's actions in our 'life-world' in our sphere of experience and they are done in the terms of our world of experience. God thus demonstrates his active presence in our life-world, our domain, and that his word has effect here. It also shows the infinite personal God in touch with our finite contingent world directly and lovingly, as he makes it in terms of our experience of it for our use and care. This is not God far off, inexplicable, unknowable, hidden; well, not only that, but also God here, with us.

2. God’s word, his ‘logos’ is prior to the material world and shapes it in a regular rational causality.

>> God speaks with effective intention (his words produce the sought result) and direct effect (there are no intermediate causes in the result of his word). There is no mediation of other factors or deference to pagan gods (as Isaiah criticizes in 65:11 - Fortune and Destiny).

3. Our experience of God’s created world of space, energy and time is a real experience of real distinct coherent categories in consistent interaction.

>> God has created in a manner and with results that are continuous with our experience of the creation. The nature of our finite material reality is that nature in which God's logos has immediate creative effect. This differs from pagan stories where somehow a 'god' cut in two forms the sky and the sea, or a lizard give rise to a mountain range. These are causally disjointed, inexplicably related to make nonsense of our experience of cause and effect. The creation mapped over 6 days is in precisely the terms and relationships that we experience the creation. The transcended God reaches into our limited world and is present here in real terms doing real things. Given that man is made in his image, we in turn represent God to the creation, while enabled to be in commutative relationship with God and his mute creation (commutative, like in maths: the same both ways).

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.