tough issue 3 .. creation

it's becoming the ' in ' thing
maybe the ' smart ' or ' intellectual ' thing
to slide scripture across the table
more and more in the direction of fable
stopping at myth along the way ..
or versa vice

in the doing of that there are as many positions as there are points on the route ..
were there miracles ?
   which will we allow ?
did God ever step in along the way and do something outside the 'laws of nature'  ?
   could he  ? ..

and that's just the miracles issue ..
that was one of the easier issues to point at
there are a plethora of others
and a multiplicity of combinations of positions on the various issues
...  . .  . .

for some time i have been walking a discovery trail
Bible in hand
marking places here and there along the way
   with some carving in a tree or some underlining in a text
lookouts and jumpoffs and particularly awesome spots and potentially dangerous places ..
it's a personal journey
i have to go there alone
although i stop many places on the road, discussing this or that spot on the trail with other travellers over coffee or a local brew ..
listening, mostly

one thing i have decided ..
there aren't as many ' musts ' as i used to fight for
in fact there are far fewer
and i'm willing to walk a long stretch of road with folk that disagree with my theothink
because there's more to be insync about than to divide around..

point .. i'd appreciate it if you would offer me the same respect and consideration in your walk ..
that is, while you might think of my position as antiquated or unintelligent or whatever
treat me like family and not like some lost child
some black sheep on the run

... . ... . .     .

now let's pick a jumpoff point to illustrate ..

given that there are several types of genre used in scripture
   poetry and narrative and apocalyptic and whatever ...
and given that the books were written over a very long period
   allowing for social changes over the centuries and the morphing of oral/literary style to suit
and given that science sheds light on history ..
given givens like that
i allow for differences of opinion on most things

one issue that pops it's head up regularly, gopher-like
   our jumpoff
is the creation story ..
touchy ..
particularly touchy in that it speaks not only to revelation
but to factuality, as in supportable by science ..

while i have historically signed-on to the creation view
my take has allowed for the time frame that science supports - billions, rather than thousands of years
either by allowing for God to have created with the appearance of age
   creating with maturity in mind
or by allowing for something like the Gap Theory
   whereby there was an ' interruption ' in the time flow of the narrative
      particularly between Genesis 1.1 and 1.2 ..
or something similar ..
   i'm open ..
my philosophy being that God personally created ..
for me, all is built around that core issue
and evolution diss'es that ..

here's why my philosophy ..
it presents God as being intimately involved in the creation, particularly the creation of the human ..
it is the perfect expression of loving involvement
firstly in the act of forming the human from the dirt
and then, beautifully, in breathing life into that form..
marvelous wonderful loving God ..

that's not an issue of genre or interpretational framework or historical setting ..
it's simply an observation i have made over time across the grand scope of Scripture, epitomized in Messiah Jesus himself
   and in the kind of person i see revealed in his life ..

to me, ultimately, the issue of a more or less literal view of the creation erupts from the aura of the Scriptures as a whole
which posits a God rooted in love              
   demonstrated most boldly on a cross
   but pointed-to in other places,
      like the very same creation account

the same God that personally shed his otherworldy attributes and his glory
and took upon himself the form of the very human he created
humbling himself
   Creator becoming servant
   serving his creation to the point dying ..
that same God personally gathered dirt and molded it with his hands to form a body into which he breathed life
creating human
in the very image and likeness of him, Creator

incredible
and the only theological tenet applied is integrity - the wholeness and consistency of Scripture as a whole..

so that, when you empty my creation bucket on the ground
what remains is not a scientific issue or a particular theological positioning
it's a leaning towards the love of God illustrated in the intimacy of personally creating human in his own likeness and image ..
that along with Jesus own repeated testimony to it in his own words
   for red-letter christians ..

i cannot think of a better place to sit on that issue
at least for now ..

i'm there
regardless of theological bents on the one hand
regardless of scientific postulates on the other

where are you  ?

why are you there  ?

where do you get your view of it  ?
..  . .

for me it's not a matter of literal vs. non-literal
it's a matter of testimony to my rabbi
my master
the perfected revelation of God
and creator ..

Word incarnate ..   . . .      .


word

shalom