| HEBREW GOD vs. OTHER GODS: | |
The Bible is a collection of books written by numerous authors over the period of hundreds of years. It was the first book to replace all of the gods of old with one all-powerful God. This was widely accepted and embraced because of the number of gods that were being worshipped. Even if someone did not consider God or the Bible to be real, they could still see not only the wisdom that the Bible contained, but also the relative ease of worship in the Bible compared to what they where used to. |
|
For example, before the Bible the Greeks, Romans, and just about everone else worshipped many different gods. You worshipped one for your crops, one for your family, one if you were a man, a different one if you were a woman, one for hunting, one for war, one for fertility, one to make sure your car always started in the morning, one for..... This could get ver tiring, expecially when you had to make a ssacrifice to each. It could cost you quite a bit to please all the gods. But you still never knew if you were doing everything that you should. It was pretty easy to tick off the old gods, whereas the Hebrew God tended to give you plenty of warning before He got mad. |
|
So not only was the Hebrew God easier to worship, but all of His rules were laid down in the Bible. So there was no question as to what He wanted, it was all right there in the Holy Book. You knew exactly what would tick God off, and what He wanted of you. This made everything a lot easier that the Greek gods did. After all, the Greek gods where just like people, but with powers. They threw temper tantrums when someone upset the, they were always changing their views1, and they killed or tortured anyone who crossed their paths. In short, the gods acted an awful lot like people. |
1 This was also changed when the Bible came to be. In the Bible, God was always the same. His feelings toward important issues never changed. In fact, the only times that He is said to have changed His mind is when He decides to forgive someone that he had previously passed judgment upon. |
|
So the Bible came to be treated as a major guideline for the lives of counteless people. There have been arguements as the the Bible's authenticity and God's existence, but whether or not God is real, and whether or not the Bible is true, the God and the Bible have had more influence on more people than any other religion in the history of the world. Jesus has been proven to be a fake, and He has been proven to be completely real. There are many arguments for both sides. But whether or not He is real, there has been no other man or religion that has had such an impact over such a large area for such a long period of time. The entire time line was changed at the birth of Jesus Christ. That shows how happy the people where to have one God, instead of the countless gods and idols that they had previously worshipped. |
|
THE OLD TESTEMANT |
|
The Bible is divided into two major sections: The Old Testament and the New Testament. The New Testament begins with the birth and life of Jesus Christ, and the Old Testament deals with everything before that. |
|
The first book in the Old Testament is Genesis2. It begins with the creation of the universe as we know it. The universe is brought to life through the will of God who worked for seven days3 to create everything that we know. He brought about the universe in this fashion: |
2 The word Genesis means "Beginning". 3 There are arguments as to whether the seven days are actual seven days as we know them, or whether they are millions of years. After all, seven days to God could be billions of years to us. As of yet, no one has found any proof in the Bible or anywhere else to support or deny either theory. |
Previous to the first day:4 God created the Heavens and the Earth (Although it was not called the earth yet). Right now, the heavens and earth are just formless masses which have not been formed into anything solid. |
4 Many people believe that the creation began on the first day, but the creation actually began with the creation of the first day. |
The First Day: God created light. The Bible says that He called the light "good." The God separated the light from the darkness. That was when he named the light "Day" and the darkness "Night." Then it says, "And the evening and the morning where the first day." |
|
The Second Day: God separated the "firmament" (The firmament was a cloud covering that covered the sky until the Great Flood5.) from the sea. He separated the water up above from the water down below. "The God called the firmament Heaven." - Genesis 1 The Third Day: Then God "gathered" the waters together to create dry land. That was when God called this place "earth". This was also an important day not only because land was formed, but this was the day when God gave His blessing upon it. "And God said, 'Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit...' " - Genesis 1 So this was the day that official life began on the planet. This was the day of the first living creation. The Fourth Day: On the fourth day God separated the light into two parts, the sun and the moon. (They are not stated as the sun and the moon. They are called the "Great Light" and the "Lesser Light") He creates the great light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also states that these two are to be used for "signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years...". The Fifth Day: This was the day that God created all the animals of the water, and all the birds. He had not created the land animals yet. This day was exclusively for the birds and fish. (Whales too, even though they are not fish.) This day can be used in arguement for the evolution theory. If God created the fish first, then land animals second, then maybe it was through evolution that creatures moved onto land. Darwinism would fit smoothly into the Bible if that is the case. |
5 It is a popular theory that until the time of Noah and the Great Flood, no person on the earth had ever seen the stars. There was a constant cloud cover over the entire earth. That is why there is no mention of stars during the creation. The people got all their water from lakes and streams, but they could not get it from the sky because it had never rained before. That is why just before the Great Flood the Bible says that "the heavens opened up and rain fell upon the earth." This was the first time anyone had ever seen rain before. Another proof for that theory is the fact that Noah and his family saw the first rainbow. Since rainbows are created from the sunlight reflecting off water droplets in the air, (the sunlight must hit the water vapor without going through the clouds first) no one could have ever seen a rainbow before, since it had not rained. |
The Sixth Day: This was the day that humanity was formed. On this day God created animals, but he also created the first man, Adam. This is important because God is said to have created man into His own image. But since God is formless, how can he form something into his image? Not to mention that humans resemble numerous animals in a fair amount of ways. That is the whole theory behind evolution. But the Bible never once said that God created Adam physically into His own image. Instead, He did it in another way. The one thing that Adam possessed that nothing else in God's entire creation did was the ability of rational and human thought.6 He is able to think in a organized fashion, with reasoning and intelligence. He was not powered by instinct, as the animals where. That is something that is shown only in the humans that God created. |
6 He does not yet have the ability to tell good from evil, though. That comes later. |
The Seventh Day: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work, which He had made, and he rested on the seventh day." - Genesis 1 This is also important because this is the day that God created the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and placed it in the center of the garden. He told Adam that he was not to eat of the tree. It is interesting to note that Eve had not been created yet. The responsibility for the the tree was left to Adam. It is also curious that God put the tree there in the first place. Why would he put something there, then tell them not to touch it? It would seem like God was playing tricks with Adam, but that is not the case at all. God created Adam to be a thinking, free-living being. He did not want a mindless puppet who would do whatever do was told to do. He wanted someone who was intelligent and able to make his own decisions. But if Adam was never given any choices, then he could never be all that God wanted him to be. If our faith is never tested, then it never grows any stronger. If we never have any challenges, then we never grow. We become stagnant. So God had to let Adam have a choice. Without choices, Adam would have been a puppet of a different sort. He would have done whatever he was told to NOT because that was his choice, but because there where no other options. God did not want a slave. THE CREATION OF EVE After Adam had been on the planet a while, God saw that he was lonely. So he created a whole bunch of animals for Adam to rule over, and Adam named them all. But in doing so Adam saw that all the animals had a mate, and he realized that he did not. So he asked God to make a mate for him. So God told him that it was going to cost him an arm, leg, his left eye, and both his ears. When Adam heard this he asked "Well, what can I get for a rib?".... Okay, so maybe that isn't exactly how it happened. What actually happened was that God put Adam to sleep then, while he was sleeping, removed one of his ribs. He then created the first woman, Eve. When God brought Eve to Adam, he said that she had been created from him, that she would be called wo-man. (Not pronounced like Tarzan would.) |
|
THE FALL FROM EDEN One day when Eve was by herself the serpent7 comes to her and asks her if she is allowed to eat everything in the garden. Eve replies that she is allowed to eat from everything except from the Tree of Knowledge. But then the serpent tells her that if she does eat from the tree she will become like God, and that is why God does not want her to eat from it. Unfortunately, the most powerful lies are those that contain partial truths. They WOULD become like God in that they would be able to tell right from wrong. They would NOT become like God in the manner that they thought they would. They thought they would have the power of God. Eve believes the serpent, so she eats from the tree. Adam (is now there at the tree with her) is given a piece of fruit by Eve. He then eats it also. When they have finished eating, they realize that they are naked, so they rush to cover themselves with plants that are around. Adam and Eve became like God in the sense that they could now tell the difference between what was right, and what was wrong. (Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.) But it was knowledge that they might have been better off without. Adam and Eve were essentially children. Nothing that they did was done out of spite, meanness, selfishness, greed, or for anything that we consider "bad." Everything that they did was done for God, and they were completely happy and satisfied with everything that god gave them. So they where not really capable of sin. (Sin is knowing that something is wrong, but doing it anyway.) When they gained the knowledge of what was right and wrong, they became sinful. Human nature did not (and still does not) allow them to completely abstain from sinful actions. After Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit they became aware that they where naked. For the first time in their lives, they felt shame. Before this they didn't even know they where naked. They did not see anything wrong with God's creation. Now they felt shame and embarrassment about what God had created them to be. That was essentially their second sin. They doubted what God had given to them. |
7 Notice that it says "serpent". It never says that it is the devil that comes to her. Common belief is that the devil actually shows up in person to tempt her, but that might not be the case. The Bible never says it was Satan. In fact, it says that "...the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." So was the serpent just an animal of the field, being led by the devil? |
God came down into the garden, but Adam and Eve hid from Him. When God asked Adam where he was, Adam answered. God asked Adam why he was hiding (God already KNEW why, but he wanted Adam to admit it - not only to God, but also to himself.), and Adam replied that he was naked. When God asked Adam how he knew that, Adam tried to blame it on Eve. Eve then blamed it on the serpent. So God laid a curse on the serpent that it should crawl on the ground and eat dust for the rest of its life.8 He also said that because he had tempted Eve, that women will forever fear snakes, and men will forever crush them. (Snakes, not women.) THE FIRST MURDER After Adam and Eve sinned, they where required to leave the garden. Note that it isn't gods punishment on them that they have to leave, it is actually just the consequences of their actions. For instance: If you tell a child never to go into the street, and they do, and they are struck by a car - is that your punishment toward them? You might say "I told you not to go, now look what happened. Now look what has to happen." That is the same way it was with Adam and Eve. God did not want to expel them from the garden, but that was the consequence of their actions. After Adam and Eve learned to live outside of the garden, they also learned how to have children. Their first two children were boys, Cain and Able. Cain was the eldest of the two. Cain raised sheep while Able took care of the gardens. The two made sacrifices to God all the time, but God was not happy with Cain's offerings. Able was giving the best of everything he had to God, sparing nothing. But Cain was saving the best for himself and giving God what he had left over. |
8 Notice that God said that BECAUSE of that snakes would be required to crawl along the ground after that. That implies that the snake used to walk on legs. It is also interesting to note that in many snakes, when they are dissected we will find partially formed legs. Although most snakes never form legs, almost all breeds are born with a hipbone. Snakes don't require hip bones, so they are just remnants of an ancient generation that DID require them. |
9When Cain discovered that God was upset with his offerings, he became jealous. He led Able into a field and killed him. Then, when God asked Cain where his brother was, Cain got cocky with God (Never a good idea). He said that he was not his brother's keeper, and that he did not know where Able was. Then God asks Cain what he has done. He said that Able's blood was crying out to him from the ground. God then punishes Cain to a lifetime of wandering as a fugitive. Cain is afraid that he will be killed by a stranger, so he argues with God that his punishment is too much for him to bear. So God decides to go easy on Cain. He still makes Cain a fugitive, but he places a mark on him that will keep anyone from killing him. (Notice that the Bible never says that places a mark on his forehead. We tend to think that God put the sign of the Beast on Cain's forehead. That might not be so. It just says that God "marked" him, and doesn't give any specifics. NOTE: It is interesting that Cain should be worried about being killed by other people. Since Cain and Able where the first two children of Adam and Eve, who was he worried about being killed by? It is possible that Adam and Eve had many more children before Cain killed Able, but enough to populate a portion of the world? The life spans of people then was much longer than they are now (like 10 times longer), so it is very possible that Adam and Eve had been popping them out like crazy. Then their children could have children of their own, who would have children of their own, who would...... Another theory is that Adam and Eve where simply symbols, figureheads. That God actually created more than one couple, and Adam and Eve where just symbolic of the first people. Hmmm.... I am afraid I can't help you on that one. That is something you will have to decide for yourself. JOBIt begins when the devil comes to God and goes before Him. God asks him why he is there, and the devil tells God that he was "...going to and fro in the earth, just walking up and down it." Basically, he was just in the neighborhoos and he decided to stop by. Then - contrary to popular belief - God, out of the blue, brings up the subject of Job. He asks satan if he has seen him. Satan then tells God that Job fears and respects him for no reason. He tells Him that the only reason Job is so faithful is because God has given him so much. And if all that were to get taken away, then Job would openly curse God. Satan then asks for permission to test Job. God gives that permission, and tells him he may do whatever he wants to Job, as long as he doesn't touch him. Job: Job himself was a rich man. He was one of the upstanding people in his community. The Bible says that Job was "...perfect and upright." (We're assuming that he was as perfect as a human can be.) He had seven sons, three daughters, a wife, and a partridge in a pear tree. As for money (They measured riches in the form of how much you owned. The did not have any type of currency.), Job had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen (A yoke is a wooden frame that connected two oxen together when they where plowing. So Job had approximately 1,000 oxen.), and five hundred female donkeys. He was easily the richest man in the east. Job gets tested: Everything was taken from Job in one day. As he was working in one of his fields, a messenger came to him and told him that a group of bandits had come and stolen all of his oxen and cattle, then killed all the servants that where there. He was the only man to get away. While he was still talking, another man came running up to Job and told him, that a fire had fallen from heaven and burned up all of his sheep and all fo the servants that where with them. He was the only man to get away unburnt. While the second guy was in the middle of telling Job what had happened, a third man ran up to Job and told him that bandits had come and stolen all of his camels and killed everyone that was guarding the animals. He was the only man to get away. Before that man had finished, another messenger had come to Job and told him that while all of his children where eating at his oldest son's house, the house collapsed and killed all of them. (It was turning out to be a bad day) |
9 There is a lot of evidence that Adam's family still kept a personal relationship with God. God did not just boot them out of the garden then let them go at it. He stayed there for them. When Cain kills Able, he talks personally with God himself. He even argues with God. This points to the fact that Cain was accustomed to talking with God, accustomed enough to argue with him. He is even a little cocky with him - you don't normally do that with God unless you deal with Him a lot. |
Everything that Job had was taken from him in the course of a few minutes. Within five minutes he learned that all his property had been destroyed, all of his animals had been killed or stolen, and all of his children where dead. Job felt the same way that everyone else would have felt, except for one difference: Although he hated what had happened he did not blame God for it. He tore off his cloak and shaved his head10, but then he said something that proved his faithfulness to God. "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." - Job THAT is courage, and THAT is faith. After all of this had happened, satan showed himself to God again. God told satan that Job had remained faithful, even though he lost everything. Satan tells God that the only reason he is still faithful is because he is still healthy. He said that anyone can have a good attitude when they are still in good shape. So he puts another challenge to God. He said that if Job were to think that he was dying, then he would openly curse God. So God gave satan permission to do whatever he wanted to Job himself, as long as he did not kill him. Satan then covered Job with boils which spread all over his body. Job couldn't even move, he just had to sit there and scrape at the boils with pottery all day. But Job still remained faithful. Finally Job's wife came to him and told him that he needed to give up. She told him to just "...curse God and die." (Nice woman) But then Job sets her straight. He says "What are you saying? You talk like a foolish woman. Shall we receive good from God, but not receive evil?" Soon after three of Job's friends came to sit with him and comfort him. When they saw how depressed he was, they sat with him for three days without saying anything. At the end of the third day Job started feeling sorry for himself. He cursed the day he was born, and he wished for death. When death didn't come, he became even more depressed. In the fourth book of Job, his friends decide to try talking to him. They ask him what he did wrong to have God so ticked off at him. They tell him that he should just repent for whatever it was that he did, then God would lift the curse from him. It is important to note that Job did not even consider the fact that he might have done something wrong. This was not out of pride or modesty, he just knew that he had lived a faithful life and had not done anything wrong. If he had thought that he did something wrong, then it would have been easy for him to just say, "Oh, I did that wrong, I'm sorry. There, that's over with." Job would have been taking the easy way out by saying that this was all his fault. Job had too much courage and was too honest with himself to accept that solution. Instead he tell his friends that he has never considered himself a perfect man, but if he where called up on it, he could prove that he was. Basically, Job was saying "Hey, I don't think I am all that great, but I KNOW I have done nothing wrong. If you wanted me to prove that I was an upstanding person and an honest Christian, I could." This was important because he did all of this with a spirit of humility. He wasn't bragging to his friends, he was just stating a fact. |
10 That was a sign of extreme mourning and sorrow |
Job was tested for some time after that, but he never lost his faith. He had his up's and down's, he sometimes felt sorry for himself, and he sometimes praised God for everything that had happened to him. But he never once lost his faith, and he never blamed God for what had happened. Finally, God commanded Satan to release Job from his torture. Then God himself appeared to Job in the form of a whirlwind. Job asks God why all of this has happened to him, and God becomes upset with Job11. Job realizes that he had a bad attitude with God, and he says "I will lay my hand on my mouth, once I have spoken..." In other words, "Oops, I screwed up." God tells him to get dressed, it is time for him to become a man again. Time for Job to lead a good life. God never does tell Job why he had to go through all of the stuff that he did, but He gives him something better. Throughout the Old Testament, only a select few people ever got to see or talk to God. So to meet the God of EVERYTHING was an honor in the extreme. Not only did Job get to talk to God, but in talking to Him he came to know without a doubt that there really was a God. God also blessed Job through his trials by making him stronger. Job has seen true misery and suffering for the first time in his life. He came to appreciate everything he had, and came to love God even more. His faith was honed to a razor edge by the whole ordeal, and his belief in God was proven without a doubt. Never again would Job doubt. Never again would Job fear. He had been through the worst that any man could go through, and survived. THAT is a blessing worth any price. God blessed Job for his faithfulness. He gave him everything that he had fourfold (he became four times as rich), and he let him live another 140 years. So Job got to see four generations of his family emerge, he got to see riches beyond his wildest dreams, and he got to see happiness that he had never before experienced. His faith had earned him more than he thought it ever would. |
11 At first it seems cruel and unfair that God would not tell Job why everything happened the way it did. But then again, who is Job to question the God of all creation? Job does not really have any right to ask anything of God, much less demand an answer. |
