The Bible, Back to Front

Thoughts and passages from the Bible from someone rediscovering what it means to be a Christian.

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What's the Point

Genesis 12:1 - Genesis 24:67

What's the point?  I'm getting pretty irritated with the book of Genesis.  I know these stories, at least the main points of them, but I fail to see the relevance to me.  The best I can take away is that God is faithful, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him (That's a verse from later on in the Bible, New Testament, I think).

In Genesis 22:1-19, God tests Abraham.  He asks for arguably the most difficult thing for Abraham to give up--his son, Isaac.  Abraham doesn't blink, and at the very end an angel of the Lord stays his hand.  I guess, in a way, this test mimics a similar sacrifice that takes place in the New Testament, when God gives up His only son Jesus.  In that instance, though, there's no last-minute stay, and God sacrifices His son for us.  I wonder if I'm just making connections on my own, or if those two stories--Isaac and Jesus--are related.

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Pretty Darn Dry

Genesis 1:1 - Genesis 11:32

Now I know why most Christians look to the New Testament for their scripture.  The Old Testament doesn't exactly make for an exciting read with all the wading through family trees.  Will knowing the genealogy of the sons of Noah ever help me?  Probably not.

One of the things I find most difficult with Christianity is the blind trust.  As a mathematician, logic, proof of statements--these are my bread and butter, but to blindly trust that there's a God, that He created the world, that he expects certain behavior from us is something I find hard to wrap my mind around.  It rebels against my better instincts, I guess.

Genesis 6:9 says "... Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations.  Noah walked with God."  If he really was walking with God in the literal sense, then I'd like to think Noah had it easier than us.  When God told him to build an ark, he wasn't blindly trusting, he was going, at least in part, based off of his earthly senses.  Or maybe it wasn't the literal sense, maybe the passage means Noah was just a righteous man who prayed a lot.  It's hard to say.  Either way, there always seems to be a measure of uncertainty in my beliefs; are we right, or are we all crazy nutcases?