Part 1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)
The foundation of all existence explained in one short sentence. To simple for some, but then again, some are to simple for the sublime. Many who profess to be wise in this world, devote their lives and intellect to any other possible way of explaining our origins than this one simple sentence of scripture.
The quest to understand the origins of the heavens and the earth is first and foremost a quest to understand our own beginning. Any denial of this is just that: denial. When this fundamental factor is not first acknowledged, the role that human life plays in the canvas of space and time is often merely that of an accidental and coincidental drop of paint, while some other greater cosmic forces are brushing their artistic broad strokes across millions of light years. And this is where it all goes very wrong.
You see, all the instruments with which science and Astrophysics etc. use when conducting our search for the Genesis, have no real reference or relevance outside of our own humanity. Time and space concepts, pondering, research and all our tools of investigation; These things exist and are created through and because of us. To put it plainly, none of us would ever investigate the reason for existence, if we were not the reason for existence.
As far as I know, animals, no matter how intelligent, don’t seem to spend much time questioning their instincts and environments. They certainly haven’t come up with any non evolutionary inventions with which to gain greater insights into themselves or their surroundings. I never heard any reports of monkeys that we sent into space, coming back and thanking us for giving them the opportunity to finally satisfy their longing to see and understand a new world beyond their trees and bananas. Evolution and transmutation is a very possible concept, but it does not begin with slime, crystals or the animal kingdom. It begins with us. We are the species that purposely searches out new environments, and are most able to change accordingly. If our bodies are unable to withstand the new environment, we find a way to evolve the environment. The kingdoms of flora and fauna are moved by seasons and instinct. The kingdoms of men are moved by purpose. With this in mind, one can begin to open their eyes to see that searching for our Genesis would play no important role in our lives unless we were first uncertain of our present and our future. The quest for the beginning, therefore, is also the quest for purpose in humanities present and future life. This is where the bible takes it’s all important stand.
Any Atheist, who is interested in origins, yet dismisses the notion of the existence of God in any form or function, is being completely dishonest with themselves. They are denying the purpose of why they are doing what they are doing, and any excuse to say otherwise, in my opinion, is a poor excuse. The quest to find intelligent life on other planets, is not going to stop when we find parasites on Pluto or breathing moss on Mars . We will only be satisfied when we find intelligent life like ourselves. To take the possibility of God out of the equation in undertaking this epic journey is to totally sell ourselves short. Those from this way of thinking, see the bible as archaic myth and legend which needs disproving. In doing so, they take a huge portion of human history, and discard it as irrelevant to finding meaning in the past. On the other hand those who are unafraid to search for meaning in life through investigating scripture, have the perfect reference to start towards the beginning. Their quest begins honestly, as they see that the world around them is bigger than themselves, yet they can’t seem to figure out why, they, as a single insignificant individual, feel so much bigger than the world.
It is my intention, through these writings, to prove that the vastness of the entire cosmos both begins, ends and is sustained in a person. No matter how far we explore the boundaries of the universe, and how knowledgable we become of our own minute smallness, the feeling that we are bigger than the universe will not go away. Admit it, no matter how contemplative or self abasing you imagine yourself to be, all of you think of your self far more than you think of the big wide world around you. This does not necessarily mean you should now hang your heads because of the shame of your own selfishness. In fact we think this way according to the image of our design. The universe has never thought about itself and its own greatness more than you have about you and yours in one, single day. Is not the universe of thought larger than that of physical form and function? Are there not far more hours given to the thought process than the fabrication process? Has not science discovered many invisible mysteries while exploring and investigating the physical realm? Why then do the vast majority of Origin theorists vehemently hold as fact that a vast intelligence cannot be found in the invisible realm, when most of humanities own intelligence stays invisible?
Yet here we find the Master stroke of God. Most of His intelligence and thought process remained in the invisible realm, though He would give evidences of it in the creation of the world around us. Then right in the middle of everything, He releases the sum total of all His intelligence in one creative outburst: The Incarnation of Jesus Christ. One man, one baby boy, born of a virgin, bigger than the galaxies and larger than the world in which He found Himself a part of. Finally, we can find and understand ourselves. finally, we can know what we need to know. Our uncertainty begins to fall away.
It seems strange that our star-gazing should lead us to a baby boy, and, somehow we find that the guiding star of the Christmas story is actually a microscopic of humanity’s collective great search: Who am I? We searched the galaxies, to find our answer in the form of one humble human life. As Isaiah said: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are my ways your ways,” says the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8) How hard to find the truth, when we begin from our own point of view! What if we referenced our search from the foundation of God’s thought?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
What a reference! the LOGOS of God. Our beginnings are logical, in fact they are the Logic of God. Moreover, just as the sum total of our thoughts reveal who we really are, so to the Logos (Word) of God reveals who God really is. Just as all human creation begins first in thought, and thought is absolutely real, so to all of creation began firstly in the thought of God Himself. Nor does God consider His thought to be any lesser than Himself. All is glorious, in His opinion. To dismiss God as non-existent is as ludicrous as saying a movie appeared on our screen with no prior screening and creation in the invisible thought realm of its producers mind. This is where we began, in the mind of God, and when the Logos became flesh God finally reveals what was true all along, His thoughts are full of us!
The thought of God begins with a person, moves with a person, and ends with a person. Therefore our purpose and origin is found and redeemed in that person. This person not only manifestly reveals God, For God is the sum total of His thoughts, but this person also reveals you, Because God is mind-full of you! as David declared: “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man, that you visit him?” (Psalm 8:4)
By the grace of God, I hope to write some further commentary in future writings on the first chapter of Genesis. Moving step by step though each passage, I hope to unveil the hidden mystery of Jesus Christ and His crucifixion, found in the first few verses of the bible. We shall see that the beginning existed before space and time, and therefore our linear time-framed minds will need to transcend our own understanding, and join the thought process of God, which is from a higher realm than the realm from which we have so far been taught. The beginning is not the starting point of a timeline, but the very first eternal thought of God: the Word who say’s: “I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.” says the LORD, “Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)
Will you follow the Bethlehem star?
Joshua Kingsley
fierystones.com 