My Church (Living Stones Church – Kailua Kona) strongly advocates being a member of a “Small Group” (which loosely…is a collection of fellow believers, coming together weekly with a common purpose). Our Pastor, citing reasons from improving mental and physical health, as well as a statistical argument that “Small Group” members stand a better percentile chance of not dying while being a “Small Group” member, yearly promotes “Small Group” membership to any listener with ears. It’s the old “join or die” reasoning…
So this year, Donna (my Wife) and I decided to join-up again. But, having different interests in the pursuit this time, we joined different groups! My choice was to pursue fellowship with other believing church members that enjoy the writing process (the Writer’s Group). Donna chose a group studying social dynamics within the Church, and thus learning to make adaptive changes that help reconcile the “body of Christ” or Church, more harmoniously.
As our Writer’s Group progresses, we are looking at each other’s writing as a way of getting to know one another. It might work… I have tried crazier ideas before. And to that end, we as a group are all taking a “try” at a common theme: ” The 7 days of creation”.
I revisited Genesis 1:1 in the Bible again, and was dumbstruck by the perplexity in the terminology of the first few words:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.“
The first question(s) that came to mind for me were:
1) Where did God reside before He created the heavens?
2) If you think of God as “Infinite” in a temporal sense, what does the term “In the beginning” actually mean?
And lastly,…
3) What processes inspired God to do all this “Creating” in the first place?
Questions (1 & 2) although interestingly vexing, are larger than my desire to fully discuss in this blog.
Question (3) I believe, does however have an interesting and rewarding answer revealed within the panoply of scripture… if you are looking. And here is my take… God is creative and good by His nature. I say that, because from my perspective, He has never stopped creating since His first “recorded” act in Genesis 1:1.
As an example, consider the variety and brilliantly striking variation in the sunrise and sunset of each and every day. When we talk about the glory of a sunset or sunrise it can turn into a parade of adjectives… (i.e. “Picturesque, lively, interesting, dramatic, showy, glaring, stimulating, fascinating. Etc.). Different words, but all built to have the effect of conveying the uniqueness and power of the experience by the conveyor (the talker) to the receiver (the listener).
Did God create before Genesis 1:1 ? I don’t know for sure, and I can’t use scripture (the Bible) to back up any of my hypotheses. I do however know this experientially… Creative beings all have one dynamic and irrefutable commonality. They create. And, often they don’t stop creating until they no longer can.
Writer’s write. Singer’s sing. Painter’s paint. Composer’s compose. And musicians make music. It’s like a spark that can’t be extinguished, or a need that can never fully be satiated. I think the desire “to create” generates a vacuum in the universe. And the universe seems to deplore a vacuum and immediately begins finding ways to fill it.
Simply stated, God created, because He could. And, He was looking for a way (or method) to have a unique love –based relationship with humans that could not come into existence without some immediate separation from His “Holiness” – for lack of a better word. That’s why there is a “Heaven” (A place where God’s total character can be revealed) and “Earth” (A place where God’s character can be ignored… at least for a while). Earth is a decision location for all of God’s creation. We humans get to decide if we want eternity with God in Heaven, or elsewhere without Him.
So in summary, before creation; God wanted something. In human terms perhaps He had a “need” for something – although I am not sure that is exactly accurate in the eternal sense. God envisioned how He might build it, and what materials were required. In human terms again, He no doubt calculated the costs of building and maintaining it. And lastly, in one pre-primordial instance He decided it would be done. A decision had been made… and it began.
Six days later, the Creation was completed and the real work of constructing and maintaining a relationship had begun.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions. My website is a two way communicator, and you can reach me through the comment section or the contact section.
Aloha,
Richard Hart
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