41| It’s Advent, So why are we talking about Genesis One?

The Catholic Midlife

The creation account in Genesis is not understood by modern people. We’ve pretty much missed every important point in it. We have read all of our modern preconceptions into it, wondered why it makes little sense, and then created pointless controversies about why it is so. Listen to the podcast to grasp what Genesis is actually all about.

God Resting Doesn’t Mean Watching the Superbowl, with snacks

We can look at how the words of Genesis are used in other places in Scripture. We can also look at other creation stories to see what THEY are talking about so we can get a grip on the mindset and assumptions the listeners of these ancient stories had.

Here’s one ancient mindset: gods come to earth to dwell in temples. What they do there is “rest.” When a god was resting in his or her temple, she was busy ruling the region. In modern terms, we might say “the spirit rested upon him and he prophesied” meaning the spirit took up residence and started making things happen.

When God “rested” on the seventh day, it means He was taking up residence. He was assuming control of the operations. He was on the job, doing the things that He does.

It’s as if you moved from one home to the next. After you pack, ship, unpack, arrange, turn on utilities, hook up the water and internet… THEN you “rest.” Because you’re operations; You are good to go.

God rests in a Temple

Here’s another thing the ancients understood: gods rest in temples. It’s what they do!

When the ancients read an account of all the things that happened in the first six days, they would think “Sounds about right, but so what?” Then they would hear “God rested” there in creation. Suddenly the ancient prelightbulbs would go off, “aha!” You are describing six days to make a temple for God to rest in. And that cosmic temple is… Earth.

Wow.

There’s more but you have to listen because we have to post the episode now and I can’t be writing more stuff. Find out what God put in his temple and the no-way so what about that!

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. -Genesis 2:2-3

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