Creation

Genesis 1:1 thru 1:31

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…

I always thought the Bible started out…In the beginning was the Word. I was a bit surprised that it doesn’t start out with exactly those words because I’ve heard that so many times. But, each verse starts out…And God said, “Let there be” which is just another way of saying it. So the land, air, sea, day, night, sun, moon, stars, plants, and animals were created; then he created man.

Now this is the part I am going to address, not that calling forth an entire world isn’t awesome.

Genesis 1:27 – So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (NIV)

It seems to me that people generally think we are created in his image in a purely physical sense. That physically we look like God and that is as far as it goes. That otherwise we play no part in the creation of our individual lives. That God is responsible for what shows up – good or bad. To me this is a limiting and completely boring point of view.

What do I believe “in his own image” means? Truly everything God created before man was also created in his image because it/we all came from his imagination. God is the life force of everything. The difference between us and what came before us is that we were created (in the image of God) with the ability to create by our word from our imagination. I live my life out of this belief, and in order to better understand the power God endowed us with, I study and practice the principles of the law of attraction.

I also think this is what the founding fathers meant when they wrote the opening to the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

We are created from the essence of God. He brought us forth with the intention that we have a great life and gave us a very simple structure in which to live that life. Don’t worry, be happy. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Be playful. Love, Laugh, Prosper, Enjoy.

Bible Revision

My friend sent this article to me the other day. The NIV Bible is about to undergo a revision.

The purpose of this revision is to "reflect changes in English usage and advances in Biblical scholarship". The Committee on Bible Translation, who created and developed the current version, will oversee this effort.

The main focus will be on modernizing the language (with some emphasis on gender terms), though it is expected that 90% of the current NIV Bible will remain the same.

I expect that as I go along, I will have a few comments on this issue. My only comment now is that given the extensive review and approval process the original went through, I think it quite ambitious of those involved to think they will have a revised Bible by the end of 2011.

If interested, here is a link to the article. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090901/ap_on_re/us_rel_bible_translation