Father, you know how often we censor ourselves, that we just don't speak because we are afraid of being laughed at.
We're afraid of being thought not smart. We're afraid, Father, of just being lower in people's opinion.
And Father, you see into our hearts, and you know how powerful that is.
Some of us very powerful, some of us maybe not very powerful, but you see us.
Father, do a work in our lives. Help us, Father, to have a confidence and a security that is based on the gospel,
on what Jesus did for us on the cross. Help us to have an unashamedness about your word.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen. Please be seated.
So there's an elephant in the room. Ken read very well that famous story of God creating Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
And the elephant in the room is whether or not the story is true, or at least in what sense the story is true.
A fair number of people are relatively comfortable with the idea that the story is, well, just a story.
It's like a myth. It's like a story that gives us some insight about how things work.
But the really big problem with a story that just gives us insight is that we all know that in life often we have to choose between stories whenever it fits.
I mean, you know, there's two sayings. It's not a story, but you could make a story to illustrate either of them.
You know, we all are familiar with the story, too many cooks, or the saying, too many cooks spoil the broth.
On the other hand, we say, many hands make light work.
You know, so when is it that you have too many people, and when is it that you need more people, right?
And we sort of just choose.
And so, you know, if the Adam and Eve story is just a story, but, you know, we know it's not true.
It's not, like, real.
It's not true like it's true that Sir John A. Macdonald was the first prime minister of Canada.
Then, you know, it's just very comfortable and very easy in our culture when we have different things come our ways
that we can just say, well, okay, for this instance, we'll use this story, and in this instance, we'll do, you know, another story.
And it's also very, very easy, especially in our day and age, to say, you know, this story probably came from people.
I mean, I had one.
I know somebody who thinks it comes from the Stone Age, but it comes from the Bronze Age.
It probably has roots way, way, way earlier than the Bronze Age.
And so it's very easy just to dismiss it.
So there's a bit of an elephant in the room.
Here I am up front on my hind legs, and I'm going to talk about this story.
And I am very, very conscious of what people are taught.
I was taught in high school and what's taught in university.
And so is the story of Adam and Eve true?
Are they real?
I'm going to tell you that they're real.
And by that, I mean they're just as real as I am real or any one of you are real.
That I think that's what the story teaches.
Now, some of you are having a yikes moment.
Some of you are having a hallelujah moment that there's actually somebody willing to stand up in Ottawa in 2017
in the best educated city in the country and say something like that.
And a lot of you are having an oh no, oh my moment when I say that I believe that the story of Adam and Eve is true.
That it's obviously written with some artistic and other symbolic types of aspects being highlighted in the story.
But I believe that Adam and Eve are real and true, just as real and true as you and I are.
So some of you, as I said, are going, yikes.
And so first we need to try to unpack this big claim, which I think is just what the Bible's teaching here.
So a couple of weeks ago, or a month or two ago, I had a conversation in a coffee shop.
And in it, there's a fellow who came to me.
And he's a guy who's talked to me quite a few times.
And he gave me this one piece of paper to read.
And he said, George, you've got to read this.
This will make you lose your faith.
It'll blow your mind.
It'll keep you awake at night.
But it's all for your good.
So it was a copy of a review in the New York Times review of books.
And it was by some scientist type.
The review was also written by a scientist of some scientific book.
And the book claims to have shown or proved how religious belief and religious thought can all be explained by the process of evolution.
That's basically how I'd summarize the whole page.
In fact, when I said this to my friend, he said, yeah, no, you've summarized it exactly right.
This scientist has shown how evolution proves that religious thought and religious beliefs are just a product of the evolutionary process.
And so I gave the paper back to him.
And I said to him, my friend, that I have an easy way of dealing with this question.
But this should keep you awake at night.
And this completely and utterly rocks your worldview and destroys your thinking.
And he looked at me and said, no, it doesn't.
And I said, here's the thing.
You can't have it two ways.
You can't have an evolutionary theory that only accounts for religious thoughts.
If you have an evolutionary theory that forms and creates how we think, it does it for all thinking.
Now, I have a very, very simple and powerful explanation as to why that's completely wrong.
But you, you're an atheist.
You believe in evolution.
This article is telling you that your thoughts, you have no freedom in them.
You haven't really thought them.
They're completely and utterly controlled.
And he looked at me and changed the topic.
Which is, by the way, often what he does when he thinks he's got me.
And I, by God's grace, have some type of a reply.
So, you see, here's the thing.
It's a very, very important thing when we think.
And it's very easy because, you know, in our culture, people like me are in an unbelievable minority.
And there's a huge cultural consensus.
And when there's a huge cultural consensus, it means that often in a huge cultural consensus, people don't have to think about what they're saying.
Because, well, I mean, why do I have to think about what I'm saying?
Is my high school science teachers think this?
The university professors think this?
The CBC thinks it?
The Supreme Court of Canada thinks it?
You know, people who run museums and all they think it.
So, you know, I don't really have to think about what's being said.
But the fact of the matter is, is that ideas always, and scientific knowledge, always has to be dealt with, like, by everybody.
It's not just that these claims have to only be dealt with by Christians.
You see, in effect, what happens is that there's a little bit of a sleight of hand or a distraction where a scientific, this idea that's taught in a high school and university about evolution, that it's just sort of stated.
But there's never any type of discussion as to whether there's, in fact, very, very, very profound problems or very, very troubling and counterintuitive and maybe foolish ideas at the heart of it.
It's just sort of maintained in the culture.
But everything has to be dealt with by...
It's not just that Christians have to deal with something.
Everybody has to deal with particular things that arise in terms of knowledge.
So here's the thing.
I've said this to you before, but if you could put up...
Actually, the first one I didn't put up.
Could you put up the first one, Andrew?
This is the shocking thing that's proved that I am an ignorant hick and don't know anything.
Adam and Eve were real people, and their story told in Genesis is important to believe.
Trust and think upon.
That's sort of my big claim.
I think that's what the Bible's teaching, that Adam and Eve were real people, and their story told in Genesis is important to believe, trust, and think upon.
If you could put up the next thing, Andrew.
So here's the thing.
And, you know, I've said this a couple of times.
In fact, you're probably getting a bit bored of it, but it's a really, really, really, really big thing to get our minds around.
And once we start to get our minds around this, it takes a whole pressure off of us.
It allows us to have very different conversations and to start to read the Bible with greater confidence.
You see, there's a basic choice that is before us.
And the choice is that matter, pure chance, and cause and effect accounts for life and the intricate, fine-tuned universe.
Or God designed and created life and the intricate, fine-tuned universe.
That's the basic choice.
And, in fact, as I've tried to talk about over the last few, you know, the origin of the species was written 159 years ago.
So what we call of is the theory of evolution.
Now they call it neo-Darwinian because there's been some changes to it.
But this is the fundamental insight that we just know so much more about the world and about the universe
and about the chemical basis of life than was known 159 years ago.
And the more you know about the chemical basis of life, the things which have to be there,
it's not as if life can be created and then the earth has to be spinning at the right speed,
on the right axis, at the right distance from the sun, which has to be the right size for the distance.
If that isn't all right, then life can't happen.
If the chemical basis that life has to emerge from, if that doesn't happen, then life can't emerge.
And that intricacy has to happen purely and utterly by chance.
Natural selection can't touch it.
It has to happen purely and utterly by chance.
And it even gets harder.
And this is the thing which touched on my friend.
I almost said his name by accident.
But my friend who gave me this thing to rock his world.
If you could put up the next version of this same choice, Andrew.
Matter, pure chance and cause and effect.
That, and that's what you're, behind whatever you're taught,
they rarely come out and articulate it so clearly in high school and university.
Sometimes they do.
But then they'll articulate that and then they'll just move on
without just pausing for a second about the momentous claim.
But matter, pure chance and cause and effect accounts for the existence of right and wrong.
It has to account for human dignity, human worth, human freedom, meaning in life.
It has to account for the existence of love.
It has to account for how our minds know.
Or, God designing and creating all things accounts for right and wrong,
for human dignity and human freedom and human worth,
for love, for meaning, for beauty, for creativity,
and how our minds know.
Like, you just look at that thing here for a second.
Look at that first choice, which is what you are, in effect, taught
and how it's basically taught.
And see, people are so much better than their thinking.
And people often will talk about evolution and then they'll just sort of,
you know, like there's a place I pass,
and I think it's called evolutionary physiotherapy.
And I think, oh, so it's a physiotherapy that encourages the strong to eat the weak.
No, that's not their intent.
They believe that it somehow makes, like it's progress,
that it's some type of always getting better.
Evolution doesn't mean that.
It just means given a certain set of circumstances,
something survives and something doesn't.
Different circumstances later on might mean the other thing happens.
It doesn't mean they're better.
It just means one happens to survive the circumstances.
It has nothing to do with better.
You add better, that's contradictory to the thought.
But you just look at that first choice,
that matter, pure chance and cause and effect.
If that causes everything and accounts for everything,
how on earth can I actually love?
And how can I trust that my mind actually knows something?
That if everything that's going on in my mind
is just purely a result of cause and effect
and of chemicals and of processes of stimuli that affect the chemicals,
like why should I even think that thinking is true?
Like there has to be something outside of cause and effect
that's both in it but sort of outside of it
that transcends it in some way for me to have freedom.
And if in fact there just is this cause and effect,
you know, there really is fundamentally no difference in worth
than my poop or me.
And that's the big claim that's made.
And it's hidden that there's this fundamental choice.
And as I've said over and over and over again,
nobody really believes the first choice,
not when it comes to things that matter.
I'll tell a different version.
This is the third week I've told a version of this.
Just imagine for a second that there's a young man
and he's decided he wants to ask Alice to marry him.
And he knows that Alice loves to go for a walk in the woods.
Just, you know, a little bit, you know,
short drive from where she lives.
There's this beautiful walk she likes to go on.
And he knows that she loves this walk
and she loves creativity and she loves nature
and she loves crafts.
So he thinks, you know what I'm going to do?
I'm going to need some help,
but I know there's this one spot
and there's this nice sort of a bit of a slope.
And I think what I'm going to do
is I'm going to get up really early one morning.
I'm going to get Buddy to help me.
And we're going to go
and we're going to collect ground wood from the ground.
And we're going to use the wood from the ground
to spell Alice, will you marry me?
And we'll even plant it, make it so that,
you know, there's this beautiful little cluster of flowers
in a couple of places.
And I think we can just place it in such a way
that the little group of flowers
are like the periods on the eye.
Aww.
And so I'm just going to go for,
I'll get it all set up early in the morning.
I'll go get Alice and then I'll say,
you know, we'll arrange before
that we're going to go for a walk
and we'll walk hand in hand along the path
and we'll come around the corner
and she'll see Alice, will you marry me?
But, you know, he knows he needs a buddy to help him
put it together and then stand to make sure that,
you know, I don't know,
a whole bunch of 12-year-olds
don't come and scatter it
or reword it to say something rude, you know?
So he gets the buddy
and the two of them get there
and they sit it all up.
And then he said,
the buddy agrees he's going to stay there
to protect it
while the young man goes to get Alice.
And the young man, you know,
his buddy's standing there
and occasionally a group of women walk by
and several of them say,
my name's Alice,
the answer's yes.
A couple of guys walk by
and one of them says,
my name's Alice,
I say yes.
And, you know,
they all just laugh,
have some fun.
Anyway,
he gets the text from his friend
who's going to ask Alice to marry him
that they're just,
you know,
they're only about a minute away,
so they're two minutes away,
so the friend,
he goes, you know,
off to,
out of sight
and the young man and Alice
and they come walking along
and Alice sees it
and she says to her,
to the young man,
isn't that so weird?
The branches must have fallen off the tree
in that arrangement.
Isn't that cool?
Now, no young woman would say that.
Nobody would say that.
Absolutely nobody believes that.
And let me tell you,
having wood put in the form of,
that says,
Alice, will you marry me?
Just ask,
there's people here
who do biochemistry
and ask them about DNA sequencing
and the chemical basis of life
and what would have to happen
for the chemical basis of DNA
to happen before there's life
is unbelievably more complicated
than having branches fall
and say,
Alice, will you marry me?
Like, of an incommensurable order of magnitude
and that's just one
of an incommensurable magnitude
of things
that this first thing,
this first choice
says has to happen
purely as a result of chance
and the way that after chance happens,
cause and effect happens.
Like, nobody believes it.
Sorry.
We just don't,
nobody believes that Alice,
will you marry me?
would happen by chance.
Nobody.
So,
you know,
when I say
that Adam and Eve
were real people
and their story
in Genesis
is important to know,
believe,
trust,
and think upon,
gosh,
I know that there's problems.
Some of you are going,
yikes, George,
you know how old
the Atlantic Ocean is?
You know what about fossils?
You know about all the,
you know,
you know about all the fossil record
and,
I mean,
George,
gosh,
good grief.
Do you know how many problems
are with your idea?
You know,
over the last couple of weeks
I've tried to hammer
one simple idea
that what's happened
is that Christians
have gotten mistaken
and dealing with
all of these questions
they've tried to go
first and foremost
to Genesis 1 and 2
and what they really
should have done,
what we really should have done
is gone to John chapter 1
verses 1 to 4
and Hebrews 1
and Colossians
and other texts
in the New Testament
that teach that God
creates all things
out of nothing
and meditate upon
the doctrine of creation.
That's where we should have gone.
In the beginning
was the Word
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
He was with God
in the beginning.
All things were made
through him
and without him
nothing was made
that was made
in him was life
and the life
was the light of men.
That's John
verses chapter 1
verses 1 to 4
and as I've
tried to say
that
and I've,
you know,
here's the thing
it's so funny
I was watching
the newest Star Trek movie
last night
which just frankly
was too much
of a yawn for me
but,
you know,
I sat all the way
through it
but,
you know,
in the three different,
I've shared before,
the three different
Star Trek series
which have Q in it,
that's the moment
that I understood
at an imaginative level.
It's very ironic
that a series
which is committed
to a basic agnosticism
and a basic belief
in human goodness
would actually give
an image
of the doctrine
of creation
that helps us
to start to realize
what's at stake
in the doctrine
of creation
because in this
character of Q
and he could make
something like
a forest
as if they're,
you know,
Robin Hood
or just out of nothing
and the viewer knows
that he's just made it
like that
out of nothing
in an instant
and yet when we look
at it
we know that the trees
aren't just an instant old.
We know that when
data tries to figure out
he would go
they could cut the trees.
They know that it was
just created like that
that instant.
They know that the bridge
of the Star Trek Enterprise
was created just like that
but they can look at it
and they can know
that this is metal
that had to have been made
so many years ago
and it had to be made
come from this type of planet
and it had to have been formed
over eons
and eons
of geological processes
and yet you look at it
imaginatively
and everyone who watches it
imaginatively
they understand
that it was just created
by Q
that instant.
That that's what
the doctrine of creation
implies.
And as I,
if you could put up
these points
I'll say them very quick
that the God
did not make a stage set
he made creation
with real heights
and depths
and a vast backstory
as I've said every week
if you went back in time
an instant after God
creates everything
and you're standing there
with Adam and Eve
and you cut down a tree
the tree has rings.
You look at the tree
you'd say
that's a hundred year old tree.
If you go to that part
near Jerusalem
you know
and you know that fig trees
can be thousands of years old
you might say
that's a two thousand year old fig tree.
You might say
that's a young river
that's an old river.
You might fly
and you go to Atlantic Ocean
and you look
and you see how old
the Atlantic Ocean is
and you look in the stars
and you see things
that had been black holes
and supernovas
and things which are
hundreds of light years away
and it all was just
created like that
just an instant before.
That's what the doctrine
of creation out of nothing means.
And we've lost
thinking about that
and realizing that
that carries the heavy lifting
and then Genesis 1 and 2
they're true
but they're also communicating
other types of things
that God wants us to know.
In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
He was with God
in the beginning.
All things were made
through Him
and without Him
nothing was made
that was made.
In Him was life
and the life
was the light of men.
To put up the next point
the biblical doctrine
of creation means
that we cannot know
scientifically
when God created.
We can only begin
to map creation's
heights and depths
and widths
and explore
its backstory.
Next thing.
And so that means
that the choice
is not between
science and faith
the choice is between
two faiths
two beliefs.
That's the choice.
And the choice
is between
two beliefs
two faiths.
And why do you say
well George
is it just two?
And I don't mean
to insult you
if you're here
but listen
nobody has ever heard
if you tell me later on
if I've missed this
nobody goes to say
we're going to contrast
the Mohawk creation myths
with evolution
to prove that the Mohawk
creation myths
are true.
Or the Iroquois creation myths
or the Navajo creation myths
or the creation myths
from Greek mythology.
Nobody says
there's a choice
there's actually
a third way George
you have the Mohawk
creation myths
you have the Bible
you have science
nobody does that.
Nobody has conferences
about the Hindu creation myths
but fundamentally
there's two choices.
And by the way
there could be people
who don't accept the Bible
who just would accept
the idea
that there must be
some type of God
to have created things
but you know
this is just so
and there's a whole other
type of thing
but if you begin
to go that
and you begin
to look at the
wisdom of the New Testament
the way it's articulated
it's connection to Jesus
and the resurrection
and the narrative
and the fall
and it's just
there's no other
effective
effective option
than between
what we're taught
in high school
and university
and by the media
and what the Bible teaches
there's only a choice
of two.
There really is.
So
you know
believe it or not
I actually shared
this week
with somebody
somebody in a Starbucks
asked me what I was
going to be talking
about this week
and I said
I was going to talk
about Adam and Eve
and
there was a bit
of a pause
and
you know
she said to me
you know
it's really hard
for me to know
what to believe.
It was a bit
of an interesting
take on it.
I was expecting
I was sort of
bracing myself
I wasn't bracing myself
I'd been thinking
about this affair
but I was prepared
to have a conversation
about it
and
and she said to me
you know George
I really don't know
what to believe
and I said to her
you know
here's
here's how thinking
really works.
The fact of the matter is
I mean
I said
I told her
David Hume
this is true
he's a famous philosopher
David Hume
famously pointed out
that we can have
rational doubts
as to whether
the sun will rise
tomorrow.
you can have
rational doubts
and I said to her
you know
we've had a few
conversations
about the Christian faith
and you always
have doubts
and problems
so if you're
searching for something
that will never
have any doubts
and never have
any problems
you're searching
for something
that will never exist
because
you're like
David Hume
and you will
even doubt
if pushed
whether the sun
will rise
tomorrow.
I said
what you need
to look at
isn't something
that has
no problems
with it
no objections
to it
you need to look
at what the
different problems
and objections
are
and which viewpoint
has the most wisdom
and the most
coherence
and the most truth
and the fewest
problems
and you know
she was thoughtful
about that
and then somebody
came
because she was
a barista
and then
we didn't continue
the conversation
at that particular
time
but that's how
real thinking
really goes
especially for us
as fallen creatures
we really
can
if necessary
pull some
final bit of
doubt
and skepticism
out of our pocket
and so we really
do just need
to sort of
realize
that that's
what the
choice is
not problem
free thinking
but the fewest
problems
the thing
which has
the most truth
and so you know
are there problems
with Adam and Eve
being real people
yeah I understand
that there's problems
if you could put
that point up there
please Andrew again
I understand
that there's problems
Adam and Eve
were real people
and their story
told in Genesis
is important to trust
and to believe
and trust
and think upon
and know
I know that
there's some problems
with that
I can't answer
all of the different
aspects of it
what I can tell you
is this
is that at a very
simple literary level
if you read through
the book of Genesis
it seems as if
Adam and Eve
are described
in the same way
that they describe
Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob
and Joseph
and if you look at
other times
in the Bible
where they obviously
have more mythological
or visionary
or archetype
there's in fact
a story in Ezekiel
that sort of recounts
the Garden of Eden
in very figurative
visionary type
of language
and if you just
read that in Ezekiel
and you read this
the literary structure
is vastly different
like it's just so
obviously different
when you start to read it
or you compare
how some things
are written
in the book of Revelation
to Genesis
it's just so radically
different
and then if you look
at the New Testament
and other parts
of the Old Testament
it seems obvious
that Jesus seems
to believe
that Adam and Eve
were real people
as does the different
New Testament writers
and I'm not saying
that it's obviously
the book of Genesis 2
isn't written
in a literalistic
scientific way
but that's fine
who says things
in the Bible
always have to be
written that way
there's no rule
for God
that he has to write
things those ways
it's obviously
a stylized type
of story
it's more artistic
and more literary
and it's very
carefully crafted
so that some
of the details
are something
that artists
can ponder
and that poets
can ponder
and that musicians
can create around
and visual artists
can paint
and that we can
just think upon
the deeper meaning
of the aspects
it obviously has
that artistic quality
about it
but at the end
of the day
I believe
that if I have
to choose
between the two
stories
and I have
no other
fundamental choice
than between
matter,
pure chance
and creating
everything
or God creating
everything
and that this
is just
I believe
Adam and Eve
were real
and I've spent
a lot of time
on this point
I haven't even
read the Bible
yet
we're going to
read the Bible
in a moment
and I spent
a lot of time
on it
because I know
at the very
beginning
of this service
that if I was
to have said
to you
how comfortable
would you be
to lead a
discussion
on Genesis 2
in your office
tomorrow
like just
about every
one of us
would have
squirmed
because the
fact of the
matter is
is that we're
afraid of
reading the
text
many of us
not all of us
but many of us
are just deeply
afraid of
reading the
text
and as I've
shared before
like if we
don't understand
Genesis 1
and 2
and 3
like just
about everything
in the Bible
doesn't make
sense
like you see
that's even
what you see
in John
chapter 1
verses 1
to 4
which goes
on to tell
us these
wonderful
things about
and the
word became
flesh and
dwelt among
us
and we
have seen
his glory
the glory
of the
only begotten
of the
father
that is
all part
of one
thing
which
begins
with
in the
beginning
was the
word
and the
word
was with
God
and the
word
was
God
he
was
with
God
in the
beginning
all things
were made
through him
and without
him
nothing was
made
that was
made
in him
was life
and the
life
was the
light
of men
and the
word
became
flesh
and dwelt
among
us
and we
have
seen
his
glory
as of
the
only
begotten
of the
father
full of
grace
and
truth
I want
to try
to give
you some
confidence
to not
be afraid
of the
Bible
and to
read it
to think
upon it
and to
know
upon it
we're
going to
do
now
if you
open
your
Bibles
we're
going
to do
a
simple
reading
through
the
Bible
or two
and they'll
have to
be very
brief
just so
you know
next week
we're going
to flip
back
over the
next few
weeks
we're going
to talk
about the
transgender
issues
we're going
to talk
about same
sex attraction
issues
we're going
to talk
about marriage
we're going
to talk
about sex
we're going
to talk
about the
origin
of religion
nothing
controversial
over the
next two
or three
weeks
and it's
because we're
going to
zero back
and look
at parts
of Genesis
1 and
parts of
Genesis
2 that I
won't touch
on this
this week
because I
want to
get you
this big
picture
of just
having a
confidence
and then
let's
read the
story
so if
you have
your
Bibles
Genesis
chapter 2
verses 4
and following
these are
the generations
of the heavens
and the earth
when they were
created
in the day
that the
Lord God
made the
earth
and the
heavens
just notice
here that
the word
created
is used
again
the main
thing I
want to
just point
out to
you
is that
the book
of
Genesis
has a
it's a
very
very well
crafted
and in
the book
there are
ten
sort of
sub-books
and each
of these
sub-books
begin
with
these are
the
generations
and it's a
literary device
that marks
different units
of the book
so actually
this
these are the
generations
is marking
a section
that goes
from here
till the end
of chapter 4
is one
literary unit
and then you'll
see these are
the generations
and it's
another
literary unit
that's
it's
how the
book
is crafted
verse 5
when
excuse me
when no bush
of the field
was yet in the land
and no small
plant of the field
had yet sprung up
for the Lord God
had not caused it
to rain on the land
and there was no man
to work the ground
and a mist
was going up
from the land
and was watering
the whole face
of the ground
here's the
the big verse
to jump out
at you
then the Lord God
formed the man
of dust
from the ground
and breathed
into his nostrils
the breath of life
and the man
became a living creature
Andrew if you could
put up the point
here's the big point
of Genesis 2
there's more than this
but for today
because what we're
really doing is
last week
and this week
I want to try
to bring out
what Genesis 1
and 2
tells us about God
and then the next
two weeks
we're going to go
back and look
at Genesis 1
and Genesis 2
about what it
tells us
about being human
and what it's
saying is this
man and woman
image bearers
of your creator
know him
the one
imminent
personal
and covenant
making God
man and woman
image bearers
it's just talking
about the man
right now
but it's very obvious
as we read
through the story
that it's
when Eve
is made
out of Adam
that the
implication is
that this
early
forming
and early
sort of
the big picture
of this story
equally applies
to men and
women
men and
man and
woman
image bearers
of your creator
know him
the one
imminent
personal
and covenant
making God
now here's the thing
when I say the word
imminent
creator
one
imminent
personal
covenant
making
okay I don't know
what the percentage
is but there's a
significant number
of us
as soon as I say
that phrase
what's on Netflix
tonight
where am I going
to go to have
lunch after the
service
that's how our
minds work
we hate abstract
ideas
true confession
I love
phrases like
this
I can spend
weeks on
phrases like
this
I love
abstract
thought
but a lot
of people
those abstract
terms
imminent
one
creator
blah blah
blah
yada yada
blah blah
blah
that's just
we're just
wired differently
right
but what
for those
of us
who don't
like those
abstract
ideas
this story
as it
grips us
communicates
all of those
truths to
us
in the
form of
a story
and so
you just
look at
verse 7
again
this is a
very very
very powerful
text
and even if
we don't
get to read
most of the
rest of it
just because
of time
it's a
very powerful
text
look again
at how it
goes
verse 7
then the
Lord God
in the
original language
of Hebrew
this is a
very very
unique phrase
that mainly
occurs in
chapter 2
and virtually
nowhere else
and what it
is
it's actually
and Jewish
people have
forgotten how
to say this
word because
it was so
holy that
they didn't
want to
say it
it's the
same word
as is revealed
to Moses
in the
burning bush
it's the
word I
am or I
am that I
am or I
will be
that I
will be
in fact
it's a
name which
is also
a sentence
it's a
name that's
a verb
and it's
the word
it's the
way that
God
communicates
to his
people
that he
is to
have a
personal
relationship
with them
he is in
a sense
like when
we use
the phrase
our heavenly
father
which is
really
what
when Abba
I would
refer to
my dad
as dad
some of
you might
refer to
your dad
as daddy
or papa
or whatever
it might
be
pops
but it's
that intimate
personal
relational
word for
God
and the
word God
here
is Elohim
it's
plural
but because
the other
the verbs
are singular
it has to be
translated as
a singular
and it's the
abstract word
for God
it's the
generic word
for God
it is the
word for God
that when you
want to make
the distinction
between what
the Babylonians
say and the
Greeks say and
the Assyrians
say and the
Jewish people say
and you want to
have that one
category
it's the word
God
it's the most
abstract
distant word
and so it's
very interesting
that in only
here that the
two words
are put together
to make one
name for God
it actually
shows at a
literary level
how the two
stories are
supposed to be
understood together
because the
first story
uses the abstract
word
the second story
is saying that
that intimate
personal
relationship
walk with
you God
spend your
day with
you God
is the
same God
who is the
abstract God
who is
transcendent
and has
created all
things
trying to
communicate
imminence
and intimacy
and you look
at the verse
again
verse 7
then the
Lord God
formed the
man of
dust from
the ground
and breathed
into his
nostrils
the breath
of life
and the
man became
a living
creature
the word
formed
is from
the pottery
studio
and it's
an image
the book
of Romans
has a very
powerful thing
that comes
right from
this word
in Genesis
2
of how
we're formed
like a potter
forming clay
and it's
this image
as if God
is pushing
the wheel
with his
foot
while he's
taking the
clay
and maneuvering
it with his
hands
that God
touches
Adam
with creativity
and with love
and affection
as he forms
him
I mean
now you see
here's where
to lose this
story is to
lose so much
like just
think about
that for a
second
how important
is human
touch to
us
how important
is it for
so many
people that
they wish
that God
would touch
them
can't we
see that in
some ways
long before
the fall
in our
memories
of this
very very
fundamental
way that
not only
our ancestors
but therefore
all of us
were formed
involved this
intimate
wet
creative
loving
intelligent
touching
of us
to form
us
that's
imminence
isn't it
and then look
at the other
word which is
used here
because
in
Genesis
1
the two
the word
that describes
human beings
as a noun
in the
in Genesis
2
it's verbs
it's very
very
it's very
carefully
written
and look
again at
verse 7
then the
Lord God
formed the
man of
dust
from the
ground
and breathed
into his
nostrils
the breath
of life
and the
man became
a living
creature
just notice
this
how intimate
is that
like for
somebody to
blow into
my nostrils
it's
it's to
get
way more
close and
personal than
anybody other
than my wife
should be
okay
unless I'm
dying
and you
need to
give me
you know
get me
living again
you know
it's
it's very
very close
it's very
intimate
and it's
this picture
of God
being right
face to
face
and not
face to
face in
the sense
that we
say in
my face
in an
aggressive
way but
face to
create me
and to
give me
life
and it's
breath
it's
personal
it's
moist
it's
coming
into us
it's
this idea
that God
is closer
to me
he in a
sense
is my
breath
he's
closer to
me
than my
breath
his
first
breath
is why
I
have
breath
it's
this
profound
close
face
to
face
sense
and
isn't
that
at the
end
of the
day
all
human
longing
to
see
the
face
of
God
don't
we
wonder
why
is
God
so
distant
and
don't
we
wonder
if
God
is
so
distant
doesn't
that
imply
that
there's
some
basic
sense
within
us
that
the
way
it
should
be
is
as
close
to
us
as
our
breath
face
to
face
with
affection
and
creativity
and
intelligence
and love
and
patience
you
see
if
we're
afraid
to
read
these
chapters
of
Genesis
because
it'll
make
us
look
like
Hicks
we
cut
ourselves
off
from
so
much
imaginative
and
so
much
that
helps
to
correct
basic
misunderstandings
we have
about
who
God
is
the
God
who
does
exist
who's
made
us
in
his
image
and
who's
made
us
male
and
female
he
is
the
one
God
the
creator
God
he
is
an
imminent
God
he
is
a
personal
God
he
is
a
God
who
wants
to
be
in
covenant
with
us
which
is
relationship
with
us
and
then
you
could
just
look
at
this
text
and
all
of
the
problem
like
you
could
almost
summarize
it
so
much
of
the
mistakes
in
spirituality
and
religion
and
intellectual
thing
are we
beasts
or are we
like
God
are we
merely
of the
dirt
and
of
nothing
like
that
or
is
there
something
divine
about
us
is
there
something
in
some
way
that
we
are
like
every
other
living
creature
that
we
are
just
made
of
chemicals
and
dust
but
there
is
something
from
God
which
is
also
connected
to
us
which
can
explain
why
we're
not
just
cause
and
effect
why
there's
something
separate
from
cause
and
effect
whereby
we
can
choose
that
there's
some
type
of
dignity
to
us
and
that
dignity
comes
to
as
fast
and
athletic
and
powerful
as
Usain
Bold
that
there's
some
fundamental
sameness
this
text
is
the
most
profound
rejection
of
all
racism
as
you
go
on
to
look
at
the
story
of
Adam
and
Eve
and
that
Eve
comes
out
of
Adam
that
there's
not
as
if
there's
men
and
they
were
created
in
one
part
of
the
universe
and
then
there's
women
and
they're
created
another
part
of
the
that
rich
people
are
better
than
poor
people
that
healthy
people
are
better
than
sick
people
it's
a
complete
it's
a
profound
statement
of
our
common
humanity
facing
a
common
God
it is
a
perennial
rebuke
of
caste
systems
and
class
systems
as
it
grips
us
because
I'm
running
out of
time
to go
through
the
rest
of
the
text
and
read
the
rest
of
the
text
but
it's
such
a
powerful
story
we'll
talk
about
it
more
in
the
coming
weeks
I
just
want
to
put
one
other
thing
about
it
because
you
have
to
connect
this
to
the
gospel
you
do
what's
one
of
the
best
known
verses
if
you're
an
evangelical
for
God
so
loved
the
world
that
he
gave
his
only
begotten
son
to
the
end
that
world
that
he
gave
his
only
begotten
son
to
the
end
that
all
who
believe
in
him
will
not
perish
but
have
everlasting
life
see
one
of
the
things
that
this
story
communicates
to
us
it
actually
speaks
into
the
gospel
and
it
speaks
into
our
mistaken
attempts
to
use
religion
and
ritual
and
spirituality
and
self
help
techniques
and
technologies
to
somehow
bring
real
new
life
to
us
if
you
could
put
we
see
in
this
story
that
only
God
can
breathe
life
into
Adam
and
Eve
so
only
God
can
breathe
new
life
into
the
fallen
dying
Adam
and
Eve
and
their
sons
and
daughters
to
make
us
born
again
like
the
story
as
it
sets
and
stage
something
right
because
you
see
you
know
I
want
to
think
that
by
my
choice
is
I
can
make
new
life
by
I
can
do
something
I
can
say
enough
Hail
Mary's
I
can
memorize
enough
of
the
Bible
I
can
sing
enough
praise
songs
I
can
learn
how to
do
all
of
these
types
of
things
and
that
somehow
that
will
create
this
new
life
in me
but
nothing
like
that
will
create
new
life
in
us
just
as
the
creation
story
tells
us
that
only
God
can
breathe
and
so
at
a
very
basic
fundamental
level
there's
this
rejection
of
religion
this
rejection
of
spirituality
this
rejection
of
technique
this
rejection
of
self
help
gurus
and
self
help
practice
there is
a
fundamental
level
not
that
you
can't
do
things
to
help
yourself
not
that
you
should
never
use
a
ritual
not
but
that
if
our
trust
is
in
that
it's
this
fundamental
thing
that
we
are
going
to
need
God
to
give
us
new
life
and
that
only
he
can
do
it
I
can't
add
10%
to
it
I
can't
add
50%
to
it
I
can't
even
add
a
half
of
1%
to
it
has
to
be
100%
God
giving
me
new
life
and
so
that
as
the
world
view
of
this
story
comes
to
us
then
when
we
come
to
John
chapter
3
16
for
God
so
loved
the
world
that
he
gave
his
one
and
only
son
to
the
end
that
all
that
believe
in
him
shall
not
perish
but
have
eternal
life
we
say
yes
only
God
can
breathe
that
new
life
and
all
I
can
do
is
ask
that
in
his
mercy
unworthy
as
I
am
that
he
would
give
it
to
me
and
we
can
have
this
confidence
when
we
think
about
the
cross
that
God
will
never
say
no
to
anybody
who
says
I
have
sinned
I
am
helpless
to
save
myself
I
have
come
to
the
point
where
I
know
that
I
need
the
life
that
only
you
can
give
me
would
you
do
it
for
me
please
in
Jesus
name
and
God
will
turn
no
one
away
please
stand
let's
bow
our
heads
in
prayer
father
you
know
how
hard
it
is
to
go
against
the
grain
in
our
culture
and
father
we
give
you
thanks
and
praise
that
there's
so
much
in
our
culture
that
we
don't
have
to
go
against
the
grain
father
there's
so
many
really
smart
people
learning
about
science
and
father
you
invite
us
to
learn
about
science
we
might
not
be
smart
some
of
us
are
but
to
the
best
of
our
abilities
father
you
invite
us
to
learn
about
astronomy
and
physics
and
geology
and
you
invite
us
to
learn
about
music
and
art
and
business
and
you
invite
us
to
be
creative
in
our
home
that
we
don't
have
to
worry
about
that
father
but
sometimes
father
you
ask
us
to
you
teach
us
true
truth
that
goes
against
our
culture
and
you
know
how
hard
it
is
for
us
to
do
that
father
we
ask
that
your
holy
spirit
would
move
and
work
within
us
so
that
we
would
be
a
counter
cultural
people
loving
this
city
and
loving
our
nation
and
seeking
father
the
good
of
this
city
and
the
good
of
this
nation
as
we
bear
witness
to
Jesus
father
make
us
such
a
people
make
us
disciples
of
Jesus
gripped
by
the
gospel
humbly
living
for your
glory
and
for the
good
of
people
and
of
this
city
and
this
we
ask
in
Jesus
name
Amen