On the Beginning of All Things - Introduction (1 of 2)

In which I discuss truth that matters before messing with the rest...

This is the second post in this series. Here is the first, my preamble. 

Before I jump into logically laying out my thoughts about the intersection of reason and revelation in the book of Genesis, and this goes for both you and myself, please remember: whatever actually happened is important, but it is only useful to know if it tells us more about God. The important bits are not how we trace out our genetic inheritance from Adam and Eve, but knowing that the world has been condemned from the first sin, and that sin is our spiritual inheritance. We are condemned by sin to be apart from God.

And it is not important to know how the flood happened, or where, or when, but to know that sin, unchecked, poured so much wickedness into the world that God could not abide its continuation and he turned away. Rather, he allowed us to turn away, for what is sin but turning away from God. And when creation turns away from its creator who sustains its being with his will, creation ceases to be. In the case of the flood, the waters above and the waters below, separated on day two, crash together again. Absent his sustaining will, the safe place of creation is unmade and the floodgates of heaven pour out while the springs of the deep overflow and everything that has breath drowns. It doesn't matter if it was global or local, if it was ancient or recent, or if it was here or there. This truth is eternal: God's will sustains our existence. When we turn away from that will we die.

And even this is meaningless compared to the promise he gave that he would never turn away again. From that first rainbow there was no way but the finishing cross. Sin will not go away on its own; the wickedness of the World proved that beyond the darkest shadow of doubt. God showed his mercy by not destroying Adam and Eve, and he shows his mercy by saving Noah. He shows again and again that he will do anything to be with us. He loves us so. He loves us so that he could not bear to be without us. He likes us too much. To preserve Noah through the flood, and to promise to never again destroy the world with water, God must die. There is no other way. Once he swears his love and seals it with the seal of the rainbow there was no other way.

For Love he allowed it. He knew when he cast the rainbow in the sky that he cast his son on the breaking cross. The flood, when God turned away, was his time in the wilderness. While Noah was on the Ark the Father was in Gestheneme. God cannot decide to abide sin, so he baptizes and cleanses creation, washing it with water while knowing he must cleanse it with his blood. As he promises with the rainbow to never let us turn from him again, he promises to take the sin that will come on his son.

The Father goes into the wilderness for forty days and the flood rises in his absence. Without his sustaining will the waters he pulled apart come together. While he weeps for Christ crucified the floodgates of heaven open. While he mourns the defiling and burial of his only son the springs of the deep burst forth. 

So in coming posts I am going to talk about the Flood and why I don't think there is a contradiction between the Biblical narrative and what we observe about the geology and history of the Earth. I am going to discuss the same with creation and most of Genesis through chapter eight or nine. At times we will get bogged down in details and talk about facts and figures and interpretations and guesses. Thus is discourse and discussion and disagreement. And thus is knowledge grown and tended and grafted in. 

But in all of it, please, please, please do not lose sight of the fact that the destruction of the world in the Flood means much more than this. The making of Eden and the fall mean much more than this. Unless lightly held, the words of scripture can come undone and do great harm when wielded in academic discourse. Like anything true, they are excellently suited to rational discussion. We are not  equally well suited to the same. 

At the end of all things the beginning of all things will matter deeply, but not the facts. The scripture contains facts and truth and knowledge, but the Word is first a person, speaking to us. If we lose sight of that when discussing the meaning and interpretation of this or that in the context of the physics and physical history of Earth, we must loose our compass and go astray.