Latest / KCMS Spirit 105.3 / The Bible For Busy People - Evil & Good - Missing the Mark - Genesis 2, 3

Transcript

The Bible For Busy People - Evil & Good - Missing the Mark - Genesis 2, 3 · KCMS Spirit 105.3

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Purposely. Your life. God's purpose. Listen at Purposely.com.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back to another week of the Bible for
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Busy People podcast.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I'm Jen.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: And what do you think of when you hear the
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: word evil? If the thought comes with a shudder or
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: a gut punch feeling, it's probably on the right track.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Evil is everything that the world was not created to be.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: And I think we as humans designed in God's image
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: were created with a sense for when something is not
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: the way it's supposed to be. This quarter, I'm taking
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: a class in seminary talking about good and evil, specifically
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: in the book of Genesis. The professor is one I've
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: taken a class with before, and I loved it, so
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: it didn't take much for me to sign up for
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: this one. She's teaching it in a stellar way, with
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: lots of original language and biblical context, and I'm learning
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: so much. I'm linking her book in the show notes
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: if you're curious about more on this topic. Now, while
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I can't summarize the whole class for you in a week,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: nor should I try, this topic is on my heart,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: and I wanted to bring it to the podcast. Because
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: evil and sin and a lot of these words are
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: ones that can be misunderstood or misrepresented, or we can
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: be desensitized to them or even come up with our
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: own subjective interpretations about them. But what does God actually
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: say about evil and sin? I know it sounds like
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: a downer topic, but stay with me. There's actually a
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: lot of encouragement to be found in this study. A
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: lot that tells us about God's character and heart for us. Today,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: we're talking about evil and good. In Genesis 1, we
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: see the story of God speaking creation into being and
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: calling it good, even very good. The Hebrew word for
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: good is tov. And here's something that surprised me. It
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: doesn't mean perfect. It's much more associated with the concept
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: of being well, whole, pleasant, flourishing. This rang true to
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: me because I believe God wants to restore people to
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: that state. God's main priority is not for us to
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: achieve perfection. God desires us to be whole, to flourish.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: The first time we see the word evil in the
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Bible is in Genesis 2. In verse 15, it says,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: The Lord God took the man and put him in
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: the garden of Eden to work it and take care
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, You
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: are free to eat from any tree in the garden,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: but you must not eat from the tree of the
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: knowledge of good and evil. For when you eat from it,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: you will certainly die. That doesn't mean that this is
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: the first time evil appeared in the Bible. Scholars debate
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: back and forth about when and from where evil came from.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: We'll talk about that a little bit more in a minute,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: but it should be known that the Bible doesn't seem
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: to focus on that question. More on the question of
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: what our response to evil will be. Evil is named
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: so it's in direct contrast to good. The Hebrew word
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: for evil is raa. The word is associated with adversity, affliction, calamity, misery, wretchedness,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: and wrong. It's used more than 600 times in the
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Old Testament. So considering all of this, Dr. Ingrid Farrow
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: defines evil as anything that goes against God's purpose of
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: creation flourishing or goes against God's creational and relational goodness.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Thoughts can be evil, actions, even forces we can't control.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: In class, we discussed how evil happens when something good
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: is diverted for selfish purposes or trying to do things
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: our way instead of God's. And that's what happens in
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Genesis 3. In verse 1, it says, Now the serpent
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: was more crafty than any of the wild animals the
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: God really say you must not eat from any tree
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: in the garden? The woman said to the serpent, We
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: God did say you must not eat fruit from the
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: tree that is in the middle of the garden, and
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: you must not touch it or you will die. You
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: for God knows that when you eat from it, your
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: eyes will be opened and you will be like God,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: took some and ate it. She also gave some to
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: her husband who was with her and he ate it.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Then the eyes of both of them were opened. And
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: so it goes on from there. It says God is
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: walking in the garden and calls to the man, where
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: are you? The man answers, I was afraid because I
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: was naked, so I hid. And God says, who told
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: tree that I commanded you not to eat from? The
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: man points his finger towards his wife. The woman points
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: her finger towards the snake. And God sends down some
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: consequences for everything that has happened. So in verse 14,
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: God speaks to the serpent saying,' Cursed are you above
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: all livestock and all wild animals. You will crawl on
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: your belly and you will eat dust all the days
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: of your life.' Interesting point is mankind is made from dust.'
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: And I will put enmity between you and the woman
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: and between your offspring and hers, and he will crush
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: your head and you will strike his heel.' To the woman,
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: he said,' I will make your pains and childbearing very severe.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: With painful labor, you will give birth to children.' Your
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: desire will be for your husband and he will rule
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: over you. To Adam, he said, because you listened to
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: I commanded you, you must not eat from it. Cursed
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: is the ground because of you. Through painful toil, you
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: will eat food from it all the days of your life.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: of your brow, you will eat your food until you
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: return to the ground since from it you were taken.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: For dust you are and to dust you will return.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: We're not going to go through this line by line,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: but here are some important things to note. First of all,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: God had offered an abundance of choices for fruit trees.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: But we, and Adam and Eve, zero in on the
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: one tree God told them not to eat from. This
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: one tree brought separation and autonomy from God. It was
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: a way for Adam and Eve to know everything without
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: seeing it through God's purposes or lens. It wasn't necessarily
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: that God wanted to withhold information from Adam and Eve,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: but rather for them to acquire knowledge on God's timing
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: in a way that would be most fitting and not overwhelming.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: God's goodness was what told them not to eat from
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: that tree, and God even gave them a number of
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: other options to choose from. Also, the snake was an
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: evil force. Some say he was Satan. He brought chaos
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: and questioning to God's words and good plan. And spoiler alert,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: evil still works in this way, twisting God's words and
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: causing us to question and want to find satisfaction for ourselves.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: God knew exactly what had happened and could have come
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: crashing in bringing wrath to Adam and Eve, but that's
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: not what happens here. God called for them and gave
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: them the chance to speak for themselves. Also, God cursed
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: the snake and cursed the ground, but not Adam and Eve.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: They faced natural consequences, but were not specifically cursed. The
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: consequences were grief. death, having to work for their survival,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: and facing the pain of childbirth. Though many scholars like Dr.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Farrow believe that this means the pain and grief of
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: having and raising children, not necessarily the moment of childbirth,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: which is painful too. There is so much more to
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: this story we don't have time for. I definitely recommend Dr.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Farrow's books. But what can we gather about God from
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: this story? God seeks our well-being and wholeness. God loves
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: us and has compassion for us, even in our sin.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: God gives us choices, allows us to face the consequences
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: when we deviate, and is working for our restoration. Evil
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: forces are at work to prompt us toward leaving behind
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: God's good plan and going our own way. And what
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: results is something distorted, crooked, and misaligned. That's what we're
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: going to be talking about tomorrow. Do these definitions of good,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: as in flourishing, being part of God's plan, wholeness, as
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: well as evil, as in anything going against God's good
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: plan and design, feel aligned with how you would define them?
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: I'll leave you with that question. Let's talk again tomorrow.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to The Bible for Busy People.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: If you need prayer or want to go deeper in
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: your faith, visit our show notes at Will you take
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: a moment to share with a friend and leave a review?
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: It helps the Bible get into even more people's minds
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: and hearts. Find more podcasts that will recharge you at purposely.com.