16 Feb Genesis 1: Our Birth Certificate
At home, in my closet along with all my clothes, is a shelf reserved for important papers. My passport is there, report cards from my school days, and my birth certificate.
My birth certificate is a piece of paper that documents my origins. It is just a simple piece of paper with relatively little information. It specifies who my parents are, John and Hazel Alley. It says where I was born, in Narrabri, New South Wales. And it says when I was born, on May 11th, 1977. It is certified by a public servant of the New South Wales Government. The reality is that it doesn’t say very much.
As I have grown I have wanted to learn not just about my origins, but about my identity. And it turns out that my identity is connected to my origins. Knowing something about where I have come from and who I belong to, helps me to understand why I am here and what I am to do.
From time to time we meet people who don’t know the story of their birth. They don’t know who their father or mother is. They lack information of their origins, and it can for some people cause them to struggle in an existential way.
The same is true on a collective scale. As humans, we need to know where we collectively come from. How did we get here, and why? What is our origin, and why were we created?
The book of Genesis is a collective birth certificate. It provides enough information to answer the question of where we came from, and helps to satisfy the soul by pointing to an identity that is good for life.
Some people however, are not happy with their identity. Have you ever met someone who changed their birth certificate? People change their primary identification document for a variety of reasons, but almost always it has something to do with their identity, or in some cases the identity they want to have.
If people could prove that God is not our collective father, then what would that say about our identity, and our purpose here on the Earth? For some people the idea that God didn’t create is an attractive idea which suggests freedom to do anything they want to. They feel that it gives them permission to write whatever identity they want for themselves, and thus adopt whatever purpose they choose to adopt.
It’s a real temptation, but very dangerous. And so a battle exists over the pages of Genesis. Where we come from as humans is important, and different answers to that question mean different things. Thus it has become important for people not just to accept the Genesis story, but to dig into it, either to prove it, or to disprove it.
As believers in Christ, Genesis 1 gives us a solid foundation, a knowledge that we came from God, and along with other things the Bible teaches us, helps to provide us with security and identity.
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