Genesis 4 - 7

Notes since last time

I want to clarify one thing, I didn't mean to imply that I was going to limit commenting to a single paragraph for each chapter. I tend to be very terse in writing and was merely estimating how I foresee many sections going. Especially in the beginning, I don't find much of the chapters interesting and I don't intend to be a substitute to reading the relevant chapters (before reading the notations below). This is more of a notation of my thoughts while reading it.

Getting on with it

Genesis 4

The story of Cain and Abel, the people not the hacking utility. Cain killed Abel because God favored Abel and was outcast. Lineage is described, including polygamy (This is merely a historical account and does not condone it nor condemn).

This is also a spot many people focus on "make love", a special act. Well, I'm telling you to get over it, the Jehovah’s Witnesses say "intercourse" and that isn't special at all.

Genesis 5

Family Tree, tl;dr. Though this is apparently not comprehensive because where did these spouses come from?

Genesis 6

An age limit of 120 is set by God. I could argue this is describing evolution where long age does not affect procreation, but that is not really relevant at this point.

God liked Noah, so he had him build an ark with two of every animal before he flooded the world (and his children and children's children, etc.). God regretted making us, bummer.

Genesis 7

Noah apparently worked for DuPont and made the ark larger than spec because when the time came for flood, God instead sent 7 pairs of all animals (except for the unclean ones).

Then the flood came, 40 days of rain and the flood lasted 150 days.

Bible critical

Rather than try to summarize this other blog, I am simply going to link to it since the writing is much better than mine. Relevant Post

Introduction & Genesis 1 - Genesis 3

When you Google a definition of religion, you are told that it is "the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power." Wikipedia quotes Émile Durkheim in saying that religion is "something eminently social." I tend to identify with this in saying that I am "spiritual, but not religious." I would also say that I am an agnostic theist, I don't think we will be able to know if there is a God any time soon; nor do I believe that it matters. To me, the existence of God being more of an academic exercise, which probably puts me in the realm of being an apatheist.

Regardless, I think that reading and understanding the belief systems of the many different religions is a good idea. An idea that I had never actually followed up on after being raised a non-practicing catholic. So after being dumped at the end of last year, I decided that I should keep occupied and try to take up activities I had been putting off. In other words, I went to church. I was surprised, I had been to a few churches in my youth and none of them were like this one. The church I attended, while obviously christian, had a more inviting feel. Straight off the bat, I was encouraged to participate as much or as little as I was comfortable, they were just glad I showed up. Through this church I met some awesome people that are fun to hang out with. But most of all, one of them encouraged me to take on my primary mission of reading The Bible.

So here we are, I actually have read through the first 20 chapters of Genesis to get a general feel for how this is going to go. My verdict is: slowly. It is a tough read, I have a hard enough time keeping track of the main character in a novel and Genesis pops out a new name every few verses. So my hope is by making this blog, I will make notes of what I think is the most important and can review it later in another pass through the bible.

Comments on format

I plan on mostly making small comments as I read through. Some of these may not be "PG", though apparently neither is Genesis. I expect at most a paragraph per chapter.

I recommend Google Dictionary, I have a terrible vocabulary and I find it to be helpful to double check subtleties in words.

I plan to follow along with Bible Critical. It seems to be a similar experiment to my own, so it will be interesting to see what he says. It sounds like his posts will be less filled with opinion on content and more a critique on the writing itself. I have printed out a 90 day schedule, I don't know if I will follow it but we shall see.

I am using primarily the New International Version, but will occasionally also compare it to the New American Standard, King James, and just for kicks the Jehovah’s Witnesses version.

Critiques on my grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation are welcome. This is supposed to be a learning exercise, so if I can squeeze some writing lessons in too then all the better. Though I still reserve the right to disagree and "do it my way" in some cases.

Getting on with it

Genesis 1

So basically, this is the part everyone seems to know and was basically the extent I knew. It is the classic creation story of the Earth, Sun, Moon, Animals, Humans, Plants. The world was also good, at this point it seems like an odd thing to say. Almost like a passive aggressive God is saying "Yeah. I made earth, it was really nice. We won't talk about what happened to it when I turned my back."

It is worth noting that there is a passage

6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.”

 This describes what many call "the dome theory." An environment where above the sky is water, but based on our travel to space, no such water exists. It may be lost in translation, it could be an error, who knows.

Genesis 2

The seventh day is for rest. I kinda wish it was the third day, wouldn't that be nice?

We take a step back and now describe the creation of Adam and Eve and naming all the animals. They were nudists... good for them... Oh, and don't eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

Genesis 3

Women suck. People with knowledge don't like naked people (It is a miracle you were even born). God gave out punishment, including banishment from the tree of life which would have given immortality. This is also the first indication of the male ruling over the female, that or they were into kinky sex.

Bible Critical

Relevant Post

Interesting, he points out a continuity error in Genesis 2 about the order of creation. He also points out how Adam and Eve are pretty much just doing whatever they are told and the serpent had seemingly just as much authority as God.

Closing thoughts

I'm tired. I got 3 hours of sleep last night, so making it to Genesis 16 isn't happening today. If you have any feedback, drop a comment.