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What in the Bible?!
Have you ever read the Bible and wondered, "King David did what?!" Or, have you come across the passage where Lot's daughters get him drunk and then sleep with him? How about the story of the younger brother that makes himself more hairy in order to trick his dying father into blessing him over his older brother?! And, don't get us started on Revelations! Oh wait, it's Revelation! These are only a few of the examples written in scripture that will have any new reader asking, "What in the Bible?!" In this podcast, we are two sisters reading through the Bible for the first time. Our goal is to share this experience with our listeners and have a lighthearted discussion over some of these controversial but often comical questions. Our hope is for our listeners to realize that reading and understanding the Bible is hard especially when reading it for the first time. It's okay to have questions or struggle with passages that make your eyebrows raise and your mind wonder, "What did I just read?!" We hope you will join us in this journey of working through difficult questions and growing in our relationship with Christ as we read and seek to understand God's Word.
What in the Bible?!
Creation's Blueprint: Unpacking God's Original Design
Have you ever wondered what the Bible really says about how everything began? In this eye-opening episode of "What in the Bible?", sisters Jenna and Audrey dive heart-first into Genesis Chapter 1, bringing fresh perspective and honest questions to the creation story.
With no theological training but plenty of curiosity, these sisters unpack Moses' account of creation and discover surprising insights that challenge common assumptions. They explore fascinating details like the Holy Spirit "hovering" over the waters with maternal care, the mysterious waters above and below the firmament, and the puzzling creation of light before the sun. Their conversation brings clarity to complex concepts while maintaining a sense of wonder at God's magnificent design.
The sisters tackle challenging questions with refreshing honesty: What does it mean that humans were created in "our" image? How do we reconcile the biblical timeline with scientific findings? Where did dinosaurs fit in God's creation? Their authentic approach creates space for listeners to bring their own questions without judgment.
Whether you're a longtime believer or just beginning to explore faith, this conversational deep-dive into Genesis will help you see Scripture with new eyes. Subscribe to join Jenna and Audrey as they journey through the Bible, asking the questions every new believer thinks but might be afraid to voice: "What in the Bible?"
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Hey everyone and welcome to what in the Bible? We are two sisters reading through Genesis to Revelation for the first time and asking the question every new believer is thinking what in the Bible? I'm one of your hosts, jenna.
Speaker 3:And hello everyone. My name is Audrey and in this episode we are tackling Genesis, chapter 1. Chapter 1. Woohoo, yes. So before we get into the many questions that Jen and I both had in reading this chapter, Hence why it's only one chapter this episode. Exactly, jen and I both have the same Bible and it's a study Bible and it gives you a little background about the book. So we thought it'd be fun to open with a little introduction to the book of Genesis and explore some fun facts about it.
Speaker 2:It's important to know the backstory on what you're reading. It really helps understand the content more and the context.
Speaker 3:So fun facts about Genesis. The meaning of Genesis is in the beginning. It's the first book of the Pentateuch, or torah, which is the first five books of the old testament. The author is moses. I didn't know that. See, I'm learning things already. Yeah, you didn't know moses. Author genesis nope, oh, I did Nice.
Speaker 3:So it's difficult to place the events of creation, and you know, back to like Adam and Eve. But they think that Genesis 12 and beyond occurred during the Bronze Age, or 1950 to 1550 BC. To 1550 BC. There's a couple of customs that are described throughout Genesis 12 and beyond that have also been found in other tablets of the second millennium, so specifically like those found in Mesopotamia, which is some of the oldest found documents and evidence for earliest civilization. So a lot of those customs described in the Bible have actually been validated and found in other documents. Wow, that's so cool, yeah. The other thing that's important to consider is maybe when Moses wrote it and why he wrote it. So it's thought that Moses wrote this after the Exodus, when the Israelites were wandering around in the desert before they entered the Promised Land, so about 1445 to 1400 BC. So this would have been several centuries after the patriarchs, which is, you know, like Abraham Isaac Jacob, then the 12 tribes of Israel. Another fun fact is that it actually covers the longest period in the Bible. Wow.
Speaker 2:Well, that makes sense as to why we've decided we need to really condense our discussions, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, moses wrote this because Israelites were wandering through the desert. They're actually getting ready to enter into the promised land. But the promised land wasn't this free piece of land that they were going to be able to just walk into and suddenly start living there, like it was already occupied by I want to say it was Canaanites, but we'll have to fact check that once we get to reading. So the Canaanites, you know, they were known to be false idol worshipers and they worshiped pagan gods. So the generation that was entering into Canaan was not the same generation that had witnessed God's deliverance from Egypt, so they would not have really remembered or seen firsthand accounts of what God had done. So for them. It was really important that Moses wrote down that. You know that God is the creator. He created the universe and everything in it, and this is how the nation of Israel was formed. It was formed by God, chosen by God to be his people, and, as we'll read in early books of Genesis, we'll discover why and why that was important. Early books of Genesis we'll discover why and why that was important. So the purpose was to empower them with the knowledge of who Israel was, why God created them, why God set them aside for his purposes, in order to make sure that they resisted the temptation to accept pagan worship and intermarry with the people. So I think this is something that a lot of times gets misinterpreted amongst believers, like you're not allowed to intermarry with other races. But really it wasn't about the race, it was about their belief, the belief behind it right, equally, yoked, exactly, exactly, which is definitely still important today. God cares about that.
Speaker 3:Throughout Genesis, we're going to see some themes show up. So you know, usually each book in the Bible has some underlying themes to it. So I thought it would be fun for us to see if we can pick up on these themes as we read through the book. So the main underlying theme is that God forms Israel as a nation, his chosen people. Theme is that God forms Israel as a nation, his chosen people, who he provides for and protects, despite you know all of their challenges, all of the temptations, because these are the people whom the Messiah will come through, and that kind of goes back to the seed war, right, right. Another theme is God's sovereignty, and sovereignty is just like a fancy term, for God is in control. You know, we don't have to be worried about things that surprise us, because God is never surprised. He's, you know, all-knowing, all-powerful, and he is ultimately in control and anything that does happen he allows. So he is not only creator and ruler, but he protects His people. And then another theme is God's covenant. So covenant fancy term for promise like an agreement between God and the people that he's making that covenant with, and it's used throughout the generations and each of the early patriarchs lives too. It's funny to see all these patterns happen, right, because a lot of times they're repeating themselves through each generation.
Speaker 3:Another theme is God's redemption, which I really love. I love that Genesis sets up this plan for God's redemption, set out early on in the first few chapters of Genesis. But this is quite literally the Bible, like God's redemption plan and how he goes about making that happen, to the point of sending Jesus to die for our sins. That the whole Bible points to. That. The whole Bible is to point to Jesus. No matter if you're reading the Old Testament or the New Testament, it's all pointing to Jesus and what he did on the cross and that new covenant so good.
Speaker 3:And then another one that I think might not be fun, but I like to hone in on this because I feel like it's super interesting to pick up on this throughout, you know, through reading, but the threat to God's plan, so the enemy, satan's continuous attempts to thwart the coming of the Messiah, like the Old Testament and up until, like Jesus's birth, that entire timeline, you can see that underlying theme of Satan trying to thwart God's plans and all the wars that Israel's gone through, and it's all to prevent Messiah from coming, even to the point of Israelites assimilating with pagan cultures and practices. So this brings us back to the purpose of Moses writing Genesis to help the Israelites stay pure as God's chosen people. So that's why I really like the study Bible. I mean, not everybody likes this specific translation of it, but I think, as as long as it's something that you can understand, I think the one that our church gives out is an ESV, I think it is.
Speaker 3:Is it an ESV? I think it is. Or is it NLT? No, it's NLT. Oh okay, I think NLT is the easiest to understand. So some translations are like word for word versus concept for concept kind of thing versus concept for concept kind of thing. So I can't remember NLT, but I've heard that that one's a little bit easier to understand as someone that's reading the.
Speaker 3:Bible for the first time, but I do encourage make sure it's a study Bible, because that study Bible will give you all of that extra information and give you little notes at the bottom of the verses like this is what was going on during this time and this is what this is thought to be believed by theologians and this is what this word means you know or came from.
Speaker 2:originated from Right.
Speaker 3:So chapter one pretty much covers creation. So, seaster, how did you feel about chapter one, or, like, what questions came up for you?
Speaker 2:I mean, I do have a question. In verse two, literally Okay, bring it on. Okay. So I had a very hard time wrapping my brain about the waters. For some reason I did too. I wrote a note in my notes saying I'm having a hard time right now with all this water mention. I'm having a hard time right now with all this water mention, okay.
Speaker 2:So literally, genesis, chapter 1, verse 2, the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. How was there water already? Right? How was there water already, when it literally says the earth was formless and void, but yet the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Mm-hmm and void, but yet the spirit of god was hovering over the waters. So I was a little bit confused by that. And it's funny because I mentioned that to my nine-year-old and I'm like, is that just me? My nine-year-old is very logical about the way that he thinks and he was like, yeah, no, I don't get it either, mom, like it didn't say that you know, the waters were created yet. So yeah, I kind of was a little bit confused there.
Speaker 3:Yes, no, and I think that a lot of people probably struggle with that, and so this is where we could really get into like the nitty gritty of it, because there are some theories out there that there is a time gap between verse one and verse two.
Speaker 3:So verse one, just like describing God creating literally like heaven and earth, and then there's a rebellion Satan falls, gets kicked out of heaven, falls to earth, and that whole war, that whole rebellion, is what destroyed the earth. Now, I say that, but you know, that's a theory, right? Right, I'm almost wondering, like less so, as like that chronological order versus, hey, in the beginning God did create the heavens and the earth, and I actually really love this, because science out there will say, well, we were all created from the Big Bang Theory. There's actually some Christian scientists that back that, but they back it because they are saying, like, who's to say that God didn't speak? And boom, you have your Big Bang Theory, exactly Right, yeah, I've seen that that's really cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so even though in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth I think that's a general statement saying our God created everything and everything in it and then he kind of dives deeper into detail Now, in the beginning, when he created the earth, it was formless and void.
Speaker 3:And the Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters. I love that term Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters because when you look at that word and how it translates, it's quite literally like the Holy Spirit was like a mother hen doting on their chicks or something like that.
Speaker 3:And you know the Holy Spirit is described as having more of maternal characteristics, but I love the way that it's written, because it talks about literally the Holy Spirit was like hovering over the waters in a motherly way. So I don't know if that answers your question, or I mean I don't know.
Speaker 2:No, it does, it does. Yeah, yeah, because I did. When I was writing my notes about the questioning below it, I was like time gap theory, and even in the study Bible I think that it talks about that theory and how it starts, verse two. Well, at least in our Bible it says now the earth was formless and empty, kind of like it wasn't before. Now it is Right.
Speaker 3:That's why it's important, I think, to have multiple translations, because that word now actually is not in every translation, right? Well, since we're kind of talking about verses one and two, what I was looking over with that is that word heavens. So I'm like, okay, did God create like literal heaven, or is that talking about the sky and the universe, right, right? So this is another fun, fun little fact. If you don't have a Strong's Concordance, I highly suggest it because it's an excellent resource when you're reading the Bible, because it will actually translate the word into the original, either Greek or Hebrew. So the word for heavens is shamayim, which means to be lofty, the sky, the higher ether, where the celestial bodies revolve, air or heavens. So I mean could be the stars, could be our universe. I mean it says where the celestial bodies revolve. So maybe it is actual heaven. Wow, that's really interesting. There's all these different words about like heavens. And then in verse six it says let there be a vault.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank goodness you're bringing that up, because that was my next question.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the waters again, right, right, the waters From waters, right.
Speaker 2:And then the vault, which it does say is the sky. However, it says the vault splits the waters. So it's like okay, clearly, what's underneath the sky is the oceans, what is the waters above it? I know what's the other waters that were split Right? Is that heaven? Is that the universe? Is that space?
Speaker 3:I mean, Well, so, because I think you know water, it's got to be water, like it's the same. Literal water it should be like water and water.
Speaker 2:Right, right, exactly that's the waters Right.
Speaker 3:So I did. I looked up vault because I'm like OK, first of all, what does vault mean? So vault in the Hebrew translates to firmament, which whenever you hear firmament it literally means our atmosphere, the space between land, and then like Like space, space, ok, right, and a visible arch of the sky. And I think this is interesting because there's also some flat earthers out there who will use verses that relate to firmament to say that the earth is actually flat, but when you look at the vault's translation here, it says visible arch of the sky.
Speaker 3:How can the earth have an arch if it's flat. But yeah, when you go on to dividing the waters below and above the vault, in my mind I was like, okay, is that how we have rain and clouds? Like, okay, god made water to be in the oceans on the earth but then created there to be a way to have rain in the sky as well Mm-hmm, there to be a way to have rain in the sky as well. Because I'm thinking also, what does he do after that? He begins to create land and vegetation, right, right. So I'm like I'm thinking, okay, so God knew what would be needed to create to have things grow, and some source of water would be that, you know, the rain to help them grow. That would make sense.
Speaker 3:Yeah, other theories I was thinking is okay, is it talking about the atmosphere? But I don't think so, because it was. You know, it mentioned vault prior, which, again, we've already said is the firmament or that visible arch of the earth I think some other believers have also talked about. If you look at like the chemistry of oxygen and air, there is like water. That is part of what makes up our atmosphere also, so it could be describing like the fact that we have the perfect amount of oxygen, like 21 oxygen, for us to be able to even survive like like the perfect conditions for life.
Speaker 3:Right, that's cool, yeah, okay. So another thing that I struggled with was the whole. There was evening and there was morning the first day, and each time it's like there was evening and there was morning. But so God said let there be light, and he separated the light from darkness, but then he hadn't created the sun yet. Or the moon. So I'm like you know, and of course I think this is one of those things where you know we're just probably not going to really understand the full, awesome power of God.
Speaker 2:The full scope, right. I didn't even catch that. That went clear over my head because I'm like you know what? You're right, you don't talk about that till verse 14. Hmm, so that's interesting. Yes, sky to separate the day from the night, right. But again, maybe that's not in the literal sense of how we now perceive one day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I like that too. The concept of time, right, because? So there's a lot of scientists out there that'll be like the Earth has been here for billions and billions of years. So you start to wonder, okay, how long did this really take God to create the Earth? Right, because we read it like how it could have happened.
Speaker 3:It's another one of those hard things to grasp that concept of time. And you know, has the world really been here for billions of years? And if it has, how long did it really take God? Because there's that verse you know, one day in your courts is a thousand elsewhere. So, even though in the Bible it says it took God seven days, how does that translate into our concept of time? Right, right, seven days. How does that translate into our concept of time? Right, right. So I like in verses 11 through 13, when it's describing what the land produced vegetation, seed bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. So again, I think that goes back to when I was reading this. I'm like, okay, and I think that goes back to when I was reading this.
Speaker 2:I'm like okay because I think in my mind he says it and it happens. So I'm thinking oof they're popping up like daisies. You knew where we were going with that. Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3:Like it just shoots up into the sky and they're like fully grown yeah already have fruit on them. And again like who's to say that didn't happen? But what if it took time? You know, and how much time did that take. And you know again, what if the waters that were separated and like above the vault was the rain that caused those?
Speaker 2:to grow. That would make total sense, yeah.
Speaker 3:I also thought it was cool because in verse 11, when it says let the land produce vegetation, so that word is only described one other time in the Bible and it's translated to bring forth, to sprout or spring, and it's used also in Joel 2.22. It says are becoming green. I haven't read Joel to really be able to comment on it much, but I think it was interesting to see that that wording was only used one other times. But there's other versions of that. So for example, in verse 12, it also uses the word produced, but whereas in 11, that word produced is translated as dasha, in 12, it's translated as yatsa, to causatively bring out in a great variety, and it's used more than a thousand times throughout the Bible. Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so clearly this word was specific to God creating vegetation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Wow, that's really neat.
Speaker 3:So in verse 120, god says let the water team with living creatures and I thought that word team I'm like hmm, what does that mean? So I looked it up, of course, and team is to be full of or swarming with, so then of course I think of like a whole net full of fish. So literally, god filled the water with living creatures, and so we're starting to talk about creatures, right, birds flying in the sky. And God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, so dinosaurs.
Speaker 2:That's what I was going to say, for sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm convinced that humans did live in the time of the dinosaurs and I think that they died in the flood.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I agree. And I think that they died in the flood. Yeah, no, I agree. And you know what? There was a really cool thing that I came across that showed dinosaur fossils on top of the mountain that they believe Noah's Ark landed on. That's awesome. Or reached land at the mountain of what is it? It starts with an, a.
Speaker 2:I can't remember, but we'll learn I can't pronounce it, chapter four, I think yes, I'm skipping ahead, but that there is evidence, because how else did this random fossil end up all the way at the top of this mountain? And a dinosaur fossil, nonetheless right, and fish fossils and all sorts of things that you know anyways. Again, we're kind of getting ahead, but with you saying that you think that they died in the flood, that would make complete sense as to why there's fossils where they are right especially when you consider god's original purpose for creating the earth.
Speaker 3:Everything in it was good. So, like when you read through chapter one, he's Moses is describing each you know each part that God created, each stage that he created. He, at the end of creating it, steps back and looks at it and he's like he saw that it's good. Everything God created is good. God is good. So God would have created the dinosaurs, but he wouldn't have created them with this instinct to eat one another and humans, because that's not good. Right, right, right. So I think it's very interesting. I think we'll kind of touch on this when we get into the fall and how that changed things. But I think in the very beginning, when God created the earth, including man and all of the living creatures in it, he intended for us to all coexist in peace, harmoniously, like no carnivorous species whatsoever, even with sharp teeth, even the animals with sharp teeth I'm just thinking of the land before time and they're like sharp tooth.
Speaker 3:Yeah, all right. So I think this is in verse 24, where it says let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, the creatures that move along the ground. So when you look at other translations like the KJV, the King James Version, instead of spelling out the phrase the ones that move along the ground, they literally translate it as creeping things, oh goodness, that creep on the earth. I'm like Lord, there's a lot of creepy things like insects and bugs and rodents, and I quite literally think this is what they're talking about. Yeah, there is, the creeping things that creep on the earth, and it translates to. I wrote this down, I thought it was so funny. Creeping things translates to charrettes, charrettes, I think it's pronounced charrettes, and I'm thinking it sounds like rats.
Speaker 3:It does. And then the way that it's, it's not just like oh okay, you think like rats, no, it's like a swarm, a mass of minute animals, so all the little like masses of them oh, no just like a few, like all of them, yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh goodness, yeah. So then in Genesis 126,. And then God said let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, etc. Etc. And again, I don't know if this is just specific to this translation of the Bible, but when I first started getting back into the faith and even to this day I still kind of struggle with the whole idea of like the Trinity, and I'm assuming that's what it's talking about. But before that I read that and was like I don't understand what that means. Like our, what do you mean our? You know God made us in his image. Why is it saying our? So I just wrote that down as kind of like a thing to discuss.
Speaker 3:Yes. So I love this because I think the majority of believers will tell you that that term, our in this verse, does refer to the Trinity and it supports that idea of the Trinity. I think the Trinity is definitely something that's very difficult to grasp, because how can three people be the same person, but especially like when it describes each one has distinct, like they are their own person right.
Speaker 3:They are three distinctly different individuals, but they are all God, but I think that's why it's so fun to find examples of their presence. So one of the examples and you guys may have already read this, but when Jesus gets baptized, right, you have Jesus, the son, who gets baptized by John, and then, after he gets baptized, right, you have Jesus, the son, who gets baptized by John, and then, after he gets baptized, the Holy Spirit descends on him in the form of a dove, and then there's this voice from heaven, that's God. So you literally have all three in separate forms. Even you have the Holy Spirit as a dove, you have Jesus as a human being and god, the father from heaven, this voice oh, I just got the chills. Isn't that awesome?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's good, can you imagine?
Speaker 3:being there. No, I'm trying to imagine god's voice and I just I imagine, like everything in me vibrating like this, just like loud, like deep soul penetrating, boom, you know? Yeah, exactly, and this is probably going to get off the rails a little bit and I don't know enough about it to have an actual conversation. But this might be where we can get into some like intermittent episodes where we talk about some of the other thoughts out there as we progress. So I watched this series called Faith or Friction Faith or Friction.
Speaker 3:Faith and Friction. I really enjoyed them. They talk about a lot of things that cause friction in the church. So actually they do have an episode on flat earth theories and stuff like that, but I love watching their comments on prophecy like Daniel. Prophecy watching their comments on like prophecy like Daniel prophecy all of the stuff going on over in Europe right now.
Speaker 3:They talk about the seed war like they get down to the nitty gritty kind of thing, and so recently, in the last year, they've had someone on who he got his doctorate in theology, but part of his doctorate you, doctorate requires a thesis, so he spent five years researching this topic. Oh, wow. So I highly recommend it. Go check them out. They're on YouTube, they're on Patreon. I subscribe to it. It's like I don't know seven or eight bucks a month or something like that, but very interesting and it will blow your mind. It will make you want to read the Bible. I mean, aside from all of this fun stuff. But he talks about this verse because he actually doesn't think that they're actually referencing the Trinity. So you know, we also refer to God as the king. Well, what do kings have, like? They have a full court and they have subjects, people within their courts, like dukes and whoever else is in court. Duchesses, duchesses, yeah, the parliament. Clearly, we don't know, sorry.
Speaker 2:We're going off of like princess diaries right now.
Speaker 3:Maybe our ignorance is showing a little bit Lack of know-how in monarchies, but he says he thinks that God is actually speaking to. Like who would God's court be the?
Speaker 3:angels yes, exactly the angels and the archangels, and if you Google, there is a hierarchy of angels and the angels yes, wow, archangels. And if you google, there is a hierarchy of angels and the angels yes, wow. And so he says that that verse is that god is actually speaking to his court, like the other angels in heaven. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, and I totally did not do that service. Like I said, you should definitely watch that episode because it was very interesting and he really dives down into and pulls other verses and it's not just like, oh, I have this theory and here's why.
Speaker 3:Like he does, support it and it's mind blowing. Wow, it's mind blowing, especially when you talk about the Tower of Babel. And it gets into all of that the war, the rebellion, the angelic rebellion, and it's not, you know. You think of lucifer as being like this sole person that rebelled, but he had other angels go with him, and that's why we have demons, and there's a hierarchy in demon ology too. Oh my gosh is that crazy?
Speaker 2:that is wild.
Speaker 3:So I'm getting a little bit off topic there, but no, but it's all relevant to that verse that we don't know what our stands for it's really important to sometimes digest it word by word, because, even though it may have a plural noun, the verb is often singular, meaning yeah, we're talking about the Holy Trinity, three people, but the verb is singular, so again it points to one God. Yeah, so yeah. In verse 27, god creates mankind in his own image. So my question was you know, I put in quotations them.
Speaker 2:Yes, me too. Them underline underline question mark yeah exactly who's he talking about them?
Speaker 3:uh, is it, you know? Is it mankind in general, like he created multiple, or did he really just start with adam and eve and therefore causes that question that I think every new believer struggles with like? So we all descended from adam and eve, so we're all just a bunch of like second, third and fourth and hundredth cousins?
Speaker 2:Right, right, right. I think about that car ride that I, my husband and our family, took from Idaho to Arizona and we were stuck in traffic for like two hours and I tend to be a rambler in the car and we talk about the craziest things. But this was one of the things that came up somehow and my husband was, like does that make sense to you? Like I don't even understand that. Can you answer that? I'm like I cannot. So we started looking into it in the car while we were stopped and then I was like, oh well, that's yeah, that's duh. Like then the flood happened and then like Noah, you know, and like his three sons and their wives.
Speaker 2:She said with confidence Right, because I'm like, oh well, yeah, that's right, my husband's like that still has the same issue. So then we all came from them, right from the one family, which again we'll talk about as we get there. But yeah, the them in this really stood out to me too, is it them as he created a bunch. And then we talk about Adam, specifically because of Jesus's lineage and coming through that line because of the fall. I mean, what do you? I kind of took that from you and then ran. So what do you think?
Speaker 3:about it. Well, it's hard. I don't know that this is something that we're really ever going to get an answer in in this lifetime. I think it's just one of those things that God works in mysterious ways. The earth was created by powers that we're not going to understand until we get to heaven, and there are scriptures that say God has revealed understanding, but he's also hidden things from us for a reason. And this is where it gets hard, because for me, I feel like this is where doubt can creep in, right, and the enemy will absolutely take that and run with it. That's where I think it's really important, if you're struggling with something to understand, definitely pray on it, and I think for me it's like okay, if we all did come from Adam and Eve. This is where the incest part comes in, right. Right, because then you have to think about what would have had to happen if you were the only two people on earth for generations to be. You know to be had, but then, at the same token, we're thinking about this in terms of our modern brains, right, and how things are today, right, mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:In this same verse, god goes on to say that he blessed them. In verse 28, he said God blessed them and said to them be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. So he intended for them to reproduce, to fill the earth with people from the two of them and gave them to rule over the earth. So it was God's plan for humans to come from Adam and Eve. Now, I mean you could go so far to say like maybe he genetically created them so that it would be okay and maybe during that time it wasn't thought of, you know, in the same ways that we clearly think about it now in a fallen world, mm-hmm. And then not to say that the Bible condones incest, because you will find in later chapters, not much later on from creation, where it clearly says that incest is not okay with God. So I think that's just one of those topics that's going to be really hard to understand really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I agree, it's going to be really hard to understand, really, yeah, no, I agree, all right.
Speaker 3:So these next couple of verses was probably my biggest aha moment in this chapter.
Speaker 2:I'm interested to hear it because I wrote nothing down.
Speaker 3:Nothing after 28?.
Speaker 2:Nope. I jumped right over to chapter two after that.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:I am ready, blow my mind.
Speaker 3:Yes, get ready for your mind to be blown. So in verse 29, then God said I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it, they will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground, everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food, and it was so. God intended for us to only eat plants and fruits. Nowhere in that verse does he say here's these animals for you to kill and eat. He literally says I have given you the plants of the earth and the fruit that it bears for food for you and for the animals. Mic drop, really. That's how you read it. How do you read it?
Speaker 2:Well, I guess I never really hyper-focused on the whole, I give every green plant for food. I think I was reading how all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the sky, all the creatures that move along the ground, everything that has a breath of life in it. So I'm like, why would that be in there as well? Or is that like in addition to?
Speaker 3:So I think. So split it up. So verse 29,. God said I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. Period. They will be yours for food.
Speaker 2:That's very clear.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, and to all, to all the beasts. So he's giving something to the beast, he's assigning something to the animals of the earth, and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground, everything that has the breath of life in it.
Speaker 2:I give every green plant for food, and this is why this is your book smart gene, showing when I'm like.
Speaker 3:Well, wait a minute, it just said yeah but watch, we're going to look up a new translation and be like not wrong, god did give us cattle to be eaten.
Speaker 2:Oh, that is crazy, because when I read it again, I'm not like the most solid reader of the Bible. Because when I read this, I'm not like the most solid reader of the bible, because when I read this, I'm like, aha, okay, yeah, see, there's proof that we can totally do everything, that we can eat the beasts and all the things it says right here. But then when you just broke that down, that was a aha, blow my mind moment, because it doesn't say that he's talking to man right, Because in verse 27, he created mankind and then he blessed them and told them to multiply, and he's telling them this is what you can eat.
Speaker 3:This is what I've created for you to eat. Also, you're going to be the rulers over basically everything on earth, and this is what I have provided for them to eat, like instructions for ruling the earth, which is what man was created to do be the ruler of this earth.
Speaker 2:So that kind of fits into the whole that we were all created in harmony with one another, right To where even we were not meant to eat, right the creatures.
Speaker 3:Yeah, wow, like God did not create death. God is the author of life, god is life, god breathes life into us. So why would he create animals for human beings to kill and to consume? Right, crazy, right, that is crazy. I don't know why, but when I read that I was like whoa.
Speaker 2:So then that all changes right After the fall, clearly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so when we get into the fall, we'll talk about what you know sin, sin entering into the world and how that changed the relationship, not just between man and God, but between man and everything in the earth including animals, and then animals turning on animals, right, animals turning on people.
Speaker 2:Yep Ooh, I'm excited. Now I have this whole different way of thinking about that. I like my meat. We are a meat-eating family.
Speaker 3:I like my meat. We are a meat-eating family. Well, and then I think you know and again, I haven't read the books enough to know them, but I think later on, during Moses' time, god did lay out specific rules for what meat the Israelites could eat and what they couldn't eat what was considered unclean. So this clearly changed. But in the beginning God fully intended for us to live harmoniously with everything he created, including the animals.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's really cool. Yeah, see, I feel like you and I picked up on the same things, but you picked up on more. Well, like what I picked up on, you also picked up on, but then you also grasped more topics, different things.
Speaker 3:I think I've also. I've probably I mean I don't know how many times you've read it. I think this is probably the second time I read it through. However, I've watched a lot of video content like a lot of Faith and Friction. They have a couple of different episodes that I think, touches on this, and so I've had some outside help in pointing me through different rabbit holes and kind of digging down. But I will say that the whole plant for food thing, like that, was Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3:That really was like all right, you ready for this nugget of knowledge? Here you go.
Speaker 3:Which again is so fun because I mean I say this is my second time reading it through, but I probably read chapter one probably 10 times. Right, just chapter one. But that was the first time that that section was like. I found where I wrote down about the spirit, because I was trying to explain this earlier. So verse two, where it says the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. So that word, the Spirit hovering, in quotations implies brooding in the sense of a mother bird nurturing life.
Speaker 3:Wow, I just love that. I just love that. You know, not that it's this God the Father, holy Spirit, the Mother in the sense that we think of it, but God is each attribute, all of his attributes is fulfilled. God the Father, you know, the Holy Spirit, bringing that nurturing, kind of maternal. And then Jesus the Son, but Jesus, you know, fulfills each attribute in himself and I mean there's so much more that we're going to get into with that, but I just love that. In my mind I get this image of this just void earth with nothing, just absence, like in every sense of the word, and the Holy Spirit hovering, brooding, like nurturing life to come forth over this earth, you know.
Speaker 3:it just really kind of helps you start to get a glimpse of who God really is and how he loves creation, his creation. Yeah. And how he broods over us Right yeah, right yeah.
Speaker 2:Kind of in the same sense that when we don't have God, we are kind of void, exactly, or devoid of life and love and purpose.
Speaker 3:Yeah, all the good things that God is.
Speaker 2:Living in the darkness Almost like living in that formless Right, void, yeah, yeah, yeah, like black holes, so we let him in.
Speaker 3:Exactly yeah, so did you pick out a verse that you wanted to try and memorize that? You wanted to try and memorize I already failed in my homework. I feel like this one's kind of hard because it's like it's a lot of description, right, which is fun because I think we're getting the nitty gritty, the details of how God created the earth. But it's kind of like how do you bring that to practical use in everyday life, right, although I'm sure you could.
Speaker 3:Any good pastor out there can probably pull tons of stuff from this Cough cough. You should be a vegetarian Cough cough. I think I'm going to skip all the stuff in the middle, okay, and I'm either going to go with yeah, I think I'm going to go either with when God Created man, so either 27, or maybe 28, or maybe just one and two.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I was going to say one, but I'm like, is that like taking the easy way out? Yes, we all know that already. Yeah, we all know that one already. No, I like 27. Yeah, 27 is good. Yeah, okay, so Genesis 127.
Speaker 3:Okay, I'm going to do. I think I'll do 28. It looks kind of long. Well, cool, or maybe I'll change my mind. Okay, I'm either going to do 1 and 2 or 28, but we'll see. We'll see when we come back. Yeah for sure, all right. So I think next time we're going to read Genesis, chapter 2, which will be fun.
Speaker 2:Oh, not quite to fall yet. Are we just going to stick in 2?
Speaker 3:I think so. I think we should take it one chapter at a time until we get past Noah. I think Okay, I think yeah there's a lot to unpack.
Speaker 2:There is there really is. Yeah, for sure, yeah, awesome, well, yeah. So if you guys want to read along with us next episode, we'll be discussing Genesis, chapter 2, and going over what we got out of it. Our questions.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so if you have any comments about this episode, or if you know there were any parts that were particularly hard for you to understand, or things that you struggled with, or other questions that we didn't talk about, please leave them in the comments. We'd love to connect with you guys, and you can also find again all of our links to all of our socials. We'd love to connect with you, guys, and you can also find again all of our links to all of our socials. We now have an Instagram page. Yes, we do, Yay.
Speaker 2:So if you have any answers or interpretations from what we got out of it, please put that down there as well. We want to hear your thoughts on it and we want to learn together.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Iron sharpens iron, and that's just a fancy way of saying. We learn from each other. We help each other grow in our faith, with the help of God.
Speaker 2:So yeah, all righty. Well, thank you guys. So much for tuning in to our very first actual Bible reading episode.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we'll see you for episode two. Yeah, Until then, keep praying and stay fed by the word of God. Bye you guys, Bye everyone, hey everyone.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone, it's Jenna. With what in the Bible we want to start by emphasizing we are by no means experts in Bible theology or interpretation. We highly encourage any new believer or anyone struggling with understanding the Bible to get connected to your local church and seek guidance from your pastor or other believers that are more mature in the faith. Most importantly, we understand that prayer is an integral part of reading, learning and understanding scripture, and we encourage you to spend some time with the Lord in prayer before diving into God's word. The Holy Spirit is the best teacher and counselor to provide insight, wisdom and true understanding of Scripture. Thank you for listening and we hope you join us for our next episode.
