What an offense in the Book of Jonah is to anyone who has any intellectual pride. Surely it’s allegorical—it didn’t literally happen. A man can’t get swallowed by fish and days later come out alive. But we know that with God nothing is impossible (that’s the underlying principle behind all the hard-to-believe stories of the Bible). And if that’s too hard for our proud heart to swallow, we should look to Jesus as our example. He settled the issue when He said, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40.
Theologian Tim Keller believes Genesis 1 & Genesis 2 contradict each other. He claims the order in regard to plants is different. He believes Genesis 1 is a song but Genesis 2 is historical narrative. He also rejects a global Flood & believes in an old (billions of years) universe & earth. He compromises God's Word in Genesis.
Many in the church have this false belief that Genesis 1 & 2 are two different contradictory accounts of creation. Let me first quote from Jesus when asked about marriage from Matthew:
“He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female ,and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” (Matthew 19:4–5).
Note that Jesus quotes the text of Genesis 1:27 (male & female) & then the text of Genesis 2:24. In other words, when Jesus is teaching about one man & one woman in marriage, he quotes from the historical record in Genesis 1 & 2. Jesus obviously didn’t view them as contradictory but complementary.
And that’s exactly what Genesis 1 & 2 are, complementary accounts. Stand back & look at both accounts:
Genesis 1 is a summary of God’s account of creation in chronological order, 1,2,3,4,5,6 & 7. Genesis two is actually an account focusing in on the sixth day of creation, specifically giving details of the creation of the first man & woman & the instruction God gave to them. This then gives the foundation for understanding Genesis 3 which focuses on the Fall of man.
But what about those who claim the order of creation of plants & animals is different in Genesis 2 compared to Genesis 1?
At first glance this does seem to be a contradiction because Genesis 1 has the animals & trees created prior to the creation of man; however, both issues can be resolved by an understanding of the original language & the translation process. The Hebrew word for formed in both passages is yatsar. Some translations translate the verb in its perfect form.
However, this Hebrew word may also be translated in its pluperfect form. In this case, it would read that God “had formed” these creatures, as some other translations have it (ESV etc.). And, as Genesis 1 gives the account in chronological order, it makes sense that the translation of “formed” in chapter two be translated in its pluperfect form (past tense).
Thus, as we read in the ESV, “Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.” (Genesis 2:19). So “had formed” fits perfectly with the chronological order of events in Genesis 1.
Now how do we understand the plants mentioned in Genesis 2:5-6. At first, this section can seem confusing. But we need to understand it in the whole context of this second chapter. After this section, we read details about the creation of the first man, Adam, the planting of a garden and Adam’s role to look after it, the command & warning given to Adam, the naming of the animals, & the creation of the first woman, & thus the first marriage. This means the first section of the chapter must be focused on finishing the previous section & then leading us up to the details of the creation of man and the roles and instructions God gave him.
God had created plants on day three (Genesis 1). Now God didn’t just plant seeds so the plants could grow. The plants were obviously mature & fruit trees had fruit on them as God had told man to eat fruit on the sixth day. But until man was created, no human tilled the ground to grow plants for food. And God had a different watering system in place until the hydrological cycle we see today was fully functioning.
So there's no contradiction at all with the creation of plants on day three in Genesis 1. People need to stop undermining the authority of God's Word as Tim Keller
& other pastors do.
Case study. ESG is no way to either run or to appraise a real business. If wokeness is more important than competency, things go south quickly. Project Veritas already taught Pfizer that lesson. How many more will need to learn it?
Hey @allmattNYT of @nytimes Remember me? 🤗
With Tucker’s revelations about J6th, and your statements as a NYT reporter last year that “There were a ton of FBI informants who attacked the Capitol…” and “The lefts overreaction in some places were so over the top”….“They [media] were making too big a deal [of Jan6]. They were making this an organized thing that it wasn’t.”
… maybe you’ll reconsider speaking on the record to me about this now? [email protected]
#boycotthersheys
If you have any respect for women whatsoever you will share this and tag Hershey’s and never buy their products again. Help us win the war on women.
@MattWalshBlog@Kriscilicious