Cooling Twilight

Tag: genesis

  • Meting out help for helpmeet

    Meting out help for helpmeet

    helpmeet

    This badly misguided comment crossed my computer monitor yesterday: “GOD made women to be a helpmeet for Man, the Bible says. What is a Help Meet. It is a Proper assistant — A Second in command.” 

    Helpmeet isn’t a real word — or at least it shouldn’t be a real word. It’s essentially a mistake, an etymological misstep that distorts the original text from which it derives. The King James Version of Genesis 2.18 reads: “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” (more…)

  • Abraham, Isaac and the Search for Truth

    Abraham, Isaac and the Search for Truth

    Abrahams Opfer, Adi Holzer
    Abrahams Opfer, Adi Holzer, 1997

    The story of the binding of Isaac in Genesis 22 offers fertile ground for theological reflection. It is a tale that is simultaneously reassuring and disconcerting, straightforward and complex, pragmatic and melodramatic. These divergent challenges are a crucial part of its enduring relevance to Christians, Jews and Muslims. It’s a story that defies reductive interpretation — attempts to distill simple life-lessons risk losing the nuances that have resonated so deeply with so many for so long.

    I certainly don’t have a definitive interpretation of the tale, but I do think the story itself offers some guidance for how to approach it. That is, at least part of its message is that we should be cautious about being overly certain of our understanding of that message — or indeed of any message. (more…)

  • And It Wasn’t Very Good

    And It Wasn’t Very Good

    Twilight

    It’s nice to see that my site is on the first page of Google search results for “list of biblical principles that twilight the movie is against.”

    So, since you asked, here’s the list (it’s a short one):

    1. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” (Gen. 1.31a)

    In case that’s not clear enough, the principle here is that just as what God made was very good, we also, as bearers of the imago dei, should also strive to create what is very good. Twilight, in both its written and cinematic forms, is not “very good” and thus violates that foundational biblical principle. 

    I hope you, whoever you are, found that list helpful. And should you ever need more guidance on such issues, please don’t hesitate to ask.

  • Review: The Lost World of Genesis One by John Walton

    Review: The Lost World of Genesis One by John Walton

    Walton, John H. (2009). The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

    Walton lays out his reading of Genesis 1 in a clear and accessible manner, arguing persuasively that Genesis 1 is a functional, rather than a material, account of creation that describes the inauguration of a cosmic temple. He also discusses how this reading impacts the creation vs. evolution debate, the ongoing conflict of faith vs. science, the intelligent design movement and public science education. Walton is acutely aware of the variety of Christian beliefs on these topics and discusses them with sensitivity. This book stands in stark contrast to the naïve Biblicism of Kurt Wise’s Faith, Form and Time; Walton’s exegesis is the antidote to Young Earth Creationist claims to a “literal” reading of Genesis. The Lost World of Genesis One should be required reading for every Christian.