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God Remembers…
In anticipation of our soon-to-begin Vignette #8, let’s take a few minutes to review the situation that poor Noah was in when our last Vignette ended. As you may recall he, his immediate family, and a large number of animals were locked up in the Ark—the really big boat he had built at the direction of God—and were floating around on what must have seemed like an interminable sea. This massive ocean had come into being (perhaps I should say it had come back into being) when God released onto the earth the waters which had been stored above and below it at the beginning of creation; an action which…
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The Washing of the World
Uh-oh…the lowering of the theatre’s lights combined with the rising strains of music from the orchestra pit are telling us that our brief analytical interlude on the high price of Noah’s obedience is over, and it is time for our next Vignette to begin—this one, the 7th Vignette in Scene 1 of Act 1 of God’s One Big Story. During our last Vignette, we witnessed God warning His servant, Noah, of a coming flood on the earth and instructing him to build an Ark, not only for the salvation of his household but also for the preservation of the animal life which would be needed to replenish the earth after…
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Closing the Case on Cain and Abel
Before we can leave the story of Cain and Abel behind, there are still a few matters that we need to attend to; for, we have yet to identify… The Life Lessons to be learned from their story; The Contributions their story makes to the One Big Story being played out on the Heavenly Stage above us; and, Any Revelations of God that their story holds for us. The Life Lessons are ones involving… 1. Choice One of the first lessons to be learned from the story of Cain and Abel is that each person, at some point in his or her life, will have to choose whether to continue…
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Sowing, Reaping, and the Nature of the Trees
Previously, in Vignette #3, we watched sadly and helplessly as Adam and Eve deliberately chose to disobey God by eating from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This one errant action on their part was all that it took to introduce Evil, with its accompanying fear, shame, deceit, alienation, and death, into what was then an ideal world. Later, in Vignette #4, we saw how, after the passage of time and with the addition of their sons, Cain and Abel, the sowing of that initial seed of Evil by our first parents had taken root and blossomed into the kind of bitterness, resentment, misunderstanding, self-righteousness, and anger…
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Fundamentals of the Fall
Although you may not have noticed it yet, we have begun to fall into something of a pattern during our time here at Stage #1 of God’s One Big Story. First, we have watched and enjoyed each new segment of the Story as it has been presented to us; then, we have paused to analyze each new segment to see what we could take away from it. In effect, what we have been doing is donning two different hats for each of our theatrical outings—the first hat made expressly for the devoted, theatre-going patron who is just out for an evening’s entertainment, while the other is perfectly suited for the questioning,…
