Category Archives: Creation Day

Cain and Abel: A Creation Manifesto

The story of Cain and Abel is commonly known as the story of two brothers, one of whom murders the other in a fit of jealous rage. However, the story of Cain and Abel is so grounded in the creative narrative that this story also powerfully reflects God’s love for his creation, and demonstrates how deeply bonded He is, to the earth.

Creation is Offered

Genesis 4:2 describes Cain as a crop farmer and his younger brother Abel as a shepherd. Each man was responsible for a portion of God’s creation which they each cared for.

4:3 states that “Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD”. Notice that Cain is the first to make his offering before God. This tells us that there is nothing inferior or unsuitable about his offering – in the eyes of the Lord; Cain’s grain holds just as much value as Abel’s animal sacrifice. Both animals and plants are equal as God’s creation and make a suitable sacrifice.

It is also significant that both brothers use a portion of creation to make their sacrifice. Cain is a farmer who brings a portion of his edible crops. Scripture does not indicate if this is his best produce or whether, perhaps he was bringing seconds or even inedible goods. Abel is a shepherd who is said to bring the ‘firstlings’–likely fattest of his flock – as a sacrificial contribution (Gen 4:4). Both brothers choose to bring the fruit of their work within creation as an offering, directly utilising God’s creation in their working life and in their devotional life.

Creation is Fallen

Cain’s ominous actions are bound up with the created order.

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. (v.8)

The act itself was committed outside, a point that is explicitly referenced within the story – twice. This is important – killing Abel is not just an offence against humanity, but an offence against the cosmos on a fundamental level.

When Cain commits the unspeakable, God asks where Abel is.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper? (v.9)

Cain denies the crime outright, as if he could conceal his actions, and his sin from God. God doesn’t need an admission from Cain. He feels the full weight of Cain’s massacre upon God’s creation.

What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. (v.10)

The earth cries out to God on Abel’s behalf. This cry is a demand for vengeance from the earth which has in some way absorbed the solemnity of Abel’s death. The details about this are scarce – perhaps Cain had buried Abel’s body in the ground hoping that his crime might go undetected, or perhaps in that fatal moment, Abel’s blood spilled on the ground. In any case, the earth took the burden of Abel’s death and cried out to God for justice. A similar story takes place in Luke where, if the people’s praises were silenced, the stones would cry out in praise (19:40). In Luke, the ground, the stones, and all of the created order recognise God as their creator and saviour, and yearn for redemption from its fallen-ness, through Him.

Creation is Angered

Genesis goes onto state;

So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand (v.11)

We now know that Abel’s blood was not lying on the ground, openly spilt. The surface of the earth opened its mouth to receive it. Again, this may indicate that Cain buried Abel, in an attempt to cover up his transgression. We see this in Numbers, where we are told that;

…blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell… (35:33-34)

God dwells in the land in Numbers, and in Genesis with Cain and Abel, and he finds blood to be a pollution upon his creation. The result of this pollution is that the earth will no longer co-operate with Cain. Cain has abused God’s created order and it now rejects him. Abel’s blood has damaged God’s relationship with creation, and separated him from it.

When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth. (v.12)

In cursing the ground by murdering Abel, Cain has in turn been cursed by the ground. He is fated to live in the absence of his usual agricultural activity, wandering restlessly within a created order that no longer recognises him. This indicates a kind of ‘poetic justice’, where we recognise that the punishment has been established to fit the crime. Cain was an agronomic man who would have enjoyed in his work, so in keeping with the nature of his crime, God punishes him using the earth. Cain is ruined – the ground will no longer be fruitful for him, and he will no longer be able to produce a living from the work, and the life, that he has known up until this point.

The story of Cain and Abel sheds some light on God’s relationship with creation, and how he feels about us neglecting or directly harming any part of his created order. Become a part of the solution TODAY, by subscribing, and signing the petition to establish Creation Day as a national holiday.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/creation-day

Caring for the Great Economy

In a fast moving world where the deteriorating environment is becoming more and more of a concern, we must make a conscious choice to care for the Great Economy that our God lovingly created.

How Should We Understand Creation?

• As God’s Sole Property
According to the bible, God unreservedly owns everything that is and everything that we have. Psalm 24:1 states that;
“The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it…”
As humans with a sense of self-entitlement, we often forget that we do not own the world or any part of it. If we are to understand ourselves as humans, rooted in the creation story, then we need to understand that exclusive human ownership of creation is false. We are given the resources of nature to use wisely and responsibly, but not to bring ruin or waste upon them. We have no biblical authority to harm or destroy anything on the earth.

• As Something to be Cared For
In Genesis 1:28, humanity was told to:
“…fill the earth and subdue it.”
This authority given to us is of responsible stewardship over what God found to be ‘good’. God created for his pleasure and continues to find worth and beauty in it despite its corruption by humans. This means that we, as humans, have a responsibility to ensure the ongoing protection and security of the earth as God’s creation.

• As Important to God
It is important for us, as Christians to understand that Christ’s gift of salvation was made possible only through God’s inherent love for the entire created order. Quoting John 3:16 as a verse intended for people alone is a misleading attempt to separate the love that God has for humans, with the love that he has for the whole cosmos.
We must understand that the created order is one indivisible unit in God’s eyes – nature, humanity and animal life are all the creation to which God feels deeply bonded. Our anthropocentric view of creation has led us to believe that we have complete dominion over the earth to the point of absolutism. This belief opens the way to exploitation of our natural resources and abuse of God’s creation.

The Great Economy

• What is the Great Economy?
In his lecture, ‘Christianity and the Survival of Creation’, Wendell Berry (a prominent environmental activist) discusses the idea that the created order should be viewed as the ‘Great Economy’ from which all economies are born. This theory argues that the earth and all of creation is the source from which everything that we have, and everything that we are stems. In other words, we are completely reliant on the earth for everything, and for this reason, must care for our environment like we do our cash, because it is valuable and essential. The Great Economy provides resources that allow us to eat, sleep, work, build, trade and live godly lives.
What this idea seeks to do is create a vision of responsible stewardship and guardianship of the Kingdom of God as a whole – to ensure that we understand dominion in a way that is responsibly, and conscientiously concerned for the environment as God’s creative masterpiece. We must understand that to focus on material items and material life at the expense of the environment is false economy – it denies creation as the source of all wealth and material.

• Looking Toward Heaven
Christians can, at times, have a mind-set that is so thoroughly immersed in eschatological hope and Christ’s imminent return that we end up living, not in the ‘now’, but in the ‘not yet’. The bible’s teaching in John 15:19 teaches us that we are ‘in the world’ but not ‘of the world’ – this can lead to a misunderstanding about our role in creation and the way in which we are to care for it.
We are one part of creation, and as such, we must never look to the future at the expense of God’s whole creative work, or deny or depreciate it in any way. If we are too focused on future events, it can be easy to be careless with our resources, or diminish the value of the Great Economy by regarding it as something temporary. We must remember that without the Great Economy, we would not be able to live the life that God intended for us.

• What Must We Do?
It is not acceptable for us as humans, made in the image of God, to withdraw from God’s primary love – creation – and deny our environmental responsibilities. The bible makes no secret of the sanctity with which the world was made, and the reverence that God felt, and continues to feel when he views his work. Creation is not in any sense, independent of God. God continues to engage with creation and respects it. Participating in the repairing and care for the world is an active engagement with the love that God is, and is a way of showing our respect for what we receive from the Great Economy. Let’s not forget that God’s redemptive plans include a renewal of the world that we currently live on. God cares deeply for the world as his divine creation.
To effectively honor our creative God we must learn to set our hearts to heaven and our minds to his Great Economy.

We can honor God this Creation Day by signing the petition to establish Creation Day as an official holiday. Sign here.

Identity

(character vs. personality)

Statistics show that suicide is the second leading cause of death in ages 10 to 24 and the third leading cause for ages 12 to 18. Addiction is another cause of juvenile delinquency and incarceration. These age brackets are experiencing identity crisis due to lack of self esteem and sense of belonging altogether along with keeping up in academics. Adolescence is the climax of our zealousness for approval, we are in thirst for recognition. Aside from DNA we are identified as to the product of how much love and affirmation we receive from our family. The character and personality we develop as a result of our upbringing.

The difference between character and personality is that character is the inner foundation, which involves our core values, whereas personality is simply the outward manifestation of our emotions affecting our behavior and preferences. When these two are in conflict or if the character is not built on a strong foundation, we become vulnerable to making unwise decisions. We let emotions define the peace that our soul yearns for. Sadly, emotions are unstable as it only sees with our natural senses, which is temporal while the soul thirsts for eternity. Emotions do not have the ability to discern eternity and the purpose of man.

Man being a composite of three distinct components, which is the body, soul, and spirit, deep calls out to pursue the ultimate source of abundant supply of love and affirmation. The Word says we have a greater being inside of us that ought to be feared by evil who will try to snatch us away from the noble path God has determined for us.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
Psalm 139:13-14

God being our Creator has the abundant supply of love and we have direct access to Him through Jesus Christ. He has the blueprint of our purpose in life. When we come to Him as we are, all He sees is our potential not our predicament. He sees our purpose not our deficiency. He sees our victory not our failures. When He called us to be, it was part of His plan to create within us a strong character that is far more reliable than emotional indicators. Even the prophets in the Bible were not fit and popular before God called them to service. Some of them even wondered why God chose them while the real question is “Who do you belong to?”

“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, is revealed,
then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
” Colossians 3:3-4

Just as Christ’s identity was only revealed to those whom the Father has chosen, only God has the full image of our design. Only He can draw that purpose out of us. Only if we look in His eyes will we see the glory that we have been given through the sacrifice of the One who found us worth dying for. We become the person in the eyes of who we look through and if we redirect our focus on the truth, it shall manifest.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.
For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:2

Nature and You

In a hectic world where everybody is running a race, has anyone ever genuinely thought of what role our nature plays in these areas where our environment continuously wastes away for thoughtless projects?

The Word of God says that a man who trusts in the Creator is like a tree planted by the river – always fruitful regardless of season. Who wouldn’t wish for abundance? Did you ever wonder why God compared man with a tree that knows no drought? Like the tree’s roots that knows no thirst our Creator wants us to place ourselves in the position where our resources never run dry.

We need to understand that our natural resources were not created after us, they were created before us, so that by the time we are brought into life, they are able to sustain us.

Looking deep into the scriptures, in the beginning we do not work to cultivate our environment to feed us. God has created everything to serve us in submission to Him. Only when man disregarded God’s favor upon him did the world turn upside down. Man was enticed by the bait of an alien who has not proven any concern for him and forgot all about the One who has the power to give what he asks for. As a consequence, God cursed the ground and through painful toil man eats from it and from animals which have became hostile. We have lost our authority over God’s creation as a result of our nullifying of God’s care for us.

When Christ Jesus came, He brought restoration to the original plan of God. He gave us His only Son to put our faith on and believe that in every man’s labor he has regained authority to speak and declare fruitfulness over the work of his hands.

We invite you to celebrate God’s restoration with us and become a part of this advancement. We bring awareness about God’s creation in relation to our existence.

You are God’s creation so come take the journey with us and follow our blogs! We would gladly appreciate your responses!

Nature or Creation?

Language matters.

A small difference in a turn of phrase or even the changing of a single letter can speak volumes if the context is right. Early in Christian history for example, debates over the doctrine of the Trinity boiled down to two words, two words spelled almost identically but for one letter. As it turns out, that seemingly small distinction would come to mark the boundary between orthodoxy and heresy.

Another distinction, which may seem small at first, is particularly relevant for our present day, the difference between “nature” and “creation.”

Though often used interchangeably, these two words in fact carry with them very different ways of imagining the world in which we live, and the shift from creation to nature has serious implications.

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, people saw the world around them as enchanted. The Christian tradition had long spoken of the world as something created and ordered by God, and filled with spiritual forces both good and evil. The land below and the sky above were, in a very real sense, understood as a gift from God, and we as His image bearers were uniquely connected to and responsible for the creation.

Yet over time, for reasons too numerous and complex to expand on here, the imagination of the Western world gradually became disenchanted.

No longer was this world around us “creation,” even if we still used the word. Instead, it was “nature.” The difference being that unlike creation, nature is just material, it has neither a meaning nor a telos, a goal.

This has serious ecological implications, because nature is something for human consumption – hence “natural resources.” The whole debate shifts. We might argue that we should use those resources more responsibly, or more aggressively, or that their use will have this health effect or that impact on the economy, but it all boils down to material that is given meaning by the ways it should or shouldn’t be used by people.

But if world is a creation, if God ordered it and placed humanity in it as his image bearers, then there is more to the story. In that case we have a calling to steward this place on behalf of the Creator whose image we bear.

Case in point, a recent survey showed that 57 percent of Americans believe “that humans are called by God to live responsibly with plants, animals and earthly resources.” These are people who are being shaped by a different story than the pervasive materialism of our day. A story in which the world is more than nature, it is creation. And that story has shaped their imaginations in such a way that it influences their day-to-day choices.

So yes, it is just the difference between two words, words that admittedly many of us use interchangeably without even noticing. But, once we start to pay attention, we soon find that its more than two words, it is two fundamentally different ways of viewing the world, it is the difference between enchantment and disenchantment.

And that enchanted creation, that place God set us over to care for and tend? It is worth fighting for.