LIBERTY UNIVERSITY ONLINE

Biblical Worldview
AN ESSAY SUBMITTED TO
PROFESSOR LARRY BROWN
BIBL105-B13 OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY

BY CAR
FEBRUARY 2015

Since I first started reading the Bible I have looked at the first 11 chapters of Genesis as merely a historical text to tell how God created the world, His grace, His love, His justice and His Holiness. However after reading it with an eye toward how it influences my world view and how I see the natural world, the human identity, human relationships and civilization I see there is a wealth of information overlooked in most people’s basic understanding of what could be considered the most important 11 chapters in the Bible.
As we see from the beginning of the Book of Genesis a triune God created the entire natural world and all living things in six days. According to Moses writing he meant six twenty-four hour periods, this is based on the fact Moses used the word “Yom” for day in this book. “Yom” as used in other parts of the Bible refers to a day as a twenty-four hour period by this we can be sure Moses wasn’t referring to a day as some other period of time. Based on this God is showing us we are to work six days and rest on the seventh or Sabbath as seen in Genesis 2:2-3 (NIV) “Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” These first 11 chapters also show us the fallacy in evolution as the Bible clearly states He created all living things, from birds that fly in the air to the creature that lives in the bottom of the ocean, as seen in Genesis 1:20 (NIV) “And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.””, Genesis 1:24 (NIV)” And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so”. As we see from these passages God created all things. Nowhere does it say they would evolve into a creature God desired.
We are made in Gods image. Our identity is to be images of God to rule over the world He created, as caretakers for his bounty. As stated in Genesis 1:26 (NIV) ”Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” God our father wants us to develop our own identity and not worry how well or how poorly we stack up against others. We are not in competition with them for God’s love, favor, or mercy. We all have unique skills we put to use for Gods glory as we see in Genesis 4:7 (NIV) “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door...” As we see God is trying to tell Cain that he is just as worthy in Gods eye as his brother Abel, Cain must do is what he knows is right and not be jealous of his brother.
Relationships are a struggle for every person but as we see God knew from the beginning that man would need a companion and looked to all the creatures he created to find a suitable companion for man as seen in Genesis 2:20 (NIV) “So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found”. God then created woman from man as we see in Genesis 2:23-24 (NIV) “The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” At this point man and woman are united and living a joyful peaceful existence in the Garden of Eden. Then sin comes into their lives. When questioned by God Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent. Thus starts a long road of people failing to accept responsibility for their actions as seen just two chapters later when Cain utters his most famous line after Killing his brother Abel Genesis 4:9 (NIV) “…“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”” In just a few short chapters we see the relationships go from perfection of Gods peace to the terror of killing a brother out of petty jealousy. Our relationships are like that they can be the greatest joy in our lives or with a simple twist can be the greatest sorrow.
From two people our civilization has grown to billions. How did we become so diverse and disparate? It tells us in Genesis how and why we were separated from each other when we all were one people. As told in Genesis 11:7-8 (NIV) “The Lord said, “Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.” From this point forward all the peoples were scattered throughout the lands and thus created the myriad of cultures, speech, and traditions we see today.
As we see from the first eleven chapters of Genesis there is more than just a boring history lesson. The Lord had Moses write down some of the most important world information we could need. It tells us how we are to view the world and its bounty and everything is here as God created and intended, there is no evolution. It shows us who we are and what we are supposed to do with our lives and our identities. We find out how we are to interact with each other and what is expected of us in a relationship with others. It tells us how we have become so divided in the world and why we will never be able to unite as a single people.