Genesis 1: This chapter speaks on how it was before the heavens and the earth were created. Side note, though! There is something called ‘the gap theory.’ This theory suggests that there is a lot of missing information between verses 1 and 2. The part of the story when Satan and a third of his angels fell from heaven and created evil and chaos on earth, and completely emptied it. Some people believe that perhaps God was recreating earth, not creating it for the first time. In Isiah 45:18 is clearly said that God didn’t create the world to be empty, yet in the book of genesis it shares the piece-by-piece creation of the earth and everything in it over a 6-day period, resting on the 7^th day. So, the theory goes, if the world was emptied, something emptied it out. During Genesis, we see God naming everything he creates, and by the spark of his word whatever he speaks, he speaks into creation. Some believe that life expectancy was so much longer, close 1000 years. Perhaps this was because there was no pollution, everything was pure, and disease and danger didn’t exist. The food was organic, fruit and vegetables reseeded themselves in plentiful amount. It tells us that humans were meant to rule over the earth, and all the animals and creatures. Also declaring that we were originally made to be vegetarians. This later changes, but how interesting.

Genesis 2: This is where Sabath was created, or a day of rest. The day of rest was created for allow men to rest if we so wish. And Sabath was the 7^th day, which is actually Saturday according to the bible. This makes sense to me, because nobody is resting here or sleeping in on Sunday morning when we are up early and getting ready for church. This chapter shares that men were made from dust, implying that we were created as humble beings. God creates Adam and the garden of Eden, including two very important trees: The Tree of Life which gives you eternal life when you eat from it, and then there was The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This tree was placed in the Garden of Eden to provide free will, and to test whether man would choose good or evil. Some feel that this was a cruel thing to place in Eden, others say it was to give man the ability to choose what he wanted for himself and not be completely controlled by God. Adam was told by God that he can eat from every tree in the garden, but the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was to be off limits and would surely bring death and cancel out the perfect eternal life they would receive from The Tree of Eternal Life. Again, he was given directions to not eat from the second tree, yet also told he technically could, but that there would be consequences for doing so. During Genesis 2, God also created woman from the rib of Adam while he slept. The woman was named Eve and was created as a gift, an equal that fits together and as a complimentary partner. Marriage comes into play in a roundabout way when God mentions “and they shall become one flesh” speaking of physical intimacy and sharing that this is a time that man will leave his family to create his own. It’s mentioned that there is a complete lack of shame regarding things like nudity and an overall ignorance of embarrassment and insecurities. What a life that would be, huh?

Genesis 3: Chapter 3 is where we head downhill. Here we see the introduction of Satan in the form of a serpent. He was in the garden of Eden to bring doubt, envy, and to spark that naughty side that sometimes excites us when we know we shouldn’t do something. There is also a bit gas lighting when Satan gives Even just enough truth to confuse what is right and wrong; assures her that she is totally allowed to “touch” the tree of knowledge of good and evil and tries to appeal to Eve’s pride as if God is withholding something good from her with this boundary they have been given. She experiences what we may know as FOMO, as Satan tells her that she will have so much knowledge and wisdom… which is kind of true but comes with consequences. It shares that sin, or when we make bad choices, happens in steps and we don’t fall into it like victims. Eve decides to go ahead and eat the fruit from the forbidden tree, and soon Eve talks Adam into eating from the fruit as well. Sometime after, God comes to visit Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they were suddenly aware that they were naked and covered themselves up with leaves. When God asks Adam if he had eaten from the forbidden tree, he instantly blames Eve for the choice that he made, following Eve blaming the serpent. The moral of this was to take accountability for your choices without shifting the blame and take responsibility for the choices you knowingly made. God curses the serpent, and forces Adam and Eve to leave the leisure life in the Garden of Eden to figure life out for themselves among pain, sorrow, sadness, struggles, argument, evil, aging, decay, etc. Here we see the first killing of animals, using their skins to cloth Adam and Eve which was probably pretty traumatic and heartbreaking considering they had never been subjected to inflicting pain onto any other living creature. They are told that they must labor for anything they want, meaning nothing in their new life will come easy and if they want food, it doesn’t just grow by itself anymore.

Genesis 4: Here Cain is introduced into the story, Adam and Eve’s first-born son, soon followed by his brother Abel. Abel was a sheep worker, and Cain was a farmer. There was a time when both Abel and Cain brought offerings to God, yet only accepts Abel’s offering. This angers Cains, however later in the story we learn that Cain’s offering was brought to God without good intent or faith, perhaps expecting something in return. This makes Cain extremely jealous and hates his brother. Here we see that God sees that Cain is thinking of killing his brother and tells him that sin is crouching at his door and that he must overcome his desire to murder his brother, however Cain follows through with his brother’s murder in the field. When God asks Cain where Abel is, his reply is that he doesn’t know and that he “isn’t his brother’s keeper.” Cain isn’t regretful over the murder of his brother but feeling sorry for himself for the punishment that God gave him for murdering his brother; a curse that won’t allow him to be a successful farmer. It seems that perhaps God though his punishment was too harsh and put a protection over Cain. This was because Cain felt that since he would become a wanderer, he would be murdered. Cain leaves and settles in the land of Nod, East of Eden. Cain later has a child with his wife named Enoch, then names a city after his son. With his second wife, Cain has additional children. We see the beginning of entrepreneurship when his children start businesses. Side note: Seth is born to Cain, from Seth’s family tree comes Jesus.