Fr Sebastian Bible Study - Session 3

Here are the notes from the 11/15/07 bible study lecture by Father Sebastian, which took place tonight in Potthoff Hall.

The hall is getting slightly more full each week. There were maybe 10 free seats tonight.


To understand a biblical story or incident, we need to know several things:

• The context of the story
• The challenges of the time
• The intentions of the author
• The relevance for us today

If we read the bible without this knowledge, we may get the wrong messages.

"THE FALL"

"After God create Man, God rested. After God created Woman, neither God nor Man rested." (LOL)

Why do we suffer? What is the source of sin?

The second creation story (see notes on previous session for both creation stories) was written in the 9th or 10th century B.C., a period of prosperity. Some religions tried at the time to explain sin. Some said it was due to dualism, which in this case refers to a "good" power in the universe versus a "bad" power.

In the story of Gilgamesh, an evil ancient Sumerian king, a pagan god tried several times to kill Gilgamesh but he always succeeded in escaping. One time, a man/god came down to him and Gilgamesh asked the man/god to give him something to make him live forever. He was given an apple, which he took home. While at home taking a shower, a snake snuck into his home and stole the apple and ate it, acquiring eternal life. There were also other stories popular at the time, wherein snakes had supernatural powers. This was a common belief.
THIS IS THE CONTEXT FOR THE CREATION STORY

The prophet/author, therefore, needed to convey that snakes did not have supernatural powers; and that sin comes from our wrong choices, not from a snake.

The Sins of Adam and Eve:

• Decision without the knowledge and wisdom of the creator
• Overstepped their limits
• Disobedience
• Listening to the wrong sources

The effects of these sins:

• Feelings of insecurity
• Original sin is not limited to them
• Inability to restore (back to the way it was)

The Effects of Original Sin

According to the Bible:

• Loss of Grace
• Loss of inner harmony
• Suffering
• Death

According to St Augustine:

• Death of the body
• Wounds of human nature:
  • Ignorance
  • Malice
  • Weakness
  • Disorder in our passion and emotion

We do not commit original sin; we inherit it. We commit actual sin. Baptism restores our friendship with God.

Any time there is order and it gets disrupted, there is suffering.

CAIN & ABEL

Focus of the story: Sin against one another

Cain had a desire for domination
Cain could have controlled his anger

Cain represents oppressors
Abel represents the oppressed

Message: There are always these 2 groups. As long as the two groups exist (as in today), the Kingdom of God is only a distant possibility.

Even though God punished Cain (Gen 4:11), he also protected him when he threatened to punish "sevenfold" anyone who killed Cain (Gen 4:15). So who was God referring to?

We need to approach the bible more with faith than with reason to get the right messages.

THE COVENANT WITH NOAH

Sin: There is a chain reaction; it never stops

"The growth of sin and the regret of God"

"The sons of God had relations with the daughters of Man" (Gen 6:1-5) - What does this mean?

Sons of God	Daughters of Man
Seth	Cain
Seth's son Enosh	Cain's son Enoch
Seth invoked the name of God (Gen 4:26)	Cain named a city after Enoch
10th Generation: Noah (Gen 5:29)	7th Generation: Lamech - polygamy (Gen 4:19)

---------------------------
mutual attraction

polygamy - sin institutionalized

END OF NOTES (m kellogg)

Father Sebastian's Bible Study

Father Sebastian has begun hosting a bible study lecture on the first and third Thursdays of every month, with plans to continue through about June 2008. Here is a brief synopsis of the first two sessions.

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What is the Bible?

• The Word of God - To communicate we use words
• A record of human experience of God's revelation

Without the light of God, we see things differently.

When Adam was with God, he spoke of Eve in beautiful language. Later, when he had lost the light of God, he called her, "that woman you gave me."

We respond the way we perceive, so God's light is critical. Without it, we stumble around and make a mess of things.

In his time, Jesus was the light. Today, the Church is the light. "Lumen Gentium" = "Light of the nations". "Our light must shine before others."

Covenant = Unconditional surrender. "The opposite of covenant is prostitution."

In the Bible, God makes 6 covenants (these describe his relationship with humanity):

1. Adam - besides himself, Adam represents humanity
2. Noah - Noah had children who had families, so Noah represents a household
3. Abraham - represents tribes
4. Moses - represents nation (10 commandments = constitution)
5. David - Kingdom with military power
6. Jesus - International with spiritual, not military, power

The bible is made up of 73 books: 27 in the New Testament and 46 in the Old Testament. There was a breakdown described of each of these categories which cannot be duplicated here.

Genesis = "The Beginning" - 50 chapters: 1-11 "Pre-history"; 12-50 "Patriarchal history". 4 authors at 4 different times. For example, in Chapter 1 God is referred to as "God", "God", "God". Yet in Chapter 2 he is always referred to as "Lord God".

In 480 B.C., the Babylonians defeated Israel. This meant that the God of Babylon, Marduch, had beaten the God of Israel. At this time, a priest arrived whose job it was to restore the identity of Israel and to convert the Babylonians to save them. This was a big job, since the perception was that if a nation was defeated, the victor nation's god had in effect beaten the losing nation's god. So to communicate Israeli beliefs effectively, the priest/author needed to use imagery, language, and stories familiar to the Babylonians.

----- End of session 1

The Creation Stories (2)

"Creation" means "Bringing order out of chaos". The "first creation story," Genesis Ch 1, was written by the above-mentioned priest/author in the 2nd century B.C.

Fr Sebastian described a pyramid that mirrors Genesis and our understanding of God's creation. There are 5 levels in the pyramid:

• The bottom level is labeled "Chaos" with the note In The Beginning off to the side. This is where it all begins.
• Level 4 is labeled "Vegetative" with the note Senses, as we first learn to use our senses.
• Level 3 is labeled "Animal" with the note Instincts, as we learn to use our instincts next
• Level 2 is labeled "Human" with the note Logic & Reason, as we learn to use these next, and this is what separates us from animals.
• The peak of the pyramid is labeled "Christ" and the note is Faith, as this is the final step in our development.

We are expected to use all of the traits in those notes as images of God. The extent to which we do so constitutes our Growth and the lack of use of these God-given abilities constitutes Moral Degradation. Also notice that the order of the pyramid matches the order in which Genesis recounts God's creation of the world.

Chapter 1, the "first Creation story", tells a story of separations: Day from Night; Earth from Sky; Darkness from Light; etc.

In the first creation story, God is Transcendant and Omnipotent; One Supreme God; Creation was an effortless task; Creation was from nothingness; Everything else (stars, sun) was "creatures". These ideas all were in sharp contrast to the understanding of how the Babylonian God, Marduch, created the universe, but described such that Babylonians could understand.

Similarly, "Man" was made in God's image. This is likened to kings of that period creating statues of themselves and placing them throughout their kingdom so that subjects could view them and feel connected to the king. In the same way, we are images, or representatives, of God. We are not God, just images. God placed limits on Man.

"The purpose of creation was to serve God"

Man and Woman were equal parties - neither was superior nor inferior.

God said "very good" about all his creations. This means: God did not create evil. Everything God creates is good.

The 2nd Creation story (Genesis 2) was written about the 10th century B.C., the time of Solomon, to communicate Israeli beliefs to worshipers of "Baal". The culture there had an agricultural background and worshipped Baal (as "father God") and Earth (as "mother God"). They believed that for them to receive bountiful harvests and healthy land, Baal must have sexual relations with Earth. High Baal priests had the same with virgins, which they believed encouraged Baal. This was the understanding of women's purpose then: procreation. Notice that Solomon had 600 wives.

The author of Genesis 2, then, needed to enlighten them in these areas. Woman is equal to Man. The author used imagery that communicated to an agricultural culture: Notice the description of the earth is different between Genesis 1 and 2 (due to the cultures they were communicating in). In Genesis 1, the world is covered in oceans, full of life, and God creates Man last of all. In Genesis 2, Man is discussed first, and the world is largely barren, save for the 4 rivers God creates to nourish the land.

"Adam" comes from "Adamah," which means Earth: Man is basically from Earth. His beginning and end is Adamah. He is like any other animal. His role is to see God's face on earth and transform it to a paradise. The message? "It is not Baal doing this. It is us."

Purpose of Man: Transform the earth. Man has the breath of God and is here to live, not die. His existence depends on god, and he names other creatures (which symbolizes his stature above them). He is in charge of the garden.

----- End of session 2 (notes by M Kellogg)

Please feel encouraged to add your comments and discussion to this weblog, to continue and enhance our study. And by all means, attend future sessions. The next lecture is November 15th, 7:30 pm at Potthoff Hall. Refreshments and study sheets are provided. All are welcome.

What's on your mind?

This is a new blog for our parish. It is our hope that through this blog, we can somehow touch the lives of our parish youth and their parents, enrich their spirituality and help them be more Christ-like in their everyday lives. Please do post your comments today. What would you like to see in this blog? What topics would you like to see discussed? What ideas do you have that you feel will allow us to reach more people with God's message of Love? Let us know today.