Bible Nutshells in Prehistory

In a nutshell, there are different ways to look at the bible:

1. It’s about PEOPLE who sinned, then God helped, then sinned again, then God helped again, then sin, then help, sin, help, and so on.
2. It’s about six COVENANTS God made with humans: Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus that still affect us today.
3. It’s about TIME: pre-history (history before it was recorded by historians), Old Testament time, and New Testament time which includes today.
4.  It’s an EXPLANATION of God, revealed by God, starting with His creation of the universe and humans in paradise, how the humans got themselves kicked out of paradise, and how God is actively getting humans back to paradise.
5. It’s a LOVE story of God pursing humans to have a loving relationship with them.
6. It’s a RECORD of foreshadowing (what God says will happen; Old Testament) and outcomes (what happens; spoiler alert: what God says will happen, does happen.  Even more exciting, what is predicted and ‘hidden’ in the Old Testament is fulfilled and ‘revealed’ in the New Testament.)

The important thing is that everyone hears about the Bible and forms a personal relationship with God. Our God is so different from the “gods” of myth and superstition as we will see.

So we ended our pre-history part of the Bible last Sunday. It’s just the first few chapters of Genesis and covers creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the ark, and the Great Flood. Plus some cool vocabulary (I don’t believe in ‘dumbing down’ the vocabulary for anyone. Heck, if kindergarteners can say ‘tyrannosaurus’ and ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’, then my sixth graders can learn magisterium (the teaching office of the Church) and lectionary (the book that contains the scripture readings for Mass; there’s one for Sundays (3 volumes to cover 3 years) and one for weekday Masses.

Here’s what I hope they understood over the last three Sundays:

• The earth, people, outer space: it all got here somehow. Someone had to start it. Yes, there is a God.
• God is not part of creation. He is the creator of everything and is therefore Supreme.
• There are two Genesis accounts of Creation: Genesis is not a science book. The point of Genesis is the FACT that 1) there was nothing, except God and 2) God created the universe
• Why did God make us? To have a loving relationship with us. God is love.
• Didn’t my parents make me? Yes, with God. One thing we’ll see again and again is that God wants to share Himself with us—He let’s us share in being creators of humans
• Human Dignity: the value every human being has because each of us, no exceptions, are made in the image and likeness of God
• God is Trinity: three persons in one God. It’s a mystery. See next item.
• Mystery: we don’t have to have all the answers; we “believe in” and “accept” all kinds of things. Electricity, for example. We believe in it and accept it although we don’t understand it. Oh, we “see the effects” of electricity? Well, Christians “see the effects” of prayer, too. It’s part of maturity to accept the fact of mystery in our lives.
• There is a physical world and a non-physical, spiritual world. Many people believe this although not all of them believe in God. They believe, instead, that pieces of creation (rocks; star constellations; “energy” account for the magnificent organization of the universe.)
• In the spiritual world, there is good and evil, so YES, there is a devil. In fact, Jesus mentions Satan, “the Liar”, “the deceiver” more than anyone else in the Bible! There’s a reason for that. Jesus, since He’s God, knows Satan. He knew him when he was a beautiful angel who got so full of pride that he was expelled from heaven. A myth? Hardly. Angels are one of the mystical facts of Christianity that even non-Christians can’t let go of.  And it sure explains a lot of what is happening in the world—especially in our present age.
• Learning science is learning about God’s intelligence.
• Adam & Eve lived intimately with God; they talked to Him! He walked among them!
• Humans brought sin into the world: God didn’t invent sin. Sin is turning away from God.
• The Fall refers to Adam and Eve disobeying God, then blaming each other, and getting kicked out of paradise. God made us for Paradise and the Bible is the record of everything He’s doing to get us back to Paradise.
• Cain and Abel: Cain sinned by not giving God his best, as required. Then he sinned again by murdering Cain because he was jealous.
• Noah: people continued to sin on earth. Did you ever make something sew a dress or build a table—and it didn’t go right and you kept trying to fix it but nothing you tried would make it right so you scrapped the project and started all over? Sin had ruined God’s earth.
• Rainbow: Sign of the covenant God made with Noah to never destroy the earth in entirety again
• What is “hidden” in the Old Testament is “revealed” in the New Testament. The correlation between the two (written and happening thousands of years apart) is amazing!
• Why do Catholics reject the idea of sola scriptura (bible only)? Catholics definitely accept the Bible as God’s revelation. But the Apostles wrote that there was so much more Jesus said and did than they could write, and Jesus said to continue to do what He did, that Catholics believe the Bible (the written word of God) and Sacred Tradition (what the Apostles said Jesus said and did that was handed down orally)
• Liturgical calendar: the organization of bible readings and feast days the Church uses so every part of the Bible and Tradition gets covered
• Ordinary Time: part of the liturgical calendar that denotes weeks that are not Advent, Christmas, Lent or Easter. Priests wear green vestments during Ordinary Time

See you next Tuesday for the beginning of our second time period the Patriarchs (and Matriarchs.)