Faithful Writers

When examining the history of ancient covenants in the Bible era, it is clear that blood played a central role in the covenant-making process. In the early stages of covenant history, the participants would cut their arms with a knife and then hold their cuts together to seal the covenant. During this process, the name or names of pagan Gods were invoked. In time, instead of the participants cutting each other up, a different procedure came on the scene that entailed the cutting up of an animal in half and the covenant parties walking between the two halved animal parts. Our modern - day English expression “ to cut a deal ” originates from this ancient custom. Just remember that in ancient times, entering into a covenant involved blood and vows made to a god or gods. Another important tradition that will greatly enhance our understanding of certain texts of the Bible is the custom of eating salt together with bread as the final event of a covenant ceremony. This practice was so prevalent that the covenant ceremony also came to be known as The Covenant of Salt . During the days of Moses, when the sacrificial system was established, God commanded the Levites to always sprinkle the sacrifices with salt. Fast forward 2000 years to Yeshua’s day; whenever the expression “covenant of salt was used," it referred to a holy and eternal covenant. This expression also came to be understood as referring to the Abrahamic covenant that we just looked at. Just know that whenever you encounter the word “salt” in the Old or New Testament… Be aware that it is connected to God’s holiness in relation to His covenants or sacrifices. © Richoka

There are two important points about the call of Abraham. First , when God called Abraham, He made it clear to him that his family was NOT welcome. God was calling him to a complete separation from his past and everything he held dear. To Abraham, this must have been a terrifying prospect. He had to leave his homeland and become an unprotected wanderer abroad. In addition, in a society where one’s culture and family were held in the greatest esteem, it could not have been easy for Abraham to have to reject his father’s pagan values and standards. Second, why did God choose Abraham out of all the people of the earth to become the one through whom He would bring about a holy nation unto Himself? I would like to share the following excerpt I got from a heavy volume titled The Jewish Study Bible. “In Genesis chapter 12, these extraordinary promises come like a bolt from the blue, an act of God’s grace alone ; no indication has been given as to why or even whether Abram merits them.” -The Jewish Study Bible, page 30, commentary on Genesis Chapter 12. This passage is similar to the Mishna excerpt I quoted in a previous lesson regarding why Noah was considered worthy of the salvation that God extended to him. The conclusion in both of these cases was that neither Noah nor Abraham merited their election from God. It was all God’s grace. I mention this again because of the common misconception that grace began in the New Testament era. This ain’t true homies! I reiterate pretty much word for word what I said in an earlier lesson. The Hebrews did NOT believe they could work their way into heaven. Their obedience to God’s laws was predicated on their gratefulness to God for saving them. Even in the Old Testament ( and boy I sure hate to use the term Old Testament ), the pattern set down is salvation first and then obedience to God’s ways. Remember God saved Israel from Egypt first and then gave them His Torah. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”- Luke 14:26 “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”- Matthew 19:29 © Richoka

Today, we begin Genesis Chapter 5. For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here. For the King James version, click here . If you’ve ever wondered what’s up with all the genealogies listed in the Bible, I gave you the answer in my last post . In the Bible, bloodlines are everything. These genealogies stand as an objective and enduring testimony to God’s faithfulness to preserve His chosen nation, Israel. And the great news is that you too, can become one with Israel through faith in the Messiah. In my last post , I pointed out that Cain (the one who killed his brother Abel) would be the forerunner of the wicked line of Satan while Seth would be the ancestral forerunner of the people of God. So, Genesis Chapter 5 is the genealogy of Seth and his descendants. It is from this holy line that Noah of Noah’s ark fame will emerge. Note that Noah’s father is named Lamech. However, this is NOT the same wicked Lamech mentioned in Genesis chapter 4. Lamech was likely a typical name for that era, just as Bill and George are typical names in our day. In the Bible, when you see the same name pop up repeatedly two or three times, do NOT immediately assume it’s the same person we are talking about. Another interesting feature that stands out as we read this list is that folks lived quite a long time back then. As unlikely as it may seem to be, there is nothing symbolic or metaphorical about the ages listed. Those are real ages. At the close of this chapter, two important things are revealed to us. First, we are introduced to Noah, who will be commissioned by God to build the ark. Second, we are introduced to Noah’s three sons, Shem, Japheth and Ham from whom the whole human race will emerge. However, again, keep in mind that these were NOT Noah’s only sons. At the time, he was 500 years old and had already given birth to quite several children. It was only these three sons who were specially chosen by God to be saved from the flood. Soon, we will be discussing the great flood that God sent to destroy every human being and every creature that dwelled on the land. There is an interesting historical fact that I would like to point out. The great flood will effectively put an end to Cain’s race. However, through Noah and his offspring, Seth’s line will live on. What this teaches us is that any man or nation that chooses to go against God will eventually be cut off. No matter how many grand accomplishments any one individual or nation achieves, in the end their surefire destruction is guaranteed. Look at what the God of Israel did to Egypt. Look at what happened to the Roman Empire. In closing, I leave you with this insightful quote from Mark Twain testifying to the eternal nature of the Jewish people. “If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one quarter of one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are also very out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world in all ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greeks and Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they were gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, and have vanished. The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities, of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert but aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?” — Mark Twain, September 1897 © Richoka What’s your biggest takeaway from this article?

In his book “The Gifts of The Jews — How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels,” Thomas Cahill made the following profound observations. “The Jews started it all-and by " it” I mean so many of the things we care about, the underlying values that make all of us, Jew and Gentile, believer and atheist, tick. Without the Jews, we would see the world through different eyes, hear with different ears, even feel with different feelings.” And: “For better or worse, the role of the West in humanity’s history is singular. Because of this, the role of the Jews, the inventors of Western culture, is also singular: there is simply no one else remotely like them; theirs is a unique vocation. Indeed, as we shall see, the very idea of vocation, of a personal destiny, is a Jewish idea. ” What’s interesting is that Mr. Cahill attributes this monumental shift in human consciousness to Abraham’s calling from God to “Get yourself out of your country, away from your kinsmen and away from your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. ” I don’t think many of us realize how utterly staggering and revolutionary this calling was. In response to God’s calling, the Scriptures tell us “ WAYYELEKH AVRAM ” (“Abraham went.”) These are two of the boldest words in all literature. They mark a final departure from everything that has come before in the long evolution of culture and traditions. Before the Jews entered world history, the existing view of the cosmos was cyclical. In other words, there was no such thing as a unique event. Every event that occurs is already an event that has occurred in the past and will occur again in the future. Life was seen as part of an uncontrollable, endless, and hopeless circle of birth and death. However, once the Creator of the universe called Abraham, this circle was broken. Abraham and his progeny, the Jews, would begin seeing time differently. Once God called Abraham away from the paganism of his ancestors, time would now have a beginning and conclude with a triumphant end. To put it simply, God gave Abraham hope for the future! In a world mired in a circle of hopelessness and despair, God promised Abraham that he would have a son and eventually end up becoming the father of a great nation. Again, I reiterate, before Abraham, there was no hope for the future. All civilizations believed that man could not escape his fate. Upon hearing of Abraham’s journey, the Egyptians would have informed Abraham: “There is none born wise. Copy the forefathers. Learn what has been said in the past. And then you will set a good example.” The early Greeks might have proffered: “Remember the story of Prometheus, whose quest for the fire of the gods ended in personal disaster. Do not overreach. Come to resignation!” In India, Abraham would have been told: “Time is black, irrational, and merciless. Do not set yourself the task of accomplishing something in time, which is only the dominion of suffering.” In China, the anonymous sages would have advised: “There is no purpose in journeys or in any kind of earthly striving; the great thing is to abolish time by escaping from the law of change.” The ancestors of the Maya in America would have pointed to their circular calendars and said: “Everything that has been comes around again. Each man’s fate is fixed. Lao-Tsu and the Buddha would have told Abraham: “Do not journey but sit; compose yourself by the river of life, meditate on its ceaseless and meaningless flow-on all that is past or passing or to come-until you have absorbed the pattern and have come to peace with Great Wheel and with your own death and death of all things in the corruptible sphere.” On every continent, in every society, Abraham would have been given the same advice reflecting the cyclical worldview of the universe. Yet God called Abraham, and he went. I believe God is calling you to a new life as well. How will you respond? CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT "By trusting, Abraham obeyed, after being called to go out to a place which God would give him as a possession; indeed, he went out without knowing where he was going. By trusting, he lived as a temporary resident in the Land of the promise, as if it were not his, staying in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were to receive what was promised along with him. For he was looking forward to the city with permanent foundations, of which the architect and builder is God." Hebrews 11:8–10 © Richoka

“But there was a famine in the land, so Avram went down into Egypt to stay there, because the famine in the land was severe.” Genesis 12:10 In the closing paragraph of Chapter 12, we are shown that even Abraham, the father of our faith, is capable of succumbing to worry and temptation when external circumstances appear severe and troublesome. The narration states that there was a famine in the land, and given its severity, we are told that Abram fled from the promised land to Egypt. This was an unworthy action because he should have trusted in God’s protection. In the Scriptures, Egypt symbolizes the world that the true follower of God is to stay away from. Egypt ALWAYS indicates slavery to the devil in the Bible. One of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of our time, Maimonides ( otherwise known as Ramban ) offered the following concerning Abraham’s decision to journey to Egypt. “The patriarch “committed a great sin inadvertently” by not trusting in God’s protection, leaving the promised land, and subjecting his righteous wife to the possibility of sexual victimization.” One mishap leads to another as Abram ends up fibbing to the Pharaoh about the true identity of his wife, Sarai, fearing that a jealous Pharaoh might have him killed on account of his wife’s beauty ( by the way, Sarai would have been about 75 years old at this time ). However, Abram’s plan backfires as the very fib he offers up becomes the very reason Pharaoh attempts to court Sarai. Nevertheless, despite Abram’s less-than-commendable actions, the Lord intervenes on his behalf and smites Pharaoh and his household with as the Scriptures say “ mighty plagues ." In the end, Abraham prospers greatly and ends up leaving with an enormous number of animals and servants. This would have been a customary bride’s price paid by the Pharaoh at the time. One point we shouldn’t miss is that right here, a pattern is established between how Israel will interact with Egypt in the future. Abraham has a scuffle with Pharaoh. God smites Egypt with mighty plagues. Abraham leaves Egypt with great wealth. There is no doubt that this event foreshadows Moses and the Exodus. © Richoka

A heartfelt response from someone whose been around that mountain (more than once) Ever feel tired of trying to “be spiritual”? I sure have. I mean, we’re middle-aged now (or past), right? We’ve been at this faith thing a good bit, and sometimes it just feels like we’re faking it. Like you’re sitting in church thinking, Am I the only one here feeling absolutely nothing? I’ve been there. Done that. I’ll pick up my Bible out of habit, glance at it, and put it right back down. Not because I don’t believe anymore. I’m just dry, like someone drained my spiritual tank while I wasn’t looking. Have you ever felt that way? Are you feeling that way right now? I have some things I’ve learned that lifts me up when I’m down. I hope they’ll help you, too. Now, you might be saying, “If you know the tips, how do you fall to the bottom of the well?” Because it’s not magic. We’re all living real life here and — for whatever reasons — I’m sometimes tripped up along the way. Even Paul — the Apostle Paul — said he was “often in perplexities” (2 Corinthians 4:8). Translation? Paul had moments when he didn’t have a clue what to do next. He got stuck, he got confused, he felt empty. It always makes me feel better knowing that Paul, Mr. Spiritual Giant himself, admitted he had times when faith wasn’t easy. So let’s drop the whole idea that mature Christians never get dry. It’s nonsense. Life’s complicated. You’ve lived long enough to know there aren’t easy answers anymore, and that’s okay. What Actually Helps When You’re Empty? First, it’s okay to admit it. Actually, it’s good. Tell God straight up how you’re feeling. No fancy prayers, no polished words. Talk like you would to your best friend after a long day. Something real, like, “God, I feel empty. Honestly, I’m not even sure I care right now. Can you help me out here?” God isn’t shocked. He’s not expecting a rehearsed theological speech. Slowing Down Helps China has a form of transportation called, “Bullet Trains.” They travel at 300 miles an hour. In our modern cultures, that’s exactly how real life feels, doesn’t it. Modern life is like being strapped to the front of the bullet train — you’re not driving it, you’re just hanging on, hoping you don’t lose your hat. Or maybe you’ve felt like this: “I tried to slow down once, but life rear-ended me with a to-do list.” I overheard someone say once, “I been goin’ so fast, I’m fixin’ to meet myself comin’ back.” Here’s the thing, though: our souls are not built for this kind of speed. We need to take intentional times of rest each day. Even if it’s five minutes. It may not feel like it at the time, but the important things in your life will wait for as little as five minutes a day. I saw this at my local coffee shop: “Sip slow. Life’s better when it’s not in a to-go cup.” But Here’s More… Besides just being honest and taking a minute to breathe, here are some practical things I’ve found helpful when my soul feels like it’s running dry: 1. Listen instead of talking. Grab your coffee, tea, or whatever you drink, and just sit somewhere quiet. Don’t try to pray or read or be spiritual. Just listen. Maybe you’ll hear the fridge humming or birds outside or your dog snoring. Let it remind you life’s still moving, and God’s still there — even if you’re not feeling it right now. 2. Connect with someone who’s honest about their struggles. Call that one friend who never pretends life is perfect. Go grab lunch or chat over the phone. Talking with someone who’s real about their own struggles reminds you you’re not alone and your dryness isn’t a failure. 3. Change your routine a little. Try something new — even if it’s tiny. Go for a walk instead of scrolling through Facebook. Maybe drive a different way to work or listen to different music. Shake things up slightly. It’s amazing how small changes can break through spiritual dullness. 4. Do something small and helpful for someone else. If you’re a woman (or a man that likes to bake), bake some cookies for your neighbor or co workers. Or, just text encouragement to someone you know is struggling. Sometimes stepping outside of our dryness and doing something simple for someone else opens a door to refreshment we didn’t see coming. 5. Keep your expectations realistic. You don’t need a big emotional experience to prove God’s grace is there. Most of the time, grace is subtle. It’s strength to face the day, not necessarily the solution to all your problems . Let yourself off the hook from expecting miracles every morning. What If Nothing Changes Right Away? Honestly? It might not. And that’s okay too. Paul reminded us clearly, “We’re perplexed, but never abandoned.” (2 Corinthians 4:9) The point is, feeling lost doesn’t mean you are lost. Feeling empty doesn’t mean you’ve run dry forever. Grace shows up in simple, quiet ways more often than in loud, dramatic moments. And remember, there’s no need to stockpile grace like toilet paper in a pandemic. It doesn’t work that way. Grace is daily, fresh, and exactly enough for each day. Tomorrow’s grace? It’ll be waiting for you tomorrow. Let’s Wrap This Up… Even when you’re empty and spiritually dry, grace is always right there — simple, ready, and waiting. God sees your emptiness, understands it fully, and isn’t disappointed in you. Because here’s the truth: Being spiritually dry isn’t failure. It doesn’t mean you’ve drifted away. It means you’re human. And for every bit of dryness, confusion, or emptiness you’re facing today, remember clearly and simply: There’s grace for that. © Gary L Ellis

Today we begin Genesis Chapter 13. For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here . For the King James Bible, click here . “And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold .” -Genesis 13:1–2 So after the altercation that Abram had with the pharaoh of Egypt due to his lying about his wife’s identity, we are told that Abram left the country with much wealth. Keep in mind that in those days coins and paper money were not yet in use. A wandering nomad’s wealth would have been his livestock. We are told that Avram received so much livestock that fights were breaking out between his and Lot’s herdsmen. It was at this point that Abram suggested to his relative Lot that they separate . Abram graciously offered Lot first choice of the land that lay before them and Lot chose an area called Sodom and Gomorrah. The reason we are told is because it was “ well-watered like the garden of the Lord or the land of Egypt ." There are two principles and patterns we can glean from this incident. First, here again, we encounter the God principle of division and separation. Whether deliberate or through circumstance, God will begin to separate us from the ungodly. Second, in examining the characters of Lot and Abram, we are shown the difference between a worldly man and a Godly man. Lot chose to head out to the rich lands in the Jordan Valley. Abram moved to the fields of Canaan. Lot drooled over the world’s wealth. Abram displayed a Godly indifference to such attractions. Lot’s foolishness is further underscored in verse 13 where we are told that “ the men of Sodom were evil, committing great sins against Adonai. ” © Richoka

The person in the parable on prayer nobody talks about. If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you have probably come across Jesus’ parable on prayer. I believe His motivation for telling this story is to encourage and persuade us to persevere in our prayer life. Here is how Luke recalls it: “Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this — though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.” 11: 5–8. The lesson is simple: make your prayer life effective and fervent. Don’t just ask once and quit. Persist. Have faith and patience. Jesus goes on to say: “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” 9–13. I’ve heard this story expounded upon for many years from the perspective of the person with a need who gets what they want. And then they usually tie in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, where he encourages them to “pray without ceasing." (1 Thes 5:17) The character in the story that nobody preaches about. Have you thought about the jerk in bed? Remember, the story refers to him as a friend. And for you, Biblical scholars, the Greek word literally means “friend.” Not a neighbor or acquaintance. It is the same word James used when he called Abraham a “friend of God." (James 2:23) Can you imagine this conversation between Abraham and God? God: “Abraham, leave the home of your father and move to a land I will show you.” Abraham: “Go away, God. I have a great family and thriving business. Come back next week when I am out from under the covers.” God: “But I need you to go. I’ll keep knocking until you leave Ur of the Chaldeans.” Abraham: “OK, geez, I’ll go. You are a pain in the rear. But to shut you up, God, I’ll go.” Abraham was a friend of God — a real friend, not a social media contact, not a neighbor, not an acquaintance. The man in the parable should have bounced out of bed, run to the door, and said, “Is everything all right? It’s midnight. Are you OK?” And then rejoiced. “Make sure to introduce us before he leaves. What else do you need? A friend of yours is a friend of mine.” But he didn’t. His friendship was active if it was convenient. This article isn’t about prayer. Although the parable is. This article is about being a friend. Solomon nailed it: “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Prov 18:24 This verse highlights the importance of having authentic friends. And suggests that some friendships can be incredibly deep and supportive, even surpassing those of family. We all have friends who operate between the hours of 8 and 5. But will they be there on moving weekend? Or drive to pick you up if your car breaks down? Are they available 24/7? This is why so many people feel lonely at church. Like-minded people surround them. But none of them are friends. When I left Facebook, I had almost 1,000 “friends." And I didn’t know who most of them were. They knew someone I knew. I couldn’t tell you a thing about them. Do you have friends? Are you friendly? Would you open the door at midnight? Or do they have to badger you incessantly for what they need? Are you available to them? Are you trustworthy and faithful? Or what is called a “ fair weather friend ”? These are questions we should all ask ourselves. I want to be a friend to God. What should I do? First, study the lives of the people God called His friends. You know about Abraham. He had faith and a close relationship with God. Moses was also called God’s friend: “The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” Exodus 33:11 Moses had an intimate relationship with God, characterized by direct communication and trust. Jesus called his disciples friends. “I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.” John 15:15 Bottom Line: God often arrives at inconvenient time s. He knocks . A nd how we respond determines if we are authentic friends or not. He wants to get us out of our warm, comfortable resting place because He might want to provide for the needs of another person through us. We are blessed to be a blessing to others. Is it bothersome? It depends on the level of spiritual friendship you have. I hope I am the one who, when there is a knock at my door, bounds out of bed, provides generously what God has entrusted me with, and says, “It was nothing. No big deal. It’s how I roll. My pleasure, Lord.” God always repays. I know I’ll get much more than three loaves in return. © I.M. Koen Thanks for reading this. You might also like: God Misses You; Why not give Him a quick call to check in? Jesus Wants to Make You Breakfast.; An invitation to dine for all atheists, ex-Christians, and God-haters. Is Jesus your Boss or your Friend? May the Lord make His face to shine upon you! -Issachar

How you answer says everything. Brett Jordan It doesn’t matter if you are an oldie in the faith or a newbie. This question will always remain the same. This is about the most profound question a Christian will face, and how you answer says everything. There is no… Yes, I do, but!   or any other verb or adjective that could possibly follow that yes. In my journey, I have asked myself a lot of questions, battled with myself internally many times, learned and then relearned many concepts, had little faith, had a lot of faith, and I’ve even been angry with God. One day, I was faced with one of my biggest storms, and I had no choice but to face this question head-on.  I couldn’t skirt around it, I couldn’t “back burner” it any longer. Once faced with it, it wasn’t going anywhere. The Holy Spirit made sure of that, I was being convicted to make a choice. I thought, I prayed, I fought with myself, and I prayed some more. Then one day I chose.  My answer was yes. Such a simple answer said in an emotional whisper, but also the most complex answer I have ever had to give. My life and journey have never been the same since. The growth, guidance, love, and peace since then have been profound. You either trust God or you don’t. There is never an in-between. © Jane Isley Thank you for taking the time to read, and please consider  supporting my work . Your gift helps keep this work going, blesses others, and means the world to me. You can visit me at Faithful Writers  on Medium, where other Christian writers have joined me in sharing the word of God. You can also find me on   Tumblr  and   Facebook.

Today we’re going to answer the age old question of “From where does evil originate?” “God said to Noah, ‘the end of all living beings has come before me, for because of them , the earth is filled with violence. I will destroy them along with all the earth.’”-Genesis 6:13 In the above verse, God announces He is going to destroy the human race because on account of them, the Earth has become filled with violence. Notice something interesting in this scathing indictment the Lord has just pronounced. He never blames Satan for this sorry state of affairs. He holds the human race fully responsible for the evil that has come upon the earth. In an earlier post, I mentioned that contrary to popular Christian teaching on the subject, the ancient rabbis believed that from the very beginning God created human beings with both a good inclination and an evil inclination. God did not create us as robots. We have been given a will that allows us to freely exercise both inclinations as we see fit. In this post, I am going to demonstrate from the science of physics that the ancient rabbis were indeed correct!!! So get your thinking caps on. Do you recall in the creation story from Genesis Chapter One it says… When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the natural state of the universe was CHOSHEK or “complete darkness." Then, in an instant of time, upon God’s verbal pronouncement, “light” broke forth into the universe. Again, recall from an earlier teaching that the “light” I am referring to here is not a light-emanating object like the sun, but God’s holy and spiritual light. In Hebrew, this light is called OWR. At that very instant, the universe was comprised of two polar opposite forces; darkness and light. Based on the creation story, the first scientific point I want to make is that our universe is based on the “Principle of Opposites." At the very atomic level of our universe, for instance, each individual atom has a positive electric charge and a negative electric charge. If there is an up, there has to be down. If there is a male, there has to be a female. If there is black, there has to be white. If there is a Holy Spirit in our universe, there has to be an unholy Spirit, etcetera. This principle is woven into the very fabric of our universe. In fact, if you were to sit back and take a look at your own thought patterns, you would notice that the way we distinguish one thing from another is based on the “Principle of Opposites." “Was it expensive or not? ” “Was she hot or not? ” “Do I want it or not? ” The Chinese also touched on this principle with their yin-yang concept. So accordingly, when God created Adam and Eve, He created them with both a “good inclination” and an “evil inclination." NOT more of one than the other. I believe Christian theology errs when it teaches that unsaved man ONLY has a nature hellbent on sinning. The truth is we have both. We are equally capable of doing both good and bad. Actually, even after we are saved, we still carry both inclinations inside of us. This is evidenced by the fact that we still struggle with sin even after accepting Christ. So God created man with the capacity and freedom to commit good or evil when confronted with moral choices. And this is the reason why God does not blame Satan for the evil that has broken out into the world. He holds man responsible. “Freewill” is simply another word used to describe the good and evil inclinations that reside in all human beings. Think about it, having the power to do good or evil when confronted with a moral choice is none other than the characteristic of “freewill." So based on the way God has constructed our universe, it is IMPOSSIBLE to have one thing without its opposite. This gives us the answer to the origin of evil in the universe. Since we can’t have one without the other, evil is a byproduct of good. Below are some Scriptures testifying to this reality. “I form light, I create darkness; I make well-being, I create woe; I, Adonai, do all these things .”-Isaiah 45:7 “When the shofar is blown in the city, don’t the people tremble? Can disaster befall a city without Adonai having done it ?”-Amos 3:6 “Don’t both bad things and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High ??”-Lamentations 3:38 Again, keep in mind that evil is a natural byproduct of good. God didn’t create a lump of good in one place and then in another place create a lump of evil. Evil was not manufactured per say. Let me give you an admittedly imperfect example. Let’s say you’re sitting inside a well lit room. You decide to leave the room for a while, so you switch the lights off. As a result, the room becomes dark. Now let me ask you a question. Did you create the darkness? No you didn’t. It is simply the absence of light that caused the darkness. In the same way, where there isn’t God’s presence, evil is. Here’s what the great scientist Albert Einstein had to say on the matter: “Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.” Albert Einstein I believe Einstein was right. What good is having a freewill if there is no opportunity to exercise it? Can you see now why God gave to give Adam and Eve a one law Torah (instruction) that they were NOT to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil? Without that choice, Adam and Eve would have been relegated to a robotic existence. It would be like being given the right to vote in an election where there is only one candidate to choose from. You can vote for Trump or you can vote for Trump. In order to do good, the option to do evil has to also exist, or else the good we do is meaningless, simply because we have no other choice in the matter. So Moses’ Torah had the same purpose for the Israelites that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil had for Adam and Eve. Its purpose is not only to tell us the difference between right and wrong but provide us opportunities to exercise our capacity to do either good or evil. Without the Torah, there is no knowledge of sin or the opportunity to do good. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT For what law brings is punishment. But where there is no law , there is also no violation. -Romans 4:15 Sin was indeed present in the world before the Torah was given, but sin is not counted as such when there is no Torah . -Romans 5:13 © Richoka