“Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;” (Acts 17:22-24)
My purpose is a personal journey to continually develop maturity in my faith. I want to grow and straighten out misconceptions, and share the Bible in a way that will educate those that don’t know the book of Genesis or have ignored the importance of it. Jesus and the Apostles taught by referring back to Genesis, because it is the foundation of our faith. It must be known and understood as history or the Gospel is impossible to completely understand. (Examples: Who is the creator? Where did sin come from? Why is the earth cursed? Why do bad things happen to good people? Who were the first people? …etc.)
When Paul started preaching to the Greeks in Athens, they thought that he had lost his mind. He was talking gibberish as far as they were concerned, because they didn’t have knowledge of the foundation of the Gospel. When he spoke to Jews, he could jump straight into the Gospel, because they knew and understood the book of Genesis. The Greeks on the other hand had never read or studied Genesis and had no idea what Paul was talking about. That’s why Paul resorted to the tactic in the scripture quote for today. There was no deception in his words, just redirection back to the foundation. People today, even many Christians, are spiritual Greeks. They don’t know or understand the book of Genesis, so there belief in the Gospel is either nonexistent or very superficial. Can you be a Christian and know little or nothing about Genesis? Yes, but your faith is usually reduced to a long-standing “babe in Christ” with no firm roots or depth of knowledge about the Who, What, When, Where, How and Why of your faith. We need to always work toward “maturity in Christ”. That is what I’m working toward and I’m sharing my research through my Blog, so that others can benefit. I am by no means always right about everything I write, but I try to be as accurate and thorough as possible.
Genesis is foundational to our faith. Without it our faith is a house built on sand, without a foundation and easily swept away.