Lagniappe: Trembling Inside

Mike's widow, to whom I'd said a few clumsy words, sat by the coffin. She was quiet, but she seemed to be trembling inside, like a teardrop.

S.J. Rozen, Concourse

Worth a Thousand Words: The Avenue

Claude Monet, The Avenue, 1878
via Arts Everyday Living

Genesis Notes: Left Behind

GENESIS 6-8
Now Genesis brings us to a character who even the smallest child is familiar with, Noah and his ark of animals. When the girls were little and we would read picture books of this story they always were saddened by the animals and people left behind. Truth to tell, I was saddened by those pictures too. I never had a good reason as to why they got left behind. That's because I hadn't yet looked below the surface of Genesis. Get ready to look into Romans for some help with this subject in a way that relates directly to life today.

When you read the account of the Flood, realizing that everyone except Noah's family died because of God's judgment, did you ever have a twinge of wondering if that was fair? After all, if some human civilizations developed away from the covenant-keepers, thus becoming intensely evil, perhaps we want to say that they didn't know any better. Maybe we think they never really had a chance to live their lives the way Noah did.

St. Paul, in his epistle to the Romans (1:19-25), helps us to understand better just exactly what was going on among men whose lives were given over to wickedness ...

Here we see that St. Paul says that anyone who lives on the planet Earth, whether he lives among covenant keeping people or not, knows enough about God to live in the right way. Why? Because God has revealed Himself in His works. Looking around at the world in which he lives, a man is capable of recognizing that (1) there is a God (2) He is powerful (3) He deserves to be honored and thanked (Rom. 1:20-21). When a man chooses not to act on what he knows to be true, he suppresses the truth. It isn't that he has been deprived of it-he simply refuses to live by it.

When that happens, things go downhill fast, as St. Paul tells us (Romans 1:28-32) ... This is a description of what happened in the early history of man and what continues to happen when men, like Cain, know what is right to do but refuse to do it. When that happens, the most merciful thing God can do is to punish man. It is often only when men are faced with suffering and death that their autonomy crumbles to ash, and they are willing to cry out to God, Whom they are finally ready to acknowledge as the only One who can help...

The people swept away in the Flood were not necessarily eternally lost. Their death was a temporal punishment until Christ preached to them the message of redemption they needed to hear. Those who were merely ignorant surely responded with great joy. But those who, like Cain, had hardened their hearts through sin, might well have had the same reaction to Christ as Cain had to God — "Thanks, but no thanks." We should never worry about the justice and fairness of God (see CCC 632-635).

Genesis: God and His Creation

When they get to why the animals had to be included the light bulb really went on. This explanation ties in with things I've read in other sources (notably Peter Kreeft's work) which talks about the universe being created for man.

For animals to be included in the cleansing of the earth suggests the inseparable relationship between man and the rest of creation. The dominion God had given him has real meaning — when man goes down, so does all the rest of the earth. This helps us to see clearly how all the elements of creation led up to the creation of man. He was not just one player among many. Without man, the rest has no meaning.

Genesis: God and His Creation

The other question that comes up every time in this classic tale is just how the animals were collected in the first place.

Many have wondered how this animal kingdom roundup happened. Did Noah and his sons spend years collecting all the animals? In reality the creation, along with Noah, was doing just as God had commanded. There seemed to be no problem gathering the animals. God took care of the details of that job while Noah was doing his part by building the ark. Often we do just the opposite of Noah. We worry about details over which we have no control, while neglecting specific areas (such as attitudes, relationships, responsibilities) that are under our control. Like Noah, concentrate on what God has given you to do and leave the rest to God.

Life Application Study Bible

Worth a Thousand Words: Le Journal des ventes

Le Journal des ventes, Georges de Feure

Lagniappe: A dozen scientists and engineers

Confine a dozen scientists and engineers to a seemingly endless desert of hard-packed sand with no recreational diversions and, inevitably, they will design and build a golf course.

P.J. Tracy, The Sixth Idea

Worth a Thousand Words: Cats on a Red Cloth

Franz Marc, Cats on a Red Cloth

Blogging Around

A Single Phrase Helped Save This Marriage

Finally, hoarse and broken, I sat down in the shower and began to cry. In the depths of my despair powerful inspiration came to me. You can’t change her, Rick. You can only change yourself. At that moment I began to pray. If I can’t change her, God, then change me. I prayed late into the night. I prayed the next day on the flight home. I prayed as I walked in the door to a cold wife who barely even acknowledged me. That night, as we lay in our bed, inches from each other yet miles apart, the inspiration came. I knew what I had to do.

Read it all here.

Beware the (Online) Culture of Wrath

Stephen D. Greydanus on how to avoid poisoning your soul, or those of others, on social media. He's got good ways to do a self examination checking for unseen problems in your own participation. And some excellent common sense guidelines.

What My Dying Friend is Teaching Everyone Around Her About Faith

Her luminous witness of a peaceful spirit despite real and ever present danger has directed the attention of everyone around her away from the cancer to the Divine Physician. She is embracing her cross like a lover, revealing thus the one she loves.

Read it all here.

Why a Hawk is a Hummingbird

You know what they say about location and real estate. Hummingbird nests often appear in clusters, but for years researchers couldn’t figure out what attracted the birds to certain areas. Turned out the answer was, “good neighbors.”

Fascinating. Read it all here.

Well Said: Tolkien's concern

The Ring is less morally ambiguous than the average realistic novel, but that's primarily because Tolkien wasn't especially interested in the problem of knowing right from wrong. His concern was to explore the psychology of the moment when you know right from wrong but aren't sure whether you have the courage and fortitude to do the right thing.

Alan Jacobs

Yep. And that is why The Lord of the Rings is endlessly fascinating.

Well Said: What wonder you do not understand...

We are talking about God. What wonder is it that you do not understand? If you do understand, then it is not God.

St. Augustine

Worth a Thousand Words: Couple in Love in Moonlight

Couple in Love in Moonlight, Jakob Alt

Genesis Notes: Adam's Descendents

GENESIS 5
Genesis 5 shows the descendents from Adam to Noah and is one of those endless seeming lists of names that make my eyes glaze over.

There's nothing for modern people in these lists. Right? Au contraire!

The Bible contains several lists of ancestors, called genealogies. There are two basic views concerning these lists: (1) they are complete, recording the entire history of a family, tribe, or nation; or (2) they are not intended to be exhaustive and may include only famous people or the heads of families. "Became the father of" could also mean "was the ancestor of."

Why are genealogies included in the Bible? The Hebrews passed on their beliefs through oral tradition. For many years in many places, writing was primitive or nonexistent. Stories were told to children who passed them on to their children. Genealogies gave a skeletal outline that helped people remember the stories. For centuries these genealogies were added to and passed down from family to family. Even more important than preserving family tradition, genealogies were included to confirm the Bible's promise that the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, would be born into the line of Abraham.

Genealogies point out an interesting characteristic of God. People are important to him as individuals, not just as races or nations. Therefore God refers to people by name, mentioning their life span an descendants.

Life Application Study Bible, emphasis added

This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Well Said: The most dangerous thing you can do ...

The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There is not one of them which will not make us into devils if we set up as an absolute guide. You might think love of humanity in general was safe, but it is not. If you leave out justice you will find yourself breaking agreements and faking evidence in trials "for the sake of humanity," and become in the end a cruel and treacherous man.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Worth a Thousand Words: Fall Landscape

Julian Onderdonk, Fall Landscape
via Arts Everyday Living

Well Said: Wherever there is love, there is a trinity

Wherever there is love, there is a trinity: a lover, a beloved, and a fountain of love.

St. Augustine

Worth a Thousand Words: Hand in Reflecting Sphere

Hand with Reflecting Sphere, M. C. Escher
via Lines and Colors

Well Said: A Seven Year-Old’s Experimentation with a Life of Crime

I walked with purpose and carefully replaced Batman in the comic’s rack. I passed the shelf with the Life Savers. I glanced at the old woman behind the register. She was reading a magazine. I bent down quickly and pretended to tie my shoe. I reached up and grabbed a roll of Wint-O-Green and jammed it into my pocket.

I was surprised by a revelation: I was already guilty. I never thought of that. I always thought that I wasn’t really a thief until I left the store. Not true. I was a thief now. I became one as soon as I demonstrated my intention to steal by putting the candy in my pocket.

Stephen Tobolowsky,
A Seven Year-Old’s Experimentation with a Life of Crime

Stephen Tobolowsky is a master storyteller as I've mentioned before. Be sure to read the entire piece.

Worth a Thousand Words: The Blue Grotto in Capri

The Blue Grotto in Capri, Jakob Alt

Genesis Notes: Cain's Resume

We may feel that we know much more than we want to about Cain. He is the familiar character who doesn't do what he is supposed to, defies authority, and never sees the light. The Life Application Study Bible profile helps us see the key lessons from Cain's life.

Cain, Henri Vidal, Tuileries Gardens, Paris, 1896

Strengths and accomplishments:

• First human child
• First to follow in father's profession, farming

Weaknesses and mistakes:

• When disappointed, reacted in anger
• Took the negative option even when a positive possibility was offered
• Was the first murderer
  

Lessons from his life:

• Anger is not necessarily a sin, but actions motivated by anger can be sinful. Anger should be the energy behind good action, not evil action
• What we offer to God must be from the heart -- the best we are and have
• The consequences of sin may last a lifetime
  

Vital statistics:

• Where: Near Eden, which was probably located in present-day Iraq or Iran
• Occupation: Farmer, then wanderer
• Relatives: Parents - Adam and Eve, Brother - Abel, Seth and others not mentioned by name

Key verse:
"If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." (Genesis 4:7)

Cain's story is told in Genesis 4:1-17. He also is mentioned in Hebrews 11:4; 1 John 3:12; Jude 11.

This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Well Said: Happy Enough

Miss Celia stares down into the pot like she's looking for her future. "Are you happy, Minny?"

"Why you ask me funny questions like that?"

"But are you?"

"Course I's happy. You happy too. Big house, big yard, husband looking after you." I frown at Miss Celia and I make sure she can see it. Because ain't that white people for you, wondering if they are happy enough.

Kathryn Stockett, The Help

Worth a Thousand Words — The Three Sisters: The Whale

The Three Sisters: The Whale, Himmapaan