Bible in a year: January 1, 2010

The OT reading today is from Genesis, and of course begins the story of man, God and creation. A couple of really random things jumped out at me this morning:

Genesis 1:11 is a great case for non-genetically engineered seeds and food. I mean, God created plants and grasses and fruits to create a seed that creates more if its own kind. With the advent of companies like ConAgra and Archer Daniels Midland and their patents on the DNA of genetically modified corn and soybean, man has basically set up a system whereby corporations actually own the ability to produce those products. If you're not one of their farms, you can't have the seed, and if you are one of their farms and keep seed, you get sued.

I think when God created the earth and all that was in it, he did so so that man would have everything he needed to live. That farmers can't actually grow corn with seed they can own is just craziness. (For more about this, watch the movie "Food Inc." or read Michael Pollen's books "An Omnivore's Dilemma" or "In Defense of Food".)

The other thing that struck me was Genesis 2:5-6. Basically, in the beginning, the earth was one big terrarium. Cool, eh? It doesn't seem like that would work, but my brother-in-law and his girlfriend were telling me about something they bought for one of the nephews for Christmas, a tree frog ecosystem. It's a self-contained ecosystem that provided everything for these tree frogs to live; only once a year do you have to add anything to it. I thought that was fascinating, and proof that, indeed, God really could have created a perfect earth where man could have everything needed for live and live for eternity.

The nephews probably would have loved the ecosystem, had they actually gotten to see it. Before my brother-in-law and his girlfriend could give it to them, their cat tipped it over, crashed the terrarium and ate at least one frog - kind of the same way that sin entered the perfect world God created and completely turned everything upside down. (Hmm, maybe Satan was really a domestic short hair cat and not a serpent ...)

One thing to keep in mind as you read through the year is that God may prompt you to think about things that seemingly have little to do with the Bible. Remember, those might be just for you and not for everyone else. Farming? Yeah, it's random. But over the last year I've been increasingly interested in where my food comes from, how we can sustain our own food supply without relying on China and other foreign countries. So it's not unusual that God might teach me something that he's not teaching you.

That's why it's so important to not read familiar stories thinking you know everything God is saying.

Genesis 2:17 - one of the things that people miss is that there were TWO trees in the garden of Eden, the tree of knowledge and the tree of good and evil. That'll be important later.

Other readings for today:
Psalm 1:1-6
Proverbs1:1-7
Matthew 1:-25

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