#MorningDevoinGenesis

From January until today I have been spending my morning devotion with God in Genesis. No commentaries. Just me, the Holy Spirit, and His Word. Each day I would read either a chapter or multiple chapters, and then I would journal my personal gleanings and takeaways from my reading that morning. Upon journaling I began posting some of them on my social media to share with others. I would bookmark each post with #morningdevoinGenesis (at least on Facebook, Twitter not so much). It appeared many were blessed by them in some way. So, I figured why not post them all as a blog and hopefully bless many more as well!

I almost covered every chapter in Genesis. So go grab a cup of coffee or tea. Sip and read away.

May the Holy Spirit speak to all who read them!

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Chapters 1-11 of Genesis makes 2 things clear:
1. God is unquestionably sovereign over all.
2. Mankind, post-fall, is inherently sinful.

Chapter 12
Many times God will call us to leave our comfort/what’s comfortable in order to do something great in us and through us to bless others. (Gen. 12:1-3)

Husbands, don’t be afraid of the beauty of your wife like Abraham was. She is your blessing from God. He will protect her. (Gen. 12:11-20)

Chapter 13
Everything that looks good isn't always good. Sometimes things that look good are the center of wickedness & destruction. (Gen 13:10-13) #learningfromLotslessons

Genesis 14
Melchizedek was identified as king of Salem and priest of God (Gen. 14:18). Abram was identified as simply "Abram of God Most High" (Gen. 14:19). Neither is wrong. However, Abram's identification is better. Desire to be identified not by our titles/positions but by our standing in God alone. #knowyouridentity

Genesis 15
"Don't be afraid (insert your name). For I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward." (Gen 15:1). Remind yourself of this truth daily!

Genesis 16
Sometimes our spouses are wrong, but God never is. (Gen. 16:1-2)

God sees all your afflictions and distresses. He’s not blind to it. (Gen. 16:11-13) #trustHim

Genesis 17
There is no longer a physical distinction between the people of God & unbelievers. But there is a spiritual one, circumcision (cf. Rom 2:28-29). Our regenerate heart (i.e. actions, attitudes, motivations, beliefs, obedience, etc) is what distinguishes God's people from unbelievers. #cutoffmyfleshLord

Genesis 18
We serve the LORD through serving others in joy and gladness (Gen. 18:1-5).

During difficulties in life we need to ask ourselves, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (Gen 18:14). The answer is always no. Trust God.

It's easy for us to question what God is doing, even wonder if it's the right thing. Yet Scripture says, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen 18:25)

#serveGod #trustGod

Genesis 19
Men, stand up for your wives & children. Don't punk out under pressure like Lot did (Gen. 19).

If God tells you to "escape without delay and don't look back lest you be destroyed" (Gen 19:17, 26). Heed His counsel or suffer the consequences!

Genesis 20
Don't put your family in harms way bcuz of your assumptions (Gen 20:1-11). Trust God and walk in wisdom and integrity. #samethemetrustGod #dontpunkoutmen

Genesis 21
God does not forget His promises. He’s already planned when they will be fulfilled. (Gen. 21:1-2)

Parents, trust God with your children so they will become whatever He has for them to become. (Gen. 21:20)

Genesis 22
God sees our obedience to Him as reverence of Him. (Gen 22:1-12)

Genesis 23
Live all the years of your life. Don’t let life pass by. (Gen. 23:1)

Genesis 24
Abraham remembered what God said, then he made his decision in faith trusting God to remain true to His word (Gen 24:1-9). As should we. Saints, remember what God says in His word, then make decisions in faith trusting God to stay true to His character. #morningdevoinGenesis #trustGod #moveinfaith

Genesis 25
Husbands, cover in prayer every barren area of your wife’s life. (Gen. 25:21)

Nothing escapes the sovereign plan of God, even in the womb. (Gen. 25:23)

Genesis 26
Sometimes God brings famine in our lives to get us to move (Gen 26:1-5). Complacency is a killer to mission and vision.

Be careful dads and moms, our children follow us and may even repeat our same mistakes (Gen 26:6-11). Guard them from this. Use wisdom in parenting and the power of prayer to not pass on bad generational patterns.

Don't assume the 1st place God leads us to will be 'the one'. Sometimes God test our obedience and humbles us first to prepare us before leading us to a place for a season to grow & bless us. (Gen 26:17-22, 32)

Sometimes your growth in Christ can intimidate others. Don't take it personal. Bless them instead. (Gen 26:26-31)
Never forget, our decisions can grieve others connected to us. (Gen 26:34-35)

#toomeatynottoshare #receiveandheed #theSpiritspeaksthroughtheWord

Genesis 27
The dysfunction in our families are not outside the sovereign plan of God for our life. He knows what He's doing, even when it may seem like He doesn't. (Gen. 27ff)

Genesis 28
"Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go...I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you" (Gen 28:15). The purposes of God in our life will prevail or God is a liar.

When you realize that you're in the presence of God, tremble in awe and marvel at Him! (Gen 28:16-17)

The place "Bethel" came into being as a memorial after Jacob's encounter in the presence of God (Gen 28:18-19). How often do we relish and remember our intimate encounters with Jesus so much so that we seek to return repeatedly?

#trustHim #seekHim

Genesis 29
Let us never think women cannot be shepherds (Gen. 29:9). The Spirit gifts those in the Body how He wills (1Cor. 12:11).

Husbands, do we love our wives enough that we weep for them and would do double labor for them? We should. (Gen. 29:11-28) #guilty #helpmelovemywifeLord

Genesis 30
Jacob said "my righteousness will answer for me in time to come" (Gen 30:33). How true is this? Either your righteousness will answer for you before God or Christ righteousness in you will answer for you before God.

Genesis 31
Jacob called God "the Fear of Isaac" (Gen 31:42, 53). Powerful! "The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread" (Isa 8:13). #feartheLORD

Genesis 32
We need to repeatedly proclaim to ourselves, "I will never let You go God. No matter how much I have to wrestle in my life, no matter how out of place my life gets, I will never let go bcuz of how You have blessed me with You." (Gen 32:24-29)

Genesis 33
It is the leader's responsibility to know the state of those who follow them and how fast or slow a pace they should lead for their people's benefit. (Gen 33:14)

Genesis 34
Inordinate affection can lead to obsession and destruction. Be careful. (Gen. 34)

Genesis 35
Repentance gets our heart and mind right for worship. (Gen 35:1-2)

Sometimes God will birth in us and through us something we may not see as beloved but others will, and yet it will be brought forth with great sacrifice. (Gen 35:16-19)

Genesis 37
Sometimes your God-given dream may lead you into some unfortunate events. But don't think God is not the One orchestrating the outcome for His glory and purposes. (Gen. 37) #trusttheSovereignOne

Genesis 38
2 lessons learned from Judah, the son of Jacob, in Genesis 38:1-26. Temptation can appear more appealing during the difficult times when we need to be comforted. And it's during those times that we need our community of faith around us, supporting us, bcuz in those weak moments it's easier to give into the sins we would otherwise say no to on a good day. #gottawatch #communityisnonnegotiable

Genesis 39
From the story of Jospeh, we see that the favor of God = the Lord is with you in what you do and what is done to you. (Gen 39:1-23)

An obedient believer can be an unbeknownst blessing in all their environments and a witness for God (Gen 39:3, 5). Don't shortchange your obedience or be resistant to being a blessing in your environments, see it as an opportunity for God to be made known.

Don't assume temptations are one and done. Some temptations are persistent and ongoing until you slip and give it an entrance to catch you up (Gen 39:7-18). But don't fret, our slips and falls and the schemes of the enemy to destroy us don't catch God by surprise. The grace of God keeps us in our slips/falls and in the enemy's plots and He sets us up for some greater purpose in His plan (Gen 39:19-23).

Prison doesn't have to be prison when God is with you. (Gen 39:21-23)

Genesis 40-41
Man, so much in a chapter and a half of Genesis. I probably could've noticed more. Heart check definitely this morning.
1. Serving others with the right heart can redeem a bad situation and create opportunities for God's glory in your life (Gen 40:4-8). Do we trust God enough to do this? Now, this doesn't mean it will be a quick turnaround, it may take a while for something to come of it (Gen 41:1ff). Nonetheless, we are to trust God and continue to serve others faithfully (in whatever way that may be).
2. When your spirit is troubled, who do you call upon? Pharaoh called upon his ghostbusters (Gen 41:8). What about you?
3. Joseph's gift made room for him and brought him before a mighty man (Gen 41:9-15, cf. Prov 18:16). Serve others (w/the right heart) faithfully, who knows whom God may lead you before.
4. Serve others (w/the right heart) in such a way that your reputation of service speaks highly of you. (Gen 41:15)
5. Always defer the praise of your gifts to the giver of the gifts --> God and His glory. (Gen 41:15-16)
6. When God shows you what He's gonna do, you heed. When God repeats Himself, take heart. (Gen 41:25-32)
7. Bcuz everything has a season. Have a plan for the seasons of famine. You don't know when it may happen or whom God may send to you for that wisdom. (Gen 41:33-37)

#serveGodthroughservingothers #servefromtherightheart #alwaysdefertoGodsglory

Genesis 42
1. Joseph tested his brothers' words to verify their truthfulness, even though he knew they were telling the truth (Gen 42:16, 20). How much more us with those who claim to be speaking truth?
2. When things start to go badly we're quick to blame God (Gen 42). What we don't see is that it is part of His set-up for our future.

#stopbeinggullible #testeveryword #trustGod #Godgotthis

Genesis 43
At times it may be difficult, but do what is right and trust God with the outcome. (Gen 43:8-14)

How great is it to know that in Christ we can sit at the same table with different ethnicities & social classes. Oh how the OT saints would've loved that privilege. (Gen 43:32) #allarewelcome #nomoreseparation

Genesis 44-45
1. Don't be so quick with your words. You may commit to something you will regret later. (Gen 44:8-10, cf. Eccl 5:2)
2. Honoring your commitments with the right heart can unknowingly impart grace in situations. (Gen 44:30-45:1)
3. In God's economy don't ever think your decisions are for your purposes alone. God's purposes will always prevail overall, even through our decisions. (Gen 45:4-8)
4. Reconciliation is beautifully intimate. (Gen 45:9-15)
5. Sometimes the greatest blessings from God can cause us to doubt momentarily (it's too unbelievable) but then revive us for the next season. (Gen 45:25-27)

Genesis 46
Let us not presume that God does not or cannot still speak to ppl through dreams. Who knows, maybe God knows some ppl need the shock value. (Gen 46:2)

Genesis 49
In Genesis 49:5-7, Jacob said Levi was an instrument of cruelty, angry, and self-willed, and that he wouldn't be part of Levi's council or union. Yet, the tribe of Levi is where the priests came from. Ponder that. The takeaway: Don't assume every pastor will come from a pristine past. All of us were once instruments of self and some of us were instruments of cruelty. Now we're redeemed as instruments of God's grace. #wontHedoit #thescandalofgrace

Be careful not to bear other people's burdens too much that you become enslaved (Gen 49:14-15). Use wisdom and moderation.

How's that for a legacy, being remembered and spoken of as someone who uses/d beautiful (edifying) words. (Gen 49:21)

How's that for a legacy, being remembered and spoken of as someone who remained strong and faithful by God through adversity. (Gen 49:22-24)

Genesis 50
Scripture demonstrates that we (believers) should not seek personal retribution upon those whom may have a valid reason for it; for we are not in the place of God, and what was meant by their evil against us in reality was permitted by God for our good (and possibly others) in some way. (Gen 50:15-21)

March 8, 2017

Does God Approve of “Shacking Up”?

I have had many conversations with many professing believers who have argued to me that God does not disapprove of “shacking up” (i.e. a couple living together like they are married without actually being married). Their arguments have ranged from, “we're engaged so what's the big deal”, to “we're getting a feel of what it would be like to determine if we're ready for marriage”, to “the Bible doesn't say we can't live together”, and so on. Many professing believers do not see a problem or any carnality or compromise with “shacking up” (living together) with whom they're dating. Many professing believers may not even know how the Bible addresses this or if it even does or care if it does.

Let me say it first, the Bible does address this topic but not directly like a “Q&A”. You can find the Bible's view on this in it's pronouncement on marriage.

“18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”....21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.””
(Genesis 2:18, 21-25, NIV)

To physically move in and live together with your boyfriend or girlfriend is outside of God's design, and that is what makes it an error. God designed here in Genesis 2 that a man will leave his parents and be joined to “his wife” as “one flesh”. Living with your boyfriend or girlfriend purports becoming “one flesh”. How so? Because both people have left their separateness to live and be together as a couple (as “one”). A couple living together is a component reserved only for God's design in marriage. It is not meant to be done outside of this specific God-ordained relationship; for to do so is superseding God's design with one's personal view and preferences.

I have no need to address the potential and promising problems with couples living together before marriage to build an apologetic against it, because the greatest argument against it is that God ordains from the very beginning of humanity's existence that leaving, cleaving, and living together as “one” is for marriage only. To do otherwise, whether knowingly or unknowingly, is a clear defiance of God's design. One's ignorance or ignoring does not dismiss their violation of God's design. It will always be a violation––i.e. sin (falling short of God's standard).

So, to all the professing Christians that may read this, you have no biblical “omitted” basis for your defiance of God's design for living together as a couple; neither can you use the “cultural context” excuse to explain away the truth principles in this passage because there was no culture defined. This was humanity's inception. Thus, this principle is tied to all generations of mankind in every culture. There is no escape. The only reason you have to stand on is the real one, selfishness and pride––you want to do what you want to do and you don't want to be told that you can't. After this biblical response, to attempt to argue that it's not a violation to shack up (i.e. God does approve) further shows your selfishness and pride in your effort to justify your sin.

If you are a professing Christian shacking up with your boyfriend or girlfriend, God does not approve and you are in fact sinning against your Savior and Master. As always, there is grace––of which you've probably been receiving from God in the midst of you sinning against Him and have likely mistaken it for His approval. God will forgive, if you repent (1Jn. 1:9).

My final word to you, thank God for His grace and forgiveness, choose to obey Jesus and either get married, move out, or suffer the consequences of violating God's design (and whatever may come from that).

5/13/2015

Genesis Contemplations II

GENESIS CONTEMPLATIONS II

Curse of Cain, son of Adam:
Most of us are familiar with the story of Cain and Abel. Cain’s offering to the Lord was rejected while his brother Abel’s was accepted. I can go off and get into why that was the case, but I’m not. Cain goes on to draw his brother Abel out into the field and then kill him. This is where I want to meditate. Cain kills his brother. God confronts him about it. Cain denies even knowing what God is talking about. God then curses Cain, “So now you are cursed from the earth… When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” That’s it. God hit Cain right where it hurt the most, Cain’s gifting. The Bible says Cain was a tiller of the ground (Gen. 4:2). God said your gift will be useless now, the thing you love to do (or the thing you are great at doing) will no longer yield to you, and you shall continually wander among the earth. That’s it from God. His said His peace, He rendered His punishment.
     Cain, on the other hand, feeling the brunt of the punishment for what he did, says to God, “My punishment is greater than I can bear!” (Gen. 4:13-14). Separated from his family, soon to be separated from the presence of God (Gen. 4:16), living with the guilt of what he did to his younger brother, and in his mind a useless existence because the thing that identified him will no longer do so. Outcasted by the consequence of his action, just like his father Adam was, Cain in a depressed, guilt-ridden state of mind goes on to add on to God’s curse and curse himself, “…it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” (Gen. 4:14). Cain no longer wants to live. But God, demonstrating yet again—like He did with Cain’s father—what Paul says in Romans 5:8, adds a curse onto Cain’s curse, ““Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.” (Gen. 4:15).
     How wonderful is our God, that even when Cain cursed himself for the pain and affliction he caused his parents and himself by way of his selfish acts, God sovereignly intervened and saves him, not from the consequences, but from the added curse he put on himself. Not only did God do this for Cain, but for Cain’s grandson Lamech as well. Like his grandfather Lamech killed a man and possibly internally cursed himself (Gen. 4:17-19, 23). God perceiving something in regards to this put a curse on anyone who attempted or did kill Lamech for what he did (Gen. 4:24).

The takeaway
What can we take away from Cain son of Adam? One is to be honest before God and with God. Another is to know that we are our brother and sister’s keeper and God will hold us accountable accordingly. Also our life is not identified by our gift(s), careers, accomplishments, and so on, but rather our lives are to be identified with the Creator and Giver of all good things. It should affect and penetrate us more to know we can lose fellowship (not relationship) with our God because of our sin more than we are affected or penetrated by the loss of anything else. And finally there are times in our life where we curse ourselves for the pain and affliction our selfish acts have caused others and/or ourselves. What we need to know is our God sees and knows what the just consequence is for our actions (and will allow such), and in His mercy He intervenes and “sets a mark” on us to keep us from our own curses.

Curse of Ham, son of Noah:
The Bible says from Noah’s three sons the whole earth was populated (Gen. 9:19). Noah’s son Ham has a very interesting story and lineage, which had major implications on history.
     In Genesis 9:22 the Bible records Ham seeing his father’s nakedness and then telling his two brothers. Ham’s brothers Shem and Japheth covered their father without looking at his nakedness (Gen. 9:23). Because of what Ham did God cursed Ham’s son Canaan (Gen. 9:25-27). But back to Ham, we’ll get to Canaan later. Ham’s decision to look upon his father and not cover him caused lingering internal problems for his lineage. Ham begot Cush (Gen. 10:6). Cush is the father of Nimrod (Gen. 10:8). The infamous Nimrod built a kingdom from Babel (which is Babylon- Gen. 11:9) to Assyria (Gen. 10:8-12). In Assyria Nimrod built Nineveh, whom we know from the story of Jonah. Nimrod was the founder of the lands and nations that were future enemies to the Israelites. Ham begot Mizraim (Gen. 10:6). Mizraim begot the father of the Philistines (Gen. 10:13-14), a consistent enemy of Israel during the Old Testament. Ham begot Canaan (Gen. 10:6). Canaan begot majority of the “ites” the Israelites warred with in the Old Testament (Gen. 10:15-18). And that is because Canaan was cursed to be a servant to the lineage of which the Israelites came through, Noah’s son Shem (Gen. 9:26; 11:10-26). The border of the Canaanites stretched from Sidon to as far as Gaza to as far as Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 10:19). We know Sodom and Gomorrah as the most sexually vile city among the world at one point (Gen. 13:13; 18:20-21; 19:1-13). They were a straight descendant of the first person to look upon the nakedness of the same sex--his father at that. Should we be shocked by Sodom and Gomorrah seeing the lineage in which they descend from? I think not. Canaan is also the land promised by God to the descendants of Abraham (Gen. 12:4-7; 15:12-21).
     More can be expounded on, but for the point I’m trying to make this is enough.

The takeaway
We can see from one man’s act, a whole lineage was internally cursed (also displayed in Cain with Lamech). This may be the case in your life. Your parents (or their parents, and so on) passed on their lineage of dysfunction to you in someway—depression, promiscuity, alcoholism, drug abuse, status seeking, people pleasing, bad decision making, etc. Praise God for making a way for us to born from the Seed of promise and not from the seed of shame! Praise God for Jesus who can break our generational dysfunctionality from being passed on to our children (ref. Acts 16:31-34) as long as we follow His prescription on life (Rom. 6:10-23).* (Let me clarify something. I didn't say nor was I implying that all of our problems, struggles, or the affects/influence of sin in our lives will go away because we are saved. Paul prayed three times that God would remove the thorn from his flesh, but He didn't. There are "thorn(s)" God allows to stay in our lives so that we, like Paul, don't get to elated and we always have a reminder of our constant need for Jesus- 2Cor. 12:7-10).

Conclusion
To conclude on both, how great is our God! For while we were still sinners He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for us and redeem us from the curse of the law (and the curse of ourselves) and bring us into grace! This grace is available for us in every area of our lives and in every situation we come upon. Take away from these two whatever you can. I hope my contemplations have helped you in someway.

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* Just because Jesus can break any generational curse/dysfunction from being passed on by us to our children that doesn’t mean that our children won’t have any dysfunction or cause and pass on any dysfunction of their own (Jer. 31:29-30, Hos. 10:12-13, Gal. 6:7-8).

2009

Genesis Contemplations I

GENESIS CONTEMPLATION I

Adam & Sin vs. Evolution & Evil
In the beginning God made the first human being, Adam. Adam is the Father of mankind/humankind (Gen. 2:7). We all come from Adam’s sperm/seed. When Adam disobeyed God’s command (Gen. 2:16-17; 3:1-11), that act was what produced sin—the missing the mark of God, the erring from God’s way, disobedience to God—and death*, and because we all come from Adam we therefore are all born into sin and death (Rom. 5:12). Thus all the evil and chaos and bad crap in life, from Adam to the last day, is due to the sin and death consequence from Adam’s act of disobedience.
     Those who don’t believe that God created everything as it states in the Genesis account reject this origin of the problem of evil and so on as insufficient or unscientific. Ok, well let’s look at the only other theory for human life in this light then, evolution. The theory of evolution says, loosely, that we as humans evolved from other things, etc, etc. If we trace the “other things” back to its first beginning, some type of unformed substance, what eventually came from this—according to natural selection—survived by killing off (or outliving) its opposition or hindrance to survive (that’s an act of self-centeredness and violence). And so on the evolutionary process goes. From this we see, even the “in the beginning” of evolution an act we now consider an evil—violence—and a problem—selfishness—is integrated in the very fabric of this process. Evolution is secular science’s equivalent to Adam as the origin of humankind, and so we can deduce the same conclusion from Adam for evolution: Because we all come from the evolutionary process we therefore are all born into the evil produced from evolution. Thus all the evil and chaos and bad crap in life, from the beginning to the end, is due to the beginning acts of the evolutionary process (self-centeredness and violence).
     We can see regardless to which view one holds, the problem of sin/evil originates at the very beginning. The difference is, and it’s a big one, every ideology (aside from one) has no, nada, none, zero, zilch of an adequate answer or solution to this problem, except death—which without a 100% certainty there is no afterlife “death” may not even be an answer/solution but a greater eternal problem. However, I can say this with all the confidence in the world, one will find the only adequate answer to this problem in Jesus Christ*, if one looks without prejudice or discrimination to the good reasons and ample evidence that is available on His behalf.

A Talking Snake?
The Bible reports a cunning serpent as the culprit behind the deception of Eve which led ultimately to Adam’s disobedience to God. People who don’t accept the Bible’s account of the beginning think it is preposterous to believe in a talking snake, though it’s easy for them to believe that we evolved from this glob thing, and then another thing, and then more things, and then finally monkeys (so it is said and widely accepted in the secular scientific community but still debated). Yet it’s preposterous to believe in a talking snake, hmm. For all we know, especially because empirical science* cannot pose absolutes only probabilities, natural selection could very well have us evolving from snakes and we can talk, hmm. Doesn’t sound so preposterous after all now does it?
     Evolution doesn’t explain away God as so many atheists suggest. In certain cases the theory of the evolutionary process actually shows plausibility for God’s existence and the trustworthiness of the Bible. For example, Genesis 3:14—written thousands of years before the theory of evolution—records, “So the LORD God said to the serpent, “On your belly you shall go…all the days of your life.”” Evolution shows this as probable for the ancestry of snakes. So whether true or not, (though I believe Darwin’s theory of evolution is false and the Creation account in Genesis to be true), evolution does not necessarily explain away God or the credibility of the Bible. People simply choose to use evolution as a scapegoat for not accepting the Covenant God’s existence, to which the Bible attests (Rom. 1:20-21).

Take away whatever you can from these two topics. I do hope this was a help in some way. It was a simple contemplation of mine as I journey again through the book of Genesis. I will post more as they come along during this journey of mine.

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*1. There are 4 parts to the death consequence if Adam disobeyed God’s command. The first part of death is death by separation from God (Gen. 2:23-24). The second part of death is death by violence (Gen. 4:8). The third part of death is death by the natural (Gen. 5:5). The fourth part of death is death by destruction (Gen. 6:7).
*2. Jesus the Son of God and God the Son distinguishes Himself from the “Jesus” of Jehovah Witness, Mormonism, Christian Science, the Jesus Seminar, or any other beliefs spun off of the historic Jesus of Nazareth found in the Holy Bible.
*3. Science generally and largely makes empirical claims and deals with empirical issues, meaning there claims and issues can be solved by experience, either directly by observation or indirectly by experimentation. Empirical science is obviously verifiable, but an unspoken fact of empirical science is that it is also falsifiable (capable of being disproved). This is why empirical science can never deduce (assume, conclude) absolutes only strong or weak probabilities (e.g. theories, hypothesis).

2009