A World of Beauty and Pain, Judgment and Mercy

Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us. Father, deliver us from the ways that we think you are

and the ways that we think you behave, and help us, Father, to listen to how you describe yourself

in terms of what you do and what you don't do. Father, you know how wounded our hearts and our

minds are and how easily we twist things. So, Father, we ask that you would calm and still

our heart like a young child with his mother. May you calm and still our hearts so that your word

might go deeply into who we are. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated. So, a couple of months ago, once again, I was in a coffee shop and one of my regular

conversation partners came up with to me and he said, I have the perfect quote which really encapsulates

why I'm not a Christian. In fact, why I don't like religion, period, exclamation mark, and a couple of

extra exclamation marks. And he, in fact, I tried to find it, but I couldn't find it. But he showed me a

quote from a well-known American speaker and writer. And the effect, the quote in effect said,

I cannot believe in a God that would send anyone to hell. And in fact, a God that sends and condemns

people to hell is a completely and utterly terrible being. Even if he granted me a pass to not go to

hell, I would refuse to go for the mere fact that he would send others to hell. It was something to that

effect. And more eloquent, but to that effect. And I didn't make it harder or lighter to that effect.

And then my friend said, this is unanswerable. And waited for my answer. Well, the scripture text

that Nora read actually fits with how I tried to answer my friend. That very odd text from Genesis. So,

it would be a great help to me and to you if you open your Bibles and turn to Genesis chapter 3,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

the second half of Genesis 3, verses 14 and following. And just before I start reading

Genesis 3:14

Genesis chapter 3, verse 14, just a little bit of a context as you turn to it. Some of you who are a

Genesis 3:14

bit familiar with the Bible would know this, but maybe some of us don't. Basically, the first two

chapters of Genesis give two different accounts of God creating everything out of nothing. The first

text sort of gives you more of the 20,000 feet in the air view with other types of imagery. The second

text focuses more particularly on the creation of man and woman and the institution of marriage.

And then in Genesis 3, just a bit before we had this, we have the beginning of evil. How did evil and

sin and pain come into our world? And there's the conversation between the serpent and between Eve.

There is Adam and Eve. God said, you know, there's thousands and thousands of trees in this paradise

on earth. You can eat all of the fruit you want whenever you want, all the different types.

It's unbelievably delicious, unbelievably nutritious. You'll never put on weight.

And you can eat to your heart's content. I only ask that there's this one tree that you don't eat of it.

And if you eat of it, you'll die. And Genesis 3, just before this, describes the process whereby

Adam and Eve decide they want to be like God and they want to make their own rules and they eat of the

fruit. And as a result of that, well, God, they fall. That's the beginning of the breaking of the

created order. And in the part just before this, God's first words to fallen human beings, rebellious

human beings who want to, in a sense, dethrone God and be like God, he asked them four questions.

And now we come to after those questions have been answered, revealing really a lot about God's heart

and what the human heart was. We now come to God speaking to first the serpent, then the woman,

and then the man. So that's where we are. Here's what happens. Verse 14. The Lord God said to the

serpent, because you have done this, his role in clarifying that Adam and Eve wanted to be like God.

Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field.

On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between

you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise

his heel. Now, like right off the bat, I mean, some of you might have very serious questions about it,

but it's also very easy to make fun of this text. Okay, George, so this is like a story of why snakes

don't run around with tiny little legs like a centipede? Like, it's pretty ridiculous, George.

That's apart from the fact that the snake is a talking snake, George. And don't you think it's just

sort of completely and utterly, you know, ridiculous that the snake is going to eat dust?

Like, come on, George, how can you even begin to take this text seriously? So it's easy to

look at the text. It's very easy to make fun of it. But let's just, you know, sort of take a bit of a

time out and look at the text and try to listen to it and see what it is that it's trying to say.

And the first thing is, just so you know, if you're a guest here this morning, we had Easter Sunday

and the Palm Sunday before that. But before that, I've done a whole series of sermons before this

in Genesis, talked about evolution and creation. I've talked about historical Adam, talked about

serpents talking. I'm not going to repeat it. You can go back and listen to some of the serpents,

sermons. Don't listen to the serpent. Listen to the sermons. In fact, you know, a big task for

Christians is distinguish the hissing of the serpent from the whisper of the Holy Spirit. But there you go.

That's a free sermon note just for you because you're here. And so listen to the other sermons.

Just for now, understand that the serpent is really a way of talking about the devil, Satan.

You can listen to earlier sermons in terms of how I talk about this and help us to understand it.

And so the serpent, in a sense, is a symbol,

a slithering symbol for the devil, for Satan, our ancient adversary.

So here's the thing about this. You know, in a few weeks, we're going to talk about Noah and the flood.

And just so you know, there were rainbows before the flood.

Okay? I mean, rainbows are a natural phenomenon.

It wasn't as if there were no rainbows and all of a sudden God created a rainbow.

That's not how it is.

What's going on here, both with the serpent and this description of on your belly and everything like that,

in some ways, God takes a natural phenomenon and becomes something that has significance

in terms of who God is and who human beings are and how he relates to them.

That just as in Noah's case with the rainbow, when we see a rainbow,

one of the things we can remember every time we see a rainbow is that God will not destroy the earth.

And when we see a snake, one of the things we can remember is that God has humbled,

God has humbled the devil.

That he is completely and utterly humbled.

Still powerful, but profoundly humbled.

You know, if you look at it from that thing, look at what he does.

Because you have done this, curse it are you above all livestock and above all the beasts of the field.

On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

You know this phrase, dust?

You know, what's a very common expression even today?

You can see it in movies or something like that.

Maybe, you know, somebody's in a race and they're beating the person,

and in their mind you can hear, or if you're watching this in a movie,

you can hear, eat my dust, loser.

Right?

Eat my dust.

In fact, usually in Hollywood it would be a whole pile of swear words,

which I'm not allowed to say from the pulpit.

And shouldn't say anywhere else, by the way, just for the record.

I don't want to say, oh boy, George said if you're not on the pulpit you can say these bad words.

Not.

Okay?

So, but you know, we're familiar with that expression, right?

Eat my dust, loser.

Right?

It's the same type of thing.

It's a description of a profound humbling.

When we see a snake, we're to be reminded that the devil has been completely and utterly humbled.

In fact, one of the, a couple of weeks ago I suggested that if you like reading novels,

and if you haven't done it, there's three spectacular novels by C.S. Lewis, a science fiction trilogy.

And the first one is, I think, called Out of the Silent Planet,

then it's Perilandra, or Voyage to Venus, and then That Hideous Strength.

And one of the interesting things that C.S. Lewis does playing with this imagery

is that he imagines that part of the way that God humbled the devil was to limit him to earth,

in a sense where he has to eat dust.

Whereas before he could roam, now he's in a sense tied to this planet as part of his defeat and his humbling.

That's just, you know, a bit of a side.

They're books that are really worth reading.

But some of you might say, but George, cursing?

Like God's up there cursing?

Ah, come on.

I mean, George, you just got up here.

You just said, by the way, you know, you could say, eat my dust,

and in Hollywood they'd say, bleepity, bleepity, bleepity, bleep.

And you just said, don't say bleepity, bleepity, bleep.

But, I mean, God's doing that.

Like, what's going on?

God's doing that.

Well, here's the first big thing about this whole text.

If you could put up the point.

I have a human problem.

And if I have a human problem, human problems mean every human being has the problem.

I imagine gods.

Actually, there should be no apostrophe there.

I imagine gods in my own image.

I'm sorry, my own likeness.

That's my problem.

I imagine gods.

It's hard for me to hear God describe himself,

and for me to actually just listen to that and understand how he reveals himself.

because my mind and my heart are constantly imagining what God is like.

You see, what happens to me is...

See, one of the things that happens in the earlier part of this story

is that human beings who used to be able to see God face-to-face,

they hide from him.

And because I like to hide from God,

I imagine that God hides from me.

Because I'm elusive,

I imagine that God's elusive.

Because I get angry,

I imagine that God gets angry.

Because I curse in a certain way,

I imagine that that means what it says about God,

that he curses in a certain way.

Because I have a problem with hatred,

I imagine that God has a problem with hatred.

And it's a human problem.

I think it was Calvin who said that the human mind

is a factory to create idols.

And I probably got the quote a little bit wrong.

But I have a human problem.

So it comes right out.

Cursing.

Well, what do I think of when I think of cursing?

I think of, you know,

I'm in...

Well, just the other...

Just leaving church last Sunday.

I come and the bicycle lane has, you know, lines on it.

I'm following it.

I'm not going into the bicycle lane.

But I come to the corner that allows me to get into the intersection

and cross the bicycle lane.

And a cyclist who was well, well behind me.

I was stopped.

I was stopped like 80 yards before him.

Didn't cut him off.

I was waiting for pedestrians to go.

But as he went, he cursed me.

Very colorfully.

Very loudly.

He cursed me.

So that's what we think of, right?

But what's going on here in the text?

What's going on here in the text is this.

So just all the way through this text,

this text is going to constantly challenge our hearts

to make us think twice

if we're willing to have the text confront us

to see how we sort of are imagining God.

And so because we imagine God in certain ways,

we hear the text in certain ways,

but it's not the way the text is actually describing God.

In the Bible, a curse is the opposite of a blessing.

And what a curse is,

is a God consigning or making something impotent.

He makes something impotent.

Is this a bad thing?

Who wouldn't like North Korea to become more impotent?

I mean, other than the crazy little family and clique

that run that terrible country.

And so what the text is saying here is,

because you have done this,

I am going to make you impotent.

I'm going to really and utterly,

completely cut your power.

That's what God does for us

in his dealing with the devil.

So it's not that God is angry and hostile

and loses control.

So this text is going to constantly reveal my heart.

It's going to reveal my fear, my pride.

It's going to reveal to me who I am in God's sight

and how I don't want to,

I want to constantly imagine

that God is less generous than he is,

that he's less loving than he is,

that he's less just than he is,

that he's less holy than he is,

that he has human problems.

This text is going to constantly reveal

this tendency in my heart and yours.

But God acts to make the serpent's power

basically very powerless.

That's what he does.

So remember, I have a human problem.

I imagine God's in my own likeness.

And so it means I'm going to keep on

like sort of misunderstanding the text.

So for instance, like this whole seed language,

which is really weird.

Like as someone you might say,

okay, is God just saying that,

I don't know, seed of the serpent.

Like look down here about the seed of the serpent.

I will put, verse 15,

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

between your seed and her seed.

He shall bruise your head

and you shall bruise his heel.

Is this just talking about little baby snakes

that go wiggling around?

There's, one of the places I go for a run

is on the Cross Canada Trail.

And there's a spot along the Cross Canada Trail

where there's obviously some type of a nest.

I don't know if snakes have nests.

Last Sunday, you all laughed,

or you should have laughed,

as I tried to describe flowers,

revealing the lack of my knowledge of botany.

But I, anyway, at this time,

soon when you go for a run,

I have to keep my eye open for garter snakes

and little baby garter snakes.

You know, because the last thing you want to do

when you're out for a run,

just sort of trying to make it through

is to come close to stepping on a snake

because all of a sudden,

I'm doing high jump, not running,

if what I thought was a stick moves.

Okay?

I'm just telling you,

you hear a yelp from George

and all of a sudden,

you see how high George's vertical leap can be

when the stick wiggles

and moves out of the way.

Anyway, so what's going on here

with the seed language?

Is it just describing baby seeds?

No, it's describing,

and this is going to actually maybe

be a little bit frightening to us,

it's describing human beings.

The seed of the serpent is human beings.

And the seed of Eve in this particular case

is also human beings.

And it's beginning to introduce an idea

as a result of the fall.

And by the way,

this is going to be a terrifying idea to us

that in the sense that there are two types of humanity,

there is a human,

there are human beings

that are the seed of the serpent,

and there are human beings

that are a seed of life,

ultimately of Eve, of the woman,

of God, who's a source of life.

Now, some of you might say,

oh, George, time out, time out.

Is this, in fact,

giving divine sanction and permission

for describing certain others

as being like demons,

that we can do whatever we want with them?

Not at all.

It would be if this was the only text in the Bible

that referred to it.

It would be a real problem,

because we know there's a human problem, right?

We know there's a human problem.

We see it right now.

What is it?

There's a constant problem going on.

Many of the elite universities in the United States

and here in Canada,

where we demonize,

and there's a complete attack on freedom of speech.

That in places that should be devoted

to the freedom of expression

and the interchange of ideas,

that there's an increasing problem

in these places of shutting down

and shouting down

and using the third of violence

to stop people

who don't have the right views from speaking.

It's a problem in our society.

And so, is this text trying to describe...

No, if this was the only text in the Bible,

but this is the beginning of a story,

if you have your Bibles,

I mean, here we are.

Here's the beginning.

Here's what goes on.

And the text is going to develop this idea,

and in the Old Testament,

it's going to make it a bit more complicated.

It starts to have the idea

of how individuals,

in a sense,

the line between good and evil

runs not between human beings,

but down the middle of each human being.

And it's eventually going to be culminated

in this understanding

that Jesus dies upon the cross,

and when he dies upon the cross,

all what he's doing

is revealing

that God is going to provide

a completely new way

for human beings

to be made right with him,

and it's going to reveal

in a way that would be

too depressing to reveal

until the Messiah himself

has come and died upon the cross,

that in a sense,

every human being

is the seed of the serpent,

in a sense,

and that every human being

needs to be transferred

from this

to be reconciled

and made right with God,

and only God's power

can do that.

It's the beginning

of this idea

of the depth

of a rebellion against God

that the rest of the scriptures

are going to make clear.

And at the same time,

it has this profound problem

that God is going to use

a particular,

I mean,

seed is something

that men produce,

not women.

It doesn't require

the virgin birth,

but for Christians

who read the Gospels,

all of a sudden,

you see that,

in a sense,

it's a prophecy

or prediction

of the virgin birth,

that God will provide

the means by which

the serpent is killed,

and sin is dealt with,

and people are made right

with God.

It's the beginning

of promise

that's in the Bible.

But some of you

might say,

so it's not at all

a divine justification

of there being

two types of people,

but some of you

might say,

okay, George,

well, that's all

very interesting,

but there's this

really problem.

You know,

Nora was overcome

when she read

this text,

and she was overcome

for good reason.

You know,

when you read the text

very carefully

and slowly

and try to bring emphasis,

and doesn't this text

seem to say

that God all of a sudden

created pain

in childbearing?

Doesn't this text

sort of say

that men are able

to rule over their wives?

Like, George,

this is a very...

In fact,

just imagine,

look at verse 16.

To the woman,

he said,

I will surely

multiply your pain

in childbearing.

In pain you shall

bring forth children.

Your desire shall be

for your husband,

and he shall rule

over you.

Imagine for a second

that I said

there's a gathering

of women executives,

and I'd like you

to read that text

to them.

Imagine for a second

if there was a gathering

of all the women

who were in parliament,

and they're bringing

women from all

across the country

to have a big session

in parliament,

and I said,

could you read

that text to them?

I would be really...

Nobody would want

to do that.

Very few would want

to do that.

It sounds like

a terrible,

terrible text.

So just remember again,

what is it I say?

I have a human problem.

I imagine

God's

in my own likeness.

So,

before I try

to bring out

what this text is saying,

it's still going

to be a bit controversial,

but I'm going to make it worse

rather than before

I make it better.

Because when it says here,

I will surely multiply

your pain in childbearing,

what it's actually saying

is this.

The word pain here

means both physical pain

and psychological

and emotional

and spiritual

and intellectual pain.

It means pain

in the most broadly

understood term.

And what it's talking

about here

is that there's going

to be pain

connected to children

from the moment

of conception

till the moment

either that the child

dies,

and then if the mother

obviously still is alive,

it will continue on

after the child

has died

because no mother

wants,

every mother,

I mean,

nobody wants to die,

but everybody wants

to outlive their,

to have their children

outlive them.

So,

this text is actually

saying that there

will be a multiplication

of pain

for the woman

from the moment

of conception

until her death

around children.

And the text

is also then saying

your desire

shall be for your husband

and it's a very,

very interesting thing

in the original language.

What it's saying

is that both

there's this

almost an inordinate

desire

that will sometimes

happen for

at least women

towards the husband

or a man

to be the husband,

but there's also

this other sense

which is actually

far more important

is that there's

a desire

for the woman

to rule

or master

the husband.

And at the same time

it's saying

that the man

will act

in a ruling

type of

hard way

towards his wife.

So,

I've made it worse,

haven't I?

But now you've heard it.

So,

well,

here's,

if you could put up

the next point,

Andrew.

This is,

I really just have

two big ideas

in this text

and this is

the other idea.

God's word,

it's long

and I don't really

like the grammar,

but it's the best

I could do.

God's word reveals

that I am made

in his image.

In other words,

that means I'm beautiful

and I'm glorious

and every human being is.

But I am bent.

His word also reveals

that I am bent,

broken,

and twisted.

So,

I bend,

break,

and twist.

His word also reveals

that God is good,

merciful,

and sovereign.

So,

he limits evil,

warns of evil,

and delivers from sin.

That's what you have to know

when you read this text.

Both the thing

which I just read

a few moments ago

about the serpent,

but also as we're going to talk

about the next things

in the text,

God's word reveals

that I am made

in his image.

At no point in time

does the Bible say

that because of our sin

and rebellion

that God removes

us being made

in his image.

It never says that.

We're always made

in his image.

But we are now bent

and broken

and twisted

and so I bend,

break,

and twist.

His word also reveals

that God is good,

merciful,

and sovereign.

God doesn't say,

oh gosh,

because human beings

have fallen,

I'm no longer

sovereign.

No,

he's sovereign

in a different context.

God is sovereign

in the context

of human rebellion

and human beings'

addiction

to be like God.

God.

And in a context

in a world

where human beings

are addicted

to the desire

to be God,

he's still sovereign,

he's still good,

he's still merciful.

And because of that,

he limits evil,

warns of evil,

and delivers from sin.

So let's look

at this text.

And remember

I said at the beginning

about this story

at my coffee shop

and the fellow

giving me

this unanswerable

objection

to a God

who casts people

into hell.

And here's the first

thing I said to him.

The Bible actually

is a bit more subtle

than that.

What if I said to you

that it's not

that God

takes somebody

like George Sinclair

and I'm running away

from God

and he finally

catches me,

grabs me

by the scruff

of my neck

and I'm wiggling

and I'm fighting

and I'm twisting

and I'm punching

at God

but God keeps me

in his grip

and he opens

the door to hell

and he throws me

far enough into hell

so that he can

close the door

and lock it.

That's the image.

But I said

what if it,

what if

I choose to go

into hell

and when I go

into hell

the only lock

on the door

is a lock

on the inside

not the outside.

This actually

made my friend

really mad.

and when I

tried to press

it on him

he just

eventually

threw up

his arms

and refused

to talk

to me

anymore

about it

because I guess

he thought

I had an

unanswerable

position

and he never

thought there

might be an

answer.

But the fact

of the matter

is that all

the way

through the

Bible

it's far

more complicated

in these

things.

That there's

this odd

mixture

of God

always being

sovereign

and right

in his

judgment

but at the

same time

human beings

freely choosing.

And the

reason this

is going to

be very

very significant

is because

in all of

these things

here that

God says

there's a

mixture

of prediction

and proclamation

about what

God's going

to do.

If you go

back

you listen

to the

sermon

about what

happens

immediately

after the

fall

if you

remember

that immediately

after the

fall

God does

nothing

but what's

the first

thing

that God

does

nothing

but what's

the first

thing

that happens

they recognize

that they're

naked.

The next

thing that

happens

with God

having done

nothing is

they hide

from God.

What's the

next thing

that happens

even though

God has

still done

nothing

is the

very very

first thing

they do

is they

begin to

have a

breakdown

of their

relationship

with the

created

order and

with themselves

and with

God.

They pass

the buck.

They say

it's not

my fault

it's your

fault.

It's his

fault.

No it's

her fault.

It's her

fault.

It's the

first thing

that happens.

We've

bent and

broken and

twisted

ourselves

and now

we look

bent and

broken and

twisted.

And so

in all

this speech

the interesting

thing is to

listen far

more carefully

to not

just to

remember that

we make

God's in

our own

imaginings

and to

listen how

in many

parts of

this God's

just now

predicting

what's

going to

happen.

And in

other things

he says

something

specifically

he's going

to do.

So one

of the

things

specifically

he's going

to do

make the

devil

impotent.

So let's

look here

the second

thing.

Okay.

Look at

it again.

Verse 16

I will

surely

multiply

your pain

and

childbearing

now that

you

understand

what

it

means.

In

pain

you

shall

bring

forth

children.

Your

desire

shall

be

for

your

husband

and

he

shall

rule

over

you.

So

here's

the

second

thing.

I'm

going to

put

the

Bible

down.

I'm

just

going to

ask

you a

question.

Is

that

true?

As a

prediction.

No.

Nobody has

complicated

relationship

with their

parents.

Nobody has

complicated

relationships

with their

children.

No

marriage is

ever in

trouble.

No

husband and

wife ever

struggle for

power and

control.

that's

not

happened

anywhere.

No,

it's

true,

isn't

it?

Like

it's a

very,

very,

very,

you know

what,

this is

an

inconvenient

truth,

but this

is a

perfect

description.

Go to

family court,

go to

marriage

counselors,

go to

family

counselors.

This

is true.

And

God

doesn't,

he does

one

particular

thing in

this,

doesn't

he?

Multiply

your

pain.

How

on earth

could he

multiply

your

pain?

Well,

remember,

what was

my very,

very first

point?

My very,

very,

you don't

have to

put it

up,

and you

can leave

this one

here,

but I

have a

human

problem.

I

imagine

God's

in my

own

likeness.

So

here's

the thing.

Quite

a few

years ago

when I

was still

in the

parish

of

Eganville,

a little

rural

church,

I think

I was

driving

from

Eganville

to

Tweed

down

these

country

roads.

And

anybody

who's

driven

through

country

roads

in the

province

of

Ontario

and that

type

of area,

there's

not very

many

passing

lanes.

And

I

have

to

confess,

I

am

not

always,

I'm

growing,

I'm

becoming

more

sanctified,

but I

am

not

always

the

most

patient

driver.

And

so

I

was

behind

a

person

who

when

the

road

you

couldn't

pass,

they

went

75

in

an

80

zone.

And

when

it

was

nice

and

straight

and

you

could

pass,

they

went

120

or

110.

And

this

was

not

teaching

me

patience.

This

was

making

me

very

upset.

And

this

went

on,

it

seemed

like

for

about

three

years,

but

it

was

actually

probably

only

for

about

20

minutes.

Then

there

was

a

sign

announcing

that

we

were

coming

into

a

village.

Now

I've

been

driving

on

country

roads

for

a

long

time

and

so

I

know

two

things

about

country

roads

that

if

the

police

are

going

to

try

to

capture

you

for

speeding

they

love

it

to go

from

when it

goes

from

an

80

to

a

60

to

a

40

really

quick

and

they

like

being

where

it

says

40.

This

person

kept

driving

75.

Police

pulled

her

over.

Yes!

I'm

sorry!

I am

not

sharing

my

holiness.

I

rejoiced

in that

person's

pain.

I

did.

I

thought to

myself

all sorts

of

terrible

thoughts.

Some

of you

you know

who you

are

who are

impatient

drivers.

you

can

imagine

the

rest

of

the

thing

that

went

on

in

my

head.

I

was

glad

they

got

the

ticket.

I

am

not

proud

of

this.

Don't

do

what I

say

that I

just

did.

This is

an

example

of

my

sinfulness.

So

here's

the

thing.

Does

God

look

down

at

women

and

say

I'm

going

to

have

pain?

Yes!

Is

there

ever

a time

when

we

want

people

to

experience

pain?

Don't

you

wish

that

the

head

of

North

Korea

wasn't

so

callous

and

he

felt

some

pain

about

what

he's

doing

to

his

people?

Don't

you

know

brutal

husbands

with

their

wives

and

don't

you

wish

that

they

actually

felt

some

pain

about

what

they

did?

One

of

the

aspects

of

the

disease

of

leprosy

that

happens

is

that

one

of

the

aspects

of

one

of

the

symptoms

of

leprosy

is

that

parts

of

the

body

and

then

more

and

more

parts

of

the

body

no

longer

feel

pain

so

it

means

that

you

could

be

at

my

house

and

you're

making

yourself

a

cup

of

coffee

with

my

stove

top

espresso

machine

without

realizing

it

you put

your

hand

on

a

burner

that's

on

and

you

don't

know

maybe

God's

increasing

pain

has

something

to do

with

the

callousness

that

can

come

with

hurting

others

maybe

it

has

something

to do

so that

we would

repent

not only

to God

but to

other

people

and

change

our

ways

maybe

God

is

not

like

us

and

his

actions

are

just

the

whole

thing

here

about

marriage

I'm

going to

have

to

be

running

out

of

time

the

whole

thing

here

about

marriage

you

know

one

of

the

things

that

might

really

I'm

old

not

quite

ancient

of

days

but

I'm

old

and

one

of

the

things

I

maybe

hope

for

those

of

you

who are

in

your

20s

or

your

30s

is

that

you'll

start

to be

able

to

after

feminism

and

after

patriarchy

that

you'll

start

to be

able

to

just

listen

to

the

Bible

text

and

just

listen

to

it

and

not

be

frightened

and

bent

out of

shape

by

the

murmurings

of

patriarchy

and

by the

murmurings

and

paranoia

of

feminism

and

the

murmurings

and

paranoia

of

patriarchy

and

just

be

able

to

listen

to

the

text

is

that

on

one

hand

in

the

first

and

second

creation

account

in

two

cases

in

the

most

powerful

imagery

and

language

possible

the

full

complete

equality

of

men

and

women

is

very

powerfully

stated

but

when

it

comes

to

the

marriage

relationship

it's

very

interesting

that

the

task

for

the

husband

in

the

marriage

relationship

and

the

task

for

the

wife

in

the

marriage

relationship

the

tasks

have

some

similarities

but

they

fundamentally

have

different

tasks

and

I'm

looking

forward

to

the

day

maybe

when

I'm

90

and

I

still

haven't

lost

my

mind

and

I'm

going

along

my

walk

or

that

I'll

hear

that

one

of

you

people

here

or

maybe

one

of

the

kids

in

Sunday

school

because

you're

a

poet

and

you're

a

philosopher

and

you're

a

theologian

and

you're

psychologist

and

you're

just

that's

required

and

deserved

and

the

fact

that

there

can

be

somehow

or

another

different

tasks

for

a

husband

and

a

wife

in

the

relationship

of

marriage

see

it's

very

very

interesting

in

the

second

creation

account

the

woman

is

described

as

the

helper

fit

for

the

man

and

in

some

ways

and

I

don't

know

what

it

means

I

can

give

you

a bit

of

idea

but

I

don't

entirely

know

what

it

means

but

it

describes

in a

sense

the

woman

it

doesn't

say

that

the

man

the

husband

is

to

be

the

helper

of

the

woman

and

this

is

very

troublesome

it's

not

demeaning

by the

way

in

quite

a few

places

in

the

Old

Testament

God

is

described

as

the

helper

so

if

this

text

is

dissing

women

it's

dissing

God

and

it's

not

dissing

God

but

for

somehow

there's

this

text

the

other

side

of

it

men

are

given

two

tasks

that

women

aren't

given

it

says

if

you

go