Opening THE Book 5 with Rev John

17th December 2018
as published by St Andrew's Church in the Gorleston Community Magazine

Rev John Kinchin-Smith
Assistant Minister, St Andrew’s Church

Last week, we considered how the Bible teaches us that the universe is not the result of random chance without purpose but the creation of an awesome loving God who created human beings to be in perfect harmony with each other, with creation and with himself. But human beings used their free will to rebel against God and choose their own selfish ways. Let’s apply a bit of logic!
 
If God is perfect love (or he wouldn’t be “God”, would he?), he must also be a God of perfect justice. Otherwise life would be so unfair! Why should some children live in poverty and die young, for example? And shouldn’t evil be punished? Well, if God created the universe and everything in it, then aren’t all the bad things his fault? Ah, but what about your free will, your freedom to choose right or wrong?
 
There are many questions the Bible does not answer. If there is a life after this one (something we’ll think about later) – then hopefully all of our questions will be answered. Although by then we may not mind so much! So let’s see what the Bible does tell us. Well, after Adam and Eve made the wrong choices, things just went from bad to worse. And so God made a promise. In fact he made lots of promises. And if God really is “God” – then, unlike you and me, he will never break a promise. God is what the Bible calls “sovereign”. That means that he knows best and will act as he sees fit. It may seem strange, but God decided to put things right by calling an ordinary human being, Abraham, and promising that his children and grandchildren would become a special people through whom everything would be put right. This people were known as the people of Israel
 
Okay – so what happened? This people of Israel (also known as ‘Hebrews’) went to live in Egypt where they became very numerous and were made into slaves by the Egyptians. The story of Joseph (of the Technicolour Dreamcoat!), in the book of Genesis, explains why the People of Israel went to Egypt. Next week we’ll hear how God called a man named Moses to rescue the people of Israel from slavery and lead them to a ‘Promised Land’
 

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