Several years ago, I had the opportunity to interview Eugene Peterson as part of a leadership class that I was taking through Spring Arbor University.  Eugene has been my ‘reading’ pastor for over a decade now… and I have spent much time with him ‘by my side’ as I navigated the waters of Christian Spirituality.

 

In the interview… I asked Eugene about some of the biggest ailments that he sees in pastors in North America.  One of the points that he made was that pastors tend to spend most of their time copying other pastors… and this is a cancer of sorts to the creativity that God has planted in them.  We are not able to make able to change the world if we are not allowing the colors that God has equipped us with to come out.

(Listen to the interview… if you want… It is about 45 minutes long… doesn’t have anything to do with the overall content of this post)

 I knew what he meant… in that I sometimes find myself imitating others that I admire until the message I am really wanting to convey comes out in my own way.

 

I also knew what he meant… because I was serving under a pastor that I am sure wanted to be Kenneth Copeland.

 

What does that have to do with anything concerning Genesis 1?

 

I’ll tell you…

 

I interacted briefly with Rob Bell recently over on his Tumblr after he began a series of posts that inspired me to do these posts about the Bible.  I had asked Rob if it would be ok if I used some of his posts in a teaching series, and he was very encouraging in giving permission… giving that I give credit where credit is due.

 

I tell you that because this post on the creation poem found in Genesis 1 has been articulated by Rob so well… that there is no point in me trying to avoid plagiarism by putting his teachings into my own words.  I’ll just let him do the talking.

 

It’s just good stuff…

 

And a bit controversial…

 

There is a debate between creationists and evolutionists that… from where I sit… has gotten a bit boring.

 

How did the world come to be?

Does the Bible talk about a literal 6 days of creation?

Where did Cain and Abel find wives?

 

While evolutionists would seemingly like to dismiss the Biblical account all together… I have to admit that the creationist side of the debate doesn’t do much to give us anything worth holding onto… other than facts that they can use to keep the argument going.

 

I’m bored with it all…

 

As the curtain of time and space is pulled open in the opening pages of this sacred text… we are drawn into a mystery of a God… that saw what had been made… and said… it… was… good…

 

So… giving credit where credit is due… Mr. Rob Bell…

(and a couple of the slides from the version of the teaching I did once or twice…)