Some 18 months or so ago, my wife suffered a major stroke that necessitated a thrombectomy. That is when a tube is put into the brain via an artery in the groin and up via the aorta and carotid arteries to remove the clot causing the stroke. Thankfully once the clot was removed she recovered nearly all the physical uses of her body. Her cognitive ability has retained some lapses, however, and she has lost the ability to reason, solve problems and large parts of her memory. As a result I have become her full-time care-giver. This is a task I love, and one that I believe God has given me.
As a result of the above, when things at my church became untenable for me, I left Christianity and became a follower of Jesus. That is detailed in my previous blogs. Although I miss most of the people from that congregation, the dreams I have experienced since then, along with the answers to my prayers, have shown a positiveness that indicates God is happy with me caring for my wife as my primary job at this time.
Each morning I do my own readings from the Old Testament followed by the same from the New Testament. From those readings I take verses that I post via my twitter account. Likewise any matters that I feel I need to look further into I undertake the research.
The other day I had finished the Old Testament so had returned to the start to read through it again. The last time took me about 3 years. I have a funny relationship with Genesis. My first job was as a Communications Technician with the Royal New Zealand Air Force. I worked on airborne radio and navigation equipment. During my time we changed from valves to transistors. As a result, science held a premium place in my beliefs. That made for an interesting take on Genesis but it was not one that led me to doubt the reality of Creation. As a matter of fact, as most of you will realise, a great number of Scientists are Creationists. I smile to myself as the years go by and science edges closer to creationism; although many try to avoid saying so!
So my readings covered the eating of the fruit from the tree in the Garden of Eden and also the Cain and Abel sacrifice problem. In the past I had put those matters to one side as they seemed to need deeper thought than I could give them. This time I had a bit more of a look. It appeared to me that God was being a bit petty in getting upset just because Adam and Eve now had the knowledge of what was right and what was wrong. After all, doesn't God want us to keep away from what is wrong but hold onto what is right? Well yeah, he does. Of course, though, the first thing he wants us to do is obey him. He told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit but they went ahead and ate it. They disobeyed him. The punishment? Well you can read that yourself. If they hadn't eaten the fruit we wouldn't have needed all the rules that regulate us now. Well, that's how I read it.
And Cain and Abel? Well, give God your best and do so willingly. Be happy and satisfied with what you have. Work hard, love a lot, pray a lot.
May God bless you all.
