So here we go, starting at the beginning. I had found a lot on how to read the Bible and suggestions to start with James and John, essentially beginning with the end of the new testament and then going back to the beginning. However, being an avid reader already, I started from the beginning. In the words of the King in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:

“Begin at the beginning… and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”

Lewis Carroll

Admittedly it is a little hard to get through, especially as I am reading the King James Version and sometimes I need to pull out my Collins Dictionary to make sure am following it right! Yet the more I read it, the easier it gets. I see it akin to reading Wuthering Heights – you get there eventually!

As I have been reading the Bible, I’ve been journaling my thoughts, highlighting scriptures that speak out to me, and noting things that I’ve researched further. So this is my “thoughts” part. I won’t be explaining every part of the Bible but rather re-writing the thoughts I’ve put in my journal from certain passages that speak out to me.

Genesis 6

In Genesis 6:5-6, God saw that after allowing man to multiply, men were only interested in pursuing evils and were no longer grateful for nor willing to do good. This is pretty mad already since it’s only chapter 6 of the first book. It didn’t take man long to completely upend the world God created and just fall completely into the muck of sin. This behaviour saddened God, as the world He made was good and He made man to be good and instead man was destroying all that was left good, without even caring about what was being destroyed. In Genesis 6, that’s when God floods the world. This is the story of Noah and the Ark. The reset button is hit and man has to start again.

Genesis 8-11

By Genesis 8 however, God promises us that He will never do that again.

‘And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. ‘

Genesis 8:21 (KJV)
https://www.bible.com/bible/1/GEN.8.21

This is shown to us by a rainbow, which God made and said Genesis 9 that it is a sign of His promise that no matter how heavy the rain may come down, He would never wipe out humanity again (no matter how much He may think we need it!) and we would see it with the bow in the sky. Yet in Genesis 11:4-9, we learn that despite the flood and the knowledge of the flood happening, as man grew in numbers, their minds filled with evil once again (almost instantly rather). Man began to think themselves better than He who created them and attempted to conspire against Him. Obviously God isn’t going to wipe us out, because then He would beak His promise and how can you trust anyone, even your God, if they lie to you? So, He keeps his promise and instead creates languages so man can’t always understand each other. People now need to take time to learn to understand each other instead of focusing on attacking the Holy Spirit.

This can be seen as grace. Essentially, He slowed the process of humans becoming so evil that they end up destroying themselves. God cares about what we do and most of all, God keeps His promises.

Here, God tells Abram that his descendants will be mistreated because of man’s choices. God knows that this is going to happen, but He can’t change it. This is man-made and, ultimately, God gave man free will so He can’t control man to do what He wants. He does, however, promise to stand by Abram’s children and help them overcome the darkness of man’s heart. This comes back to the ‘we are born sinners’ mantra, and that even though God sees our sin, He will not destroy us for it because He knows we can learn from our mistakes.