Questions of Design

I was reading through the Creation story today in Genesis and some verses caught my eye that didn't do so before, so I wanted to talk about them and expose my growing understanding on them.

First, I'll rant about verses twenty-eight through thirty of chapter one, set during the day of the creation of man, which says:

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.  And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so. -Genesis 1:28-30 1984 NIV

I had never before noticed that it said God gave both us and animals plants for food, but not animals to food.  However, He does authorize the killing and eating of animals after the flood (under certain conditions):

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.

“Whoever sheds the blood of man,by man shall his blood be shed;for in the image of Godhas God made man. -Genesis 9:1-6 1984 NIV

What I got out of it: God never intended for us to hunt and kill animals or to have them fear us, although He did intend for us to eat plants for food.  However, since He has seen the violent nature of man since The Fall, God has decided to allow for us to kill and eat animals, but has given us instruction in order to protect us from things we did not understand at the time. (undercooked meat and such)

What I wonder: In Heaven, will we only be allowed to eat plants (not that we would have to eat), since animals weren't originally on the menu?

Second, let's talk about verses eighteen through twenty-three of chapter two, set after the creation of Adam, but before the creation of Eve, which says:

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.  So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.  So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones
    and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,
    for she was taken out of man.” -Genesis 2:18-23

What I got out of it: God originally made man to have a personal relationship with Him, that He couldn't exactly have with angels, animals, nature or within the Trinity.  After he did this, he said that it wasn't "good for the man to be alone" and made a helper for him, which we now know as woman.

What I wonder: Part of me understands how one might be alone even while with God and a whole bunch of animals in a garden, because relationships with similar beings that you can also physically see are distinctly different. Yet another side of me is curious what the other options were, because after naming the animals, comes the words, "but for Adam no suitable helper was found." Does this imply that Adam was looking for a helper out of expectation of finding another creature like himself or is it implying that God considered at one point of making animal a helper to man?

To Be Able to Be or Not (Is the Question)

Here's a recent question that's been on my mind:

Is personality a deciding factor in choosing a profession? (i.e. Can only certain kinds of people do some jobs)

I am operating under the definition of personality that Elmer Towns has presented, which says that personality is composed of:

• intellect (power to know)
• emotion (power to feel)
• will (power to choose)
• self-perception (awareness of one's separation from other selves)
• self-direction (ability to dream/plan)

While I like to think that everyone is able to do any job they put their mind to, I feel like there must be some jobs that some people can simply perform better than others.  For example, if I had tried my hardest could I be a professional baseball player like I once wanted to be when I was little or would it have never worked out because I'm the kind of person that lacks the discipline for a sports schedule.  But then again, maybe I could have developed those qualities as I went along. 

As I write this, I'm starting to think that this question is basically one of destiny and whether it's created or fixed, which may turn out to be a pointless question to ponder in this life.  I guess I'll be whatever it is that I end up being and figure out the specifics in the end. (this sounds strangely familiar...)

And One Thing Leads to Another

This past semester at college (Spring 2012) I took the 101 German class.  It was a fun class and I plan to take the 102 class this coming semester, but that's not the point of this post.  Since I had been taking this class recently, during the summer, I watched anime (among other things) and I became much more interested in the possibility of learning the Japanese language.  I've looked up a little bit about it and not it's beginning to look any less tough than before, but it does look more like something that I'd like to try to do.

While researching on reputable sites *cough* Wikipedia *cough* about the different aspects of the Japanese language, such as kanji, hiragana and katakana.  I learned that it derives most of its writing system from China.  And... When I discovered that, I re-remembered that the human race has spread out from where they started to where they are right now.  This made me realize not only how important it is to appreciate the each of the growing and changing cultures that we have developed in our own little "necks of the wood," but to also cherish each other as members of the same race. (by not killing each other as a start, and then eventually making an actually effort, both individually and corporately, to care for one another)

Which brings me to my next tangent, which is, that it still feels weird to me personally to even think of marrying or dating someone, because we all came from the same place and we all are essentially brothers and sisters.  However, this cannot be avoided in this universe and maybe it isn't really weird after all, but instead it's me that is weird.  

Either way...

• German will be fun this upcoming semester
• Japanese sounds promising, but will take longer to learn than German (because there's less similarity for English speakers) 
• I'm single and ready to mingle (well... the first part is true anyways, depending on your definition of mingle the second part may or may not be true)

P.S. (did you know this stands for Post Scriptum?)

*in all seriousness, Wikipedia is just as much a trustworthy source as anything else, just make sure that you backtrack its sources (which it almost always lists at the bottom of the page) to be sure

*Should it be "neck of the woods" or "necks of the wood" in that sentence, because I feel like it should be plural


Will post when compelled again,
Walshie

Definition

I was thinking a few days back on this question:

"Is it the choices that we make define our character or is it our character that defines the choices that we make?"

I came to the conclusion that both seem to be true.  For example, when we make a commitment to save a life it shows what kind of person we are; however, when we make the choice to save a life, it also helps define what kind of person (or character) we will become by affecting our future choices.

I'm sure there's more to it than this, but this is what I understand currently.