Genesis, Truth or Not - Removing The Fog of Religion

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Genesis, Truth or Not

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Genesis, A New Look
By Your servant, Dan Baxley

www.servantsofyahshua.com
Last year (2010) it was reported that a group of Chinese Christians had discovered Noah’s Ark and photos were released over the internet, Noah’s Ark Ministries International (NAMI).   Amazing considering that it was only a couple of decades ago that Christianity in China was banned and if any citizen was found to own a Christian Bible they would be imprisoned.  New born from that period are now adults and have no clue concerning this fact.  What has happened is the cheap labor provided by a Communist controlled population drove the greedy -- called good business -- flocked to China to build work plants for manufacturing everything from everyone's favorite IPhone to cheap tools for the home workshop.  China leadership saw the opportunity to gain the world by this service to greedy, something the Bible calls the god of Mammon, that is, in service to the god of money, Mr. Greed.  It has served China well and turned that once impoverished country into an economic power house.  Today many Hebrew Christian Bibles are actually printed in China -- what a turn around.  Make no mistake, though, China is still a repressive world Empire.  The USA has given up major manufacturing of public goods to the Chinese all in the name of Greed -- they call this good business, of course.   Something needs to happen to turn this around or the USA will fall behind Red China, economically and militarily, with no one able to stop them.  Of course the image they want the world to see is one of the friendly Dragon, and one way to do that is to appear to be slowly adopting democracy, but this will never happen, why should it, they are getting just about everything they want and winning the world economic war and we, the USA and many European countries are helping them do it.  If they are going to profit from printing Bibles and becoming tolerant toward religion, at least on the surface -- we will see.

And, so, here we are, a Chinese Christian group, calling itself, Noah's Ark Ministries International, and claiming to have found Noah's wooden ship.  

If true, this, of course, would be the find any century -- but it is clouded by accusations from others who claim to be part of this discovery and feel they too should share in this discovery, again, if it is true. There is a battle of words continuing to go on between this group and the renowned author and lecturer Randall Price. The media, of course, picks up on this story, not from a point of view this might be possible but on the jump on the negative remarks and claims being thrown about. Nearly every ancient society and tribal societies around the world have a legend or teaching about a flood and about a family that escaped it in a boat.  The Critics will never hear that and if they do they come up with some lame excuse that pleases them and others who hate the idea about any god that would hold them responsible for their evil thoughts and actions.

This kind of journalism, seeking not the truth but to cloud the real issue – did they find the Ark, or not? On the off chance it might be true, and if I owned a major network I would have sent some journalist to the scene for a first hand report, but no, leave all of the serious/non-serious reporting to Google, Face Book, Twitter and anyone else with a computer/cell phone and only gosip or hearsay to report on.

This aside, this claimed discovery brings up the reliability of the Book of Genesis. If the Ark has been found, then this would prove the Biblical Flood is more than just a story, or a myth, it would be history. But, as usual, the waters (pun intended) are being muddied by the controversy of ownership over the find, whatever it may be. Accusations of plagiarism and of contracts broken. This find, whatever it is, is a significant discovery as there has never been any record of any human habitations at this height above sea level.  In other words, any hand shaped wood found in the ice at the level they say the discovery is located, then it could only have gotten there by, well, a flood, that is if it is a boat too big for men to pack.  
If you are interested and wish to follow this argument/discovery go to the link I have provided as follows -- http://www.noahsarksearch.net/eng/index.php.

My interest is not in proving the find, one way or another, but in the credibility and reliability of the Scriptures -- in particular the Book of Genesis. So, for you naysayers and scoffers of the world, this is not for you, this is for those looking for and searching for common sense truth, searching and seeking to find or prove, for themselves that there is a God and if so, who is He and what does He want and what does He have planned for us -- all of the answers to these questions are found in the Hebrew/Christian Bibles -- Keep looking and finding our Creator in all the right places, without proof about a missing Boat.
Genesis is a book recognized by our Savior YaHshua and His Apostles as a genuine account of man’s beginning, they quoted from this book as fact. Like it or not, the acceptance or rejection of the Genesis account would also be the acceptance or rejection or our Messiah and Savior, YaHshua, if you deny it as mere stories told around the campfires of illiterate, not quite fully evolved humans in attempts to explain where we came from. Really, there is a lot of people claiming to be Christians but denying the Flood and of Noah and his family escaping in a big boat – a very big boat. Some religious scholars, unable or unwilling to do battle against their atheist peers, succumb to the pressures of the academic world and strive to make the two compatible. They make excuses for the Genesis account and join in attempts to make it mean something other than what it says. They are embarrassed by the wording and their inability to defend their own faith. Of course, in these vain efforts, they do create a new religion, a religion that actually denies the words of our Savior. They worship, then, another Messiah, not the Messiah, YaHshua, of the Holy Bible. Maybe they should write their own book of worship – oh, but wait, that is exactly what they are doing.

Remember,  when reading the word’s of our Savior, YaHshua, we see, without a doubt, that He spoke of this event, this great flood, as fact. His Apostles also accepted this Book as fact. As believers do we need proof? Not really as the proof is from the words or our Savior Himself –

Yahshua says –
(Mat 24:38-39) For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

And -- Peter
(2Pe 2:5) And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

And Paul
(Heb 11:7) By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
My Savior and Messiah of the Scriptures is YaHshua and He believed and taught the Flood as FACT! I too once questioned this “Book of Beginnings”, before I was called to the truth. People laughed and laid scorn upon me and others like me for believing such tales, but as time as gone on those educators, teaching me and other youth (many years ago) have had to back pedal and change one theory after another. As “knowledge is increased” so is their theories falling and changing at every whim. Still, there are some in the Christian religion that are as hard headed as those in the science of physics and evolution, refusing to see the truth and ultimately being further blinded by their denials.

(Rom 1:19-20) Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

It is sad when we see professing believers try to make excuses for the tales (so called) found in Genesis giving in to the intellectual critics and not recognizing the Genesis account as factual history, as did our Savior, YaHshua – they should be ashamed of themselves.   (See note at the end of this article -- Bereshith, as in the original Hebrew, meaning, “In The Beginning” while the term, genesis, is the from Greek influence and means, “generations”)

Moses, the Author? Did Moses know how to write?
It seemed appropriate to mention things about the Book of Genesis concerning whether we should take it for what it says, as our Lord did, or see it as just a story of tribal people attempting to explain where they came from. Moses is given credit for writing the Torah (The Law, first five books). There are those that do not believe Moses knew how to write and divide the writing of the Torah into different periods with authors “unknown” – from here they begin to start guessing.
There should be no argument about Moses being the author of most of the Torah and it is not without reason to say Genesis could well have been dictated to him by YHWH --- this is exactly what is recorded – YHWH speaks, Moses writes (Exodus 20:1, 21:1 and 24:4). Certainly Moses was not present at the creation of the Garden of Eden, but guess who was? This would answer the question as to how Moses came by so much information concerning places, events and people he had never witnessed, or knew personally. Today only the most stanch “god hater” still insists man did not have writing skills at that time in history, least of all an uneducated population like the Israelite slaves. They, the critics of Creation, conveniently avoid the fact that Moses was raised as a Prince among the Princes in Egypt and was tutored by the best educators of the day, and anyone conducting a cursory investigation into Egyptian society can see, they knew how to write as did other surrounding societies, the Sumerians and Babylonians and Assyrians. It is only the most ardent deniers of real truth that still dare to hang on to this false idea of illiterate people believing in a mythological god.

Okay, there is the little thing of plagiarism also, although most critics don’t use such a strong word but, the fact remains, when they say the Genesis account of creation was taken from (stolen?) the Gilgamesh epic tales coming to us from the Sumerian cuneiform text. Now let’s not forget, this account of the Flood is 25-2700 BC and it is a written record and when it comes to the cuneiform text (writings) of the Sumerians no one dares suggest these people did not have writing skills and then we are to believe Moses stole the “flood tale” from them. Reading the Exoduses account we see, read, exactly where Moses received His information – firsthand information. Okay, Moses did not write all five books of the Torah, you say, but remember, Moses had a strong Second in Joshua (YaHshua) and any details occurring after Moses would have been easily covered by YaHshua (Joshua), but there can be no denying the fact that Moses was taking dictation from the number one eye witness. It does not matter what the non-believer, the critic, the god haters, say. Why should they, or do they, bother themselves with things they so strongly deny? Why are they picking fights with those that do believe what the Bible says? We have already read in Paul’s message to the Gentile Romans that they are “without excuse”. It is my guess that it is their “guilt” that is driving them. As a believer you do not have to answer them, you can ignore them but there is nothing wrong in educating yourself enough to defend your Faith, especially among the brethren, of those claiming to be brothers and sisters but deny the very words of our Savior – defend on all fronts but first to those in the Church that have gone off track.
The Gilgamesh Epic, apparently written before Moses’ account, is very interesting and proves more than the writing skills of the ancients – it proves the worldwide Flood is a true account. It is interesting to note the timing of the “cuneiform” writings, very near, say, right after the timing of the worldwide flood. The authorities in this place the timing of Gilgamesh anywhere from 2400 BC to 2700 BC and the flood is shown to be just before this time period, within three or four hundred years.

Wikipedia: Gilgamesh (Akkadian cuneiform) Gilgamešh, also known as Bilgames in the earliest text) was the fifth king of Uruk (Early Dynastic II, first dynasty of Uruk), placing his reign ca. 2500 BC

World Civilizations,  Richard Hooker:
Gilgamesh was an historical king of Uruk in Babylonia, on the River Euphrates in modern Iraq; he lived about 2700 B.C. Although modern historians (and your textbook) tend to emphasize Hammurabi and his code of law, claiming or suggesting this is where the Hebrews got their Law or Torah writings, by plagiarism.  The civilizations of the Tigris-Euphrates area, those among the first civilizations, however, focus on Gilgamesh and the legends accruing around him.  Many stories and myths were written about Gilgamesh, some of which were written down about 2000 B.C., in the Sumerian language on clay tablets which still survive; the Sumerian language, as far as we know, bears no relation to any other human languages we know about. These Sumerian Gilgamesh stories were integrated into a longer poem, versions of which survive not only in Akkadian (the Semitic language, related to Hebrew, spoken by the Babylonians) but also on tablets written in Hurrian and Hittite (an Indo-European language, a family of languages which includes Greek and English, spoken in Asia Minor later). All the above languages were written in the script known as cuneiform, which means "wedge-shaped." The fullest surviving version, from which the summary you find here is taken -- derived from twelve stone tablets, in the Akkadian language, found in the ruins of the library of Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria 669-633 B.C., at Nineveh. The library was destroyed by the Persians in 612 B.C., and all the tablets are damaged. The tablets actually name an author, which is extremely rare in the ancient world, for this particular version of the story: Shin-eqi-unninni. You are being introduced, in this article, to the oldest known human author we can name by name!
This summary is derived from several sources: translations, commentaries, and academic scholarship on the Shin-eqi-unninni tablets. Verses are derived from several English and French translations in consultation with the English and German language commentaries and with the Babylonian text. For the entire text, you should turn to The Epic of Gilgamesh , trans. by Maureen Gallery Kovacs (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990), or Gilgamesh , translated by John Maier and John Gardner (New York: Vintage, 1981)

Incredible, the blasphemers, naysayers, godless god haters, had to shut up when these tablets were finally translated.  Until that time they rushed about headlong into every accusation against the Jews and the Christians that they could make up or imagine, acting as if they were the intellectuals of society while believers were idiots.  And, what do you call an intellectual mind that denies the existence of a Creator?  A fool.  So, many fools became, suddenly, quiet.  Did it make believers out of any of these fools?  Not to my knowledge.  Occasionally a fool will decide to do a sincere study of their own.  Usually this is an effort to prove that professors they learned from are correct, only to discover that the deceptions are only the imaginations of other men and women, whose own minds had already been polluted.  There were but passing on the mis-information, cobbled together, in order to continue the denial of a Creator God.  Sometimes this extra, critical search has turned a fool to repent -- you know, to change their minds finding that the evidence is actually overwhelming in favor a Intelligent Design.    

   Considering the dating for the escape from Egypt under the command of Moses we end up in a time dating back to 15 - 1600 BC, depending on which books you are reading, you can see how the critics are illiterate themselves – illiterates in their understanding and ability to see the truth or to even agree with one another, except for their mantra -- There is no Creator God.  The information presented above, by itself, should squash those scholars (?) that have for many years chanted, “Moses could not have written the Torah, because writing was not invented yet”.  Listen, my friends, I am old enough to remember this chant from men that were supposed to be leaders in their field, and to hear this nonsense taught in our High Schools -- today, of course they speak differently, but that does not change the fact that the previous generation of students, not adults, taught this lie still believe it today -- no one sent out any notices to inform these one time students that their teachers had taught them a lie.  That chant is not heard so much these days but it was the prime mantra of the so called intellectuals in attempts to denigrate the Holy Scriptures -- the Hebrew writings could not possibly be that old because no one knew how to write back then, and besides, the Hebrews were just a bunch of sheep herders, or say they said and taught.  It is hard for true intellectuals, standing against all things Biblical, to explain away the Sumerian society as the evidence mounts,

Actually, evidence that  is released -- much of these discoveries stored away, coming to light only recently, over last 30 years, material and information held in secret for decades, being released, because of the Internet.  That's right, the Internet has made research and discovery available to everyone, the keys to knowledge have been thrown to the winds and those posing as experts are exposed and the works held in secret have been coming to light.  Like information demonstrating that the Sumerians  (first civilized society after the Flood) enjoyed nearly everything we enjoy as in a modern society, except for maybe things like cell phones.  They had transportation, mega cities (still being dug up), schools, libraries and live entertainment, and all this some 1000 years before Moses, 26-2700 AD, that is, if you go by the dating presented by the archaeologist for the Sumerian society, now vanished from history, buried.  Could they write?  You bet they could and some societies growing out from them could write and keep records as well, as the discovery of the Ebla Libraries -- some 16,000 whole and broken tablets found in the ancient city, Ebla, Turkey, and disclosed to the public 1974.  Every heard of these Tablets of containing every day business and school boy studies into high learning levels equal to our colleges today?  If you were in school in the late 70s did you teachers ever tell you about this?  one very good book by one of the researcher of the site is, The Archives of Ebla, by Giovanni Pettinato, 1981.  Read his book about this amazing discovery. Another book by another researcher on the same site -- A Revelation In Archaeology, EBLA.  By, Chaim Bermant.

RECAP:  
  To recap and a little more:  The point is, people living at least four 1400 years before Moses were writing things down, had libraries, and from all appearances were very civilized and modern in their thinking – the Sumerians.  Then we have the Babylonian culture becoming the central jewel of mans accomplishments, all other societies seeking to model themselves after the Babylonian fashion and it is the Hebrew Scriptures that have much to say about the Babylonians. They had developed religion taking it to a new level.  One of their primary gods was Marduk, small statuettes of various sizes have been uncovered and displayed.  The first images I saw of this god, Marduk (Babylon’s patron deity) were small statuettes used in home worship, not unlike today in the worship of Mary, and Buddha, but this figurine startled me in its similarity to the images the JESUS that we see in the world today, in portraits as well as statuary.  Other wall images of their god,  pictures a partnership with a serpent picturing this god as a king, while the smaller statuettes are of a Christ like figure, long hair falling to his shoulders, beard of modest length, wide open (round) eyes, full length white robe with rope sash.  It appears to be a very good likeness to the false JESUS people pray to today.

Side note:  The god Marduk was said to be the son of Ea, (Enki In Sumeria) and all the powers of Ea passes to Marduk.  This is a simple observation, of course, but demonstrates another similarity of JESUS, a Messiah born for our path to salvation.  This makes me wonder even more about the vision of the Christian church, being influenced by the Babylonian, Roman Church’s images and portrayals connection?  The images of this god Marduk look an awful lot like the images of the Christian Jesus.   Another point is the son of Ea, Marduk, has the planet Jupiter as his champion.  Some have pointed out that in the Vatican, is an image in stone, said to be of Peter, was originally an image of the god Jupiter, rededicated  by the Church to be the Apostle Peter as first pope – first Jupiter and assistant to Marduk?  These are just simple connections of thought and observations.  It is evident, however, from a little research, that the high society of Sumer and of Babylonian political system and religious systems have not really disappeared, only the names have been changed.

Moses Comes Late
 The dates for Moses leading the Israelis out of Egypt is all over the place.  Some say the 13th , 14th, 15th   centuries BC.  Some argue for the bronze age and others argue for the iron age which is pegged at the  5th and 6th  and 8th century BC.  This later dating has serious problems but in development of metals this has to be the case, they argue, even if not true, it is defended, refusing to accept the idea that the development of Iron work being any earlier.  Like it or not, believe it or not, the true “Iron age” began before the Flood, under the reign of Cain (Gen 4:22).  Cain built the first City, his descendants made musical instruments, forged bronze and iron.  You might say Cain was the first Pharaoh of his time. Writing and knowledge of the stars and past events (history) were long before Egypt, before Babylon, before the Flood.  The timing of the past by modern man is jinxed from the start, having refused the Holy Bible as any kind of authority they continue to keep stepping on each other’s toes and we, as Christians, need to realize this.  They spend more time guessing than to followers of the Book.

Moses was raised in the Pharaoh’s house as a Prince and his education would have been the highest available.  Moses was 40 years old before he fled for his life after murdering an Egyptian authority.  He was not a child when he fled from Egypt  into the mountains of Midian, located in the Arabian Desert, and there he lived another 40 years as a Shepard and student of Jethro (Called a Priest of Midian with knowledge of  YHWH – Ex 3:1, 18:1).  Moses was 80 years old when called by YHWH to return to Egypt and, of course, you should know the rest of the story.  Moses was a highly educated man, educated in the arts and in writing and in common knowledge of the desert people, becoming skilled in the practice of self reliance and survival, and received religious training and study under Jethro a High Priest to YHWH and to the people of the wilderness --  a far cry from his first 40 years of comfort and protection while living under the protection of Pharaoh.  Moses education was well rounded, and His only complaint when asked to return to Egypt was his lack of confidence in his speaking ability, that was overcome by YHWH, after a verbal chastening and then informing Moses  his older brother was on the way and that he, Aaron, was  skilled in speech and letters.  Later we find out Moses is also skilled in these areas of expertise, he merely doubted himself.  So, Moses was prepared for the job set in front of him over a period of 80 years and later we see Moses overcoming his shyness and becomes the central speak and author of the Law (Torah).   

Iron Age and Bronze Age at the Same Time?
  We have already seen how mankind, as far back as history can be uncovered, possessed the art of writing and communicating in an intelligent manner.  If we can accept the truth of the Scriptures we can also throw a little curve at those having set dates based on what they perceive as “ages of man” determined by stone tools and metal development – stones, copper, bronze, iron.  If, however, we would listen to the Scriptures we would see the Bronze Age and the Iron Age actually occurred at the same time, and we would know to whom credit should be given for this technological discovery.
(Gen 4:22)  Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.

  Remember, this is on record as having happened before the worldwide flood, hundreds and hundreds of years before the Sumerian records.  Okay, I concede, if you do not believe the Scriptures are true then this means nothing to you, but still, as an intellectual, or at least an intelligent human being, you should be somewhat amazed that someone way back then (Moses 1400 BC) was writing about something not yet discovered, at least according to modern thinking?  Bronze maybe but iron, really? For the author of Genesis to make mention of such technology and to include it in a story, is amazing in itself and when we consider this is not information that was really needed to advance the story, unless, of course, it is not a story but is fact.  You don’t believe or don’t want to believe but you do have to wonder, right?

  Accepting the Scriptures as true and reliable is a step all called saints will have to deal with as the critics continue to act and treat you as if you are stupid, never mind that some of the greatest thinkers in recorded history have done just that – believed the Scriptures to be the work or a Higher Intelligence.

  We find a great number of the faithful making every attempt to accommodate the highly educated critics by agreeing to relegate much of Scripture to the bin of  symbolic language, not really meant to be taken at face value.  Shame on them. Even if we understand the desire to fit in, our Creator has given us a brain to sort things out, with the ability to recognize the context of what is being said.  In the end, however, we either have faith in our Creator God and “believe” Him or not.  To Abraham believing YHWH was counted as “righteousness” to him.  The faith of Abraham was believing God (Rom 4:03,13)
  When a thing is symbolic, in Scripture, we are told that very thing and then we are told, by the messenger of the vision, what it means.  When it is a vision, we are told over and over what is and is not a visual lesson.  The Author of the Book of Genesis never once indicates it is a symbolic message, and it is not recorded as a vision.  We have already read how out Savior YaHshua quoted from Genesis as a source, and later also Peter and Paul .

  Many have trouble accepting the Great Flood, as an example, there has been several very smart individuals, down through the ages, ready to supply an apology for the account and to make concessions for the Creator giving us a nice story.  If anything, they say, it is a story of a local event not a worldwide event.  The true critics, those so full of intellectual self-importance, deny the account totally as a fabricated story told around primitive campfires.   The Apostle Paul had something to say about this.

(Rom 1:17-20)  For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."  The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. NIV

  Living by faith, we then, as believers, do not need proof in order to believe our Creator, the Higher Intelligence, as the true author of Genesis.  Moses is the servant (secretary/scribe) who wrote the things down given to him.  And it is evident to us as we witness the wonders of Creation surrounding us that anyone rejecting this information is a fool, indeed, reserved for the wrath to come.  Even hardened scientists admit the earth has seen catastrophic changes not unlike those described in the Book of Genesis, but still, they refuse to acknowledge intelligence greater than their own.  They see the proof, but work mightily in weaving their own story and stories based on the imaginations of men.

  When considering the Great Flood we see the evidence the world over, but it is refused by those of higher learning, and this exerts a certain pressure on believers and teachers of Scripture to compromise – and compromise they do.  Those that should know better deny the truth of Genesis trying to make the falsehood of scientific assumptions a fact.    Never mind about the scientist or the self-proclaimed experts, in denial and downright hatred of the Creator God, we can and should ignore them for the most part -- this is about the “believer” living in a world of critics attempting to make you doubt, or getting you to admit the Scriptures are nothing more than fancy tales of the primitive mind.

  When you or any Christian teacher or preacher begins talking evolution, and attempts to blend scripture in some method of reasoning to excuse the Creator God for having made up such fanciful stories you are, in a matter of speaking, calling YHWH a liar.  In this they try to appease the intellectuals, so they don’t have to answer the questions of doubt with, “The Bible told me so”, and in this seem in their own eyes as deluded.  This also allows these false believers into the cocktail parties of men and women they admire as more intelligent than you or me.

Genesis Needs No Defense
So far we have seen how the book of Genesis was written by Moses as delivered to him by YHWH.  The Sumerians had this ability to write and it is becoming ever more evident to the scholars that ancient men and women were anything but stupid.  Let’s not forget, nearly every society of men that have lived on this earth, be they tribal, savage, aboriginal or civilized they all have a record (story) about the original family escaping a great flood.  What this proves is that populations assumed to have never been in contact with one another did, at some time in the past, rub elbows, so to speak.  Does this bring to mind another account in the Book, the account of Babel and the forced dispersion of the populations by a forced changed in languages, a spontaneous occurrence and every ethnic groups suddenly could not communicate.  The spit up into various groups, according to their new language and became to spread out with each group taking the Noah Flood account with them.  It would be ludicrous to suggest all of these various people and tribes of people would have stolen a story from a people that did not yet exist, the people of Sumer and of the Gilgamesh tale written in stone!  
Consider, a conservative reckoning, of approximately 400 separate accounts of this event – a great flood with only one family escaping.  This would be one of the most reported events in the history of mankind, running through every type of social order found in human history.  Ignored, excused, denied and rejected even by some claiming to be believers and followers of the Scriptures.  What we have in the Genesis account, written by Moses, is a Creator giving a more exact account of this event and the reason for why it happened.  Moses did not plagiarize the Gilgamesh account anymore than the North American Indians plagiarize Moses when they speak of the same event in their stories of beginnings.
Here is a link to a very informative site: http://www.nwcreation.net/noahlegends.html

UFO Connection?
Some things the ancients accomplished are so far beyond the modern mind some have suggested they must have had extraterrestrial help -- UFO visitations -- but this does not explain where they came from, if that were the case.  Super intelligence from outer space, giving monkey men advanced technology?  Well, of course that is true – our Creator and His Angels are from somewhere out there, in a place called Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens.  Our Creator, however, and His angels did not build the pyramids, no they built the Earth.  The Great Wall of China was built by men, not lizard men from space.  Stonehenge – men, Tower of Babel – men, etc., etc.

If we, as the faithful, believe what is written we then know the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, biblically, were the same age.  These developments in bronze and iron work were happening at the same time and by the same founder.  Just like when we give Edison credit for electricity, we should give Tubal-cain credit for the development of metallurgy.  If this were accepted by the science of today, the time-tables of advancement and regression would change.  I said regression as the progress of man’s development has suffered some giant steps backward.  It seems that every time mankind climbs out of the ash heaps of the past and rediscovers old knowledge they claim it as new, something they have discovered and when evidence is uncovered revealing some knowledge of the past we merely lost and rediscovered, not something new after all.  It is difficult, however, for the human nature to admit the error and give credit where credit is due, after all, this might lead to admitting the Bible is a book that should be on the shelf of all higher learning and lower learning too.  It is a marvellous source book, as many a modern archaeologist discover in their search to uncover the hidden past of Empires lost.
  Contrary to evolutionary thought, men have not been advancing intellectually – we are not evolving bigger and better brains.  The Biblical account gives us a view into a couple to events plunging the advancement of men backward. Certainly we acknowledge the Dark Ages in our near history, where knowledge was lost, but a funny thing happened, from this period of darkness came some of the greatest thinkers and scientist of our time and since the time YaHshua walked in the flesh on this Earth.

  The Dark Ages forced men to look for answers and a lot of mistakes were made along the way, but see what they did, they returned to ancient writings and wisdom writings, as literature became a prize to cherish and protect.  Even in this, however, men slaughtered men in attempting to protect certain cherished ideals. Some bordering on superstitions inherited from a pagan past.  Strangely enough, Christianity had been taking a form similar to the pagan superstitions and even incorporating some, if not all, of the pagan festival and practices into its own traditions.  Some give this flow into a pagan Christianity credit for this plunge into darkness and eventually the blood letting of anyone not in agreement with the clergy, whether of Roman origin or Protestant -- both have the blood of true followers of the Christ on their historical hands.  From this bloody time came a rebellion, of sorts, and in this came the idea of free thought and investigation.  Like it or not, the schools of higher learning, higher thinking were, for the most part financed and built by the Churches and were not becoming the enemy of the pagan religions now disguised in Christianity.  As an example, both Cambridge and Harvard, not to mention Oxford of England, were religious institutions.   So, from the bloody Dark Ages came modern thought and prosperity.  But was this advancement or merely the rediscovery of lost intelligence?

  In the Scriptures we have the advancement of mankind then a radical shift throwing the human race backward.  We have the Flood of Genesis taking mankind right back to a new beginning.  Then we have the Genesis account of the confusion of languages, another event throwing mankind backward and it seems this event alone pushed mankind’s advancement backward even further than had been accomplished by the Great Flood.

First Things First
First there is the record of what some call the “original sin”, but I don’t think that is the case, I believe “sin” was already present, otherwise why the “Tree of Good and Evil”?  What Adam and Eve did was disobey their Creator, but the first place we hear of the term “sin” it is connected to Cain and represents an attitude.

(Gen 4:7)  If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

You will see doing right and wrong is separate from “sin”.  It is “sin crouching” and ready to consume him, but it is the doing wrong continually that would bring Cain into the penalty of “sin” – without remorse.  Cain certainly felt sorry for himself but never express repentance at what he had done, not thought for his brother whom he had killed.   In the following verses we see Cain not taking Yahweh’s advice in practicing a righteous way of living, ultimately taking his brother Abel into the field and murdering him.  What we see is a person continuing in a bad attitude of making wrong decisions and living contrary to what he was instructed.

(1Jn 3:4)  Whosoever committed sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
(Rom 4:15)  Because the law worked wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

We can see the “sin” Cain entered into was the sin of “murder”, one of the Commandments of YHWH.  Cain’s wrong living and thinking led to this sin.  Without the Commands of our God and Savior YaHshua there would be no “wrath”, which is to say, a penalty.  We can recognize the Commandments written by the finger of YHWH, known to most as the Ten Commandments, appearing in one form or another, demonstrating to us our Creator’s Commands from the Beginnings.  Cain disrespected His parents, he lied to YHWH, and he murdered his brother – and these actions demonstrating, even before the writing i stone to be active, to be present from the creation -- Cain would demonstrate these Commandments as active, bearing both blessings and curses, to break one is to sin.  His instruction, from his Creator was to live right so as not to fall into one of these “sins”, which he ultimately did break, his actions doing not only damage to himself but to those close to him.  He could have seen his own short comings and asked for help, but he did not, he made excuses and begged for mercy for himself as he feared for his own life (Gen 4:13-14), not regard for his parents or what he did to his brother, only himself.

Satan and the Original Sin  
From all appearances we have the first or “Original Sin” being authored by Satan, also called the first liar and the father of all liars.  The originator of sin, therefore is Satan and through the woman the first man, Adam, becomes the originator of sin in the flesh.

(John 8:44)  You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speakes a lie, he speakesh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

It is Satan that committed the “Original Sin” in all creation.  Adam and Eve, being “beguiled” (led astray, deluded, seduced) by Satan disobeyed their Creator in a moment of temptation, this did, then, propel Adam into the roll as original sinner in the flesh.  You could see this as Satan’s attempt to remove the guilt from himself to another.  Cain, on the other hand, plotted the murder of his brother just as Satan plotted the over throw of the Heavenly Kingdom and is without excuse.
 This does beg the question – Who did Satan murder?  YaHshua said Satan “was a murderer from the beginning” but it does not appear that Satan had a hand in influencing Cain at all, or so it seems, he is quietly absent in the killing of Abel.   Is it possible Satan has, or had the power to “murder” (destroy) other beings such as himself, spirit beings?  Just a thought and I would only be speculating, but we do see from the Historical account presented in the book of Genesis that man did not need the encouragement of Satan to live a life style contrary to what is right and good and to commit murder, to lie, to covet or to be disrespectful of our parents, all parts and pieces of the Ten Commandments, all of which Cain on his own violated?

 One Giant Step Back
This step backward was to last for hundreds of years with the Sons of God struggling in a hostile environment and ultimately moving so far away from their Creator as to bring an end to themselves.  Yes, they were responsible for their own fate and they were going so terribly wrong their Maker repented having ever made mankind.  In His mercy He did not give up on us, seeing in Noah a glimmer of hope.  Noah, found to be the only righteous person on the face of the earth.  Hard to believe but believe it we must for it is a message for us even to this day.
 
(Mat 24:37)  But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

  Is it possible there will be so few people of real faith when our Lord Yahshua returns, just as in the days of Noah?
  After the Great Flood men began to advance at an alarming rate and were headed in the same direction as their pre-flood ancestors.  Men began to multiply rapidly and at this point of rebellion the languages of the various races were confounded and this led to the division and halted the advancement once again.  Humanity, confounded, began to spread out over the earth, no longer the beneficiary of unity of mind, now each race must live or die on its own.  Today, in a modern world, we see this language barrier pulled down and men are once again benefiting, good or bad, from a shared mind.
  YHWH has promised never to destroy the earth with a flood like that again.  This is an empty promise if the Great Flood of Genesis had only been a local event.  No, this Flood completely covered the face of the earth.

(Gen 8:5)  And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

 The Ark came to rest on a mountain peak, grounded as the waters began to recede and it was not until the 10th month when Noah began to see the tops of other mountains.  This is not some local flood and anyone taking the time to read all of chapters 7-8 will see a lot of detail about this event, more than any other account.  The detail is astounding and accurate.
  Scientist scoff at the idea that water covered this whole planet -- yet the evidence is everywhere, all you have to do is look.  They willingly ignore the fact that the surface of this planet is already 2/3s water and ignore the subterranean waters under every continent – more than enough to cover the whole earth if they were to burst forth causing the land masses to sink and the oceans to rush in to help fill the voids -- or if the Earth's core were to shrink causing the land masses to sink.  Sounds kind of like the description given in Genesis, and we haven’t even mentioned the atmosphere loaded with moister.  

On the one had the scientist, so steeped in the theory of evolution, cannot, or will not, see the forest for all the trees.  They are teaching us that Mars was once covered with water, even though they can find no evidence of water on Mars, not a drop – okay, maybe there might be a drop or two, but they claim it must have been flowing with water, water everywhere, because they see so much trace markings for water having been present.  Just the opposite for the argument of an Earth flood.  Our Earth surface not only has so much water covering it, the traces of water flows and markings on the dry surfaces is abundant and overflowing (another intended pun).  The polar cap on Mars appear to be frozen gases, not water -- still some argue that it must be water and still, if so, it is nothing like the water found at our polar caps.  
   So, they want you and me to believe that Mars was once covered in this great flood with not a drop of water to show for it, but when it comes to Earth, where water abounds by the bucket full (or more) they scoff and make out with shoulder shrugs and bobbing heads at how stupid that would be and how dumb those religious nuts who dare teach such things.   Another example of how much smarter they are than the believer, is they also teach the Earth was at one time covered in ice 2-3 miles thick, some have called “Snowball Earth” -- no, really, this is one fact they do teach, the Great Ice Age.  If I am not mistaken, “ice” is water, so it seems while they deny the “flood” they then present evidence to the contrary -- if the Great Ice Age had New York covered in ice up to 2 miles thick, then it would be logical to assume that the whole Earth would have been covered in Ice, which is water.  

If you stand before YaHshua as your Savior and call on Him He will deliver you from the fools of denial.  We have confidence in Him, they have confidence in NOTHING.  This is their god, the god of this world, the god of NOTHING.
As believers and servants of YaHshua we do not have to back away from what is written in the Book of Genesis/Bereshith, but embrace it and learn from it.  There is hardly any other book like it, it is unique in its detail and its claims, and the pure truths and revelations found in it.  

Email comments to:  dan@servantsofyahshua.com

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:  Genesis  -- 1. The Name
The first book of Moses is named by the Jews from the first word, namely, bere¯'shi¯th, i.e. “in the beginning” (compare the, Bre¯sith of Origen). In the Septuagint it is called Ge´?es??, Ge´nesis, because it recounts the beginnings of the world and of mankind. This name has passed over into the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 ad) (Liber Genesis). As a matter of fact the name is based only on the beginning of the book.

Bible.org -- on Genesis – Title:
Nearly the entire Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and Genesis is no exception. The original Hebrew title of Genesis is bereshit, which means “in beginning” (see 1:1a). This is an appropriate title, for the book of beginnings. But our English Bibles do not follow the Hebrew title; we follow the Greek title.
The Hebrew Old Testament was eventually translated into Greek (about 250 years before the time of Christ). The Greek translators then gave their own title, “Genesis” to the first book of their Old Testament text. The Greek word geneseos means “origin, source, generation, or beginning.” Geneseos is a translation of the Hebrew word toledot (“generations,” 2:4). This title is also quite appropriate because Genesis is indeed a history of origins, births, genealogies, and generations.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary -- Genesis
The five books of Moses were collectively called the Pentateuch, a word of Greek origin meaning “the five-fold book.” The Jews called them the Torah, i.e., “the law.” It is probable that the division of the Torah into five books proceeded from the Greek translators of the Old Testament. The names by which these several books are generally known are Greek.
The first book of the Pentateuch (q.v.) is called by the Jews Bereshith, i.e., “in the beginning”, because this is the first word of the book. It is generally known among Christians by the name of Genesis, i.e., “creation” or “generation,” being the name given to it in the LXX. as designating its character, because it gives an account of the origin of all things. It contains, according to the usual computation, the history of about two thousand three hundred and sixty-nine years.
Peace, Dan


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