All Discussion PAGE 1798

The text does not list any descendants for Abel. It can be assumed that he did not have any children. Cain's lineage is listed in Chapter 4, set apart from Adam's and Seth's. I deduce that Cain continued to wander away from God over the course of his life, becoming more and more debased over time. But he was not alone, his progeny also promoted the widespread wickedness in the world in Cain's lifetime and this same wickedness took root in the lineage of Seth as well. Both lineages became corrupted. Idolatry did not have it's beginnings after the flood with the likes of Nimrod. No, it was practiced before the flood, too, on a grand scale. It grieved God deeply. How sad for Him.

As God, he could have chosen to be completely unaffected by His creation. He is totally self-sufficient and totally satisfied within the Godhead. He does not have any needs that He cannot fulfill within His Godhead. Yet He chose to be involved with His creation, to have compassion on us, to be grieved by us, to share His life with us. What a wonderful God He is. He chose to condescend Himself to be intimate with us, to know us and have us know Him. A large portion of Christians have a lower viewpoint of God than they ought. Understanding that we can only know God in His humanity in Christ meeting our humanity, He is still higher than the highest of possibilities. Makes me love and appreciate Him more knowing how he bent low to touch me, to choose me even before I was born, having called me from the womb. I honestly cannot remember a time when I did not believe in Him. But having walked with Him all my life, getting to know Him more and more through Scripture, worship, fellowship with believers, I learn more and more how Great He is and how great His love for me is. I'm humbled and grateful. Why me? From infancy? God is not a respecter of persons. He has a redemptive plan for us and He fit me into it according to His wisdom and grace. Certainly didn't earn it as an infant by good works.

In studying a timeline of the lives of Adam-Noah, and viewing who's life overlaps with whom's. With about 900 years of life per person, it seems that Adam was alive when Noah's father was alive! So at the time of Lamech, Noah's father, it is possible for all of the patriarchs that led up to Lamech may have still been alive! Imagine what these long lived people could teach and share with each new generation. Imagine what skills and talents could be perfected in 900 years. Imagine the collective knowledge and wisdom of the lineage of Adam to Noah. Imagine the strength of faith held among these patriarchs, made stronger as a family group. And then, know that in Noah's day, he alone was said to be found righteous. What happened! Enoch was alive in Lamech's lifetime before God took him to be with Him without dying. It seems that perhaps Methuselah and Lamech were not wholly committed to the Lord despite all of the influence and testimony. Maybe they became complacent since everyone was living so long and had not died yet, thinking since sin did not lead to immediate physical death, they could play around with sin, all the while death was at work in their spiritual nature. Perhaps they had become numb to God's leading. Maybe they did not follow the example of their forefathers in prayer and worship. Maybe they thought that these forefathers could do the praying and worshipping for them! I just find it so very incredible that these in the line of Seth would fall away from God. Thankfully, Noah listened and practiced the faith of his forefathers, not the unbelief of his father and grandfather.

But even today, people with believing parents, grandparents, siblings, turn away from the faith they had as children and follow the ways of the world. My own sons have done this very thing, and it grieves me daily, but the grieving leads me to look up to God and pray for them, believing that God will answer my prayers in His time; believing that He loves them more than I ever could!

Kent

Thank you for your comment, God bless you. Yes God has been so good to me..

Hello again,

So many good comments on this chapter's thread! This chapter is an account of the generations from Adam to Noah (up to the generation of the flood). It starts off with restating the creation of mankind (Adam) and emphasizing that mankind was made in the image of God. Boy, volumes have been written about what the image of God means and was in mankind. it is common thought that the image of God is in each and every person that existed from Adam until the last person God's wishes to be born on earth is born. It never exited the make-up of mankind. There are many theories about what constitutes the image of God. it is a good topic of research and I encourage pursuing such research. I don't wish to speak more to this topic at this time.

Many people commented about whether Adam and Eve were created immortal or were mortal but perfect, needing to eat from the tree of life to continue living. My thought is that the tree of life was there for a good and beneficial reason.

I think that Adam and Eve were created as mortal beings, certainly "above" what we presently are, but in need of God's life-sustaining help. They had that help in the garden before they sinned, but after, the tree of life was made inaccessible to them. Did they need to eat of the tree of life one time to be immortal or daily? Did they ever eat from the tree of life? Don't know. I think that the presence of both trees presented a choice for Adam and Eve. They could choose to eat from the tree of life or the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but not from both. They chose foolishly because they believed the deceiver instead of God, a deadly choice.

Interesting how it says that Seth was begotten after Adam's image, not God's. I concur that this was stated because Adam was created directly by God (a son of God), but Cain/Abel/Seth were begotten after Adam's image through sexual relations between Adam and Eve, not directly by God. The image of God was passed on through human reproduction.

Luke 9.35

That voice from heaven must be God speaking about Jesus ! No ? or Yes ? thanks a million

In so many comments, it seems that some get far off of topic and away from the text being studied. I understand the desire to share what one feels should be put forth in these comments. I must say that I appreciate the comments that address the text being studied the most. I try to keep in mind whom my audience might be when I write, wishing to build up, encourage, and edify. I realize I have been walking with the Lord all of my life (65 yrs) and have been studying the Bible since I could read it for myself at age 9. The Spirit has been so good to me over the years in my private studies, but I also have been helped by learning from what others tell me or write about Scriptures and doctrines. I try to imagine that there may be a new believer/reader of/scripture reading these comments. I especially hope that my writings can help these brethren. Just a thought.

To close out chapter 4, it was in the first city/cities that tradesmen began to work with metals, build structures, develop artistic talents such as music, and to farm with livestock (did the continue to be vegetarians if they had livestock?).

It seems that when mankind began to gather in large groups, advancements in civilization happened quickly. Here in Enoch, the tenth generation of mankind was already smeltering and forging metals. What other advancements might they have learned to do by this time? By the time of the flood, advanced structures were probably built around the world, perhaps pyramid or ziggarut type of structures that would take a large number of people to participate in the building and a long period of time to complete. Some say that the pre-flood civilization was even more advance than where we are today, considering what has been accomplished in the past 1500 years. I don't know about that. That would mean space travel and I don't see any evidence in Scripture that talks about that. Even so, think about the pre-flood knowledge used to build cities right after the flood. Lot's of skills.

Could it be that the Gospel of John was actually written by Lazarus? I truly believe it was he that was the beloved of the LORD.

In this chapter, we are told that first Cain was born and then Abel. It does not say that Eve conceived again and had Abel, so perhaps they were twins. Since God said that he would increase the pains of labor for Eve, it is not known if she had given birth to daughters before these sons, or if daughters were born between Cain/Abel and Seth. We are told that Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters besides these three children. We are not told how old Adam and Eve were when Cain and Abel were born. We are told that Adam and Eve were 130 when Seth was born. A lot of people can be born and grow to adulthood in 130 years. God was filling the earth through Adam and Eve before Seth was born. That made it possible for Cain to find a wife from among his sisters or nieces. Abel and Cain may have been married at the time Cain killed Abel. We do not know how old each one was at this time, but there were enough people for Cain to be concerned about what others may do to him as he moves away from his family. It is thought that this was the first murder and first human death. With enough people to build a city in Nod, we really do not know that no one had died before Cain. Personally, I think this was the first death in the world. How sorrowful for Adam and Eve. And how powerful a way to bring back to memory what God had said to them when He said that they would die if they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree. What a sad way to learn what death means. I think that sometimes we don't imagine these early patriarchs as being much like us in love and emotions. I think that these feelings may have been much more intense that whet we feel. i think the passing of time and the pervasiveness of death and wickedness hardens us a bit. Let's pray for God to soften our hearts.

Don't know what the mark of Cain was, don't know where Nod was or how far from Eden it was. Don't know how big the first city of Enoch was either, and don't wish to speculate. I don't find it necessary to know.

Thank you GiGi for that tremendous declaration & worthy thoughts. I liken the lives of Adam & Eve (pre-fall) to that of Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man, & called the Last Adam. Even though "the first Adam was made a living soul & the last Adam was made a quickening spirit", I sense that Adam & Eve's walk before their Creator, their spiritual perfection, & their continual communion with God, can be seen clearly in the humanity of the Word of God made flesh.

Indeed, we don't know the answers to those questions you posed, but I don't believe they ever forgot their Creator & the miracle of life given to them to live on a beautiful Earth. They would have walked on Earth as if they would have walked if in Heaven - the Voice of God that the heavenly beings heard would have also brought the same authority & comfort to their ears on Earth. But how then could they fall for such a deception? If Satan could fall whilst in the heavenlies because of pride, it remains little wonder that man could similarly be enticed to covet all the Wisdom of God.

Ahh, Chapter 4, what a blessing it is to have God's Word in written form and for us to have accessed the ability He put in us to learn to read and understand writing. And, to also have us access the ability in us to learn to write our thoughts and convey them to others. He com-m unicates with us and we communicate with each other! Beautiful! We don't have to feel alone.

I love that God announced the gospel of Jesus Christ in chapter 3. From the beginning, everyone in his/her own generation had the opportunity to be made right with God, regardless of how fully they understood the proclamation in Genesis 3. Everyone is responsible to respond to what knowledge they have been given by God in his/her own time. God is merciful, not desiring for anyone to perish, but to receive eternal life. How blessed we are in our generation, to be on this side of the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior. Jesus Christ! But with that blessing comes a greater responsibility. Let each of us pray to be given clear knowledge of what God requires of each of us personally, since we have been given much.

In thinking about the Tree of Life. Some say it is Jesus in the garden. Yet this tree is now in heaven according to Revelations, and in Revelations we are told that there is no sun in heaven because Jesus fills heaven with His light. We are told that we will be able to eat of the tree of life in eternity. I guess we will have to wait and see what is really meant by this tree of life when we enter eternity. We will also have to wait until heaven to see what God meant when He said that mankind had become like one of Them. Certainly we are not like God in sin and imperfection, because God is holy and altogether good. There is no imperfection in him. he is infinitely perfect. It doesn't mean we are like him in perfection and goodness, because Jesus said that only God is good. We know good and evil.

This chapter speaks about Adam and Eve having children after the fall in the garden.

Hi Tony. In reference to your Greek words, were you using the actual words with their characters, inflections, etc.? This Site has a potent word checker that obliterates anything not found in its knowledge base, or so I gather. Though I think that using simple English characters might solve the problem.

I have no theo. background, just a believer who loves the Word of God & endeavours to use it correctly as given. I had a short itinerant ministry (via a Mission organization), serving in Karachi, Pakistan (amongst both the Church there & Muslims). After a forced departure, I went into India & engaged in a couple of ministries, chiefly assisting an (Open) Brethren evangelistic group, training up young assembly folk (boys & girls), equipping them to reach out to different parts of India. Of course, my focus was on evangelism training for outreach to Muslims, and we also had brothers who were ex-Hindus, who taught on ministry to Hindus (the predominant target group). When not giving training, I kept the accounts of that Mission. All this took place between the years 1988 to 2003.

That was very gratifying to read your comments on the "faith of Christ". The brother that can be most useful on the Greek applications & meaning, comes on here every week, so maybe if he sees this thread, he will add very profitably to our thoughts. For me though, I can only use the Greek Lexicon to find the word, its meaning, & its use in Scripture. However, I do appreciate your highlighting this important Truth; and we see it also clearly here: "And be FOUND IN HIM, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through THE FAITH OF Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith" ( Philippians 3:9). He has to be the Source of our Faith, our Righteousness, our Joy, & our Hope. Our Rest & our Power to live must only emanate from His Being & what He has accomplished for us. If our faith grows weak, Christ is not the problem, but our shaky walk in the Spirit is.

Next, I want to comment about what God said to the serpent. I am so glad that God made it clear to Adam and Eve that this flashy, fancy-dancy serpent is not a friend of God or mankind. He let them know that the devil is our enemy and should never be trusted. God let Adam and Eve know that the devil answers to God, not the other way around and that God is more powerful and has more authority than the devil. Those are excellent things to know! God could have spoken to Adam and Eve without the serpent being present and visa-versa. But God wanted both parties to hear what he had to say and what judgements He pronounced for each party. There was so much for Adam and Eve to learn about both God and the devil. It was truly good for them to learn this right away after their first sin of disobedience.

I have always been touched by the story of Joseph and how after it was coming to fruition, Joseph said that what was intended to him for evil, God turned into good to him (paraphrase). Isn't that what happened here in Eden, too? I think this is part of the reason God put so much information in the Bible about certain people and the right and wrong they did in order for those people and us can learn about how He works all things for good to those who love Him and are called by His purpose. ( Romans 8:28) He loves us and nothing can separate us from His love!

Lastly, I have often thought how amazing the cherubim and sword must have looked that guarded the entrance to Eden. Adam and Eve must have been amazed by its beauty and also a bit terrified at the same time. Can we even imagine the outstanding, extraordinariness of heavenly creatures! They rightly put Satan and all fallen angels to shame! No wonder the prophets had such strong physical reactions to the visions God brought to them. Our flesh can barely stand the holy. Not even Moses was allowed to see God's face on Sinai, but He did experience God's glory. Wow! Life changing!

Hi Sacha, I couldn't agree with you more, this is what true repentance means, that we stop blaming others for our shortcomings (sin). and as you said Pride is one of our biggest stumbling blocks to true repentance, if I may add some scripture that I needed to read over a couple times to understand the full meaning of following Christ.

Philippians 2:5-11 "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Thank You and God Bless

Charles Capps was a friend & Still has a teaching on YouTube, Titled: the Authority of the Believer. listen to it and get ALL the scripture references.

The Dominion God gave to Adam

+ the Authority of the Believer in Christ

= Total Destruction of Satan's Power against Believers in Jesus Christ.

Satan (as an outlaw spirit) stole Adams Dominion briefly. That includes all the principalities, powers and demons mentioned in Ephesians 6. They are all outlaws since the Birth of Jesus as HUMAN.

Dominion was given to a human, Adam.

By Abrahams (in Covenant with God) willingness to sacrifice his own son, Isaac; the plan was set in motion to redeem mankind through Jesus the Messiah. He had to be fully God, and fully Human (THE SON OF MAN) or, the son of a human.

He set aside His power, to come to earth as a newborn baby.

Jesus appeared at times in the Old Testament as the Son of God. He was in the furnace with the 3 Hebrew children in Daniel. He wrestled with Jacob.

Time rolled onward; And the genealogy Bloodline, until Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph were both descendants of King David. (A prophesy fulfilled)

I'm going to skip forwardif Satan knew what the Godhead was doing, he would've not allowed the crowd to scream "crucify Jesus" and then do it. He was sure that he had gotten rid of Jesusuntil the 3rd day when Jesus came out of the Tomb!!!

We CHRISTIANS have the Dominion, the Authority of Jesus Christ to ruin Satan's plans EVERY day. The Holy Spirit accomplishes the WORD OF GOD coming out of our mouth. "It is WRITTEN" (see Matthew 4)

We've been given everything we need to make satans life a nightmare. Many, many sons and daughters of God using Jesus's Name, His Authority, Dominion, over all the works of Satan and his demons. The Holy Spirit will give us the names If We Ask Him!

We are children of the Most High God; not orphans! Jesus is our High Priest and the King of Glory. reread top line

Ask for angels to protect you

So much to consider in this chapter!

I have often wondered how many days had Adam and Eve walked in the Garden with the Lord? was it just a few times or long enough for Adam and Eve to develop a relationship with God that was precious to them. Did they look forward to this meeting each day and talk to each other about the last morning or evening's meeting with the Lord? Did their hearts burn within them as was the case with the disciples on the road to Emmaus after Jesus was resurrected? How blissful this must have been! What did God speak to them when they met with Him in the garden in the cool of the day? How much did they know about God's perfections through these meetings?

Lot's of questions that the text does not give us answers to, so we have to accept that we do not know.

Even so, those who think God is a far off God, these meetings show that He desired close fellowship with us from the very beginning. Through Jesus we have a way to have fellowship with our great God anytime we wish. What a privilege we do not deserve!

God could have cursed Adam and Eve so much more than what He did. They experienced His mercy instead of wrath. Being expelled from the garden and not able to return must have been heartbreaking. Yet, they would discover that the world God made is still extraordinarily beautiful, but not as pristine as the garden. What grace!

Adam was made to labor in the major task God had designed for him. Work the land to provide sustenance. Eve was made to labor in the major task God had designed for her, to give birth to living humans to nurture. Perhaps in God's mercy and wisdom, He gave such curses to teach mankind to value what they labor to produce for the good of their family. I am not talking about loving material things, but enjoying the fruits of your own labors, whether humble or grand, being thankful to God for not having the laboring be detrimental, but helpful and healthy as well as being grateful to what these labors produce.

As I continue to read in chapter 3, I ponder the nakedness of Adam and Eve. Was it the exposure of their private parts that made them ashamed or was it the loss of shining light of holiness that made them notice that they now looked different? Was knowing that they had lost the shining light of holiness cause them to realize that they had broken fellowship with God and were ashamed for God to see them diminished (as they may have viewed it since they did not know before this what sin was)? Some say their bodies were translucent and glowed with holy light. Maybe. I think there definitely was a change in their appearance to each other. They knew something had changed and not for the good. There is nothing wrong with being naked, but there is something wrong with losing one's holiness. They would have noticed this.

So glad that God sought them out as they hid from Him. he knew exactly where they were and what had happened. He gave them an opportunity to come "clean" with Him. They had tried to cover their sin by fig leaves. He had to ask them "Who told you you were naked?"

They immediately began the blame game, not taking responsibility for their individual choices.

I don't think they understood the depth of what they lost in their disobedience, they did know that their disobedience changed them in a negative way. They didn't even know what death was yet. They would eventually see what it is when Cain kills Abel and Abel is not with them anymore, no longer alive. Perhaps going through all of this and receiving mercy from God may have made Adam and Eve more adamant about believing in God and preaching about Him for 900+ years. Cain and Abel learned something about sacrificing to God from them.

Adam and Eve alone knew what it meant to lose holy perfection. No one else in all of mankind ever experiences this. Thus the lesson for them and all of us to seek God and His righteousness. Here at the very beginning, God allows this so that no man can boast but in Christ Jesus!

Praise Yah Roselyn. I am glad he talks to you. Keep the faith and walk in his ways.

Ishmael, If you turn away from Yahweh and no longer believe on him or his son Jesus yes, you can be lost. In romans, Pauls talks about the branches that were broken off due to unbelief.

do you even read a bible, if you would, you would have to have read some or all of the scripture mentioned by others in the comment section, such as 1 John 5:7 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." and many others like verses.

if you do read the KJV you may not believe all that is written, but this also is explained in, 2 Timothy 3:16 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"

God bless.

Christina, Christ bore all your illness on the cross. Stay strong, and keep praying for your healing in Yah's name we do pray.

Yahweh I pray Kimberlie may find a place to stay. May she find shelter. May she find a home. I ask this in Jesus name.

On to chapter 3! Can't even count how many times I have read Genesis in my lifetime!

Reading the comments, I must pose my position on whether Cain was Adam's son or the serpent's. Adam's Son.

I don't think that anything sexual happened between Eve and the serpent. I strongly really doubt that God would allow the first sexual experience of Eve would be with anyone but her husband, Adam, nor any after that. God allowed Satan to tempt Eve and present a distortion of what God had said about eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good an evil. The text does not say that God allowed Satan to touch Eve or Adam physically.

I tend to think of Satan's appearance in the garden as being a very beautiful dragon (often referred to as a serpent elsewhere in Scripture). Eve would not have been suspect of him by looking at him. I don't think that the tree was Satan because it was the knowledge of both good an evil. At this time, Satan had nothing good in him, although he knew what God says is good and what is evil. The text does not say anywhere that the tree was evil. The evil was in the serpent and disobeying God's good command and eating the fruit and believing the tempter over God. The tree was morally neutral but necessary in God's eternal plan. It's presence and God's command allows for the fall of man. This then creates the need for redemption by God in Christ for mankind, through whom the devil and all of his evil works will be crushed and destroyed at the fulfillment of time in both the first and second advent of Jesus, our Messiah.

With Adam and Eve's sin, the sinful nature entered the gene pool of humanity. Cain and Abel were both sinners. We don't know what happened in Cain's heart and what sinful choices made him stray farther from God than Abel. But we can deduce that Abel was more humble and repentant than Cain. Perhaps Satan tempted Cain more seeing that Cain was more readily manipulated by his schemes. God permitted this for a greater purpose.

How true Paul speaks of the same topic.The flesh is of sin,we are saved trough the Holy Spirit

.I love all of Paul's teachings of the words of our Savior. where as most of the apostles taught through the laws those of God. Paul's teaches without the laws trough grace,We have Jews and Gentiles who follow the words of Christ,But as Gentiles we are not ordered under the law,yet we still must follow the same laws given to His chosen people the Laws of God.Not the laws of Moses.it sounds complicated but it is not Jesus said love your God with all your mind,soul streanght,and love Thu neighbor as yourself. all commandments under these two things will happen through the will of God also which a lot of chistions do not do or feel free from is Gods holy sabbath Jesus said we must follow that as well bit when he spoke of it He was speaking to all Jews my question do we as Gentiles also follow the sabbath a day holy to our Lord.Thank you

All the glory to God, Most High!

Here is my study of the second chapter. I have read so many different ideas in the comment section. So much to think about! Many ways I could respond. Praying that I can discern what God would want me to share.

I tend to think that chapter 2 is a deeper explanation of how man and woman were created. Then again, since the Bible is the story of Jesus and his ancestral lineage, the theory of there being creation of mankind generally in Chapter One and then the special creation of Adam and the lineage of Jesus may have merit also, especially since only Adamic descendants through Seth were saved through the flood. Since this lineage is the lineage of "all the living" primarily and secondarily the Bible gives some history of the lineage of those who were "dead in sin" - Who knows but God.

The Jewish writings say that Adam had sexual relations with all of the animals and found not a suitable companion. The text never says that! The Jewish writings have many diabolical ideas. God would have kept Adam from having relations with animals because his design was for each kind to be fruitful and multiply. God could have kept Adam completely satisfied with his relationship with Himself, but God wanted to populate the earth, especially with mankind, since the earth was created specifically for man to inhabit and fill.

Here we have in the beginning God's primary reason for sexual intercourse-procreation. What a privilege it is to be made part of the creation of new humans! Today, our society has denigrated this wonderful God-ordained purpose and substituted a lustful attitude in place of the one God intended. I believe God made sex pleasurable in order that we would engage in this act in marriage so God's purpose can be accomplished-two flesh coming together and becoming one in a child. A most beautiful power God entrusted to us! He has never rescinded this command in all of

Scripture. Let us pray for God to give us godly thinking on this.

Amen,David,, Scripture is the only Truth,any other doctrine is false.

And we are Saved not by works but by Faith in Jesus Christ.

Acts2:22) But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

How true ask and you shall receive, I asked the Lord for a old testament changed from hebrew,to English. And it was given thank you Jesus we praise Your glory and love for all Amen

I lean towards a "Gap" theory understanding between Genesis 1:1-1:3. If this happens to be true and there was a "world" or "era" prior to the six days of creation, we cannot know what that may have been like, especially spiritually. Fossil records and archeological discoveries may shed light on some of the physical matter, cultural, geological, and biological, aspects of time before the Genesis creation beginning in Ch.1:3. Will be interesting to see what God allows us to find out.

There is nothing to limit God from having designed an era prior to our present, (or multiple). We may not discover His purpose or salvic plan for these era(s) this side of heaven. After 65 years of life on this planet, all of which were lived as a member of Christ's church, I hadn't really felt much of a desire to delve into this subject. But last January, I felt that the Spirit was drawing me investigate. The internet has been very helpful as I studied with Bible in hand. It has been a fruitful study, making me prayerfully think in depth about so many things written in these first chapters of Genesis. Things I keep in mind as I study these topics are, How important is it that I fully understand this?" "Will it edify me or others? "Does this thinking add to my understanding of who my God is and how He has saved me? "Is it simply interesting to consider, but not something I need to spend a lot of time trying to figure out or share with others?"

So, I approach beginning in Genesis once again as a faith journey on which I can learn from the Holy Spirit and also improve my readiness to give an answer to those who ask me about the hope I have in God. I am thankful for all of the input others have added to the comment section. Having come from a very traditional church background for the first 20 years of my life as well as many years in various denominations since then, I am thankful to have had the fullness of the journey God has walked with me all of these years. I pray to stay true.

Do you believe you don't need to follow Jesus to be saved?

A Christian is literally a Christ follower, so if someone prays and accepts Jesus into 'his heart' as a teen then spends a lifetime of sin and blapheming God is he 'saved' to you?

What I meant previously by calling the name of the Lord is this verse: Matthew 7:21 - some will beg 'Lord Lord' and assume they were a Christ follower when in fact they weren't. Most people will go to hell. Jesus warns us of that repeatedly through parables and says to fear God. Paul says to run the race that he would 'win' the prize. Thse things they preached involve a life of action and effort- to transform into 'slaves of righteousnes', not someone kicking back smoking weed on the couch and enjoying being 'saved'. So, whenever I hear someone saying good works are bad, I know it doesn't come from God.

Romans 10:13 presumes you're choosing to follow Christ in calling on the name of the Lord. It doesn't mean Hitler can mass murder millions and curse God's name, but a take 5 second break and just say the name of the Lord and be saved. It presumes someone is genuinely pursuing Jesus Christ which is what the definition of a Christian is. God knows our hearts and whether we are genuine or not. Satan loves deceiving people into believing they can sin all they want with no consequence, but that's far from what Jesus says in the Bible. God bless.

I am a Christain. I love the Lord Jesus. I am homeless. I need a safe,warm place to live as soon as possible. It is cold out side. Please pray for me.

Thank you Jesus!

I reviewed all of the comments in this section and they prompted a few thoughts I'd like to share.

Abraham traveled from Ur to Haran with his father Terah, brother Nahor, nephew Lot, niece Milkah, half-sister/wife Sarah, and servants.

He left his father and brother and their families in Haran and headed to the land God was leading him to. God said to leave his kin and go. I think he took everyone God wanted him to take with him. There is nothing in the text that states that Lot should not have gone with him. He was probably Lot's custodial parent after Haran's death, so Lot was a member of his immediate family.

Interesting how Abraham set up his altar in Bethel. Was this the same place that Jacob wrestled with God, perhaps?

Yet he still traveled south from there. Perhaps he needed to "wander" some to graze his flocks and, perhaps, God hadn't told him to set up a permanent camp/residence yet. It seems there were other events that needed to happen first. I don't know if he had ever been to Egypt before. God felt that Abraham needed to experience Egypt before he takes possession of the promised land area. Maybe the leaders of Egypt needed to know who Abraham was and about the God of Abraham. Everything was going along according to God's plan and Abraham was obedient.

It is interesting that Abraham went up a hill or mountain to offer sacrifices. In previous times inn Shinar, under Nimrod, people preferred to live in the plain and build their own "mountains" to worship their idols. Something to think about. The altars of the Israelites cut not be of cut stones (man-designed) and they did not build temples with images of their God enshrined on top of these like the pagans. God does not want our place of worship to be man-made or idolaterous. (sp?). Thus, we are his Temple and He lives in us as a Spirit. Can't make an idol of that, can we! God made us, formed us in our mother's womb. We are his dwelling place, all God created!