The first mention of grace is in the Old Testament Book of Genesis. It is correct in all of the new translations. It simply reads, Gen 6:8 “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” There is NOTHING in the definition of grace/favor that even hints of UNMERITED!!!!! Christian doctrine added the meaning of unmerited to uphold and support worm theology and the subsequent fall of humanity into depravity. There is no qualification in Genesis 6:8. It simply states that Noah found favor. I know, I know, you are thinking that in the narrative God went on to drown the rest of humanity. Can’t argue against that, but it is simply a narrative of a story and not the point of this rant!
I use this verse because of the revered doctrine of first
mention. The same evangelicals that insist on grace being unmerited favor
demand that first mention be applied to a word as it continues on through the
biblical narrative. That being the case, the story of Noah suggests that God’s
favor toward Noah was merited by Noah himself.
Let’s continue with the concept of first mention. What is
the first mention of humanity? Gen
1:27-31 “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he
created them; male and female he created them. (28) God blessed
them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth
and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over
every living creature that moves on the ground." (29) 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.
(30) And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the
sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the
breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
(31) God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.” Yes
indeed, the first mention of humanity is found in the above passage and guess
what? God said it was VERY GOOD! Does very good support worm theology? No, very
good supports imputed righteousness from the beginning!
I know, now you are asking about Genesis chapters two and
three. What about the story of Adam and Eve? Weren’t they our first parents?
The Adam and Eve narrative is an allegory. It is meant to explain the pathology
of humanity, which is the ability to judge good and evil coupled with death.
Death initiated the survival instinct out of necessity, and the knowledge of
good and evil allowed one to judge themselves right and the other wrong in
their pursuit of survival. It is a pathology that can be overcome by means of understanding
grace, favor.
All humanity was created in the image of God, the Imago Dei.
That is, conscious creative agents. By virtue of that we are eternal. To be
created in one’s image is to be a child of the creator. The characteristics of
the child is the same as the characteristics of the parent. If the parent is eternal,
then the child is eternal. So then, the gospel of grace is the good news that
favor is upon humans as a result of their familial connection to the creative
source. This explains the message and mission of Jesus of Nazareth. He taught
that he was God consciousness incarnate and went on to teach that we too are
God consciousness incarnate. He proved that he was indeed eternal in nature by
his death, burial, and resurrection. He demonstrated once and for all time that
all humanity had as a birthright God’s favor, or in other words grace.
Christian dogma has misrepresented so much, it angers me and
therefore the need for this rant!
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