What Geocreationism has in Common with the Passover
In “Beyond the Firmament” (Review) - Genesis is Literal, I write about an interesting phenomenon. It would seem that Moses — some would dispute whether it’s Moses, but that’s beside the point for now — wrote what he thought was a historically accurate account of Creation. We now know that he was wrong — it was not historically accurate. However, as GJG of BTF points out, when we put on our Moses hat, and try to view the world as the ancient Hebrews did, we realize that what Moses echoed the account with which they were already familiar, but with the added detail that God is the one who did it. It was meant literally, and Moses’ theological point was true, but the account in which it was cast was not literally true. Literal but not literal. (Like day 5 being a separation without separation… God appears fond of placing seemingly paradoxical perspectives in juxtaposition within the creation account.)
Well, as I have written about extensively on this blog, I firmly believe that what we now know through secular science (plate tectonics, old universe, evolution) was woven in between the words of Genesis 1 by God as Moses wrote his words in obedience to God. It’s truly amazing if you ask me, because the church has fought tooth and nail against two things in regards to Genesis 1. First, they have fought against the possibility that Moses was writing anything other than the historical truth of the world’s creation, choosing to dismiss what makind’s eyes and ears plainly tell them about the world, rather than considering that scripture is true but our modern perspective sometimes gets in our way of understanding it. Don’t get me wrong, I am talking about redemmed Christians, people with faith, people I respect. They have their eyes set on God, and so are in His will more than I sometimes, spending time communing with Him while I spend time studying God in secular science, which is of God yet devoid of Him at the same time (yet another paradoxical juxtaposition). It’s a discouraging situation to be in times, but I understand it.
The other thing the church fights against is any possibility that the secular scientific account is somehow woven into the scriptures. Either the science is wrong they say, or the scriptures are symbolic. However, I have been documenting how the literal scriptures somehow contain proof (for me anyway) that the scientific record is correct, and that God knew it all along. He just didn’t want to confuse the Israelites with it at the time, and so let Moses write what he wrote, while God put His own secret sauce into the recipe while Moses wasn’t looking.
Is that really so disagreeable? Here is a less ancient example of God doing this…
The afikomen in the Jewish celebration of Passover is the center of three matzohs that are set aside at the beginning of the celebration. By tradition (and this varies by region and even by family), the center matzoh is broken, and part of it is hidden by the father conducting the service. Later, the children look for it until it is found. (In my family, the children hid the Matzoh and my father looked for it, but I later found that was rare.)
Now, what does this have to do with Genesis 1? Well, you see, this is a human institution, a Jewish one, put in place after Jesus lived and died and rose again. The church had nothing to do with instituting the rutual of the afikomen. Yet, it is a perfect parallel to Jesus, who is the ultimate sacrifice for sin, who the Passover celebration was a always a prophecy of. Man describes the Trinity as Father-Son-Holy Spirit. We place the Son at the center. The center matzoh was broken, as was Jesus’ body. It is then hidden, a parallel to when Jesus’ spirit was yielded up, and his body buried in a tomb. The matzoh is then found… as was Jesus after three days. Furthermore, look at the Matzoh… it is without leaven, as Jesus was without sin. It has stripes, just as Jesus was whipped, such that by His stripes we are saved. The Matzoh has holes, which reminds the Christian of Jesus’ crown of thorns. It is such an profound picture of Jesus life, trial, and death, and appears to have completely human sources for its details (the holes, the stripes, the Passover ritual), and yet it has God’s message woven in between the lines… a message my Jewish ancestors would never have meant! Does this mean that God agreed with the Jewish leaders who started this ritual? Clearly not, for they did not believe Jesus was the foretold messiah! So we have an example of God taking an intention that is not accurate, and weaving His own message into it… it was human actions that created the institution of the Afikomen into the Passover celebration, but it is God’s meaning and not man’s that we are to take away from it! A skeptic would see this as all hogwash; a Christian would see it as miraculous, an example of how wonderfully God works. And so perhaps now you can understand how I see Genesis 1.