Genesis 2:7 is foundational and crucial to the whole story of the cosmos, Man and salvation. God takes dust or clay from the ground and like a potter he fashions a human being. The scientific formulas used by God still elude us.
Imagine God making the first human brain from the chemical compounds he had already created as part of the earth. The intelligent design of the brain is beyond our comprehension, immensely complicated with intricate and precise electronics, hormones, connections, blood passageways, molecules, minerals, living cells and more.
And this amazing “machine” is able to learn, process and recall information, and even heal itself. It is more than a brain—it is also a “mind.”
Then on to the lungs which will take in necessary oxygen produced by the plants. Since my birth until now I have breathed 629,000,000 times! Then God shaped the liver, the kidneys, the glands, the reproductive organs, the stomach with its incredibly fine-tuned and intricate digestive system . . .
God did not just form a “machine” or an animal. He took this incredible body he had fashioned from clay and with his own breath he breathed into the nostrils the breath of life—like divine CPR. This is face–to–face, warmly personal, almost as the intimate kiss of God.
The Man was dual in nature: body and soul, related to earth and heaven (1 Cor 15:45). The potter has made a Man for glory out of the clay of the earth! Man is the crown of the creation! The drama of salvation is under way, being directed and controlled by God himself.
Remember also that the wind of the Holy Spirit blew on Pentecost at the birth of the Church! You can already see a pattern forming: “For God so loved . . . that he gave” (cf. Jn 3:16)—an act of self–giving as well as of making; God invests himself in his new creation. This passage is rich with symbolic and typological meaning, ripe for the picking.
Pray for me as I work on finalizing this manuscript which is almost done! Working on it 12+ hours a day during July which I blocked out for finishing the book. It will be published by Ignatius Press and available on Verbum Catholic Software.
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Looking forward to your book. I hope it comes to Verbum as well. I love having access to your books on that platform. You have excellent resources for bible study. Thank you.
STEVE RAY HERE: Thanks so much Lorraine. I am sitting here editing my manuscript on Genesis right now and already have a contract with Ignatius Press to publish it. I think it is a fun, easy to understand and informative book. It will compliment my new movie on Abraham very well. Thanks for your kind words.
Verbum is now working on Getting my book Crossing the Tiber on Verbum. Genesis will be on Verbum, and eventually so will my DVDs.
hi Steve ..
i had the opportunity to see you giving the apologetic talks in Goa, India..Praise God for such a wonderful gift of you to the catholic church..i like it how you find connections between the subtle passages of the old testament with the new testament ..phenomenal…i was wondering if you could talk at length in your new book on Genesis..about the view among the majority of Christians that Genesis is a myth or story not a real account…i was doing a bit of my own research and it finally boils down in my opinion to creation and evolution…though evolution is just a theory about historical science many theologians actually assume that that has happened and try to explain genesis using evolution …evolution being an unsupervised, random process is contradicting the very nature of God…calling death extiction happening for millions of years “Good”…i was going through the church fathers like Justin , Basil Iraneus and Agustine and in thier comments on the Genesis Account it seems to me that they are far from looking at it as myth…but real account…would love if you could shed your scholarly light on this subject..God bless.
STEVE RAY HERE: Joe, we have to make a distinction when we use the word evolution. There is a macro evolution which would mean everything came from time plus chance plus manner. This would leave God out of the equation and make everything a natural process without any divine intervention. This must be rejected by Catholics.
On the other hand, we can see something that we could call micro evolution and this means just changes within the species. God may have used this kind of evolving process which he initiated and superintended. At this point he created everything from nothing, created life, and at a certain point instilled a soul in a creature-Adam and Eve. This, Catholics can believe.
I cannot figure out why this project is taking so long! You probably have a few other things going on. Can not wait for the result. Realistically, Steve, I do know where your energy comes from, God has got to be the source! Bless you and Janet for all you do. See you soon in Poland.
Chomping at the bit here. 🙂 CAN'T WAIT! I'm assuming you will provide a link of where we might pay a bit extra for a signed copy???
STEVE RAY HERE
Thanks for your enthusiasm. I’m also enthusiastic about this commentary, Bible study and even a novel. It will certainly be broadcast on my website 🙂
Wait a minute. You actually are writing your commentary on Genesis in 2014, and you were writing it to compliment your Footprints of God series on Abraham? If so, wow! Can't wait! Love the Typology you did on this post on God's supernatural power, the way He plan as shown in Genesis and John 20. Wow, Breath of God when He created Man and Wind as God's kiss to the First Christians during the First Pentecost Sunday, I love it! Praise be the Holy Trinity indeed! I remember getting your dvd on Abraham as a birthday present from my husband in 2017. We enjoyed watching it as a family. Your works are a blessing! God bless you Steve Ray!
STEVE RAY HERE:
Thanks for so much for your kind words and enthusiasm and support. I love doing all of these things because it’s so exciting and I’m grateful to God that he gives me the time and ability to do it. You are correct! I started the commentary on Genesis along time ago and it was turned into a full blown Bible study with Catholic Scripture Study International. But I never had a chance to turn the Bible study and do a full blown book. I’ve been working over 12 hours a day for the last month and I just finished the whole thing tonight thanks for so much for your kind words and enthusiasm and support. I love doing all of these things because it’s so exciting and I’m grateful to God that he gives me the time and ability to do it. You are correct! I started the commentary on genesis a long time ago and it was turned into a full-blown Bible study with Catholic Scripture Study International. But I never had a chance to turn the Bible study and do a full-blown book. I’ve been working over 12 hours a day for the last month and I just finished the whole thing tonight Now I just have to go back through it and fine-tune it over the next two weeks. Hopefully I can get it done before I have to leave another pilgrimage 🙂
Thanks again for your support and God bless you!
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