Description
Preview
What comes in the Genesis 26-50 Maps & Leaders Guides?
- Tips for teaching Genesis in a Bible Study
- Over 200 Discussion Questions for Genesis 26-50
- Answers and insights for all Discussion Questions
- Atlas of 23 high-definition maps that track with the stories of Genesis 26-50
Sample Q&A in Genesis 1-25 Maps & Leaders Guides
Q
God gave humans the job of taking care of Creation. The Casual English Bible quotes God this way:
“They’ll be in charge of the planet….Sky high to ocean deep, they’ll make the call about what happens on the earth” (1:26). So, do you think the paraphrase got it right? And if we are Earth’s caretakers, how do you think we’re doing?
A
Bible translations do seem to agree that God put humans in charge. One of the most literal Bible translations puts it this way: “Let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth” (New American Standard Bible).
And as for how we are doing managing the planet, the scientific community is giving us an F for polluting the water and the air. And most recently, for drilling deep underground to get rid of waste water; it’s called fracking. Then, of course, there is the nuclear waste. Some take 30 years to decay to safe levels. Others take 24,000 years.
Many politicians and the industry leaders who support them with campaign finances argue that the scientists got it wrong or that scientists don’t agree among themselves.
And the counterpoint many folks use is pretty much, “Oh yes they do agree. And why should we believe you when the scientists universally say otherwise and when the money you make comes from exploiting the planet?”
After Genesis 1-25...
GENESIS 26-50
Sample Q&A from Genesis 26-50 Maps & Leaders Guides
Q. Genesis 26-50 Maps & Leaders Guides
Below are examples about how people in ancient times interpreted dreams. Do you think there’s anything to it? And can a dream handbook get it right? Or does God have a monopoly on dream interpretation: “Don’t dream explanations come from God?” (40:8).
DREAM, A MAN SEES… |
MEANING |
Himself dying |
Good news: He’s going to live a long time. |
Himself looking out of a window |
Good: His cry is being heard. |
A snake |
Good: Food is coming. |
Eating crocodile |
Good: He will become an official. |
Himself burying an old man |
Good: Prosperity ahead. |
His bed catching fire |
Bad: He is driving away his wife. |
A “dwarf” |
Bad: He will live just half a life. |
Himself drinking warm beer |
Bad: Suffering ahead. |
Himself with his face to the ground |
Bad: The dead want something from him. |
Walking into a room with wet clothes |
Bad: He’ll have a fight coming up. |
A
It’s anyone’s guess. We don’t know much about the spiritual dimension and how the spiritual world works or interacts with the physical world…or even if it in some way is part of the physical world. Christians simply use words like “spiritual” to talk about a reality that they believe exists, but that they can’t see, understand, or explain.
As for Jacob’s dream, it may have been simply a visual that God created for Jacob. God may have used earthly images to help Jacob understand a little about what was going on. And to help him see that God was with him, and was going to bless him with the same inheritance God promised to Abraham and Isaac.
“You’ll have so many descendants that they’ll be as impossible to count as grains of dirt on the ground. Your people will spread out in all four directions, going west, east, north, and south” (28:13-14).
Best resource for comparing other Bible translations: Bible Gateway. This isn’t an ad. It’s a recommendation from the Casual English Bible.
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