insights from comics (gen. 3)

Trying to grasp of the Bible is hard.  I know this personally very deeply.  I need all the help I can get so I have been asking pastors a lot lately just what kind of things can I do to get a better grasp on God’s word.  I know it is life changing but how I can I help it to sink in more. 

I have gotten tons of answers but most stem from the same 3 categories. 

1) Always ask God first what He wants us to understand through His word.  He wrote it so let Him fill us in. 

2) Try to get the basic overview of the stories.  In other words, try to find out the context for everything you read.  Getting a context helps us learn how to apply it. 

3) Apply it to your life.  This one seems pretty basic but the hard part about this one is remembering what you are trying to apply.  Reading God’s word is like cramming for a test sometimes.  What I mean, is that we get so much information on how we are falling short and we get so much encouragement but it is easy to get confused on what to do.  This can be influenced by thinking of Scripture as much as we can through meditation and prayer or fasting or whatever means to get it into our heads. 

Well to help me understand the context of the Bible, I have been searching out a variety of books that give good overviews.  I have looked up Jewish scholars as well as Christian scholars for the Old Testament because it is a hard read sometimes if you are oblivious to the context.  I love Mark Dever’s stuff on the Old Testament but one that Stephen Feild told me to check out was Bible in comic book.  I picked up today, really cheap – which I like, and interesting.  Really kidsy but good.  So for the next few writings, I want to discuss the bible in comic book.  I will probably do this every once in a while due to my travelings in the next couple of weeks but here is the first dose.  Bare with me because I will not post the pictures but I will be clear as possible for you readers.  Enjoy. 

Ok, so the beginning is where we will start. 

Genesis.  Good stuff.  All about starting something.  I like starting so this is good.  Basically God made everything and Adam and Eve are told to eat but not from a certain tree, to which they ignore, being just like human nature.  My favorite image is from right after the serpent tempts Eve and she takes the apple and eats it.  The storyboard shows Eve holding the apple up to Adam, who has his mouth open and hand partially over his mouth.  Eve says to her husband, “Want a bite, Adam?  Come on, I took one!”  To which Adam replies, “Well – why not?”  This is hilarious to me because Adam seems to be saying, “oh well, not much else to do.”  This reminds me of poker last night with Hal, Mike, Will and I (Will’s poker playing seems to be written about a lot lately).  Anyways, Will and Mike were betting against each other (Hal and I were bluffing very strategically while we folded) and the chips were stacking up in the middle and Mike finally says the whole heroic sounding, “all-in.”  And Will replies, “Oh well, I have put that much in already, I might as well go all the way.”  Good attitude.  I have given so much already, why not go all the way?  (I am not advocating sin, like Adam did, but the courage to run the race with all we have). 

Storyboard 2: Adam and Eve hide because they sinned and God asks where they are, knowing the whole time.  Adam blames God for giving him Eve and Eve blames the snake.  Essentially, no one takes the blame.  Then the angel (who is for some reason, faceless) says to them with his sword in hand pointing outward, “Because of your sin, you must leave the garden and work the rest of your lives!”  I love the picture because Adam looks mad because to me, it seems like he doesn’t want to work but Eve looks sad and has a huge tear running down her face, just like most girls, because she has to leave paradise.  Adam is sad because he has to work and Eve is sad because a loss of relationship.  Another interesting insight to me is that the storyboard seems to be saying that if we didn’t sin, we could be lazy.  Just so you know, laziness is bad.  Work hard and reap the benefits, for your reward will be great in heaven. 

still more to come…