The Topical Guide for Mortality begins by pointing us to the first chapters of Genesis. As we often do here, we are going to start by pulling back and looking at the wider context, the whole of the first three chapters of Genesis. We are looking broadly for the elements that distinguish our condition in this life. What does Genesis, the book of beginnings say about the nature of our existence here? What are the characteristics of our present estate?
First, it takes place on an earth that is beautiful and varied. It is full of an incredible abundance of life, and is so placed that its heavens are packed with objects that are intriguingly visible and orderly . It is a place that is "very good" (Genesis 1:31).
Second, we are embodied. That body is in the image of God. (Genesis 1:26). We are inescapably tied to sensory inputs, rhythms of day and night, to cycles of breath and food and reproduction. Our embodiment necessarily relates us closely to the earth that sustains us and from whose materials we are made. We are tied up in a net of relationships to both the living and non-living elements of our planet.
Third, our existence is gendered. We are male and female. (Genesis 1:27-8). The implication is that the divine "us" to whom God proposes our fashioning are also gendered. There is more than a hint that gender has transcendent meaning. With gender comes a related drive to reproduce.
Fourth, it is natural for us to make lasting inter-gender bonds, driven in part by our sexuality (Genesis 2:18, 24). This pairing is involved in the creation of the family as an economic and social unit (Genesis 3:16-20).
Fifth, we are mortal. Our bodies are vulnerably dependent on breath and food, and susceptible to a multitude of dangers, illnesses and age. In the end, Death is inevitable (Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:17-19, 24).
Sixth, we are uniquely able to consciously understand and manipulate the environment in which we are placed, including the life that fills it. Whether we use that power wisely or poorly, we have dominion over our earth (Genesis 1:26, 28). Awareness, comprehension, curiosity and intelligence drive us to observe, to understand, to catalogue and to name (Genesis 2:19-20, 23) and to make use what we find around us. Even the heavens we could not reach were put to use for signs and seasons.
Seventh, we experience what we like to call "free will." That freedom which is dramatically implicit in Genesis's account of the Fall is made explicit in Moses 3:17 - "thou mayest choose for thyself."
Eighth, we exist in a moral universe. We have a "knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). Despite our best efforts to annihilate morality, our eyes have been opened and we cannot ever again fully close them to the concepts of right and wrong. Choices have moral consequences we cannot escape.
Ninth, evil is a real and often personal presence around and within us. We are tempted, deceived and oppressed by it. There is a warfare between us and the serpent (Genesis 3:1-15).
Tenth, though we have an inborn sense of a spiritual, divine reality, there is a division between us and the divine. It is as if we have fallen from a primordial state of intimate contact with God - we find ourselves "cast out" and longing for a return to a condition where we might walk and talk again in the garden with God "in the cool of the day" (Genesis 3:1-8), but we do not necessarily feel comfortable when we do come in contact with Him. To use Genesis's metaphor we have a sense of nakedness and desire to hide.
Eleventh, there is a persistent hint of a redeeming power reaching out to us in this fallen, separated state. Though the text is by no means explicit here, Christians have traditionally interpreted the reference to the crushing of the serpent's head as a prophecy of Christ's coming and atonement.
It' no accident that Genesis fascinates even the unbelievers. In a brief but rich narrative, the author of Genesis lays out as powerfully as it has ever been done what the human experience feels like.
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