Genesis 8:22

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
Genesis 8:22


Does this mean that cold and heat *can* cease?  This is right after the flood, and God is telling himself that he will never destroy everything like that again… and he includes this at the end of that promise.  It seems weird to me that cold and heat could disappear. Seasons and days not so much… seems like you could change an orbit or stop the spin of the planet, and those things would change… but cold and heat seem… eternal.  Hmm… but so does time, which the scriptures say someday will be “time no longer” (Revelations 10:6), so what do I know? :)   Anyway, good promise.  Hopefully we can improve ourselves and our world, so that there is no need to start over from scratch.

Genesis 2:21-22

"And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man."
Genesis 2:21-22


I don’t really get this… why the rib?   Seems like God could have just made a woman, without worrying about bone surgery on the man.  So, there has to be a reason… hmm.  Is it illustrative of marriage again… that the two, man and woman, are part of each other, or is it something else more general about all women and all men?   Perhaps that (in a community way) we are all part of one another… that women and men complement each other, and that gender-based discrimination is really counter-productive.   We need each other, and our several perspectives, to make a good world. … And maybe I’m taking the lesson of the rib a bit too far.  I don’t know… but it seems like a good lesson anyhow.

Titus 3:9

"But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain."
Titus 3:9


There might be no such thing as a stupid question… but there are obviously foolish ones. :) … I’m thinking that a foolish question would be one that casts doubt on God’s abilities, or perhaps one of those “What if” questions that are posed contrary to reality.  Not sure, but something to think about … “foolish” could be speculation about things that haven’t been revealed to us yet, especially when we don’t have a grasp on those things that have been revealed. 
The scripture goes on to mention genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law.  Since we aren’t supposed to avoid genealogies in general, I would guess that the word “foolish” pertains to each of these in turn.  Foolish genealogies could be ones that claim superiority by right of birth… no matter where that claim comes from.  Foolish contentions… most contentions are probably foolish, except ones that involve your soul in some way.  Anything less isn’t really worth fighting about.  And the same for strivings about the law (which are contentions in a way… perhaps somewhat more polite contentions than normal).  It’s crazy what some people go to court about. I think that if you have an issue that involves your soul, or other people’s souls… where you’re trying to defend purity and godliness, then perhaps.  Lesser issues are probably not worth fighting about. … and “unprofitable” means spiritually I think, since some of those foolish strivings are against insurance companies, and sometimes they are profitable in a strictly monetary sense.  Profitable spiritually, no. … Really, I think Paul, and God, are just reminding us here to pay attention to things that matter… and not get distracted from the main idea of life by getting wound up in things that really don’t matter eternally.  That is very hard to remember sometimes, because we get emotionally involved.  Things that affect our worldly possessions, or our purchasing power seem to be incredibly important.  Let’s just take a step back today and try to reassess… what really is important, and what isn’t.