Genesis 1-11 are important chapters for understanding the character of God, the nature of humanity, and the implications of the fall of humanity into sin.
Genesis 1-11 are important chapters for understanding the character of God, the nature of humanity, and the implications of the fall of humanity into sin. In a presentation of 15-20 slides with speaker notes, examine how Genesis 1-11 presents the creation, the nature of humanity, and the fall of humanity into sin. Be sure to include the following:
A title slide
An introduction slide
Examination of what Genesis 1-2 say about creation and the character of God as creator
Examination of the fall of humanity in Genesis 3
Examination of the results of the fall of humanity in Genesis 4-11
A conclusion slide
A reference slide
Complete this assignment using the Bible, the assigned readings for the topic, and a minimum of two academic sources from the GCU Library.
While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.
In the opening chapters of the Bible, God creates the world and brings us forth to join him in further creativity. He creates us in his image to exercise dominion, to be fruitful and multiply, to receive his provision, to work in relationship with him and with other people, and to observe the limits of his creation.
He equips us with resources, abilities, and communities to fulfill these tasks, and gives us the pattern of working toward them six days out of seven.
He gives us the freedom to do these things out of love for him and his creation, which also gives us the freedom to not do the things for which he created us. To our lasting injury, the first human beings chose to violate God’s mandate, and people have continued to choose disobedience—to a greater or lesser degree—to the present day.
As a result, our work has become less productive, more toilsome, and less satisfying, and our relationships and work are diminished and at times even destructive.
Nonetheless, God continues to call us to work, equipping us and providing for our needs. And many people have the opportunity to do good, creative, fulfilling work that provides for their needs and contributes to a thriving community.
The Fall has made the work that began in the Garden of Eden more necessary, not less. Although Christians have sometimes misunderstood this, God did not respond to the Fall by withdrawing from the material world and confining his interests to the spiritual, nor is it possible to divorce the material and the spiritual anyway.
Work, including the relationships that pervade it and the limits that bless it, remains God’s gift to us, even if it is severely marred by the conditions of existence after the Fall.
At the same time, God is always at work to redeem his creation from the effects of the Fall. Genesis 4-11 begins the story of how God’s power is working to order and reorder the world and its inhabitants.
God is sovereign over the created world and over every living creature, human and otherwise. He continues to tend to his own image in humanity.
But he does not tolerate human efforts to “be like God” (Gen. 3:5) in order either to acquire excessive power or to substitute self-sufficiency for relationship with God. Those, like Noah, who receive work as a gift from God and do their best to work according to his direction, find blessing and fruitfulness in their work.
Those, like the builders of the tower of Babel, who try to grasp power and success on their own terms, find violence and frustration, especially when their work turns toward harming others.
Like all the characters in these chapters of Genesis, we face the choice of whether to work with God or in opposition to him. How the story of God’s work to redeem his creation will turn out is not told in the book of Genesis, but we know that it ultimately leads to the restoration of creation—including the work of God’s creatures—as God has intended from the beginning.