Genesis Quest

The first eleven chapters of Genesis establish six principles for personal and social interaction. Our general understanding of a principle is that it is the source or origin of an idea, a concept that evolves into a fundamental law or truth. Another understanding of a principle is in relationship to science as the operative cause of a natural action, such as the principle of cell division, or some developing theory. Of course, we also think of a person of principle, someone of integrity who adheres to a fundamental concept such as “justice for all,” or “liberty,” or “freedom.”
The origin of principles, or a specific principle, is in itself a concept to be questioned. Thus, the very idea of a principle as the source or origin of a fundamental law or truth based on a judgment of human action or character automatically falls into speculation. Who determines when a concept is a principle? How is it decided that one principle is superior to another, or is constituted of some inherent virtue, or lack of virtue? The very idea of a word or concept representative of some principle as a virtuous truth is the first step in declaring the meaning of the word, “principle.” Or, to put it another way, the concept of any principle is formed when a mental theory of what constitutes virtuous or destructive behavior within the human society is formulated.
All ideas and theories at the point of origin are the logos, the expression of thought that propels the intangible concepts of the human mind to be manifest. In terms of the principles in Genesis, the person or place of origin is not important; what is important is the significance that the principles were conceived, remembered, organized in an oral tradition, and passed on from generation-to-generation. Further, these principles would be integrated into the continually developing life and social structure of the people who clung to them throughout the ages.
The evolution of a principle, as the evolution of life, whether that of humankind collectively, or our own individual development from womb to tomb, is not a stagnate process; not something that begins and ends precisely as it started. The principles in Genesis evolved into extended theories which then became laws, ordinances, statues, courts of justice, and later theologies, doctrines, dogmas and prejudicial conflicts. There are the laws of “human nature.” There are the laws of “legislative authority.” There are the laws of science. There are the laws of Old Testament Scripture, traditionally 613. Then, regarding the Old Testament laws, there follows the Pauline concept that “the strength of sin is the law” (1 Cor. 15:56); but then, that concept comes at the end of a long stretch and integrates into other concepts that confuse the original idea or initial principles from which the entire process began. Thus, it is not the developmental process of a “principle” that is important; rather it is the purpose or origin from which the initial principle was formed that is significant in entering the Genesis quest.
The primal principles of Genesis are in themselves the beginning. The multiple sources of ancient oral traditions are the beginning of establishing principles that set humankind on a path of fulfillment. For example, we know that as certainly as our world began, so it will end; as certainly as our individual lives came into being, so they will cease. Someone may ask, “What of the life to come?” What of it! The principles of Genesis are for this life. Future life aside, this life is the womb of whatever is to come, whether one is considering the individual or the collective being. The “in the beginning,” Genesis, was not intended to establish the principles of a spiritual afterlife, “the beginning” launched “Man and Life,” humankind, on its journey into the distant future.
The people of the garden formulated the essence of responsibility and conduct requisite for the descendants of the children of paradise to journey into the distant future – into the universe in which they and we were formed. Failing to fulfill the principles set forth by our ancient progenitors, we fail to fulfill the potential for our progeny. The oral tradition is clear: We must choose, and every generation must make the choice to adhere to the principles, or adjust them to their own liking or way of thinking. All of this is not law, or theory, or a process; rather, it is a choice to seek the origin of the concept, apply it to our own time of existence, and preserve it for our children and our children’s children.
Throughout the ages from the primal era – from Patriarchs, the enslavement, settlement, kingdom, captivity, prophetic age, Messianic era, the great Diaspora, the multiplication of the Abrahamic family – the concepts of our ancient oral tradition have evolved in various teachings and interpretations. The principles of the primal bible are the base, the foundation, the roots, from which the descendants of “Eden” formulated their understanding of what it means to be a human being living in a universe created, ordered, and permeated with a spirit whose name is unspoken, whose name is Holy. The principles herewith explored from the primal age to the present in Part One are God/Creation, Good and Evil, Sharing, Mercy, Saving Life, and Communicating. Part Two, chapters 12-25, reveal the flowering of these principles and their application in the life of a man named Abraham.