thanks to rudy, i am reading "The Joshua Code: 52 Scripture Verses Every Believer Should Know" by O.S. Hawkins. and the first scripture mr. hawkins thinks every believer should know is genesis 1:1 - "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
actually what mr. hawkins thinks every believer should know - and what i'm pretty sure he thinks every non-believer ought to figure out - real fast - are simply the first 4 words of that verse: in the beginning God.
hawkins talks about worldviews and how they shift and change over time and in accordance with the political tone of whatever decade you wanna pick. pick a decade, any decade and things are like quicksand. don't think so? consider how radically different the '60s were compared to the '50s.
he says, "Even though worldviews may change across the decades, there is a single constant that does not change. The simple fact is that one's worldview can be determined by one's response to the first four words of the Bible: "in the beginning God..." If we believe these four words, then we will view our world through the lens of Scripture that does not change. If we do not, then we will continue to view our world through the lens of culture that continually changes."
(continually changes according to your brain, not God's, i might add. your fickle, fickle, fickle, finite, not-as-educated-as-you-might-think-even-if-you-did-go-to-yale brain.)
speaking of brains, mr. hawkins blows mine. and he oughta blow yours, too. he takes the first four words of the Bible and boom, asks you the most important question of your life:
are you in? or are you out?
seeing as how the first four words of the Bible are not "in the beginning science....." or "in the beginning (an) explosion..." or "in the beginning atheists..." and definitely not "in the beginning stephen hawkings..."
but.. most of all not... "in the beginning i..."
seeing as how all that?
in.
definitely in.
