Build the Ark: Noah, Meaning, and the Church in an Age of Collapse | Jordan Arnold

Click here to read the full article at RENEW.org: https://renew.org/build-the-ark/  This is an audio version of a written Article from RENEW.org Check out other great articles on RENEW.org here: https://renew.org/articles/ One of the first things the Bible teaches us—right there in Genesis—is that God is a God of order. God separates: light from darkness, sea from sky, meaning from murk. God speaks, and the world takes shape. And when that order is rejected—as it was in Noah’s generation—judgment begins to flood in. And then God makes Adam. And what’s Adam’s job? He’s told to name the animals. That’s not just a fun afternoon of creative labeling. No—naming is an act of discernment. It’s how Adam participates in God’s ordering of creation. To name is to distinguish. To say, “This is not that.” And that’s the beginning of meaning. Without it, everything just melts into everything else. And when that naming breaks down—when people stop honoring the distinctions God made—you don’t just get confusion. You get collapse. That’s what happened in Noah’s day. Genesis 6, the beginning of the Noah cycle, opens with a strange little passage that’s puzzled people for a long time. It talks about the Nephilim—these so-called “sons of God” who took “daughters of men” and had children with them. Some rabbis believed these “sons of God” were fallen angels. There’s even an old Jewish book called The Book of Enoch—it’s not in our Bibles, but Jude actually quotes it—that builds out that whole story. Now, we don’t have to get lost in the weeds of exactly who the Nephilim were. Whatever the details, the message is clear: things were out of order. Boundaries were being crossed. The lines God had drawn between heaven and earth, divine and human, were being erased. That’s not how God designed things to work. Listen for more... Join RENEW.org's Newsletter: https://renew.org/resources/newsletter-sign-up/ Join RENEW.org at one of our upcoming events: https://renew.org/resources/events/ Get our Premium podcast feed featuring all the breakout sessions from the RENEW gathering early.  https://reallifetheologypodcast.supercast.com/  Be sure to like, subscribe and follow on social media!  You can find us on: Instagram: @the.renew.network  Facebook: Renew.org  Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RENEWnetwork Twitter: @therenewnetwork TikTok: the.renew.network  Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/RENEW