Video Transcript: Genesis 1, 2, & 3

Welcome back to mental health integration. This is the short. And this is part  four. I'm Brandon Appelhans, we just talked in the last section about what mental health feels like the experience of it was a big deal. Mental health affects a lot of  people as we've talked about, and it can be quite severe. In this section, we're  going to talk about Genesis 1, and 2, and 3, we're going to talk about what it  means to be made as human, and what it means for that, what is made to be  broken. And the reason we're going to do that is because it sets the tone for how mental illnesses, function and break people. But still, it's who we are  underneath. So let's go ahead and jump in to the text. Genesis 1:26-28 says,  Then God said, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness. So they may rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the sky, over the livestock and all  the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, He created them, male  and female, He created them. God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful  and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish in the sea,  and the birds in the sky, and every other living thing that moves on the ground.  When God creates the man and the woman, he does so at the end near the end of Genesis 1, creating them both in His likeness and image. A couple quick  notes, this means the man and woman are both made in the image of God, this  isn't one or the other. And they're both made in a situation where they're valued.  image and likeness. There is a lot of debate about this. If you want to hear a little bit more about this debate, go ahead and listen to the three credit course. But  there is a lot about this. But what you need to know is this is there's a heavy  emphasis on value, because of the words used in the section that the man and  the woman are image bearers. And that has inherent value as the most valuable things in the universe, aside from God Himself. So God looks he creates this  huge creation, and we have Adam and Eve. And they're just image bearers, their most valuable thing God could want to know to like his kids. In fact, he looks at  them and he says, God, saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And  there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. In fact, God looks at  what he's created. Instead, it is in Hebrew, Tov Tov, it is very, very good. Another way of saying that would be it is exactly the way I want it to be. An important  thing to know about that is that is not because of what Adam and Eve can do,  there is no mention of their capacity or their capability, in this, they have been  given authority over the garden to take care of it, and to keep it. But it doesn't  say they know how to do that. It doesn't say they don't know how. But this is all  based on image and likeness, exactly the way God wants it to be. He has these  valued creatures and valuable creatures, and they're taking care of the creation.  We all know that this changes that everything breaks. That happens in Genesis  3. When the woman saw the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to  the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She  also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. Then the eyes 

of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked. So they  sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. We see the man  and the woman. And we see that they do the thing that God asked them not to  do. They ate the tree, from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And in that  everything breaks. We talk a lot about the fall in Christianity and how that makes us sinners and that cracks everything that's good. And it stains everything. In the New Testament, we continue to talk about you're. you're sinners saved by grace. And it goes on and on right. Effects continues. In verse 8, then the man and his  wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the  cool of the day. And they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord called the man Where are you? He answered, I heard you in the  garden. And I was afraid because there was naked so I hid. Now what we see in the fall is sin enters the world through the actions of the man and the woman  and everything breaks. Their relationship with God, they're hiding from God,  their relationship with each other, they're hiding from each other, their  relationship with creation is broken, it talks about how Adam will now have to  work the earth and eat by the sweat of his brow, it's not going to be the same as  it was his relationship to the Earth is broken. It talks about how Eve will now  have struggles in childbirth, and struggles with her husband where she will, her  desire will be for him, but he will rule over her. So everything is fractured. Now in this, what I want to point out is Genesis 3 comes after Genesis 1 and 2. I know,  that's a really insightful thing. But the thing about that is that Adam and Eve are  created as image bearers, as valuable human beings, as the most valuable  thing in the universe, except God Himself. And the relationships and the ways  those are perceived between Adam and Eve and the rest of the creation are all  broken. But who Adam and Eve themselves are, isn't. They're still these  valuable human beings, they're still good and valuable and worthy. And yes, now they have sin to deal with. They have sin in their bones as it were. But that  doesn't change the fact that that God created them as his beloved sons and  daughters. Just means there's something really, really wrong there. Right their,  original value is still there, even if it's tainted by something else. A further note is  that if mental illness entered the world, this is where they enter it right? Out of  the relationship between everything are broken in this moment in time, things  stop working the way they're supposed to. And mental illnesses, in large part are because of trauma and biochemistry. And both of those things would be affected in this case. So we can see even this lays the foundation for things like anxiety  and depression, there's no longer this piece of walking with God. There's no  longer the abundance of being right. There's no longer the complete integration  of who we are mentally and physically. Everything is broken. And in that space,  God continues to work. But we can see things like mental illness and  brokenness, broken relationships, shame all enter the world in this one point. To  take the man and a woman who are created as good in the image of God 

actually change how they perceive the world and themselves. I will see you in  the next section.