St. Mark's Youth Speak

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Genesis 15:1 - 16:16 Discussion Topics and Questions

Covenant with Abram & the Birth of Ishmael
  • What do you think it was like to live in a world where you believed there were many Gods, and then to have been visited by the One God and have Him say, "I am the LORD..."?
  • Why did Sarai tell Abram to have a child with Hagar, even after God told Sarai and Abram he would grant to them many descendants?

Did you know...?

  1. When God cut the covenant with Abram and he made Abram fall asleep so that Abram would not have to walk through the pieces of the animals, he was saying to Abram, "Even if you break this covenant, I alone will have to bear the blame and the consequences." This covenant was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
  2. The descendants of Ishmael became the Arab peoples and the descendants of Isaac (Abram's second son) became the Jewish peoples, but they are both referred to ethnically as the "semitic" peoples.
  3. God will promise to bless the descendants of Ishmael and make a nation out of them, because he is a child of Abram. See Genesis 21:13.
  4. The name Hagar gives to God, "El-Roi" means, "God who sees me".

-Fr. Ryan

posted by St. Mark's Youth @ 10:23 AM 

2 Comments:

Blogger Ryan said...

Gummybearspirit -

I think you are right on in pointing out that Sarai and Abram were afraid, and that this is the reason they acted out and took matters into their own hands.

Often times in our lives when we are afraid, we will try and control as many things around us as we can, because we think we an. But that is just the illusion of control. We can't control things nearly as well as we think we can. This is why it is important to turn over control of our lives to God, who can do for us "infinitely more than we can ask or imagine". Good work, and God bless you.

-Fr. Ryan

10:03 AM  
Blogger Jewlz said...

This is a little late, and not on the topic of how many gods someone believes in, but I was amazed to read that God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve, instead of just appearing as smoke or fire. Is there a reason or significance of this?

And pertaining to God's covenant with Abram, was he just being merciful by not making him walk through the animal guts?

~Julie

2:13 PM  

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