I believe God presented us two books to learn from and experience God: the Bible and creation. Biomimicry, to me, is the imitation of God’s genius, and it gave me a new way to see God at work through creation. I believe God is the creator of Earth, Earth’s systems, and the systems within humans and non-human creation, all geniusly designed. When I began looking at Biomimicry’s Life’s Principles and thinking about God as the creator of these principles I began to wonder (a frequent step for Biomimics) if the principles might also be found in the Word of God, the Bible. I began looking at the Bible using the Life’s Principle Evolve to Survive metaphorically. I was somewhat surprised at what I discovered. That discovery has led to the writing of a Bible study.
If a spiritual transformation is going to occur within the Christian community then I believe one place that needs attention is through the (re)education regarding the Bible. Through my experience working with United Women in Faith I have witnessed Biblical illiteracy amongst some of our most engaged United Methodists. Examples range from women not knowing/ remembering animals were also created on the same day as humans, the Noahic covenant included animals, and dominion was given prior to sin entering the world (and those examples are just from the first 10 chapters of Genesis). I have been unable to pinpoint the source of the anthropocentric and individualistic hermeneutic, perhaps it is cultural, but there is a need for some Biblical education that may get people excited to read the Bible again instead of regurgitating long learned beliefs. This is my attempt through a Biomimetic metaphorical framework. The goal is to show the Bible can be read with curiosity, and that curiosity leads to new discoveries and learnings that will hopefully inspire change within the person and how they live this change in the world. I believe all the world’s injustices, racial, economic, climate, etc. are spiritual issues. This is my attempt to inspire curiosity for a journey to spiritual transformation.
Day 1
It is always interesting when I look back to see how I got to where I am today. Curiosity is usually a theme. When thinking about Biomimicry and how I believe it is the imitation of God’s genius I began to get curious. Earth’s Operating Conditions and Life’s Principles must be God-made as well, right? I mean, if God is the creator then God set these conditions and principles to coax life on this planet. I believe God gave us two “books” to read: the Bible and nature to help us know, learn, and experience God. If nature has operating conditions that ALL life is subject to and principles that ALL life exhibits in order to “create conditions conducive to life” then might the Bible, the inspired word of God, exhibit these as well?
We will be using Biomimicry’s Life’s Principles metaphorically, looking at the Bible as a whole to see if there are patterns of Life’s Principles in Week A. We will use Week B to look at the sub-principles in order to inform our reading of specific scriptures within the Bible.
Life’s Principle: Evolve to Survive
When we look at the Bible as a whole, can we see how it has evolved to survive? How did the Bible story evolve? One of the ways I see this in the Bible is the revelation of God. God revealed Godself in bushes, thunder, clouds, and angels in the Old Testament and then through Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. Evolution doesn’t just happen; it’s responding to external stimuli. God’s revelation evolves as the Hebrew people evolve to be able to comprehend God and God’s works in the midst of their lives. It evolved into the revelation through Jesus and the Holy Spirit so that all creation may know God. This evolving revelation of God is still happening today.
DivineSite
Find a quiet place to sit comfortably, eyes closed and hands resting palms up on your thighs. Contemplate how God is evolving in your life through revelations. Does God seem to reveal God’s self in specific places? What is God trying to reveal to you?
From Psalm 46:10 (New Life Version):
Be quiet and know that I am God.
Be quiet and know that I am.
Be quiet and know that I.
Be quiet and know.
Be quiet.
Be.
Day 2 (on main page)
Life’s Principle: Evolve to Survive: Replicate strategies that work
Dr. Matthew Sleeth, former emergency room doctor, eco-evangelist, and author wrote a book called Reforesting Faith. In it, Dr. Sleeth recounts the evolution of the Biblical story through trees. Consistent use of trees in the Bible, Sleeth insists, “points to one Author” even though the Bible was written over the centuries by many people. The Biblical story can be told through three trees. The first tree, the Tree of Life, is in Genesis in the garden of Eden. This very same tree appears in the very last book of the Bible, Revelation. Bookended by the Tree of Life, is the second tree, the cross where Jesus died and ignited life through resurrection. “Every significant theological event in the Bible is marked by a tree… every major character in the Bible appears in conjunction with a tree.”
Take a few moments to connect a tree (or part of a tree) with a character.
Burning bush (Exodus 3:2-5)
Forest walk (Romans 1:20)
Sycamore tree
Olive leaf (Genesis 8:11)
Uz “wooded place”
“Oaks of Mamre” (Genesis 18:1)
Shade plant
Cross
Trees walking (Mark 8:24)
Bush (Genesis 21:15)
Walking stick (Genesis 38:18)
Tree of Knowledge
Adam and Eve
Zacchaeus
Blind man
Hagar and Ishmael
Jonah
Jesus
Tamar and Judah
Noah
Abraham
Job
Paul
Moses
Set a timer for five minutes and see how many more stories and characters you can list.
When you encounter trees, vines, bushes, walking staffs, crosses, etc., in the Bible you should get excited. You may even hear music, like the infamous two note theme song from Jaws, playing in your head. Da dum… da dum… You want to be super aware… something’s about to happen.
DivineSite: The Biology- Replicate strategies that work
Life replicates strategies that work. Behaviors that are successful are reinforced and reproduced. These behaviors are taught to or mimicked by offspring or members in the community.
Have you realized there are systems within the human body that look a lot like systems on the earth! Both “create conditions conducive to life.” If the consistent use of trees through the Biblical story points to one Author then the replication of the following strategies must point to that genius Author as well! Can you tell from the following which is a picture of a tree canopy and an x-ray of human lungs?
There are a lot of similarities! The picture on the left is an x-ray of the bronchial tree of our lungs!
Can you tell what is below?
On the left is a picture I took of a river system in Costa Rica. Think back to the fifth grade when you learned about the hydrologic cycle. The river system is the part where water is transported from land to the ocean where water evaporates into the atmosphere and is then returned to the land through rain and the cycle continues. On the right is an illustration of our body's blood circulatory system made up of veins, arteries, and capillaries. The heart pumps blood to the lungs to receive oxygen and then through the body via arteries. Oxygen depleted blood returns to the heart via veins. These cycles “create conditions conducive to life.” We could not survive without inputs from the hydrologic cycle. Is this coincidence or the genius design of our Creator? It makes me smile to think that God replicated this strategy and is winking at us saying “well, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” or “work smarter, not harder.”
Day 3
Life’s Principle: Evolve to Survive: continually incorporate and embody information to ensure enduring performance.
Have you ever heard someone say Jesus was a Christian? (Facepalm.) Jesus Christ was a Jew. Also, just in case, Christ was not Jesus’s last name and H wasn’t his middle initial. Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for Messiah which means anointed one. How have we gone from a story for the Israelite people to one that could be so misconstrued as to have people believing Jesus was a Christian?
Maybe it is time for a Biblical history and Jesus’s genealogy lesson; I know I need one. While writing this I had to ask myself if Jews, Hebrews, and Israelites are synonymous. They are not. Hebrew is a language and Hebrews is the term used for those who trace their roots back to Abraham in Genesis.
Abraham’s son with Sarah was named Isaac.
Isaac and Leah bore a son named Jacob. Israelite comes from Israel, formerly known as Jacob. His name change was a result of wrestling with God (Gen. 32:39). Jacob’s/ Israel’s twelve sons are also the patriarchs known as the Twelve Tribes, and those descendents are called Israelites. The fourth son/ patriarch was named Judah and Jew comes from the Hebrew word for Judah. Jews are considered an ethnic or religious group and you are Jewish if you can trace your lineage back five generations on the maternal side. (I wonder why Jesus’s lineage starting with Judah in Matthew 1 is listed through the men with the exception of 5 incredible women?) If you have heard Jesus referred to as the Lion of Judah, this is where the term comes from. (Also, if you are unfamiliar with the story of Judah and Tamar it is worth reading in Genesis 38 and remember the context: a patriarchal society.)
Whew, now, back to our regularly scheduled program.
Nope.
I forgot one.
Gentiles.
No, two.
Christians.
Gentiles are defined by who they are not, and they are none of the ones mentioned above. The Biblical story, originally for the Hebrew/Israelite/Jewish people, evolved to include the Gentiles when Jesus, the Jew, appeared. After Jesus’s death and resurrection, the disciples spread out to preach and minister to the people. They were first called Christians in Acts 11:26. Those who believe in Jesus are called Christians, Χριστιανός in Greek. Notice the Χρ? Those first two letters are often superimposed to represent Christ. (You may recognize this as an ornament on a church’s Christmas tree or the Χ in X-mas. Yes, I went there.)
The Biblical story evolved as an invitation from God to all people. I believe the Bible is to teach us about God, but we read it with a human-centered perspective and leave out the “theological vision of the community of God’s creation in relation to its Creator.” We are so disconnected from that vision that you may not have even included yourself as part of creation in that statement. It’s time to evolve and begin reading the Bible to learn about God and God’s relation to creation. (Did you do it again!? That’s ok; it may take some time.)
DivineSite
Find a comfortable place surrounded by creation. Regulate your breathing as you take in your surroundings. What do you hear, see, smell? Give thanks for God’s creation.
As you continue to observe, in your mind’s eye remove any clouds, sun, moon, stars. Keep observing and breathing evenly. Now, remove any water along with fish, reptiles, frogs, and birds. Keep observing. What does your area look like now? Remove animals. Remove grass, plants, flowers, vines, and bushes. How do you feel looking at creation with these pieces missing? Now, remove trees and soil and anything else that is God-made. Maybe there are still buildings or cars around you. How do you feel? Do you feel like Joni Mitchell where:
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
How do you experience God when you remove all of the God-made?
We have a tendency to ignore the God-made in the Bible or think of it as only as settings in the Bible, but it is so much more than that.
Day 4
Life’s Principle: Evolve to Survive: Integrate the Unexpected: Incorporate mistakes in ways that can lead to new forms and functions.
The Jewish people were expecting a king to deliver them from oppression. How do I know that? Umm… Forty something years of Good Friday services (she says with uncertainty)? At Jesus’s crucifixion, the written charge placed above Jesus’s crown-of-thorns-impaled head read: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” (Matthew 27:37 NIV)
The Old Testament is full of prophecies regarding the Messiah and Jesus fulfilled 200-400 of those. One mentions that the Messiah will come from the line of King David (and this is included in Jesus’s lineage) and the other says the King, righteous and victorious, will be riding a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9) Why, out of hundreds of prophecies, would this be the one to “stick” and be orally passed down generations?
Think about the stories of God’s people in the Bible. The one word that describes God’s people is oppressed. “Oppressed: governed in an unfair and cruel way and prevented from having opportunities and freedom.” Why would an oppressed people hold on to a prophecy that their Messiah would be a king?
Hope.
Hope for deliverance from oppression.
I am a white, American, middle-upper class, cisgender, married woman. Oppression is not something I am familiar with. I have experienced a bit of ageism in my 20s and a couple of instances where I felt dismissed because I was a woman, but that’s not a life lived in oppression. Living oppressed is a whole different way of living and there are people in the USA and all around the world living in oppression.
I imagine the promise of a Messiah, Savior, military leader, and King provides great hope.
God’s people were looking for relief from their oppression. How unexpected to be presented with a poor carpenter from Nazareth as your Messiah! Nathanael gives us a clue as to the cultural opinion of Nazareth, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46 Amplified Bible)
Knowing all of this, if you were an oppressed Jew during this unexpected revelation of Jesus, how would you feel? Would you feel liberated? The Messiah has come! Would you feel foolish and reject the Messiah? Would you be angry? Take a minute to feel these emotions.
What I find beautiful (on this side of the story) is the unexpectedness throughout Jesus’s story. God used the most unexpected people, through unexpected ways, to share an unexpected story.
Matthew 2:1-18 Holman Christian Standard Bible
Wise Men Seek the King
2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east[a] and have come to worship Him.”[b]
3 When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born.
5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet:
6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the leaders of Judah:
because out of you will come a leader
who will shepherd My people Israel.”[c]
7 Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and asked them the exact time the star appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find Him, report back to me so that I too can go and worship Him.”[d]
9 After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen in the east![e] It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed beyond measure. 11 Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped Him.[f] Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.
The Flight into Egypt
13 After they were gone, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy Him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and His mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. 15 He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called My Son.[g]
The Massacre of the Innocents
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the male children in and around Bethlehem who were two years[h] old and under, in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:
18 A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping,[i] and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be consoled, because they were no more.[j]
I don’t want to romanticize Jesus’s story because it is actually terrifying. An unwed, teenage mother gets the unexpected invitation to carry and birth the son of God in a culture that was oppressive and violent towards women. Joseph though, the soon to be husband, was invited to be a part of this story which protected her. Then King Herod, threatened by a prophecy that a King was born and seemingly would grow up to take his throne, decreed that boy children under the age of two were to be murdered. That’s why the holy family were refugees, fleeing Bethlehem to Egypt.
The story of Jesus, with the exception maybe of Holy Week, has been cleaned up and packaged to make it palatable for non-oppressed people. But, the unexpectedness of Jesus’s story is what I believe makes it so powerful, but we have to be willing to put ourselves in the story. The unexpected beauty of Jesus’s story is that Jesus showed us how to live. That story reaches oppressed people, and honestly, it should preach to those of us who do not live oppressed by an outside force. We oppress ourselves by allowing culture to tell us to work more to make more money to buy more stuff. Jesus’s teachings and life demonstrated a freedom from those expectations. Let the unexpected story and life of Jesus touch you in unexpected ways.
What did you find unexpected in this teaching? Reflect on what you know of Jesus’s story. How do you know it? Would it be unexpected to learn the Christmas narrative you are most familiar with is not from one book in the Bible but the conglomeration of stories from Matthew, Mark, and Luke? Spend some time reading the first chapter of each book.
Day 5
Life’s Principle: Evolve to Survive: Reshuffle Information: exchange and alter information to create new options.
There are 66 books in the Bible, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. They were reshuffled and not arranged in chronological order (which would have been helpful to know when I was just beginning to read the Bible). Actually, the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are in chronological order and are considered the Books of the Law. From there it feels like the names of the books were each written on a piece of papyrus, placed in a jar of clay, and then individually retrieved to determine the order. As far as I know that did not happen because they are actually organized in literary genres! The following groupings are from Bible Study Tools and (in parentheses, from an unknown source that I used to mark up my Bible’s book listings; I just know it wasn’t my brilliance that came up with the groupings).
Old Testament
Books of law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
Books of history (Old Testament Narratives): Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
Books of poetry (Wisdom): Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon
Major prophets (prophecy): Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel (apocalyptic prophecy)
Minor prophets (prophecy): Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
New Testament
History of the life of Jesus (New Testament Narratives): Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
Church history (New Testament Narrative): Acts of the Apostles
Paul’s letters (Epistles by Paul) to the churches: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians
Paul’s letters to individual people (Epistles by Paul): 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon
Letters by others (Gentile Epistles): Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation (apocalyptic prophecy)
Why was the Bible compiled in literary genres versus chronological? I do not know. It’s like asking why some books were included in the Bible and some not. Perhaps inspiration from God or perhaps it was like a Fantasy Baseball draft? For my brain, I just like knowing that the Bible is not in chronological order and that there are literary genres that I need to pay attention to when reading. There are Bibles compiled in chronological order (all aptly named Chronological) so whichever way you think the Bible should have been compiled for your brain (which is obviously chronological) you can reshuffle the books in the order you prefer. Go crazy. Maybe you start with the New Testament and then read the Old Testament. Or read the women named books first (that would be short). Or the prophecies or apocalyptic prophecies. Reshuffle as much as you like, especially if it’s not your first time to read the Bible. I don’t believe God will care which order you read the books just as long as you are reading. Especially knowing this statistic from Barna, “In January 2020, we estimated that Bible Users—defined as individuals who read, listen to, or pray with the Bible on their own at least three or four times a year outside of a church service or church event—had reached a 10-year nadir, registering only 48 percent of Americans.”
Reading through the Bible is not a one time event. We have to keep training. Reshuffling is a great option because revelation happens. I do not know how many times I have read Exodus throughout the years, but this time I sat with the fact that Moses had to have a second set of Ten Commandments made because in a tantrum he broke the first set. (See Exodus 20 and 34.) Reshuffling creates epiphanies.