♰ Bible Study by Abouna Angelos Genesis 5 From Adam to Noah [ ... ] read ch 4 end to ch 5 the boy born to cain is enosh the rightous man in our story of geneaology of Adam is enoch lamech is father of noah the names are very similar as if they had not invented names yet 2 parallel geneaologies adam: one godly cain: one worldly, dust which is going to become ungodly the geneaology of godly men, preferred to look at the women of the ungodly line because they were very advanced, city-like, civilized what happened to this geneaology? it got corrupted look like each other totally different the first city, inventions, attractive country, family + God oriented when farmer comes from country and goes to city, what happens? they get dazzled and changed look at lot -- he goes to sodom and gets corrupted Bible is teaching us, beware of the big congregation of advanced humans. They might not be the Godly people you are looking for. Hence the monastic communities. They are not interested in TV, internet, whatever. They wouldn’t touch it. THe rest of the account of the flood is explaining it in different ways. The next story is the maker and breaker of this episode. 6:3 Here “spirit” is “breath of God,” not the very Holy Spirit Himself. It is my spirit that I put in man, and I don’t want it to linger too long. It used to be 700 years, Methuselah, etc. The longer they live, the more they produce evil. Ps 73 Is 65 Ez 13:2 Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Matthew 15:17 “Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.' 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. Mark 7 Luke 6:45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. The symptoms of a sick heart is filthy talk and actions. There is a problem in Man that is with the root and not in the fruit. Philippians 4:8 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Romans 12:2 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Philokalia Text from St. Isaiah the solitary 27-piece treatise guarding of the intelect heart is the store where you keep your deepest movements The door to the heart is the mind The door to the mind is the senses The reason for the flood is the corruption of the heart. He was defeated by the devil. His heart became corrupted. The love of the world is enmity with God. But there is hope because Christ came to make us able to conquer sin. The best shout is “We have been forgiven.” Sin has no dominion over us. The war has been won. Victory has been attained. We only ahve to go there and grasp it and take it. Guard our senses and intellect and heart. One of the most horrendous things is the social media age that leaves no space for us to guard anything. It’s a marketplace and take it with you to the bedroom. You loose your last chance to get out of the city life. How would I examine myself. Can I cry to the Lord to take this from me to clean this heart so that it becomes yours. Homework: 1. Read: Philokalia, St Isaiah the Solitary, “On Guarding the Intellect,” Twenty-Seven Texts, https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Philokalia.pdf, VI.22 - VI.28 or pdf 7-11. 2. Remember: God looks to the source, your interior, your heart, not to your exterior (the obvious, what the world can only see). The heart is the store where you keep your deepest movements. The door to the heart is the mind. The door to the mind is the senses. 3. Practice: (a) guarding your senses, (b) guarding your intellect, (c) examining your heart.