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Basic Concepts.
1. The World.
All that we see: heaven, the sun, the moon, stars, clouds,
the earth on which we live, the air we breathe, the earth on which we live,
including the grass, trees, mountains, rivers, seas, fish, birds, beasts,
animals, and finally people — God created all of this. Yes indeed, the world
is the creation of God! When we see God’s world then we understand how
beautifully and wisely it was made.
Here we are in a meadow. Overhead, the blue sky
with white clouds is stretched out like a tent, and on the earth there is
thick, green grass, sprinkled with flowers. In the grass we can hear the sounds
of various insects, butterflies fluttering around the flowers, and bees and
gnats of different kinds flying through the air. The whole earth is like a
huge, beautiful carpet. But there is no carpet woven by the hand of man that
can be compared with the beauty of God’s meadow.
Let us take a walk in the woods. There we can see
a multitude of different kinds of trees, the mighty oak, the lordly pine, the
spotted birch, the fragrant linden, the maple, the tall fir tree and the thick
chestnut tree. There are little clearings with bushes and all kinds of herbs.
Everywhere we hear the voices of birds, the buzzing and chirping of insects.
Hundreds of different kinds of animals live in the forest. And how many
different kinds of berries, mushrooms, and flowers there are! The forest is
like a great world unto itself.
And here is the river. It quietly flows, sparkling
in the sun, among the forests, fields, and meadows. How much fun it is to go
for a swim! All around it is hot, but in the water it is cool and pleasant. How
many different kinds of fish, frogs, waterbugs, and other living creatures
there are! It has its own life, its own little world.
How magnificent the ocean is, with its huge and
rich underwater world of living creatures.
How beautiful the mountains are with their lofty
peaks covered with eternal snow and ice, high above the clouds.
The world is marvelous in its beauty, and all that
is in it is full of life.
It is impossible to count all the plants and
animals that populate the earth, from the very smallest, which are invisible to
our eyes, to the very largest. They live everywhere — on the land, in the
water, in the air, in the soil, and even deep beneath the earth. It is God Who
gave all this life to the world.
The world of God is rich and varied! At the same
time, in all this vast variety there reigns a marvelous and definite order
established by God, or, as we often say, the "laws of nature," All
the plants and animals are distributed throughout the world in keeping with
this order. What each one is supposed to eat, that is what it eats. And there
is a definite and logical purpose given to everything. Everything in the world
is born, grows, and dies — one thing is replaced by another. God gave a special
time and place and purpose to everything.
Man alone lives everywhere on the earth and has
dominion over everything. God granted him reason and an immortal soul. He gave
man a special and great purpose: to know God, to be like Him, that is, to
become constantly better and inherit eternal life.
In their external appearance people are different,
but they all have the same reasonable and immortal soul. Through this soul
people are lifted above the animal world and become like God.
Now let us look into the deep, dark night, from
earth up to heaven. How many stars we see scattered there. There is an infinite
number of them! Many of the stars are just like our star, the sun. There are
some that are many times larger than ours, but they are so far away from the
earth that they seem to us to be tiny, twinkling pinpoints of light. They are
all in motion in an orderly and harmonious manner, according to definite paths
and laws. Our earth amid the heavenly vastness seems like a tiny speck of
light.
The world of God is vast, uncontainable! We can
neither account for nor measure it all, for only ‘God, Who created everything,
knows the measure and weight and number of all things.
God created the entire world for the life and
benefit of people, for each of us. God’s love for us is infinite!
If we love God and live according to His law, then
much that is unintelligible in the world will become understandable and clear
to us. Let us love God’s world and live in friendship, love, and joy with
everyone. Then this joy will never end, and no one will take it away from us,
for God Himself will be with us.
In order to remember that we belong to God, to be
closer to Him and to love Him, that is, to fulfill our purpose on earth and to
inherit eternal life, we must know more about God, know His holy will, that is,
GOD’S LAW.
Questions:
Who created the world and gave it life? Who made definite order in the world
(or as we often say, established the laws of nature), and what does this
consist of? What purpose did God give to man? For whom did God create the
world? Why is it necessary for us to know God’s Law?
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