by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Have you ever noticed how the book of Genesis begins and ends? It begins with God creating everything and “it was good<\/em>” (Genesis 1). After man chose to let sin in the world, it was cursed (Genesis 3). But God wanted to get back to “blessed” with man and God back in paradise together, where all is “good.” (Genesis 12:1-3). By the time we get to the end of the book, we see how Joseph’s brothers “meant evil, but God meant it for good<\/em>” (Genesis 50:20). God wanted to save, so He worked to raise Joseph through near death to become a savior from famine. God used man’s evil to turn it to a good end. Good at the beginning and end of the book.<\/p>\n The first man (Adam) began in good circumstances and went into bad circumstances, while the last main character in the book (Joseph) goes through bad to do good and has a good ending. Adam means “man” while Joseph means “savior”. Adam brought sin and a curse, while Joseph saved his family and others from the curse of famine.<\/p>\n James talks about where sin comes from (James 1:13-16), man drawn away by his own lusts, but right after that says, “Every good <\/b>and perfect gift is from above<\/em>” (James 1:17). These are good things to help us get back to God and paradise.<\/p>\n Good is seen in the first Garden of Genesis 1-2, good gifts to aid us to get back to Him through uniting with Jesus, and then pictures for us the reward so good at the end of Revelation 21-22, back in Paradise with God and all good. God is good and longs to restore all things to their original goodness, without any evil. The wise want that too!<\/p>\n Our choice is God and good, or sin and evil. If we choose God and good, we get it forever, and if we choose no fellowship with God now, we live without good things forever! It should be an easy choice, but not many are wise! What about you?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton Have you ever noticed how the book of Genesis begins and ends? It begins with God creating everything and “it was good” (Genesis 1). After man chose to let sin in the world, it was cursed (Genesis 3). But God wanted to get back to “blessed” with man and God back…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[90,1281],"class_list":["post-90239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-god","tag-good"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":94525,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-meant-it-for-good\/","url_meta":{"origin":90239,"position":0},"title":"God Meant It for Good","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores In Genesis 50:20, Joseph famously tells his brothers, \"You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.\" This is one of the clearest statements in Scripture about God's sovereignty over human actions. Joseph acknowledges the reality of their sin, yet he sees God's purpose woven\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66963,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-cross-was-an-ugly-torture-device\/","url_meta":{"origin":90239,"position":1},"title":"The Cross Was an Ugly Torture Device","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton That is true, but men meant evil, while God used it for our good. How can a torture device be made for our good and bless us with forgiveness of sins? It is not the device itself, as if the physical item holds some mystical magic.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7861,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-tree-of-life-different-from-the-tree-of-the-knowledge-of-good-and-evil\/","url_meta":{"origin":90239,"position":2},"title":"Was the tree of life different from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please bear with me. I am just recently in the last year come back to studying the Bible, and there is so much I don't understand. I am what many refer to as 'backslider', but am attempting to rectify that. However, there is no one around me to talk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54966,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/after-twenty-two-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":90239,"position":3},"title":"After Twenty-Two Years","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton The story of Joseph is remarkable for many reasons. His visions set him at odds with his brothers who would eventually sell him to a passing band of Midianites (without Reuben's knowledge). He would be sold on the slavery block to the captain of Pharaoh's guard where\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0058-1-248x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11027,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-didnt-god-allow-adam-to-eat-of-the-tree-of-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":90239,"position":4},"title":"Why didn’t God allow Adam to eat of the Tree of Life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did God not allow Adam to eat the fruit from the Tree of Life? Instead, He cast him away fearing that Adam will eat the fruit and live forever. Is this God a loving God or a jealous God? Answer: God is both loving and jealous. See \"God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16815,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-genesis-414-prove-that-there-were-other-people-than-just-the-descendants-of-adam-and-eve\/","url_meta":{"origin":90239,"position":5},"title":"Doesn’t Genesis 4:14 prove that there were other people than just the descendants of Adam and Eve?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read\u00a0your sermon on three days and three nights\u00a0and I am glad to finally find a preacher or even a person for that matter, who agrees with me on the day of the crucifixion. I can stop arguing about it now that I know I am not alone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}