Genesis 12

标题：Genesis 12
年份：2020
尺寸：47.28 x 70.85 cm

Title: Genesis 12
Year: 2020
Dimension: 47.28 x 70.85 cm

「Genesis」系列作品，一共五十幅，对应《圣经》创世纪的五十章。

The "Genesis" series consists of 50 works, corresponding to the 50 chapters of the Bible's Genesis.

12 / 50.

12:1 耶和华对亚伯兰说：“你要离开本地、本族、父家，到我指示你的地方去。12:2 我必使你成为大国，赐福给你，使你的名为大，你也必使别人得福，12:3 给你祝福的，我必赐福给他；咒诅你的，我必咒诅他；地上的万族，都必因你得福。”12:4 亚伯兰就照着耶和华吩咐他的去了；罗得也和他同去。亚伯兰离开哈兰的时候，已经七十五岁。12:5 亚伯兰带着他的妻子撒莱和侄儿罗得以及他们在哈兰所积蓄的一切财物，和所获得的人口，一同出来，要到迦南地去。后来他们到了迦南地。12:6 亚伯兰穿过那地，到了示剑的地方，摩利的橡树那里。当时，迦南人住在那地。12:7 耶和华向亚伯兰显现，说：“我要把这地赐给你的后裔。”亚伯兰就在那里为向他显现的耶和华筑了一座祭坛。12:8 后来他从那里迁到伯特利东边的山地，搭起帐棚。西边是伯特利，东边是艾城；他在那里也为耶和华筑了一座祭坛，呼求耶和华的名。12:9 亚伯兰又起程，渐渐移到南地去。12:10 当时，那地发生饥荒，亚伯兰就下到埃及去，要在那里寄居；因为那地的饥荒十分严重。12:11 快要到达埃及的时候，亚伯兰对他的妻子撒莱说：“看哪，我知道你是个美貌的女人。12:12 埃及人看见你的时候，必会说：‘这是他的妻子’，他们就会杀我，却叫你活着。12:13 请你说你是我的妹妹，使我因你的缘故可以平安无事，我的性命也可以因你的缘故得以保全。”12:14 果然，亚伯兰进入埃及的时候，埃及人就注视那女人，因为她十分美丽。12:15 法老的一些大臣看见了撒莱，就在法老面前称赞她；于是那女人被带进法老的宫里去。12:16 亚伯兰因这女人的缘故就被优待，得了许多牛羊、公驴、母驴、仆婢和骆驼。12:17 耶和华因为亚伯兰的妻子撒莱的缘故，就用严重的灾病打击法老和他的全家。12:18 于是，法老把亚伯兰召了来，对他说：“你向我作的是甚么？你为甚么不告诉我她是你的妻子呢？12:19 你为甚么说她是你的妹妹，以致我娶了她作妻子呢？现在，你的妻子在这里，带她走吧！”12:20 法老为了亚伯兰的事吩咐臣仆，他们就把亚伯兰和他的妻子，以及他所有的一切都送走了。

创世记 12

12:1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.12:2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.(Or be seen as blessed)12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”(Or earth / will use your name in blessings (see 48:20))12:4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.12:5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring(Or seed) I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.12:8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.12:9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.12:10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.12:11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.12:12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.12:13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”12:14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.12:15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.12:16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.12:17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.12:18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?12:19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”12:20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

Genesis 12

在科学可以近乎解释一切的这个时代，我们已经倾向于习惯这个世界发生的一切和周围的一切，无论它有多不可思议，甚至习以为常到不再思考它的不可思议性。

宇宙为何以及如何诞生？为何宇宙大爆炸有一个从无到有的“开始”？为何生命会从“无”诞生到“有”？为何会有复杂、精密的生命的存在？为什么人体内的 DNA 和细胞像微观世界一样复杂而精确，却以高度有序的方式完成其工作，就像被设计和编程的另一个宇宙一样？

无论是哈雷彗星的椭圆运行轨道，笛卡尔浪漫的心形函数，人体曼妙的黄金分割，天空飘零的六边雪花，甚至一片落叶飘落，都是一段美妙的函数方程。大如宇宙，小如雪花，都能在这些公式之中看到神性的秩序。

爆炸带来的皆是毁灭。最初，什么都没有，“大爆炸”却产生了时间、物质和空间，没有逐步的生成，没有过渡的形态，只是一种二元翻转，从“不存在”到“存在”。宇宙复杂且广阔，却能用高度有序的数学公式来描述，诞生了秩序甚至生命。仅凭这一点就令人难以置信，足以使人们终生寻求真理。

“存在可以从不存在而来”的这种“自然发生论”观念的证据何在？怎么从非生命体获得生命？为何我们还是不知道如何切实地从死物质创造出生命，却坦然地默认生命可以从非生命诞生？

宇宙背后的真理如此令人惊叹又神秘，生命是如此不可思议，我们却如此地习以为常，甚至不再感叹这一切的神奇。

「自从造天地以来，神的永能和神性是明明可知的，虽是眼不能见，但藉着所造之物就可以晓得，叫人无可推诿。」罗马书 1:20

“科学的尽头是神学。” 我认为，尽管科学有其局限性，而神学提供了答案，但神学并不是要解释科学的不足，仅靠科学也无法触及神学的核心。然而，科学和神学并非对立面，也并不妨碍我们在探索求知的路上保留着一颗敬畏之心。

「诸天述说神的荣耀，穹苍传扬祂的手段。」诗篇 19:1

大自然的壮丽景色，很容易让人心生敬畏，但是我发现即便日常最被人忽视的细微之景，也是“穹苍”的一部分。从“大”可以很自然地想到“大”，但如果从“小”也能看到“大”，“大”则更显荣耀。

在这个系列，我不是在试图回答上述问题或者阐述我对上述问题的世界观和立场，我只是在一些我们习以为常甚至忽略的细微场景中看到了“创造者”留下的“痕迹”和“威严”。

因此，我制定了一条规则：试图通过被忽视的日常细微之景，从敬畏和好奇中看到“大”与“小”之间的关系，以小尺度为窗口，探索和思考宇宙，生命，永恒与创造之间的关系。

In an era where science can nearly explain everything, we have become accustomed to everything that happens in this world and everything around us, no matter how incredible it is, or even accustomed to stop thinking about its incredibility.

Why and how did the universe come from? Why does the universe's big bang have a "start" from nothing? Why is life born from "nothing" to "life"? Why is there complex, sophisticated creatures? Why is the DNA and cells in our body as complex and precise as a microcosm, but complete its work in a highly orderly manner, just like another universe designed and programmed?

Whether it is the elliptical orbit of Comet Halley, the romantic heart-shaped function of Descartes, the graceful golden section of the human body, the Six-sided snowflake falling from the sky, or even a leaf falling, all are wonderful function equations. As big as the universe and as small as snowflakes, divine order can be seen in these formulas.

The explosion brought about destruction. Originally, there was nothing, but the "Big Bang" produced time, matter, and space. There was no gradual development, no transitional forms, but a binary flip, from "non-existence" to "existence." The universe is complex and vast, but it can be described by highly ordered mathematical formulas, gave birth to order and even life. This alone is unbelievable enough to let people explore the truth throughout their lives.

What is the evidence for the "abiogenesis", which is "something can come from nothing"? How to get life from non-life? Why do we still not know how to actually create life from dead stuff, but frankly assume that life can be born from non-life?

The truth behind the universe is so incredible and mysterious, life is so incredible, we are so accustomed to it, we are no longer lamenting the incredibility of all this.

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Romans 1:20

"The end of science is theology." I believe that although science has its limitations and theology provides the answer, theology is not to explain the deficiency of science, and science alone cannot reach the core of theology. However, science and theology are not opposites, and they do not prevent us from remaining awed on the road to exploring knowledge.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19:1

The magnificent scenery of nature can easily make people awe-inspiring, but I find that even the most slight sceneries that are most overlooked in daily life are also part of the "skies". You can think of "big" naturally from "big", but if you can also see "big" from "small", "big" is even more glorious.

In this series, I am not trying to answer the above questions or to express my views and positions on the above questions. I just saw the "traces" and "majesty" left by the "creator" in some slight scenes that we are accustomed to and even ignore.

Therefore, I created a rule: trying to see "big" from "small" - with awe and curiosity, through daily neglected slight scenes, with “small scale” as the window, to explore and think about the relationship between the universe, life, eternity and creation.

- Boshan Zhou