First impressions are important, but if you ever intend to get to know a person more fully, you have to go beyond your first impression. Why is this person this way? Why does he or she act, respond, and talk this way? These are more than just surface-level questions. We have to go back to the beginning. In order to fully understand humanity, we must look back - way back - to the book of Genesis. In the beginning, we see God’s creation in all its perfection and goodness. Then, things start to change. Sin enters into creation, and nothing after it would be the same. The later parts of Genesis focus on the lives of “the patriarchs” of faith - highlighting both the moments of obedience and the moments of sin. The honest accounts of their shortcomings tell us that God is not afraid to show the good, the bad, and the ugly while telling His story. He wants us to read His Word, to fully understand what really happened, and to make a decision on how to live as a result.