GREG ELKAN'S WORD ' FIRST MAN '

' First Man – the Life of Neil A. Armstrong 'is the title author James Hansen gave to his official biography of American astronaut and aeronautical engineer Neil Armstrong. The title is apt, as Mr Armstrong has the most enviable privilege of being the first person in the entire human history to walk on the Moon! It was truly a historic moment; Watched live by an estimated 600 million people across the world on Sunday the 20th day of July 1969.

This was no small moment and Armstrong knew it. As the first human being to make physical contact with a world literally in the heavens, he knew he had to say something significant to commemorate that event.Howbeit,the ' first man ' didn’t quite get it right. As he stepped foot on the lunar surface, He declared, ' That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. '

We all know that he meant to say ' one small step for ‘A’ man… ' but that little omission of one of the shortest words in English language made him say something that was tautological at best, and meaningless at worst. Armstrong himself when later told of this historic grammatical gaffe was appalled that he could make such a mistake, and insists something must have been wrong with the audio transmission.

Embarrassing as that possibility may seem, it shouldn’t be that surprising that our First Man could make such a mistake. After all, the First Man ,Adam also blundered on his first duty; with far-reaching, eternal consequences.

In Rom 5:12, Paul, (not conflating ' man 'with ' mankind ' like Armstrong did ), states ' As by ONE Man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ,and so death passed upon all men. '

The story of the First Man – Adam, not Armstrong has a lot to tell us about our spiritual history, salvation and eternal destiny. Armstrong’s 784-page biography may make a fascinating read for history and science buffs, but for something more consequential, we really need to study the Life of the very First Man, Adam, (Gen 1:26-28; 2:7; 1Co 15:45; 1Ti 2:13).

AMEN.
More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN
http://www.gregelkan.com/elkanwft/