On Feb. 26, many churches will celebrate Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, culminating in Holy Week and Easter.
During this service, the participants may receive ashes on the forehead, with words similar to, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
These words are based on Genesis 3:7 where God creates man out of dust, and Genesis 3:19, where God tells Adam, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Because Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God, they lost the perfection God had given them, with the penalty resulting in their eventual death, their return to the dust from which they ...