The Creation Stories

Below is the first of 2 creation accounts in the bible. The folks in Kansas believe that the bible trumps science because science can't be proven. Scientists believe that the earth is about 4.5 billion years old and the universe may be about 15 billion years old or so. Creationists have all sorts of theories but the mouthiest ones in the US are claiming that the earth and universe are about 6,000 years old. The earliest christian philosophers pondered creation and their views can be found here. Even these "flat earthers" surmised that it was pretty far fetched to take Genesis literally. I'm curious how they teach carbon dating in public schools in Kansas. Just in case you forgot, here is the first creation story with some notes.


Genesis 1

1 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,
(Scientists may disagree what "God" is but something made the universe happen.)
2 the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss,
(the primordial ocean according to the ancient Semitic cosmogony.)
while a mighty wind
( literally, "a wind of God," or "a spirit of God")
swept over the waters. 3 Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
(God doesn't make the sun until the fourth day. This could be metaphorical light.).
4 God saw how good the light was. God then separated the light from the darkness.
(Seems to be describing the rotation of the earth around the sun. The world at that time was thought to be flat and the center of the universe.)
5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." Thus evening came, and morning followed--the first day.
(In ancient Israel a day was considered to begin at sunset.)

6 Then God said, "Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other." And so it happened: 7 God made the dome, and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it. 8 God called the dome "the sky." Evening came, and morning followed--the second day. (God doesn't say how good this is.)

9 Then God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear." And so it happened: the water under the sky was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared. 10 God called the dry land "the earth," and the basin of the water he called "the sea." God saw how good it was. 11 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it." And so it happened: 12 the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. (The earth brings forth the vegetation because the sun hasn't been created yet. There is no photosynthesis. In the next creation story, Genesis 2, God creates the plants after the humans.) God saw how good it was. 13 Evening came, and morning followed--the third day.

14 Then God said: "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years, 15 and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth." And so it happened: 16 God made the two great lights, the greater one (sun) to govern the day, and the lesser one (moon) to govern the night; and he made the stars. 17 God set them in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw how good it was.19 Evening came, and morning followed--the fourth day.

20 Then God said, "Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky." And so it happened: 21 God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water teems, and all kinds of winged birds. God saw how good it was, 22 and God blessed them, saying, "Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas; and let the birds multiply on the earth." 23 Evening came, and morning followed--the fifth day.

24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds." And so it happened: 25 God made all kinds of wild animals, all kinds of cattle, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. God saw how good it was. 26 Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground." 27 God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth."

29 God also said: "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; 30 and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food." And so it happened. 31 God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed--the sixth day.

Genesis Chapter 2

1 Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed. 2 Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.



Below is the 2nd Creation Story in the Bible. It predates the first one.

Genesis 2:4-25
(This section is chiefly concerned with the creation of man. It is much older than the narrative of Genesis 1:1 -2:4a . Here God is depicted as creating man before the rest of his creatures, which are made for man's sake.)

4 Such is the story of the heavens and the earth at their creation. At the time when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens-- 5 while as yet there was no field shrub on earth and no grass of the field had sprouted, for the LORD God had sent no rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil, 6 but a stream was welling up out of the earth and was watering all the surface of the ground--

7 the LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.
God is portrayed as a potter molding man's body out of clay. There is a play on words in Hebrew between adam ("man") and adama ("ground"). Being: literally, "soul."

8 Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and he placed there the man whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground the LORD God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.
Eden: used here as the name of a region in southern Mesopotamia; the term is derived from the Sumerian word eden, "fertile plain." A similar-sounding Hebrew word means "delight"; the garden in Eden could therefore be understood as the "garden of delight," so that, through the Greek version, it is now known also as "paradise," literally, a "pleasure park."

10 A river rises in Eden to water the garden; beyond there it divides and becomes four branches. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it is the one that winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 The gold of that land is excellent; bdellium and lapis lazuli are also there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it is the one that winds all through the land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it is the one that flows east of Asshur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Rises: in flood to overflow its banks. Beyond there: as one travels upstream. Branches: literally, "heads," i.e., upper courses. Eden is near the head of the Persian Gulf, where the Tigris and the Euphrates join with two other streams to form a single river. The land of Cush here and in Genesis 10:8 , is not Ethiopia (Nubia) as elsewhere, but the region of the Kassites east of Mesopotamia.

15 The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it. 16 The LORD God gave man this order: "You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden 17 except the tree of knowledge of good and bad. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die." 18 The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him." 19 So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man. 21 So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

22 The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, 23 the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."
There is a play on the similar-sounding Hebrew words ishsha ("woman") and ishah ("her man, her husband").

24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.
One body: literally "one flesh"; classical Hebrew has no specific word for "body." The sacred writer stresses the fact that conjugal union is willed by God.