I used to be one of those "literal" Bible Christians. I grew up believing that everything in the Bible was word for word, exact to the last detail about what truly happened. God literally dictated every word of Scripture, did he not? Is not all Scripture God-Breathed? Well...my thoughts changed during my time at Bible School. It was during a class on Genesis/Exous that I began to really question whether saying the Bible included myths and legends could still mean that I can trust the Bible. I began to understand that, believing in a literal 6 day Creation isn't mandatory to having a relationship with Christ. As I go into the book of Genesis, I have all these pre-conceived notions in my head. I don't want to, but they are there. I want to go into Genesis, and let the words of Scritpure shape how I feel about it. I want to read, and, as I am reading, figure out whether it is literal, myth, legend, allegory, whatever, based on the language and words (not based on what I have been taught, or grew up believing). While I will never be completely free of pre-conceived notions, I am dong my best. So, with that in mind, let's look at the Biblical Creation account:
"In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth". That pretty much sums it all up. God created everything, in the beginning. It also means that, God was BEFORE the beginning. While this verse explains that God created everything, it also says that God is eternal. God has always been there...and he was there before the beginning.
Later in the first verse, however, we read that "the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters". If we are to read the Creation account literally, then we have to assume that God created the heavens and the earth, and had water on the earth...before he actually created water (which he doesn't create until day 2). So what does this mean? Well...to me, this is an example of ancient Israelite storytelling and language. You have to remember tha water in Biblical times, was a symbol of fear, chaos and evil. When "the spirit of God hovered over the waters", it is symbolising that God was in control of the chaos. It's not meant to be taken literally, but figuratively. SO...if this verse is figurative in explaining God creating calmness from chaos...are we to assume that the rest is figurative too? Maybe, but let's see:
The days of creation go, in order: Light/Dark, Water/Sky, Sea/Land, Sun/Moon/Stars, Fish/Birds, Animals/People....and then rest. But...if God created light and dark on the first day, but didn't create the sun moon and stars until day 4, what was creating the light and darkness? Well...we could say that, because Jesus is the light of the world that HE was the light...but did God create himself? Is God creating light when God created Jesus? Very unlikely...it seems idiotic to me even writing it. So, either God create Light without a source (which is possible...he is God after all), or again, it's not meant to be taken as a literal word-for-word account of what happened.
Perhaps, amidst the controversy and debate about "6 literal days" or not, we miss the point of chapter 1. The point of chapter 1 is that God CREATED the world. God had a plan, and a purpose. God had a design. It doesn't matter really HOW He did it, or how LONG it took...but that God did it. The rest is semantics. Everyone interprets things differently, (and keep in mind, seeing as Moses wasn't around for the Creation of the world, this story was probably orrally passed down for generations, likely changing slightly over time).
Even if we can explain away chapter 1, in a literal sense, chapter 2 changes things. It's the same story...just different. Things happen in different order. In THIS version, God created people before there are even any plants on the earth. God created People, plants THEN animals. And here's the other interesting thing I discovered....Animals were made out of the dust too. I always was taught and believed that, Man was the only creature that God spent time creating out of the dust...but verse 19 says otherwise. "Now the Lord God formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and birds of the air". What? Animals and birds were created from dust too? I thought God just spoke and poof...there they were. Raises some interesting questions about animals having souls/going to heaven, and also why God seems to be so concerned about the Raven, Ostrich and Sparrow. I think when we imagine that God just spoke and it was-to creat animals, we make animals to seem less than important. Yes...God put his image on US...but he still spend time creating the animals, and he still loves his animals. Maybe there were even some days when God wished (or still wishes) that he put His image on dogs or monkeys instead of us.
Now, on to Adam and Eve. This story CAN'T be taken figuratively righ? It's a detailed historical account. Yup..probably. God created only 2 people, placed them in a garden with a mythical tree that gave the knowledge of good and evil. And in that garden, God created a craft serpent, who just happens to be able to talk. Do I sound cynical? I don't want to say that Adam and Eve aren' real people. I do think that, the first people God created would have had an incredibly special relationship with God. It would have been an intimate friendship that could not be duplicated until we reach heaven's gates. But the story raises a lot of questions. Here are some of the questions that I have:
-Did God only create 2 people?
-If God DID create only 2 people, how much inbreeding must have went on?
-Again...if God only created 2 people, who are the "other people" Cain talks about in 4:14?
-Was the serpent able to actually talk?
-Was the serpent the devil?
-Is the serpent could talk...could all the animals talk too?
-Why do ALL the serpents get punished...shouldn't just the one who decieved be cursed?
Now, I don't want to come across like I am debunking Scripture. My purpose is not to say that Genesis is a false book, and can't be trusted. I am merely trying to figure out whether the book of Genesis (or at least the first few chapters) were written as literal history, or figurative stories that the Israelites told to teach lessons (such as God created the World, and that Humans are fallen, sinful people). To be honest, I don't know what to believe. And truth be told, I don't think anyone here on earth truly has all the answers about this either. We have theories, and people on both sides of the camp have methods and proof-texts to support why they believe what they do, but we can't REALLY know.
Maybe, we need to act like Job, and just trust that God is in control. Trust that God really knows what he is doing, regardless of whether we get it all figured out or not. Does not believing in a literal 6 day Creation, or questioning whetherAdam and Eve are actual historical figures (or at least that their story is historically accurate) make me less of a Christian? I really hope not. But I can tell you that, I DO believe that God created the world. I believe that God LOVES me, and I believe that somehow, Mankind ruined their relationship with God. Somehow, our intimate relationship with the Almighty went awry. That's why we need Jesus. We need God's forgiveness and mercy.
No comments:
Post a Comment