References to creation in the Book of Genesis:



References to creation in the Book of Genesis:

Overview:

According to Jewish and Christian tradition, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) -- the Pentateuch --were written by Moses under the inspiration of God. God inspired Moses to write the truth and prevented him from making any errors. The Bible itself states that Moses was the author.  Many conservative Christians and Jews continue with this belief today.

However, mainline and liberal theologians generally accept the "Documentary Hypothesis" which asserts that the Pentateuch was written by five authors or groups of authors, from diverse locations, over a period of centuries. Each wrote with the goal of promoting his/her/their own religious views The five individuals or groups are commonly called:

|[p| J: a writer(s) who used Yahweh/Jehovah as the divine name. |

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|[p| E: a writer(s) who used Elohim as the divine name. * |

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|[p| P: a writer(s) who added material of major interest to the priesthood. |

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|[p| D: the author of the book of Deuteronomy. * |

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|[p| R: a redactor(s) who welded the contributions of J, E and P together into the present Pentateuch. |

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|] | |

* Did not contribute to Genesis.

The authors of Genesis seem have picked up part of their story from Hindu legends of the creation and early history of humanity. Stories of Hindu heros Adimo, Heva, Sherma, Hama and Jiapheta apparently were replicated into legends about Adam, Eve, Shem Ham, and Japeth. 1

The two creation stories at the start of Genesis were also apparently heavily influenced by Pagan writings from Mesopotamia; the transition between the two sources occurs at Genesis 2:4 with a verse inserted by the redactor "R."

There are two detailed descriptions of the creation process in Genesis:

|[p|The First Creation Story; Genesis 1:1 to 2:3: Historical Christianity taught that the entire Pentateuch -- the five books from Genesis to Deuteronomy -- was |

|ic|written by Moses. Most fundamentalist and other Evangelical Christians continue to follow this belief. Most liberal and mainline theologians and religious |

|] |skeptics accept the Documentary Hypothesis: that the Pentateuch was written by a number of authors (or groups of authors). They followed four different |

| |traditions, and imported some material from nearby Pagan sources. The Hypothesis asserts that the author of the creation story seen in the first verses of the |

| |Bible was an anonymous 6th Century BCE writer or group of writers of the priestly tradition (often referred to as "P"). |

| |Creation is described in Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 as occurring in six "days": |

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| |Day 1: God commanded the presence of light and its separation from darkness. |

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| |Day 2: God separated the sky and oceans. |

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| |Day 3: God separated land from the oceans; spreading of plants and grass and trees across the land. |

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| |Day 4: God caused the sun, moon, and stars to be attached to the underside of the firmament -- a dome that covered the earth. |

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| |Day 5: God ordered the sea to "teem with living creatures" and birds to fly in the air. |

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| |Day 6: God ordered the land to produce land animals. God created humans, "someone like ourselves" (Living Bible). |

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| |Day 7: God rested. Followers of the Documentary Hypothesis believe this to have been a later addition, 4 placed there to give theological justification for |

| |the Sabbath (Saturday as a day of rest) for humans. |

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| |This sequence does contain some problems. |

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| |Light was listed as appearing on day 1, but its source (the sun and stars) did not appear until day 4. Most creation scientists, who generally support the |

| |literal interpretation of this creation story, have a solution to this puzzle. Many say that light initially came from God, before he created the sun and stars. |

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| |Birds were said to have appeared before other land animals. Paleontologists, who almost universally support the theory of evolution, point out that  the fossil |

| |record shows the opposite order. Creation scientists discount this belief. Most regard the rock layers containing the fossil record as having been laid down |

| |during the flood of Noah; thus, the fossils do not represent the evolution of the species of animals and birds. |

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| |The most controversial debate over this creation story relates to its time span. Genesis 1 and 2 explain how Creation of Earth's life forms, the Earth itself, |

| |and the rest of the universe took six days. Supporters of the theory of evolution find evidence for a universe that has been evolving for about 14 billion years.|

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|[p|The Second Creation Story; Genesis 2:4 to 2:25: This is a different description of the creation of earth's life forms. Most mainline and liberal biblical |

|ic|researchers attribute this section to "J," a writer who lived in the 9th century BCE (some say 10th century; others say after the Babylonian exile). Again, |

|] |religious conservatives trace the authorship to Moses, and generally believe that this is a simple restatement of the earlier creation story. The author of |

| |Genesis 2 writes that |

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| |at first, there were no plants or grain present, because God had not yet sent rain. |

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| |God made Adam out of earth; this is a belief common to many early  Pagan religions in the Middle East. |

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| |God created plants and herbs, Adam, the Garden of Eden, trees, birds and animals |

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| |God performed the first surgical operation, removing a rib from Adam and transforming it into the first woman, Eve. For hundreds of years, medical students were |

| |taught that men had one fewer rib than women. Finally, someone checked. |

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|[p|Conflicts between the creation stories: There are some apparent inconsistencies between the first and second creation accounts: |

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|] |There may be a conflict over the number of days over which creation happened. |

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| |Genesis 1:3 and subsequent verses say that God created the universe in six days. |

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| |In Genesis 2:4, some translations, including the King James Version, imply that it took one day. More details |

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| |In the first account, fruit trees appeared before before Adam and Eve; in the second account, God created Adam, then the fruit trees appeared, then Eve. |

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| |In the first account, God created animals before Adam and Eve; in the second account, God created Adam. then the animals, then Eve. |

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| |Genesis 1:20 describes how God had "the waters bring forth ...fowl" ; in Genesis 2:19, God formed them "out of the ground". |

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| |In the first account, God caussed fish to appear on the 5th day; in the second account, the fish of the sea were not created at all. |

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Quotations showing three different interpretations of the Bible:

There is general agreement within most Christian denominations about what the Bible says. However, there are major differences about how to interpret the Bible. Thus there is no consensus on what the Bible means:

|[p|Many Evangelical and essentially all fundamentalist Christians believe that the authors of the Bible were inspired by God, and that their text |

|ic|is inerrant (without error). Most interpret the Bible literally, unless otherwise indicated. Most follow creation science and regard the "day" in the first two |

|] |chapters of Genesis as referring to 24 hour intervals. Conflicts among biblical passages can be harmonized. |

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|[p|Many mainline Christians interpret Biblical passages as God's revelations to the ancient Israelites. They were adequate for their understanding in that era, but |

|ic|which are not to be taken as scientific descriptions. "The Bible is considered the 'fallible human rendering of divine inspiration'." 2 |

|] |  |

|[p|Many Agnostics, Atheists, liberal Christians, Humanists, secularists, and others look upon these creation stories as being beautiful myths which were attempts by|

|ic|a pre-scientific society to understand their environment. Some find poetic and spiritual significance in most of the hundreds of creation stories taught by the |

|] |world's faith groups. |

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