Genesis Revised – Day 6 v26-27 and “God’s Image”

The last part of the creation story begins in the middle of the sixth season.  Here, God’s intentions for humanity are stated.  Without the overburden of unbiblical “perfectionism,” the ancient text matches the evidence perfectly.

Genesis 1

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”  ²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (NIV)

The word “us,” in verse 26, has been interpreted several ways, but many Christians say it shows the Trinity.  However, the poet would not have believed this; neither would any other writer of the Bible, including the apostles.  Such an interpretation rejects the prophets’ understanding of the basic nature of God and nullifies their constant plea for the people to worship One God only.  It puts in question their ability to tell us anything spiritual.

But, Genesis One gives us another explanation.  The poem emphasizes only two groups: 1) God and 2) everything else.  Poetically, the use of the word “us” lets God engage the only other “character” mentioned in the poem: the universe.  God used evolution to sculpt His creation, including all life.  He summoned the universe, including the evolving life on Earth, as a partner to make something unique.

The “likeness” or “image” of God” does not mean God’s appearance is human.  The Jews were never required to worship a human-like image.  That would have been called idolatry.  They worshiped an invisible God who was totally different from anything they could imagine.

The word “mankind” continues the generalization of life forms.  These were not two people.  This word does not require Homo sapiens as the only interpretation.  God created us exactly like all the other animals (Chapter 2 uses the words “dust” and “ground” but not “clay.”).  With a natural interpretation, “mankind” includes our lineage through the not-quite-human, not-at-all-human, and not-even-mammal.  It reaches back to mineral, to the stars that gave us carbon atoms, and returns to the initial singularity that produced everything.  Creation is one, as its Creator is one.

God made humanity, which requires both male and female.  This creation story does not present a hierarchy.  They are simply what they are, part of the creation, and yet are special because of God’s choice.  Both were chosen, all were chosen, to bear His image.

From all the life created on Earth, God chose one lineage.  He molded that lineage of almost-humans until one group could accept the next stage.  God gave one of them “His image.”  Chapter 2 calls it life, God’s Breath.  This is not physical life, as animals and plants live.  This is our spirit, God’s Spirit, a life that can transcend death.  Then, God did something else.  He let us choose to not be innocent.  He continues to let us choose, to be like Him (good) or not like Him (evil).  In a long ago time, that initial Breath entered one almost-human lineage.  Through him humanity was born.  Then, all the other almost-human lineages became extinct.  Every one.  Only we remain.  We are one, as our Creator is one.

Paleontology and genetics show human lineage changed quicker than any of our nearest relatives, the great apes.  Something happened, and kept happening, in our lineage.  No evidence shows what that might have been, but it happened about the time our lineage started making tools, sewing, and forming rituals.  The same “season” described in the garden story.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revised – Introduction + Day 1, The Big Bang

Genesis Revised – Day 2, Opening Sky and Ocean

Genesis Revised – Day 3, Opening Land

Genesis Revised – Day 4, Filling the Universe

Genesis Revised – Day 5, the Evolution of Life

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v24-25, the Land Animals

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v28-31 “Dominion”

Genesis Revised – Day 7

Genesis Revised – The Second Genesis

Also see series:

Genesis Revisited

Eden Revisited

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v24-25, the Land Animals

Life filled all the environments of Earth’s dry land in creation’s sixth season interpreted by nature.  The structured circular poetry conveys an outline of the evolution of all creatures.  Without the overburden of unbiblical “perfectionism,” the ancient text matches the evidence perfectly.

Genesis 1

²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (NIV)

Poetic structure filled the land of Day 3 with animals in Day 6.  The poet listed animals relevant to a human viewpoint.  That meant livestock came first.  The “ground” animals came at the end of the “day” to poetically circle back to the beginning of Day 3.  Like the stars in Day 4, the myriad of wild animals are almost an afterthought.

Unlike other creation stories, the poet simply said, “God made all the animals.”  He never tried to explain how God made them.  No biblical text says anything about an instantaneous creation or sculpting animals from clay.  Genesis Two says God made animals from the dirt of the ground.  Standard science says the same thing, but in more detail.  Molecules abundant on Earth combined until the first RNA formed.  Soon after, a membrane encapsulated it, and DNA spiraled within.  Just like the poet, science describes these events using an “unknown process.”  Both say that all animals today trace their lineage from the “dirt of the ground.”

Paleontologists have found that after plants filled dry land the aquatic gastropods and arthropods ventured out to eat them.  Evolutionary adaptation let some of them change enough to not need to return to the water; they became land creatures.  New “kinds” multiplied to fill every niche environment.  Amphibians did exactly the same thing in pursuit of the snails and bugs.  These became reptiles-like creatures whose lineage diversified into the lineage of every “kind” known.  Geologically speaking, this happened in a very short amount of time.

Generalization let “kind” embrace whatever each lineage entailed.  Outside the Bible, God accumulated evidence of His creation.  Enough of it is buried and fossilized for us to dream of long ago worlds.  All we have to do is decipher that planetary manuscript.  Science becomes our translator.  It unlocks all the wonderful details Genesis One outlines.

Dry land filled in a rush of diversification, just as there was a rush to fill the ocean.  Life on Earth is one, as its Creator is one.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revised – Introduction + Day 1, The Big Bang

Genesis Revised – Day 2, Opening Sky and Ocean

Genesis Revised – Day 3, Opening Land

Genesis Revised – Day 4, Filling the Universe

Genesis Revised – Day 5, the Evolution of Life

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v26-27 and “God’s Image”

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v28-31 “Dominion”

Genesis Revised – Day 7

Genesis Revised – The Second Genesis

Also see series:

Genesis Revisited

Eden Revisited

Genesis Revised – Day 5, the Evolution of Life

Swim and fly in creation’s fifth season interpreted by nature.  The structured circular poetry conveys an outline of evolution on Earth viewed by science.  Without the overburden of unbiblical “perfectionism,” the ancient text matches the evidence perfectly.

Genesis 1

²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. (NIV)

The poet used poetic structure to open two extreme environments on Earth, sky and ocean in Day 2, which He filled with the “extreme” animals of Day 5.  From the heights, the oceans collected water; from the finned depths, the sky fluttered; a poetic balance of opposites.  Within these two extremes, man does not dominate, not yet.  Only now are we at a juncture of awareness.

Following the circular format, the poet filled the ocean first.  Like the time it took for an atmosphere to form and an ocean to fill, the two creations were not simultaneous.  Birds followed the proliferation of sea creatures.  Incredibly, this matches the evidence of paleontology and the theory of evolution.  Life in the oceans became abundant before any creature lived on land.  Once there, the extreme land creatures, dinosaurs, eventually learned to fly.

Days 5 and 6 encompass all animal forms, the microscopic to the gigantic.  Each grouping fits within the scientific understanding of Families, Orders, and Kingdoms.  Not one word stipulates a species or even a Genus, including “human kind.”  The text generalizes all life forms and emphasizes the concept of “everything.” 

The use of generalization is unique among ancient creation stories.  It lets Genesis One tell the same story as evolution theory.  The nonspecific word “kind” encapsulates all the animals connected by lineage with no time or species left out.  Each grouping includes all life that existed at the time of writing and all that came before, no matter how different they may have looked.

Evolution does not mean a fish suddenly grew legs and walked away from the water.  It simply means that everything changes.  With the passage of enough time, generations change into things not quite like their forbearers.  Genetics drives change and proves the probability of the evolution of life.  Each life form that produces offspring adds its unique blend of DNA into the next generation.  A small population accumulates a particular lineage of genes until a subspecies is recognizable.  Time differentiates one group from another until new species form.  All evolution needs is enough time to form all the life currently on Earth.  God’s universal sculpting tool was and is evolution.

Most often, change happens at a slow pace.  With the right environmental stimulation, change comes in quick spurts creating radically different forms.  That means an animal group that changes slowly can live at the same time as a similar one that changes quickly.  They might even outlast the new forms.

“Kind” means “lineage,” and lineage changes kind.  We trace each lineage through many shapes, which branch to produce cousin forms.  All link back to a first creature.  First life came from the minerals (“dust” in Genesis 2) abundant on Earth and throughout the universe.  That lineage of mineral takes us back to the beginning of everything.

Our God wants us to know.  Creation is one, as its Creator is one.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revised – Introduction + Day 1, The Big Bang

Genesis Revised – Day 2, Opening Sky and Ocean

Genesis Revised – Day 3, Opening Land

Genesis Revised – Day 4, Filling the Universe

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v24-25, the Land Animals

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v26-27 and “God’s Image”

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v28-31 “Dominion”

Genesis Revised – Day 7

Genesis Revised – The Second Genesis

Also see series:

Genesis Revisited

Eden Revisited

Genesis Revised – Day 4, Filling the Universe

Rejoice in creation’s fourth season interpreted by nature!  The structured circular poetry conveys an outline of the filling of the universe viewed by science through the human perspective.  Without the overburden of unbiblical “perfectionism,” the ancient text matches the evidence perfectly.

Genesis 1

¹⁴And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. (NIV)

Poetic structure fills Day 1 with Day 4.  Structure lets the sun and moon define light and dark, and it removes the scientific problem of the existence of days before they could be counted.  Such a poetic season lets the universe evolve naturally.

Cosmologically, stars should be created first, not as an afterthought.  However, this passage relates astral objects to their usefulness, and a human viewpoint rationalizes the “out of order” aspect.  Life on Earth uses the sun and moon to navigate in our world.  We count days using the sun.  We count months using the moon.  We count years using the stars.  For humans, understanding astral movements instituted the first long-term “science” project that had nothing to do with our survival, astronomy.

However, people included the study of the lights in the sky with all things not understood.  These they considered magical.  Magical things related to spiritual or divine things.  The next step in understanding planetary movement was to realize Earth was not the center of the universe, that Earth was a sphere that orbited the sun.  That realization let the other planets do the same and explained their erratic motions.  But, that solution was too far fetched.  For over two thousand years, the quest to understand was hampered by religion, multiple religions.  The lights had to remain divine.  We had to remain the center.  The lights circled around us to affect our lives.

This text says the astral bodies govern (rule) the darkness and light on Earth, our perception of time.  That is what they do.  The writer never attributes spiritual attributes to the light and darkness.  Poetically, these astral bodies do not sway our spiritual lives.  Therefore, do not bestow on creation what belongs to God alone.  That is idolatry.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revised – Introduction + Day 1, The Big Bang

Genesis Revised – Day 2, Opening Sky and Ocean

Genesis Revised – Day 3, Opening Land

Genesis Revised – Day 5, the Evolution of Life

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v24-25, the Land Animals

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v26-27 and “God’s Image”

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v28-31 “Dominion”

Genesis Revised – Day 7

Genesis Revised – The Second Genesis

Also see series:

Genesis Revisited

Eden Revisited

Genesis Revised – Day 3, Opening Land

Earth develops dry land in creation’s third season interpreted by nature.  The structured circular poetry conveys an outline of this time viewed by science.  Without the overburden of unbiblical “perfectionism,” the ancient text matches the evidence perfectly.

Genesis 1

⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. (NIV)

No matter what the poet’s concept, inspiration lets this passage match science perfectly.

Geologically, dry land actually grew out of the ocean.  Plate tectonics recycled the surface.  Volcanism combined oceanic plates with water and gas to form new kinds of stone.  These stones (the continents), were lighter than oceanic bedrock, so in a collision, they always rode above.  Additionally, erosion allowed sedimentary stones to form (often underwater).  With more plate collisions, new kinds of stones formed above the water.

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. (NIV)

Grains and fruit trees were some of the first domesticated plants.  They were very important for the survival of communities larger than a couple families.  Not listing other kinds of plants did not negate their existence.  The poet simply praised God for supplying these.  Actually, this passage is quite generalized, and generalization allows it to be read as evolution.  I discuss this further in Day 5.

Paleontologists have found that plants were the first multicellular life form to colonize dry land.  Once established, evolution diversified their “kinds,” and they filled the earth quickly, long before any critter ventured onto land.  Long after that happened, grains and fruit trees developed.  Our species grew up with these as the dominate plants on Earth.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revised – Introduction + Day 1, The Big Bang

Genesis Revised – Day 2, Opening Sky and Ocean

Genesis Revised – Day 4, Filling the Universe

Genesis Revised – Day 5, the Evolution of Life

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v24-25, the Land Animals

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v26-27 and “God’s Image”

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v28-31 “Dominion”

Genesis Revised – Day 7

Genesis Revised – The Second Genesis

Also see series:

Genesis Revisited

Eden Revisited

Genesis Revised – Day 2, Opening Sky and Ocean

Welcome to the birth of Earth, creation’s second season interpreted by nature.  The structured circular poetry conveys an outline of this time viewed by science.  Without the overburden of unbiblical “perfectionism,” the ancient text matches the evidence perfectly.

Genesis 1

⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. (NIV)

This passage may show the writer’s view of the “primal ocean.”  However, the wording is so strange that interpretation and translation are difficult.  Nature helps.

Scientifically, Earth had a season of water separation.  Astrogeology starts with the primal planet before atmosphere and oceans.  Gasses escaping from the rock accumulated and separated Earth from space forming the “vault.”  Asteroids, from above the “vault,” provided Earth with enough water-ice to cover the surface.  They evaporated on impact and formed a thicker atmosphere, which equalized the surface temperature and allowed the oceans to form under the “vault.”  The greenhouse gases kept the oceans from freezing solid as the surface cooled.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revised – Introduction + Day 1, The Big Bang

Genesis Revised – Day 3, Opening Land

Genesis Revised – Day 4, Filling the Universe

Genesis Revised – Day 5, the Evolution of Life

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v24-25, the Land Animals

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v26-27 and “God’s Image”

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v28-31 “Dominion”

Genesis Revised – Day 7

Genesis Revised – The Second Genesis

Also see series:

Genesis Revisited

Eden Revisited

Genesis Revised – Introduction + Day 1, The Big Bang

Rejoice in creation’s first season interpreted by nature!  The structured circular poetry conveys an outline of our universe viewed by science.  Without the overburden of unbiblical “perfectionism,” the ancient text matches the evidence perfectly.

Genesis 1

¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (NIV)

The poet starts with a creed of faith, of worship.  One line conveys the entire poem’s content.  One line tells it all.

In early human knowledge, heaven and earth (up and down, spiritual and physical) were the basic elements of everything.  Today, we lump these into the singular concept of “universe.”  Creation is one, as its Creator is one.

² Now the earth was formless and empty, …  (NIV)

The poet began at a point before anything he knew existed.  No matter his vision, his words describe the scientific understanding of the initial singularity.  Such “space” is dimensionless, it contained no width, length, or depth.  What could be more formless?  It contained no type of matter, thus an empty void.

… darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering (moved, fluttered) over the waters. (NIV with KJV, YLT)

The writer may have envisioned the “primal ocean” common in the creation stories of the region.  However, God’s inspiration lets the words express the Big Bang.

The initial expansion (the force that moved outward) was so hot that no particles existed, thus the universe was dark.  As everything began to cool, plasma was the initial form of matter.  This kind of energy acts like a fluid, in poetic form, water.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (NIV)

With expansion, the plasma cooled enough to form photons.  For a short time, the entire universe glowed brilliantly and uniformly.  There was no darkness.

⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. (NIV)

As particles and atoms formed, they absorbed the photons and the universe became dark again.  More expansion and cooling let gravity clump atoms together.  Mass collapsed enough to start fusion, the first star.  This second light separated from darkness.  Biblically and scientifically, there were two first lights.

⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” (NIV)

This verse hints at the poetic structure of Genesis One.  Instead of going straight to day 2, the poet opens the universe in Day 1 then fills it in Day 4, which continues the same concepts of day and night.  Similarly, the content of Day 2 pairs with Day 5, and Day 3 with Day 6.  The main details within these pairings complete poetic circles.

And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. (NIV)

The Hebrew word “day” is not exclusively 24-hours.  Its length is defined by the context.  Proverbs 25:13 is often translated “harvest time,” but literally it is “day of harvest,” an unspecified number of days.  Or as in, Isaiah 4:2 a future era of undetermined length, not just one day.  With this definition of “day,” the words interpreted as “evening” and “morning” are simply the “end” of one epic and the “beginning” of the next, no matter how long that “day” lasted.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revised – Day 2, Opening Sky and Ocean

Genesis Revised – Day 3, Opening Land

Genesis Revised – Day 4, Filling the Universe

Genesis Revised – Day 5, the Evolution of Life

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v24-25, the Land Animals

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v26-27 and “God’s Image”

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v28-31 “Dominion”

Genesis Revised – Day 7

Genesis Revised – The Second Genesis

Also see series:

Genesis Revisited

Eden Revisited

Genesis Revisited #5 – A Poetic Creation

Have you ever noticed the structure of Genesis One?  No?  Never fear, you are in good company, as most people only see seven days.  However, the structure is quite amazing.  As poetry, the old scientific contradictions disappear.

Poetic Structure

The introduction states creed and content – One God created everything.

Day 1 opens the universe with light.

Day 4 fills the universe with objects.

Day 2 opens sky and ocean.

Day 5 fills the ocean and sky with animals.

Day 3 opens land and readies it with plants.

Day 6 fills the land with animals and people.

Day 7 is a conclusion with the foundation for weekly contemplation.

Circular Poetry

Most scholars have pronounced Genesis One as a work of prose, not poetry as it does not have a set meter.  Yet, from childhood, it read like poetry to me.  Now I know why.  It is poetry, but not a form commonly used by the Hebrews.  It does not use meter.  It is circular, where the last concept of a stanza and poem returns to the first concept.  It also demonstrates a brilliant usage of the concept of causality, which was not equaled until Aristotle and not truly understood until modern times.

The introduction proclaims everything created comes from One Creator (a).

Linking Day 1 to Day 4 — After the beginning, first light (b) leads to separation of light from dark (c), which produces stars (d) like our sun, around which unlit bodies (e) form, which guide us to understanding the light (b).

Linking Day 2 to Day 5 — From the “heavens” (Day 1), atmosphere (f) collects and precipitates oceans (g), which provides suitable environment for prolific aquatic life (h), which slowly transforms into flying animals (i) capable of dominating the atmosphere (f).

Linking Day 3 to Day 6 — Out of the oceans (Day 2) dry land (j) expands and provides suitable minerals to support life, from which came the first multi-cellular life forms to dominate land, plants (k).  They provide an environment for prolific land animals (l), which eventually produced humans (m), which dominate the land (j) and carry the image of the One Creator (a).

Day 7 — The poetic conclusion invited the reader to contemplate the loving details of God’s creation.  It linked that expansive time span with the time it took for the Hebrew nation to form.  Both needed time.  Both involved a continued ongoing process.  Both began with the loving voice of the One Creator (a).

Rejoice!  Our universe is one, as our Creator is one.

My next blog starts a new series.  In it I demonstrate how well the biblical creation verses match standard science.

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revisited #1 – What to Worship

Genesis Revisited #2 – Beliefs Held

Genesis Revisited #3 – Who Is the Creator?

Genesis Revisited #4 – Meaning of Days

Also see series:

Eden Revisited

Eden Revisited

Genesis Revisited #4 – Meaning of Days

Doesn't Genesis One explicitly state seven 24-hour days?  Actually, no it does not.

Before people realized planets spin around an axis or obit a fusion reactor, they knew our earth and sun were in a relationship.  Each day consisted of light and darkness of unequal but predictable periods.  Predictability made days useful, so our ancestors divided them into hours for their convenience.  Men chose 24 units.  God did not dictate them.

The solar relationship posed a problem for early Christians.  Since days could not exist before the sun’s creation on the “4th day,” Augustine of Hippo (St. Augustine, c. 400 AD) concluded the word “day” could not mean 24-hours.  He envisioned the Bible’s first chapter as a list of commands carried out instantly after the seventh day.  An instantaneous creation satisfied his cultures Greek based understanding of the universe.  Yet, he charged future theologians to not hold tightly to interpretation, even his.  Knowledge would change our understanding of nature.  The two must match if the text was inspired.

His interpretation lasted until the Reformation’s rejection of longstanding Roman Catholic dogma.  Protestantism returned to a 24-hour day interpretation.  However, Protestant groups disagreed on how creation played out.  Often Genesis 1:1 was an instantaneous creation.  Others questioned why there were days if heaven and earth were created instantly.  God’s glory became the light of Day 1 to some, but viewed as the creation of angels and their wars (light vs. dark) by others.  Adam and Eve were inserted into Day 6 and ate the fruit while God slept, or not.  Did God create animals instantly, or did He sculpt each from clay?  Were they young or full grown?  Did the mammals have belly buttons?  So many questions.  No definitive answers.

Then there is the word “day.”  The Hebrew usage of the word is similar to that of the Greek, Latin, and English, which generally defines “day” as a 24-hour period.  However, it does not always mean 24-hours.  It also means the hours of sunlight, thus less then 24-hours.  The phrases, “The day of harvest,” encompasses more then the last day of gleaning, and “In Abraham’s day,” entails an entire lifetime.  This simply means context determines length of the word “day” in each of these languages.

Consider the active verbs: create, hover, separate, made, gather, produce, increase, fill.  Each one paints a picture of work.  Work takes time.  Every part of Genesis One implies time.  God utilized time, watching or tweaking each particle, one at a time.

Psalm 90:4 says, “A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.” (NIV)  The writer bluntly states time is our concern, not God’s.  Many early Jewish and Christian writers believed the psalmist meant the creation “days” lasted a thousand years each.  They used “thousands” as the concept of a huge number.  Things have changed.  We can restate the psalmist’s sentiment in our vernacular: A billion years in your sight is like an hour that has just gone by, or a millisecond in the night.  Changing units does not change the meaning.  Time does not encumber God.

The Hebrew words translated “evening” and “morning” actually mean, “end” and “beginning.”  The translation enforces a tradition, not the gist of the words.  As the context of Genesis One is nature, we need to ask why the writer chose to segment creation into “days,” separated by an end and a beginning.  The answer to that question is poetic structure, which I will discuss in my next blog.  Amazingly, if not read as a list, this Bronze Age text matches standard science perfectly.

Several forms of ancient poetry deliberately hide clues to unlock meaning.  Genesis One repeats every detail except one, that of season.  Seasons have ends and beginnings just like that of days.  Seasons can last less then 24-hours or linger for years.  Therefore, poetically, the word “day” can be interpreted as a cosmic “season.”  Whatever time it took things to come into existence is how long that day/season lasted.

Seasons.  God reveals creation to us in bits and pieces.  Religious and scientific knowledge did not arrive overnight, and each have come and gone to come again.  The accumulation and rediscovery process spans the entire existence of humanity.  Every insight awakens new questions begging for answers.  That same process exists in Genesis One, where new things built upon previous events.

Let us be amazed at the vastness of time and the joy God expressed in creating our universe.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revisited #1 – What to Worship

Genesis Revisited #2 – Beliefs Held

Genesis Revisited #3 – Who Is the Creator?

Genesis Revisited #5 – A Poetic Creation

Also see series:

Eden Revisited

Eden Revisited

Genesis Revisited #3 – Who Is the Creator?

[It is not required, but my blog, “Genesis Revisited (#2) – Beliefs Held,” lists several unbiblical beliefs mandated by the common version of the creation story.  Knowing what they are may come in handy while reading this and the following blogs.]

Most of the biblical prophets warned the people against the incorporation of foreign beliefs into what God gave at Mt. Sinai.  Such actions rejected covenant and diluted faith in the one true God.  Even a pious religious façade would not save them.  

How is that different from Christian’s unbiblical beliefs that overshadow the biblical creation?  Let us look at how “perfectionistic” concepts distort the omnipotence (all powerful) and omnipresence (present everywhere) characteristics of our God.

God is so perfect that He resides in heaven therefore not on earth.  If that is true, then He is just another Zeus sitting on Mount Olympus.  He is not always with us.  He requires help from other spiritual beings (like angels) to know what is happening down here in the dirt.  Except: The God of the Bible is always with us.  He is within us.  We cannot go any place where He is not.

God is so perfect that His creation had to be perfect.  He could not create imperfection.  If that is true, creation cannot testify to His existence or His act of creating, because nothing is perfect.  As believers, we should not call anything good or beautiful.  Except: Goodness and beauty surrounds us and nature teaches us deep truths about humanity and God.  God is so perfect that He created an imperfect world so that we could have free choice.

God is so perfect that He only created good things.  All bad things come from some other entity (like Satan) or force (like sin).  If that is true, then God is not the God of all creation.  Some things are not under His authority.  Except: Giving God’s authority to anything within creation is idolatry.  Genesis One says God made everything above and everything below.  Everything means everything.  God took responsibility for all the good things and all the bad things.  Satan’s curse removed his ability to do more than whisper.  Likewise, sin is not a force.  It is a choice to transgress law.  Any creativity comes from humans who follow the voice of Satan and invent new ways to express evil.  These people reject their responsibility and teach others to give Satan the credit.

God is so perfect that He could not imagine Satan’s actions.  If that is true, God’s knowledge is limited.  He is not the Lord of all, and no different from any mythical god.  Except: Without God’s permission, Satan cannot even whisper.  God is in control, but He gives his creations the ability to choose.

God is so perfect that He could not imagine Eve or Adam’s disobedience.  If that is true, God’s knowledge of His creation is extremely limited.  He could not maintain a perfect world, how can He control this corrupt one?  So, Satan must control this world.  Except: That is idolatry, even if it is a reversal of worship.  God is in control.  He sees what is going on and what can happen next.  God created the garden scenario to transpire as He chose.  We must have faith that God knows what He is doing.

God is so perfect that sin repulsed Him.  If that is true, sin was more powerful then the Creator.  By leaving, God is not everywhere, thus limited.  Except: God came to Adam and Eve, talked to them.  Then, He taught them to make clothing.  Our Creator was never forced to do anything, never forced to reject anyone.  He always comes to us to convict sin.  He always desires our repentance.  God even knocks on the worst sinner’s door.

The God described by “perfectionism” was too weak to maintain a perfect creation.  He was too nearsighted to see what lay ahead.  His incompetence doomed humanity, and then He blamed and condemned us.  He let sinful humans live.  Not just Adam and Eve, but Cain and Noah’s family lived to reproduce sin.  The God of “perfectionism” is too perfect to take responsibility for His own actions.

I reject that theology.  It does not describe the biblical God, who is in control even when our world is in chaos.  It represses the love, mercy, and forgiveness that define His very being and the goodness of His creation.  We need to stop hating humanity.  We need to stop placing limits on a limitless God.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revisited #1 – What to Worship

Genesis Revisited #2 – Beliefs Held

Genesis Revisited #4 – Meaning of Days

Genesis Revisited #5 – A Poetic Creation

Also see series:

Eden Revisited

Eden Revisited

Genesis Revisited #2 – Beliefs Held

Christianity, like any other religion, holds tightly to beliefs.  However, long-held beliefs do not make them true.  When the Bible does not explicitly affirm what we want it to say, justifications and rationalizations arise that in time take precedence over what the Bible actually says.

One such dogma concerns creation described in Genesis 1-3.  We read the passages as if all the details we learned as children are there, blind to their absence.  Please, open your Bible and see what is not there.

Genesis never says God made everything perfect or anything perfect.  Not one idealistic word or phrase is presented to the reader.  If they existed in the Hebrew, then the English translators would have used them.  In addition, not one biblical writer proclaimed a perfect creation, an immortal Adam, inherited original sin, or even an immortal soul.  Yet, these theologies dominate our understanding of creation and our lives within that creation.

Many of you will quote Romans 5:12 to prove Adam became mortal.  However, that entire book makes a case for spiritual life and death, before we physically die.  Paul was skilled in the use of logic.  He would not have made such a blunder.  If v12 referred to Adam’s physical death, then the life given by Jesus in v17 would have been physical.  The people Paul/Saul once killed would not have died physically.  Paul never claimed that happened.  He did not emphasize a distinction here between physical and spiritual.  Theologians pulled one verse out of context to make a point not made by Paul.

We can interpret Genesis 2:16-17 in like manner.  A literal translation of God’s command to Adam is not “you will certainly die” (NIV), believed to be the origin of mortality.  Instead, it is “dieing thou dost die” (YLT), or “…to die, you will die,” which sounds suspiciously like second death.  If physical death already existed as part of creation, then the natural laws set by God did not change, and the innocent humans could understand the threat of God’s words.  Satan knew that what God meant was spiritual death.  He did not lie when he took advantage of the misunderstanding.

God did not change the laws of physics.  The Bible does not say, “No rain fell before Noah’s flood.”  Genesis 2:4 begins with a similar creed to Genesis 1:1.  Then, v5-6 gives a short version of the creation.  There was a time before man who tilled the ground (Day 6).  There was a time before plants that required rain (Day 3).  There was a time before rain when only mists watered the ground (Day 2).  Both accounts are brief outlines, which beautifully match the detailed scientific timeline of the evolution of earth.

Genesis never mentions a lamb snuggling up to a lion.  This imagery comes from misquoting Isaiah 11:6-9 and 65:25, and combining that with the descriptions of the lion and lamb of Revelations 5.  Pretty artwork solidified the belief.  However, neither prophet attached their metaphors to Eden, only to the future.  God created carnivores from the beginning of life.

After the first sin, God curses the serpent, but He never curses the humans.  The word “curse” was added in titles that are not in the Hebrew text.  This influences the reading of what follows.  Try reading the passage with a soft tone instead of a growl.  God’s dialogue does not convey anger toward the people.  The ground is “cursed” to grow unwanted plants, but that, like everything else God tells them, could simply be a forewarning of the future.  The people were no longer innocent.  Knowledge would change their perspective toward everything, even plants.

Adam and Eve did not “fall from grace.”  God came to them and stayed with them.  He taught them to tan animal hide to make clothing.  God spoke to them and their children, even the one who committed murder.  He continued to be with and speak to every generation.  God gives grace freely and generously.  What “falls” is our willingness to recognize His presence.

The expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden was not for sin or treason.  The people ate from one tree but were not permitted to eat from both.  No words of condemnation exist in the text.  God even tells the cherubim that the people now had knowledge like theirs.  God-like knowledge…  The ability to choose between good and evil…  That is a good thing… if used properly.  That is the Bible’s dominate theme.

God did not change the laws of genetics.  Not one biblical writer expressed surprise at the first dead animal (mortality) or of one animal eating another (carnivorous).  No one wished for our return to a perfect Eden where we could live immortal.  Biblically, immortality was always given as a quality of heaven, and heaven was never described as a lush garden.  Biblically, mortality always ruled on earth.  Immortality comes with God’s invitation to join Him in heaven.

Some of you will cry, “You are destroying faith in the Bible!”

I answer, “No.  I give you a miracle that will astound nonbelievers.  I proclaim no conflict exists between belief in the biblical Creator and the science of nature.”  Without unbiblical details, these ancient texts actually agree with standard science.  And, when I say agree, I mean all of Genesis One and almost all of Genesis 2-11 match the evidence as presented by scientists.  That includes the Big Bang and the evolution of humanity.  Yes, Genesis supports evolution!

Those Bronze-aged writers could not have known what we know about the universe.  Yet, without the unbiblical details, the first eleven chapters agree with recent discoveries.  Actually, this is the first time in history when humans understand the universe well enough that we can unlock the wonders held in these texts.  That much agreement goes beyond “dumb luck.”  It provides strong circumstantial evidence of external insight.  If the texts were inspired, then there is a high probability that inspiration came from the God described in the texts.

Harmony.  Yes, that is a miracle.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revisited #1 – What to Worship

Genesis Revisited #3 – Who Is the Creator?

Genesis Revisited #4 – Meaning of Days

Genesis Revisited #5 – A Poetic Creation

Also see series:

Eden Revisited

Eden Revisited

Genesis Revisited #1 – What to Worship

Genesis One has many levels of understanding.  Only the most limited impart mythical attributes.  Myth comes with misunderstanding or incredulity.  This series delves into aspects that are not taught in Sunday school. 

Today’s topic is easy.  Worship the Creator only.

Readers generally miss the extreme audacity of Genesis One.  It blatantly mocks the worship of every nature god.  Every thing is subject to the One Creator’s authority and majesty.  In essence, Genesis One says, “One God created everything.  No others need apply.”

The writer begins with his creed, “In the beginning God created heaven and earth…” (NIV)  He speaks plainly.  He speaks of beginning but not of time.  All things originate at one source.  This statement acts as a title to define the rest of the text.  It boldly states that worshiping the Creator is the only logical choice.

Then, the writer organized creation into six days and described each set as “good.”  God enjoyed the experience of creation.  The list contained all the things commonly worshiped but not worthy of worship.

Day 1 – Don’t worship light and darkness (angels, demons, spirits).

Day 2 – Don’t worship sky and water.

Day 3 – Don’t worship earth and plants.

Day 4 – Don’t worship astral bodies.

Day 5 – Don’t worship aquatic animals and birds.

Day 6 – Don’t worship any land animal including man.

In Genesis 2:1-2, the seventh day starts with the text conclusion, which restates the initial creed, “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.” (NIV)  It has God stepping back (resting) to watch creation unfold.  As He had blessed the various parts of creation, He blessed the seventh day.  In it the next important part of creation started.  God’s image would learn to act like God.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revisited #2 – Beliefs Held

Genesis Revisited #3 – Who Is the Creator?

Genesis Revisited #4 – Meaning of Days

Genesis Revisited #5 – A Poetic Creation

Also see series:

Eden Revisited

Eden Revisited