Genesis
© Linda Casselman
Though it appears first in the Old Testament, the Genesis story of creation comes after the Adam and Eve story in the timeline of history. It was produced after 587 BCE - after the Jewish People were freed from Babylonian captivity.
While the Adam and Eve account of creation is a more folkloric story of creation, the Genesis story is a declaration of theology. It is a ritualistic celebration of the creation of the world put to words.
Let us look at the various stages of creation in the story of Genesis.
First stage: Formless, The Creator
In this stage, a visual separation of light and darkness takes place.
Second stage: Perception
The heavenly dome is created and the waters divide.
Third stage: Separation
The Creator differentiates the positions of land and water. Vegetation appears and grows spreading over the land.
Fourth stage: Growth
Even more visual separation takes place. The sun and moon hand in the domed sky and there is a sense of day and night.
Fifth stage: Further Differentiation
God creates living creatures with the ability of reproduction. He puts forth the principle of freedom.
Sixth stage: the Final Work
God creates humankind in His own image and gives man dominion over the land. He creates man and woman together.
Seventh stage: Sabbath
God rests.
This story presents a logical order of creation. It has progression and movement. It grows and flows to its final product, man, which reflects its Creator. God, in this story, is portrayed as a personal being of supreme intelligence. Here He is a great and powerful deity rather than the stern father figure of the Adam and Eve story. Man and woman are created together in this story, so there is no hierarchy like with Adam and Eve. Man and woman are equal here.
The Genesis story gives a meaningful sense of the world to the ancients and to many still today. It provides a reason for being - God created us and put us here. We are the wondrous products of our God's creative act.
Genesis gives us a logical, progressive account of creation, beginning with the formless chaos and finishing with the creation of man in God's image. Humankind is God's greatest work. So we find comfort in knowing that He gives us meaning by putting us on this earth through the story of Genesis.
Question: Why are we here?
Answer according to the Genesis story: Because God willed it so.
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