Tuesday 18 April 2017

Creation







We were not present either at the first birth (some astronomical number of years ago) nor at the second birth (a mere 2000 years ago.) So for both instances we have to take others' word for what happened.
 
My understanding of Genesis and especially of the prehistory story chapters 1-3 is that it has both elements of history and of matter for/of faith.
We know that the first chapters deal with God's "verbal" utterance, (His Word) that is, He speaks and what He speaks comes into being.
 
The first part of the creation story is the "cosmic" order which is "out there" but still within His being and Word. The second part is the more personal, intimate creation who is Ha Adam/Hawah (Adam/Eve).

We also know that this part of history is the Oral tradition, that which has been passed down from generation to generation and with each succeeding generation adding their understanding of events of the past and between themselves and their God. And Accommodating the changes which befell the people.

The Yahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist and Priestly authors each wrote and accommodated their reality into the existing story of their forefathers. The last of these named authors, priestly, wrote during the exile into Babylon and they wrote during the time when the Mesopotamian myths (Enuma Elish) were being performed during special festivals.  This narrative and performances sought to tell the story that the world was created as a place of combat between Marduk and Ti'amat and Marduk gives birth to the universe out of what remains of Ti'amat.
 
The Priestly writings sought to re tell their story and show their people that God had indeed created the universe out of love and not out of remains of combat.  That the universe is not the result of a chance happening but it exists because Yahweh wills it with love and sustains it with love.

Whilst we understand, because of the format, that the Priestly style of writing is of the liturgical genre, there is a cadence and order and symmetry to the whole of creation, which God then declares as "good" until the creation of the human being which he deems as "very good" because this creation is in the image and likeness of Himself. Of His Word.
 
Jesus spoke of having seen satan fall from the heavens (Lk10:18) so we accept that Lucifer/satan/adversary existed before the physical creation and that there was a chaos before the creation of the universe which led to the expulsion of a huge number of former angelic beings who had now apostatised.   It is implied in the first chapter of Genesis.
 
That he (Lucifer) would tempt the new creature "designed in the image and likeness of God" should not come as a surprise. This new creature would fill the vacant spaces left by the disobedient Lucifer and his followers. That the Son would enter Satan’s territory in the form of “man” and defeat him within his own ground is not surprising. God always stays with His creation.  He never abandons them.    That we were not there to see this event doesn’t make it less truthful or less real. It is part of our history both oral and written.

Indeed, I was not there when they crucified my Lord (words of song sung at Easter) except in His Loins (every human being is made up of hundreds of trillions of cells,) and the human body of Jesus was also created thus, for me this means as man, with over three hundred trillion cells which represents a cell for “everyman” since creation, and His Heart as the heart of God the Son, and, so again we have to take the words given to us. How do we know that they are truthful, that the witnesses were truthful? (Or truth filled)? We don’t!! However we take what’s given to us, passed on to us and we try and make sense of the words, of the story.   We accept that when scriptures speak about Jesus Christ/God/Spirit they speak truth. Which we then interpret and have or listen for an echo of this in our own lives and societies.
 
Should we have an interest in what happened thousands and thousands years ago? Indeed we should because what happened thousands and eons years ago forms our own individual history.  Connects us to the lived and experienced history of man and woman.