Creation stories in the Bible
Comparing/contrasting the
two creation stories
in Genesis.

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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:
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Many Evangelical and essentially all fundamentalist Christians believe that the
authors of the Bible were inspired by God,
and that their text is inerrant (without error).
Most interpret the Bible literally, unless otherwise indicated.
Most follow creation science and regard the "days" in the first two chapters of Genesis as referring to 24
hour intervals. They believe that conflicts among biblical passages can be harmonized.
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Many mainline Christians interpret Biblical passages as God's revelations to the ancient
Israelites. They were adequate for their understanding in that era, but which are not to be taken as scientific descriptions. "The Bible is considered the 'fallible
human rendering of divine inspiration'." 2
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Many Agnostics, Atheists, liberal Christians, Humanists,
secularists, and others look upon these creation stories as being beautiful
myths which were attempts by 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 many faith groups. |
Various groups and indivials have concluded:
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Bible inerrancy: "We teach that God has created heaven and
earth, and that in the manner and in the space of time recorded in the
Holy Scriptures, especially Gen. 1 and 2, namely, by His almighty
creative word, and in six days. We reject every doctrine which denies or
limits the work of creation as taught in Scripture....Since no man was
present when it pleased God to create the world, we must look for a
reliable account of creation to God's own record, found in God's own
book, the Bible...." Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod's doctrine of
creation; adopted 1932. 1
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 | Bible accurate on morality, salvation, etc.: "The Bible is not a science text; the
scientific method was unknown in biblical times. ...The purposes of
religion and science are completely different. Science seeks to
describe, explain, and predict. The Bible tries to tell the purpose of creation, and to point the
way to morality, righteousness, and salvation. It should not be
surprising that their methods are different and even incompatible."
David F. Beck 2
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 | Bible not a scientific document: "Looking in the Bible for a scientific
account of origins is like looking in the phone directory for a recipe
for angel cake." Tom Harpur 3 |

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References to creation in the Book of Genesis:
There are two detailed descriptions of the creation process in Genesis:
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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 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. |
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 13.8 billion years.
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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 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:
 | at first, there were no plants or grain present, because God had not yet sent rain.
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God made the first human 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, the Garden of Eden, trees, birds and animals
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God performed the first surgical operation, removing a bone from Adam and
transforming it into
the first woman, Eve. This has generally been assumed to be one of his ribs. For hundreds of years, medical students were taught that men had one fewer rib than women. Finally, someone checked.
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 | Conflicts between the creation stories: There are some apparent inconsistencies between the first and second creation accounts:
 | There may be a conflict over the number of days over which
creation happened.
 | 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 caused fish to appear on the 5th day; in the second account, the
fish of the sea were not created at all. |
Religious conservatives feel that they they have harmonized these
apparent inconsistencies. |

Related essays:

References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- Gary Locklair, "Doctrine of Creation," 2004-JAN, at:
http://www.cs.cuw.edu/
- David Beck, "The Bible: A true and accurate account of creation?
Summary," Coalition for Excellence in Science and Math Education,
1998-APR-13, at:
http://www.cesame-nm.org/
- Tom Harpur, "Creationist arguments are damaging to Christianity,"
The Toronto Star, 2005-FEB-19, Page L11.
- H.C. Kee, et al, "The Cambridge Companion to the Bible", Cambridge
University Press, New York, NY, (1997), Page 45 to 46

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Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2018-JUL-24
Author: B.A. Robinson

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