Creation Accounts in Genesis

[Seamus_Sully]

This are opinions put forth for discussion.

Thanks!

Concerning the first three chapters of Genesis, the Church teaches that there are figures and symbols used in these chapters. Also, these figures all have literal meanings.

I like to use the other parts of the Bible to help me understand what is being said. Furthermore, I have taken my ideas from St. Augustine or others like him.

In the Beginning God created the Heavens and earth. Jesus is the Beginning. He, the Second Person of the Trinity, created the Heavens and the earth.

The heaven are the angels and then at a later time, the saints and angels. Revelation seems to help with this symbol. The stars are angels. Thus, St. Matthew’ uses a star and St. Luke uses an angel.

We are the earth.

We are composed of heaven (spirit and soul) and earth (body)

The deep is God’s wisdom. I think the early Church taught this based on Wisdom literature in the Holy Bible.

All was created at once. This too is based on Wisdom literature of the Holy Bible. This is taught also by the early Church.

Thus there is One Day and not seven days. It is broken down into parts for our understanding. The parts are seen as cardinal numbers and not ordinal numbers. All was created at one time, like our soul and body. An analogy, the soul is first and the body is second, not in time but in principle.

The firmament is God’s loving power.

The Tree of knowledge is one tree. It can be good or evil. It is our knowledge and will. The Tree of Life is God’s love and will. When our tree of knowledge accepts, believes and does God’s will, then our tree of knowledge is good. Another view of the tree of knowledge is: experiential knowledge of love. Analogy, to actually know how to ride a bike and not an academic knowledge of how to ride a bike.

The snake is the devil as told to us in other parts of the Holy Bible.

I think that we would be better to actually translate the four rivers into English. Also the lands through which the flow. The four rivers flow into our inner person. When they gather in us, as in an ocean, we begin to gain God’s deep or His wisdom.

The Four Rivers and their lands.
Havilah: Circle
First river: Increase (Pison)

Second river; Brusting forth (Gihon)

Ethiopia: Black

Third river: Rapid (Hiddekel)

Assyris: Stepp

Fourth river: fruitfulness… in the Greek: The Great River (Eupharates)

Eden: pleasure

When God says: “it is good.” This is telling us it is good, but not that God discovered that it is good.

Concerning The Day, it is our experiential knowledge of God that moves from darkness to light. This is true of the angels too. When we follow the Tree of Life–LIGHT! (Light comes from the fire of God’s love.)

Concerning the Light in the first chapter of Genesis, Jesus clearly teaches that He is the light of the world.

The angels that guard the way to the Tree of Life are there to push us towards the Tree of Life, like guard rails on a road. The angels use a sword. This is used to guard the way to the Tree of life. The sword is the Word of the Lord. St. Paul tells us that.

The first creation of humans is the interior man. St. Paul tells us that there is an interior person. The second creation of man is the exterior man. Origen explains this.

The thorns are worldly concerns. Jesus tells us this from the parable of the Sower of the Seed.

Adam and Eve were forced out of the Garden of Pleasure. God’s beauty and love could not be accepted by Adam and Eve. Their guilt was so great that they had to turn away. God’s goodness, love and beauty were too great for them. There weakened state could not hold God’s grace. Also, they, like Pharaoh, did not want to accept God and His love: that is, love is patient and kind (I Cor. 13: 4-7). God did not kick them out like one kicks a soccer ball. I am driven away by the guilt of my sins.

Well, I only think I know a few. I am not a scholar but a student of the Holy Bible.

Again, these are ideas for discussion. I obviously need help to understand these chapters and I am hoping for help.

THANKS!

 

[Newbie2]

This are opinions put forth for discussion.

Thanks!

Concerning the first three chapters of Genesis, the Church teaches that there are figures and symbols used in these chapters. Also, these figures all have literal meanings.

I like to use the other parts of the Bible to help me understand what is being said. Furthermore, I have taken my ideas from St. Augustine or others like him.

In the Beginning God created the Heavens and earth. Jesus is the Beginning. He, the Second Person of the Trinity, created the Heavens and the earth.

The heaven are the angels and then at a later time, the saints and angels. Revelation seems to help with this symbol. The stars are angels. Thus, St. Matthew’ uses a star and St. Luke uses an angel.

We are the earth.

We are composed of heaven (spirit and soul) and earth (body)

The deep is God’s wisdom. I think the early Church taught this based on Wisdom literature in the Holy Bible.

All was created at once. This too is based on Wisdom literature of the Holy Bible. This is taught also by the early Church.

Thus there is One Day and not seven days. It is broken down into parts for our understanding. The parts are seen as cardinal numbers and not ordinal numbers. All was created at one time, like our soul and body. An analogy, the soul is first and the body is second, not in time but in principle.

The firmament is God’s loving power.

The Tree of knowledge is one tree. It can be good or evil. It is our knowledge and will. The Tree of Life is God’s love and will. When our tree of knowledge accepts, believes and does God’s will, then our tree of knowledge is good. Another view of the tree of knowledge is: experiential knowledge of love. Analogy, to actually know how to ride a bike and not an academic knowledge of how to ride a bike.

The snake is the devil as told to us in other parts of the Holy Bible.

I think that we would be better to actually translate the four rivers into English. Also the lands through which the flow. The four rivers flow into our inner person. When they gather in us, as in an ocean, we begin to gain God’s deep or His wisdom.

The Four Rivers and their lands.
Havilah: Circle
First river: Increase (Pison)

Second river; Brusting forth (Gihon)

Ethiopia: Black

Third river: Rapid (Hiddekel)

Assyris: Stepp

Fourth river: fruitfulness… in the Greek: The Great River (Eupharates)

Eden: pleasure

When God says: “it is good.” This is telling us it is good, but not that God discovered that it is good.

Concerning The Day, it is our experiential knowledge of God that moves from darkness to light. This is true of the angels too. When we follow the Tree of Life–LIGHT! (Light comes from the fire of God’s love.)

Concerning the Light in the first chapter of Genesis, Jesus clearly teaches that He is the light of the world.

The angels that guard the way to the Tree of Life are there to push us towards the Tree of Life, like guard rails on a road. The angels use a sword. This is used to guard the way to the Tree of life. The sword is the Word of the Lord. St. Paul tells us that.

The first creation of humans is the interior man. St. Paul tells us that there is an interior person. The second creation of man is the exterior man. Origen explains this.

The thorns are worldly concerns. Jesus tells us this from the parable of the Sower of the Seed.

Adam and Eve were forced out of the Garden of Pleasure. God’s beauty and love could not be accepted by Adam and Eve. Their guilt was so great that they had to turn away. God’s goodness, love and beauty were too great for them. There weakened state could not hold God’s grace. Also, they, like Pharaoh, did not want to accept God and His love: that is, love is patient and kind (I Cor. 13: 4-7). God did not kick them out like one kicks a soccer ball. I am driven away by the guilt of my sins.

Well, I only think I know a few. I am not a scholar but a student of the Holy Bible.

Again, these are ideas for discussion. I obviously need help to understand these chapters and I am hoping for help.

THANKS!

For my two cents, just be careful not to over-allegorize any part of Scripture.

 

[mschrank]

Get theology of the body by JPII, he’ll explain what the Church teaches.

 

[inthecloud]

The Jewish kabbalistic tradition supersymbolizes Genesis too.
With leads me to the question? Was Genesis meant to be read symbolicaly form the beginning and people just not payed attention for centuries?

 

[The_Truthinator]

The Jewish kabbalistic tradition supersymbolizes Genesis too.
With leads me to the question? Was Genesis meant to be read symbolicaly form the beginning and people just not payed attention for centuries?

Maybe we grow in our understanding of these matters to an extent over time… Especially now in this scientific age.

 

[Seamus_Sully]

The early Church taught many of the things that I have stated. Actually, all of the teachings that I put forth were taught by the early Church–I think.

Also, when I say early Church this is the New Testament and times shortly after that.

As Newbie2 cautioned, one must be careful not to use Greek allegory and not biblical allegory–there is a big difference.

 

[Ahimsa]

A Jewish perspective:

A very enigmatic figure in this story is the snake. What kind of animal is this that speaks and tempts Adam and Eve?

Actually, it is hard for us to imagine the primordial snake, since part of the snake’s punishment was a metamorphosis of what and who he is.

Before the sin of Adam and Eve, we find the snake described in detail in the Bible. He is depicted as “cunning,” he speaks to Eve, he walks, and he even seems to have his own volition and will. After the sin, he is punished in that he will now crawl on his stomach, his food will be dirt, and there will eternal enmity between himself and man. What was the snake originally, and what did he do to deserve such a downfall?

Most kabbalistic commentators equate the snake with the Yetzer Hara – the self-destructive tendencies to move away from God.4 What is the function of the Yetzer Hara? Why were such tendencies created? And why was a snake chosen to represent this?

The purpose of God’s creating the world was to bestow goodness on mankind. The ultimate good is to not give someone a gift, but to empower him to accomplish on his own. Imagine someone training for the Olympics with his coach serving in the role of the opponent. If the coach does not oppose him with all his strength and wiles, the athlete will be upset with him. And when the student manages to overcome the coach, the coach is happy at his own downfall – since it is his role to finally be vanquished.

The Yetzer Hara is our coach. Any rational person would desire a worthy opponent to overcome. Therefore the original snake was almost human, walking on legs, speaking intelligently, and able to present a world view alternate to God’s. In that sense, the snake is the ultimate servant of God and man. He is the force which gives us the ability to choose between two worldviews – as long as the choice is balanced and the snake is not too difficult to overcome.

When the choice was between intellectual and sensual, the snake needed to be able to tempt man with a sensual experience. However, he needed to clothe it in the guise of the rational and objective truth. Therefore the snake was almost human in his abilities.

When man failed that test, the snake himself needed to undergo a metamorphosis. He needed to become the obstacle and temptation for a different humanity, who now could be easily led astray. Therefore the intelligent rational snake becomes a dirt dwelling mute creature. All his food tastes like earth. He is down in the dirt with no ability to lift himself up, and he cannot even communicate this since he lost his speech. Why?

Originally, the fruits of the trees – representing all levels of pleasure – were accessible to man. There was nothing lacking, as long as the “one command” was observed. Only after the sin could man think that pleasure was to be found outside the service of God. Thus, just as the snake could not appreciate any pleasure without the dirt with it, so too man cannot appreciate the highest level of spiritual pleasure, unless he has something physical along with it.

This is our opponent, which is appropriate for the world we live in, post-sin.

 

[inthecloud]

I was reading Kabbalistic writings and i’m fully convinced that Genesis 1-11 was never mean to be taken in a literal way from the begining. Is a far deeper book when not read literally. Too bad the fundies do not get it.

Most kabbalistic commentators equate the snake with the Yetzer Hara – the self-destructive tendencies to move away from God.4 What is the function of the Yetzer Hara? Why were such tendencies created? And why was a snake chosen to represent this?

Now I reading EL Zohar but before that I always intrepreted the snake as the basest intincts of a human being. I’m glad to know the old Jewish sages looked at the Snake in the same way.
Now I buying a expensive $35 book on Genesis with Jewish and Catholic comentary written in Argentina. Stay tunned.