NIV writes:
1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Phat writes:
This is
still a valid question. How did the Universe get here?
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Phat writes:
This is where the philosophers need to be questioned. Where did they get this knowledge, since they were not around?
(Genesis1:3-1:26) God said...God said...God said...
Phat writes:
This sounds like a story being told around a campfire. I am not saying that the story is absolutely false, but the question is this: Why is the storyteller relating the fact that God said anything? Did the storyteller
hear Gods voice in a dream or a vision? This is the point where we can speculate about whether the philosopic storytellers heard from God or whether they were making up their own explanations for a pre-scientific world.
27 So God created man in his own image,in the image of God he created him;male and female he created them.
Phat writes:
This is a rather important statement to me. God imagined. I see this verse as saying that God created...in His own Imagination. To me, this is where some of the later philosophic debates and discussions derived. Either God was the source of creation and the originator of human wisdom and mental capacity
or humans themselves wrote this story and made it all up. (Of course, I believe the former)
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
Phat writes:
Who is God talking to? One thing to keep in mind, as I see it, is that
IF humans were talking directly to God, they would know Him as they later knew Jesus, "through whom all things were created." Surely these written accounts would be a bit more animated if any human actually
were talking to God, right?
Genesis 2...
Phat writes:
.a few questions.
1) Why would an omnipotant Being need to rest?
2) Concerning this scripture:
18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Why was the woman an afterthought? Could this be symbolic of God in the flesh(as Jesus Christ) needing a Bride... (everyone of us?)
22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Why would a Creator who created 100 billion galaxies out of a thought need to create this woman out of the poor guys rib? Is this some sort of symbolic reference to the woman and man being joined in a side by side completion?
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.
Phat writes:
And this does not necessarily mean that the serpent was
also one of the created wild animals...it only mentions that the serpent was not just another common variety animal, in my opinion.
He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Phat writes:
We have talked the Fall story to death in other threads, but I might just point out that the symbolism is the point of realization for humanity. Perhaps nothing more, but we could philosophize on the meaning of freethinking versus blind obediance. Plus....surely it is not as if though God were surprised at the choice that was made, Him being all knowing and all! Many folk argue that He cannot be both all knowing and all powerful. I don't see why not, however.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Phat writes:
Notice that they did not see the Lord, yet apparantly heard Him.
9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"
Phat writes:
Some philosophers see this as a statement rather than a question, as if God is saying to humanity to look inwardly and see if we are in the right place.
10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked?
Phat writes:
Some philosophies say that the nakedness was symbolic of not being under the covering of the Holy Spirit.
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
"Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals!You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
Phat writes:
PD mentions that this snake is not the same as Satan or the Dragon in Revelation. Perhaps so, for it is mentioned that the snake has a finite life, apparantly...wheras Satan ends up tormented for eternity at a really BAD place.
21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
Phat writes:
literal "skin" like we have now, or animal skins...?
22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.
Phat writes:
Who is "us"?
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?
Phat writes:
More symbolic questions to humanity in general.
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
Phat writes:
another philosophic question that pertains to much of human relations.
26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.
At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD.
Phat writes:
So does this mean that prior to this, nobody called on God?
Genesis 5
Phat writes:
Some long lives! What is the symbolism of that?
Genesis 6:5 -The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
Phat writes:
How could God not foreknow that this was gonna happen?
So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Phat writes:
Which leads me to elieve that the Flood story is symbolic. The important moral is that Noah is righteous.Perhaps the symbolism is that all living things were baptised in a giant spiritual rain!
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™ Version 4.2
