Beliefs And Teachings - Biblical Accounts Of Creation Flashcards
Genesis 1
At the start of the genesis account of creation, God brings order from chaos and His Spirit preparing to bring life into the world. By speaking aloud, God creates everything over six days through the power of His word —beginning with light and continuing with the Earth, plants, animals, and celestial bodies. Creation reflects God’s power and purpose. Humans are uniquely made in God’s likeness and given the role of stewards, responsible for caring for the Earth and being accountable to God.
Genesis 2
Genesis 2 offers a second creation account, focusing on the story of Adam and Eve rather than a poetic structure like Genesis 1. It highlights humanity’s importance by starting with Adam, who is formed from dust and given life by God’s breath. This shows a more personal and physical side of God, emphasizing His close relationship with humans.
God gives Adam one command—not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge—introducing the concept of free will as he can choose to obey or disobey God. The Holy Spirit is shown as both creator and life-giver in this account.
Genesis 3 the fall
The serpent tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit by questioning God’s command and claiming they won’t die. Eve is persuaded by the fruit’s appearance and promise of knowledge, eats it, and gives some to Adam.
Their disobedience introduces sin into the world for the first time, breaking humanity’s perfect relationship with God. When confronted, they avoid responsibility. As punishment, God banishes them from the Garden of Eden, cutting them off from eternal life.
Effects of the Fall
- Many Christian’s believe that the Fall has affected the entire human race. They believe that every person born since the Fall is affected by this original sin. Many Christian’s believe that original sin means that all humans are born out of relationship with God and in need of His salvation to bring them back into the relationship. Original sin means that unless the price of the sin is paid, which is known as redemption, a person has no hop of eternal life in heaven with God.
Literal interpretations of the Creation story
- Some Christian’s take genesis 1-3 literally. They believe that the Bible is God’s actual words and that the accounts in this section of Genesis provide an accurate historical account of the creation of the world and the Fall.
- These Christian’s are taking what is known as a Creationist approach. They reject any science that suggests the world was not made in six days.
- Ultimately these Christian’s argue that the Bible is inspired by God and that God’s word is infallible, unlike human knowledge, and as such it should be take as an absolute truth.
The Creation story as a myth
Many Christians see the Genesis creation accounts as myths—stories that convey spiritual truths rather than literal facts. Differences in style and order between Genesis 1 and 2, along with scientific evidence about the age of the universe, support this view. This leads some to believe in Theistic Evolution—the idea that God initiated and guides the process of evolution to bring about life.
The creation story as compatible with science
- Other Christian’s do not think that the days that are referred to in Genesis 1 ned to be taken literally. This is because they say that God’s time is not the same as our time. This view would suggest that each day of the week in the Creation story actually represents a longer period of time, maybe even billions of years. This makes the Creation account more compatible with the evidence provided by science about the age and development of life on the Earth.
