CREATION (CHRISTIANITY) Flashcards
What do Christians believe God, the Father, did?
Created the universe ‘ex- nihilo’, meaning from nothing.
Where is the Christian creation story told?
In the first book of the Bible called Genesis
What happened on day 1 of creation?
God created light and separated it from darkness. God names the light ‘day’ and the dark ‘night’
What happened on day 2 of creation?
God created sky. God used the sky to divide the water that covered the Earth into two halves
What happened on day 3 of creation?
God gathered water into one place called the ‘seas’ and made land appear, called ‘Earth’. He also created plants and trees.
What happened on day 4 of creation?
God created the sun, the moon and the stars to light up the sky
What happened on day 5 of creation?
God created all of the species of animals that live on Earth
What happened on day 6 of creation?
God created he human beings in his image and put them in charge of everything on the Earth
What happened on day 7 of creation?
God rested, blessed the seventh day and made it holy. The universe was complete
What happened in Genesis 2?
God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. He put the man to work in the Garden of Eden and told him to not eat from the tree of good and evil. Out of the ground, God made wild animals and birds. Adam was lonely so God put him int a deep sleep and took a rib from his chest and sealed the wound with flesh. With the rib, God created a woman called Eve.
How many days do Christians believe it took for God to create the universe?
6 days with one day of rest
The role of the Spirit in creation.
The Spirit is referring to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, as well as Jesus, was present from the start of creation. This reinforces the Trinity
The role of the Word in creation.
The Word is referring to the person of Jesus. Jesus was with God from the beginning as he was with God. Through Jesus all things were made.
How do Christians interpret the creation stories?
Some Christians believe int he literal meaning of the context (Creationists), while most Christians believe in the metaphorical reading of the Genesis.
What do Creationists believe?
Some Christians believe the Genesis story is historically true and that God created the world in 6 days as it is explained in the Old Testament. They believe in the literal reading of the text.
What is the Day Age theory?
States that God created the world exactly as describes in Genesis 1 but each day represents a period of time (which could be billions of years), rather than 24 hours
What is a metaphorical reading go the Genesis?
The belief that the story has meaning and truths contained within it, but it is not literally true. Important, it teaches Christians about relationships between God, people, animals and the world
What are the implications of the stories being different?
It could be argued that because the stories are so different that we shouldn’t trust Biblical accounts of the creation story. Others would argue that although there are some differences in the order, this does not mean that God did not create the world but that he is transcendent so we cannot fully understand the stories. Some would say the themes of the story are more important than the facts so it does not matter if they differ.
