Saturday, September 10th, 2022
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, …” Genesis 1:1-2:3 NRSV
“These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. …” Genesis 2:4-25 NRSV
These two passages constitute what is known as the two creation stories of the Judeo-Christian tradition. They are two separate accounts whose purpose is to explain the beginning of time. Just like the creation accounts of other traditions they do their explaining in very specific ways.
The first passage tells the story of creation in a worshipful way. By using poetry, it conveys the awesomeness and majesty of God and His creation. Probably recited during worship services and religious observances, it instills a sense of wonder among the audience.
The second story is told in a narrative manner to teach basic truths about the way things came into being. Possibly told around camp fires in its earliest days, it still serves as a teaching tool today.
Neither of these stories, or for that matter those of other traditions, is supposed to be a scientific treatise. All of these accounts come from a pre-scientific age and should be treated as such. If we want precise accounts into the matters of the universe we need to look into modern science. That is not to say that there isn’t value in them, both methods, faith and scientific serve their respectful purposes.
So, what are we to believe? All traditions agree, the universe was brought into existence by God or in the case of polytheistic religions, Gods. On the other hand, science is searching for the how of creation. In doing so we are discovering new facts that could possibly impact our lives. With that being true, we need to have faith in something to make sense of all that is happening in our universe.
It has been said that “there is nothing that is good or bad, but what we make it so.” I believe that statement at a certain level because History is full of examples of the human species really messing up things that have the potential to do so much good. Therefore, we need the lessons learned from our faith traditions to navigate the ever-expanding wealth of knowledge that is before us.
Bottom line, we need a sense of right and wrong in order to save ourselves from situations that we don’t have the scientific maturity to address. We live in a fragile universe, and we have long held the power to destroy it. So, it would benefit us as a species to encourage a balanced approach to assessing our direction.
I suggest we look to faith, study history, and think critically of the issues before us. It is on our benevolence that we go forward. With a lack of the principles taught in the various faith traditions, we are doomed to extinction.
Meditate on that for a while,
Go in God’s grace.
Pastor Yancy
Faith history and science I believe to be a good mixture in the right proportions, unfortunately I fear that number one and number two are on the wane and number three is on the wax.
You are correct. I believe we are shedding one for the other when it should be both.
Scripture, Tradition, Reason & Experience
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