Bible Story (Genesis Edition; Part I)

In the Beginning

The first story in the bible, and possibly (still) the most debatable as well, is the story of creation. Whether you're the ones that believed that science shows that the earth was not made in just 7-days period of time, or the ones that believed that God is real, and His time is not quantify by our time, one thing that we must agree on, is that this story is not written by some angels or super creatures. It's written by human beings, with their own time, situations, & contexts so that it's messages could be difficult to read by the modern world people.

I was also studying this subject by my spiritual mentor at the church, and things that he said that fascinated me is that, to read the bible is not the same as reading a novel or a scientific journal. Bible is a book of faith, so in order to understand the content, we must read it as a literature book. We don't need to literally examinee every words and phrases to separate the false and the true information. We don't need to compare the content of the book by our modern knowledge about the history of the universe.

Man, those dudes that wrote the story of creation, didn't even know about dinosaurs yet, so we must be gentle to them, right? Yes, humans sometimes make mistakes in their lives, including the author of the genesis's book, but we also need to put in our mind, deeply, that the scripture of this story was also written by the guidance of Holy Spirit, so we don't need to be afraid if the content of the bible is factually wrong. Of course, it's wrong (scientifically)! But there's something far more important than just facts.

Bible is not a science book. It's a literature book. It's a book of faith. A book of faith means, a book that helps us to strengthen our faith. So, there's something going on, far deeper & more important than just what is written. It's something beneath the information & facts; it's moral messages, symbols, and life tips. That's the ones that we should believe in ourselves about that. So, science & bible could get along eventually, right? Although they're different, they're still grow at the same tree.

So, let's get back to the first point; Is it true that God create the world in 7 days? Well, it's a 'yes' & 'no' answer. No, because the fact is that the world was created more than just 7 days. 'Yes', because the world was created by the hand of God, and it's not made by accident. If you still think that the world is not made by the hand of God, well it's a flawed belief, you know. How can we say that the world is made by accident, although it's so perfect & beautiful out there?

The next most common misconceptions about the creation, is that when we read that God sees us as 'very good', we tend to look up at ourselves, unhealthily. We prefer to see ourselves as higher than any other creatures in this planet. And it results to the exploitation of natural resources, where we take everything irresponsibly, because we think we're 'higher' than them. It makes us forget that God also told that one of our first & still our responsibility, is to take care of the earth & the creatures that lives in it. Humans are the guardians of the nature, not the 'boss'.

All of the arguments that we've heard from the articles, sermons, and even the school teachers said that 'humans were made at the sixth day, because God loved us so much that He wanted us to have a perfect place for us to live, so that everything that human needs is already prepared' is also can be taken as an arrogant statements. Well, the bible itself never stated clearly why the humans were made at the sixth day of the creations, (perhaps it's also possible that it's not the main point that writer wanted us to have), but in my opinion, to justify that human is the highest beings in this world by referring to that arguments is just a misled belief.

Well yes, humans are the most complex creatures in the world, but that doesn't mean that we're the 'superior' creatures and can be exploiting the other creatures that is less 'valuable' than us. That's the point that some people are missing about human's responsibility to the nature. God gave us a beautiful & intelligent mind, not as an excuse to abuse other beings, but it's actually quite the opposite; to protect those creatures & keep the balance in the earth, so that the nature will thrive.