I'll try.
What do I mean by not taking a literal reading of the early chapters of Genesis?
Probably not the best or most concise explanation, but the best way I can put it is this….
Every culture has its creation stories –how the world “as we know it” came into being. Why certain things are the way they are. How certain things came into being, or became our common traditions/practice. The list goes on and on. Those stories from other cultures that are different from ours, we tend to refer to as ‘myths’, which carries the connotation something not to be taken/read as literal.
The early chapters of Genesis just happen to be the creation story as related and passed down by those ancient Semitic people who eventually became to be called the Jews, and by eventual extension, to what we know as Christianity.
Creation stories are, by their very nature, highly allegorical and figurative. They are also typically full of symbolic meaning. As such, it is difficult to regard them as relating absolute or literal stories.
If, for example, we all still practiced say the religion of the ancient Germanic people, we would adhere to those creation stories associated with that tradition. They would be as real to us as the stories in Genesis. If that were the case, we’d regard Genesis as “Jewish mythology”, and hold it in the same regard as we do “Norse mythology”.
I believe that the creation stories of Genesis can only be taken as being allegorical and figurative; as others have pointed out, the discrepancies outweigh a literal reading.
For example, God created the world – to me, the reason Genesis has it as seven days has more to do with how this ancient culture explained the way they reckoned time than anything else. How long it took, in a way, is sort of irrelevant. If this ancient Semitic culture reckoned a period of ten days rather than seven, I have no doubt that we’d be reading a slightly different account in Genesis, showing God creating the world in ten days rather than seven.
It’s not widely known, but there are actually a few creation stories that pre-date Genesis which are alluded to in other parts of the Bible (Isaiah, Job, Psalms). Here’s an interesting article from a periodical (?) out of Israel called “Haaretz” (the ads are a pain, but the article is quite interesting):
https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-where-did-creation-story-come-from-1.5404560
The bottom line here is that these are creation myths – not literal stories.
What do I mean by not taking a literal reading of the early chapters of Genesis?
Probably not the best or most concise explanation, but the best way I can put it is this….
Every culture has its creation stories –how the world “as we know it” came into being. Why certain things are the way they are. How certain things came into being, or became our common traditions/practice. The list goes on and on. Those stories from other cultures that are different from ours, we tend to refer to as ‘myths’, which carries the connotation something not to be taken/read as literal.
The early chapters of Genesis just happen to be the creation story as related and passed down by those ancient Semitic people who eventually became to be called the Jews, and by eventual extension, to what we know as Christianity.
Creation stories are, by their very nature, highly allegorical and figurative. They are also typically full of symbolic meaning. As such, it is difficult to regard them as relating absolute or literal stories.
If, for example, we all still practiced say the religion of the ancient Germanic people, we would adhere to those creation stories associated with that tradition. They would be as real to us as the stories in Genesis. If that were the case, we’d regard Genesis as “Jewish mythology”, and hold it in the same regard as we do “Norse mythology”.
I believe that the creation stories of Genesis can only be taken as being allegorical and figurative; as others have pointed out, the discrepancies outweigh a literal reading.
For example, God created the world – to me, the reason Genesis has it as seven days has more to do with how this ancient culture explained the way they reckoned time than anything else. How long it took, in a way, is sort of irrelevant. If this ancient Semitic culture reckoned a period of ten days rather than seven, I have no doubt that we’d be reading a slightly different account in Genesis, showing God creating the world in ten days rather than seven.
It’s not widely known, but there are actually a few creation stories that pre-date Genesis which are alluded to in other parts of the Bible (Isaiah, Job, Psalms). Here’s an interesting article from a periodical (?) out of Israel called “Haaretz” (the ads are a pain, but the article is quite interesting):
https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-where-did-creation-story-come-from-1.5404560
The bottom line here is that these are creation myths – not literal stories.
And by the influence of sun they got darker and darker in next generations.
