Creation through a new lens

Many Christians stake their faith on the fact that God is unchanging, immutable. His/her character may be but I can think of about 10 instances off the top of my head where God changed his/her mind or his/her approach to people (details for another topic). Interestingly, Christians then take the leap to claim some sort of immutability for Christianity and the way it has been practiced over time. It is assumed various passages in the bible have always meant the same thing, even as we correct less responsible translations. It’s assumed that the rites we practice are the same rites that have always been practiced and we do them the same way. Well this week was a major disruptor for any of that nonsense!

We finished up the first eleven chapters of Genesis and explored the stories, images and metaphors that the biblical writers borrowed from the myths and cults of Babylon and Mesopotamia. Yeah, I know, that might be earth-shattering for some of my readers that the biblical writers used existing stories, images and metaphors to make their point… that these words did not emerge directly from the divine abyss. But I actually find it weirdly reassuring. The New Testament writers document Jesus doing the same thing. He used images and stories around vineyards and farming and sheep because that was what first century Palestinians would understand. You can’t speak truth without using already accepted cultural language (words, images, metaphors). In fact, I wonder if this is part of the reason Christianity is becoming less relevant. We cling to language and cultural artifacts from ages past and don’t appropriately  “translate” it into this culture. Even worse, we allow many of the biblical story themes and ideals to be co-opted by veiled greed, prejudice, and selfishness (and I digress).

A couple Aha’s that emerged from this cross-cultural exploration of the creation stories:

1. In other similar creation myths, the pantheon of gods that were created from some primordial abyss are amoral. The gods fight like siblings, perpetrating both good and evil on creation in the process. Not so with the biblical God. S/he is consistently good, creative and cares for creation.
2. Human are “unimportant menials” in other creation myths. In the biblical creation accounts, people are made in the image of God, given the power to name other creatures (naming is super important in the bible), and given dominion over all creation (which by the way, we kind of suck at… more on that below)
3. In other creation myths, the world is a difficult, hostile place left to the whims of the bickering gods. In the biblical creation accounts, the world is a beautiful paradise completely in balance. In fact the only thing that disturbs that balanced paradise is people actively disobeying God and seeking their own self-interest.  Check out how balanced this paradise was in Genesis 1, especially 28-30, notice that God instructed separate food sources so there would be no competition or violence.

Check out Initiation into what? to see how baptism has changed over time.