In the Beginning: Genesis Edition
This month is about creation so I am starting with the best known creation story: Genesis. Genesis: in its first three chapters have a major impact on Judaism and Christianity through the ages. It show man fall from grace, the role of women, and reveal we have conflict and death today. If you read carefully you can see how old genesis and the echo of ancient pagan roots. In the beginning, about 3,000 years ago*, Jewish desert dwellers in what is present-day southern Israel told a story around campfires about the creation of the first man and first woman. The story they told, and passed on to generations of future desert dwellers, described a pre-creation scene much like the desert landscape in which they daily struggled for existence. From the dry desert dust the Creator forms a man and breaths life into him, and then places him in a beautiful oasis-like garden, abundant with fruits. The Creator takes a personal interest in this first man, and sets about trying to ...