BEYOND A REASONABLE FAITH

#11: Reasonable Account Of Creation

Wide Array Of Creation Myths

Various Categories

• Chaos • Earth Diver• World Parent• Emergence• Ex Nihilo

Enuma Elish – Ancient Babylonian Myth

• “When on high…”• Varies by region• Undifferentiated water beginning

• Two gods: Apsu and Tiamat

• Apsu god of fresh water• Tiamat goddess of salt water.

• Mate and give birth to lesser gods.

Younger gods too noisy Apsu listens to counselor

Mummu and decides to kill the younger gods.

Tiamat’s eldest son Enki/Ea puts Absu to sleep and kills him.

Tiamat turns against her children and creates 11 monsters to kill them.

One of the young gods, Marduk wins the battle – creates people

Greek Accounts of Creation

Beginning was chaos Erebus the dwelling of the

dead appeared Love appeared and

brought order. Light and Day appeared

followed by Gaea, the earth.

Erebus slept with Night and gave birth to Ether, heavenly light….

Eridu Genesis – Sumerian Myth

Fragmentary tablet Various versions of the

myth from same timeframe

Gods An, Enlil, Enki and Ninhursanga create the black-headed people

Create a comfortable place for animals to live and procreate

Missing section then flood account.

Bible Myth Compared

Attacked by atheists, liberals and even conservatives.

Other myths compared by academics as “very similar” to the Genesis account

Similar? In what way?

Defense for the Genesis Account Why defend it at all? Claims to be the word of

God Upheld as truth by Jesus Mark 10:6-8 – “But from the

beginning of creation, God made them male and female…and the two shall become one flesh….

Quoted from Genesis

“We are well advised to take it seriously and literally, for God is able to say what He means, and will someday hold us accountable for believing what He says! Furthermore, the account is reasonable and logical, fully in accord with all true science and history.”

Dr. Henry Morris

The Logic of Biblical Creation

Acts and Facts, 1990

Mark 13:19

“For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be.”

Jesus believed God created the universe….AND HE WAS THERE!

Is There Logic In The Creation?

“We can also see a kind of logical order in the days of creation, according to which the later acts of creations build on earlier ones.”

Vern S. Poythress

Logic: A God-centered Approach to the Foundation of Western Thought

Day One Heavens formed Formless Earth Light Day Night

Day 2

Sky Atmosphere

Day Three

Dry land Plant life on the land

Day Four

Heavenly bodies Sun Moon

Day Five

Water life Air life

Day Six

Land creatures Man

Day Seven

Completion and rest