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Firstly, it needs to be understood that there are not two creation accounts but two 'parts' to the one account. The reason for this assertion will be explained below.

The common ancient practice, as evidenced in other ancient literature, was to write one main account and then to write a second part or section which expanded on the first or some aspect of it. This is precisely what we have in the creation account which spans Genesis 1 and 2.

Secondly, it needs to be understood clearly that the Documentary Hypothesis or JEDP Theory from the 19th Century has been repeatedly and thoroughly refuted in terms of the main presuppositions on which it is based. It thus has no basis as a factual theory. In particular, this theory totally ignores the findings of Archaeology which refute its false presuppositions. It is archaeology, with its growing evidence of ancient literature which has furnished examples which highlight this ancient literary device.

Thirdly, in relation to the two parts of the one account the divisions are these. The first part of the account is generally chronological in that it gives a summary of the total creation over the period of the six days into the seventh day of rest. This account proceeds from Genesis 1:1 to 2:4a.

The second part of the one account begins at 2:4a and deals specifically with the creation of man. It is non-chronological, which is why some people see a non-existent contradiction between the two parts. Understanding the different emphasis removes this misunderstanding.

Summary:

The simple reason there appears to be two creation accounts is that this is an ancient literary usage. This usage takes a general overview and then later takes a particular part and expands upon it. There are thus not two accounts but different parts of the one account.

Answer

Re-thinking the single creation theory

First, one has to keep in mind that these ancient writings are from a Hebratic people, and only they can make known their spiritual beliefs and practices.

In my research on this very subject, I have found information that has changed my understanding of the creation story that I learned from childhood through Sunday School.

Christ in John 4:22, is speaking to a Samaritan woman concerning whom they worship, "Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews."

To lean the truth, we need to look to the Jewish teachings, and not the translations by modern man or their interpretations.

And this I have done.

Numbers are very significate to Jewish faith.

Let's look at the numbers 7 and 8.

In kabbalistic teachings, the number seven symbolizes perfection -

perfection that is achievable via natural means - while eight symbolizes that

which is beyond nature and its (inherently limited) perfection.

Some examples:

a) God created the world and its natural order in seven days.

b) Between the holidays of Passover and Shavuot there are seven weeks. During these weeks the Jews work on perfecting their seven emotions (love, fear, compassion, ambition, humility, bonding and receptiveness)-one emotion per week. At the conclusion of these seven weeks they have sufficiently perfected themselves to be worthy of receiving the Torah on Shavuot. A completed person has control over all seven emotions.

c) The Holy Temple's menorah, which served to illuminate the natural world with the holy glow of spirituality, had seven branches.

e) There are seven colors of the rainbow and seven musical notes. When something has seven parts, it symbolizes that it has reached its state of completion: the seven notes of the diatonic scale make one complete octave, etc.

Eight, on the other hand, is symbolic of an entity that is one step above the natural order, higher than nature and its limitations. That's why Chanukah is eight days long-

The greatly outnumbered Maccabees' resolve to battle the Greeks wasn't logical or natural. They drew on reservoirs of faith and courage that are not part of normative human nature. They therefore merited a miracle higher than nature - a miracle that lasted eight days - and to commemorate this, the Jews light on Chanukah an eight-branched menorah.

It was a command by God that all Jewish baby boys were to be circumcised on the eight day after their birth to consecrate them to god. In Judaism, circumcision is considered a symbol of the covenant between God and the Jewish people. In fact, brisliterally means "covenant." The bris is on the eighth day so that the newborn baby will by necessity live through a complete week which must include a Sabbath. Once the baby has experienced the "holiness" of the Shabbos, he may enter into the covenant of the Jewish people.

Now let's go to the scriptues.

TWO CREATIONS OF MAN

Creation 1) THE GENTILES (People of Different Nations)

Creation 2) MESSIANNIC LINE (Adam - Noah - David - Christ)

DAY 6 "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind,"

(A spoken command by the creator (the Word) and it was done. They were not "formed" by the hands of the creator, it was a command and the earth delivered.)

1st. he created - Cattle

2nd. he created - The things that creep/crawls upon the earth

3rd he created - The beasts of the earth. And "It was so."

4th God is taking inventory and God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after his kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind : and God saw that it was good."

5th - Let us make man in our image, after our likeness : and let them [plural, as in nations, races] have dominion over ALL living creatures, of those in the sea, in the air and of 'the beasts' and of 'the creeping things.' [God gave dominion over the earth to these human beings that He just created.]

Vs 27 - "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

Vs 28 And now God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish [replenish as in repopulate?! ]

Vs 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was VERY good. Not just "good", as was exclaimed in verses 1:10, 12, 18, 21, and 25, but VERY good. He was well satisfied. Chapter 2:1-3 God says, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and ALL THE HOST OF THEM. (the "hosts" of heaven, the angels and the hosts of the earth, mankind, and creatures, both male and female)

Genesis Chapter 2 - The Sabbath

2&3 And He rested on the 7thday and He blessed and sanctified it. Now this part of the creation phase is complete. And He says, 4 these are THE GENERATIONS of the heavens and of the earth, in the day, that the LORD God made the earth and heavens,

for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. 6 There went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. 7 And the Lord God formed man from the moistened earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. (Through Adam, a Savior would be born, an "eternal" living soul) Adam was the beginning of a "special" race of people, a "saving" race.

Next, pay close attention to the order in which things are created here, starting with the creation of Adam. The steps in which each item was created, is different from the 6th day creation where "man" was created last and animals and creeping things were created first.

1st Adam is formed. Genesis 5b - 7.

2nd "God planted a garden

3rd Now we have a river flowing out of Eden, watering the garden, parting and forming 4 rivers.

4th Genesis 2:15 Heavenly Father put Adam in the garden.

5th Genesis 2:18 LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet."

6th Genesis 2:19-20 "Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field , every fowl of the air, {Notice this time the "earth did not bring forth every creature after his kind" as is told on the 6th day of creation, these creations were "formed" by the creator. Another noticeable missing created item of the 6th day creation are the creeping things! They were not created in this creation day and there is a reason that I will explain later.}

[These are the "clean" creations, the animals to be

sacrificed to God in the temple.

The Sacrifices - Leviticus 1:2 - cattle, 1:10 - sheep & goats,

1:14 - fowl.]

7th Genesis 2:21-25 God formed Eve.

Adam was created FIRST in this creation where as the creation of "mankind, male and female" created on the 6th day were created last, a different creation, a different people. (The people of Nod, East of Eden, were of the 6th day race of people, one of many nations. Adam was created 2 days later, on the 8th day. The Eight Day creations, as I've written, is symbolic of an entity that is one step above the natural order, higher than nature and its limitations.)

The 6th day creations were all "unclean or blemished" heathen and un-Godly humans and animals with blimishes and the 8th day creations are "clean, Godly humans and the animals were without blemish".

Genesis 6:19 "And of every living thing of ALL FLESH, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female."

Genesis 7 1-9Noah was ordered to take aboard the ark, seven of every clean beast and fowl, the male and his female, and of the beast that are not clean, by two, the male and his female. Noah and his family were righteous and without blemish, and through Noah, Christ would be born.

Two creations, one "unclean" created on the 6th day and the other "clean" and special created on the 8th day.

1Peter 3:20 "eight souls were "saved" by water." (We see the baptism of Noah's family by water)

The righteous/clean/saved people on the ark were:

Noah and his wife

Ham and his wife

Shem and his wife

Japheth and his wife, the 8 saved souls.

Genesis 2:5(b) - 25

Stong's and NAS Exhaustive Concordances of the Bible :

Strong's #120

Word - h�·'�·��m, �·��m

Defination: man, mankind

NAS Exhaustive Concordance

Defination: man, mankind

NASB Translation

any man (2x), anyone (4x), anyone's (1x), being* (1x), common sort* (1), human (19), infantry (1), low degree* (1), low* (1), man (363), man's (20), man* (1), mankind (9), men (104), men of low degree* (1), men's (3), men* (4), mortal (1), one (3), people (1), person (5), person* (1), persons (3), population (1), someone (1).

Next compare both translations of "adam".

GENESIS 1:26

The creation of man/humans

Strong's # 120 / Transliteration - �·��m / Heb. word - �ָ�ָ��/ Eng. MAN

Gen. 2:5b

The creation of the man named Adam. A being or "entity that is one step above the natural order, higher than nature and its limitations".

Strong's # 120 / Transliteration - h�·'�·��m / Heb. word�ְ�ָ�ָ֣� / Eng. MAN

Notice the number of characters, strokes and dots under both Hebrew words above.

The word translated for the Hebrew words "adam and ha-adam" into the English translated word "man", should have been translated, in some instances, differently for a better understanding. To clarify the differance between two separate subjects or better yet, two creations.

For example: Genesis1:26 the creation of man

Hebrew text:

1) "way·y�·mer /2) ' �·l�·hîm, /3) na·'�·�eh /4) �·��m /5) b�·ṣal·mê·nū,"

English Transliteration

1) said /2) God, /3) make /4) 'man kind' /5) our image."

I have given you the information, draw your own conclusions.
Because before God created the earth and every living thing physically, he made them spiritually; therefore everything has a spirit, even the earth. Hence, two accounts.

Put simply, because there were two writers, at least, of Genesis. The 'priestly' writer tells of a God that is personal, and more human-like. He tells of him walking in the Garden with Adam, and having human traits. The second writer, the 'Jahwehist' writer tells of a God that is more aloof and spiritual, and less personal.

The evidence for this is overwhelming but easily missable in English translations of Genesis. In the original Hebrew the style of writing between the two writers of the Creation stories is obvious - as obvious as the difference between Tenessee Williams and Shakespeare, or Dickens and Harold Pinter.

Are the Creation stories made up then? No, but most Biblical scholars and many Christians who are not Creationists (in the sense that Genesis should be taken word-for-word literally), agree that the stories are far more profound than mere stories of two people in a garden. Many Christians look deeper than the superficial stories of Adam and Eve, and find a real truth of humanity's arrogance and determination to do its own thing rather than obey God's will.

The two accounts are sometimes seen by bible Scholars as representing God the Father (the Jahwehist, Spiritual God) and Jesus Christ, as God incarnate (The Priestly God).

Finally, if one is to interpret Genesis correctly there are many questions that must be asked, and false assumptions about Genesis dispersed. As one example, we read that God forbade Adam and Eve to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. If, by knowing that eating of that tree would cause death and suffering, why did he put it there in the first place? To catch us out? That does not speak to me of a God of love, but a God out to trap us. Therefore, many scholars now agree that the Tree was part of God's plan - necessary in order that we have free will, and that the rescue package of Jesus Christ was already part of His plan even in the days of Genesis. A second example of incorrect assumptions is that most laymen would agree that the devil tempted Eve to eat of the fruit. However, nowhere in Genesis is the serpent (who actually did the tempting) equated with the devil. The devil, Satam, Beelzebub, Lucifer - however you wish to name him - is never mentioned in Genesis.

Therefore, we must put aside preconceptions when looking at this ancient and important text - and that means also putting aside preconceptions about the writer/writers, the style, the reasons for writing and the depth underneath the superficial story. for it is only when we really study God's word that we begin to understand the mind of God and begin to have the ability to do His will.

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7y ago
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9y ago

Some believe there is only one Creation Story. These believe the Book of Genesis is a book of genealogies (Hebrew: toledot), apparently 12 of them, with each main character - God, Adam, Seth, etc writing down the events around them via their own point of view. These 'tablets' were then later compiled by Moses - who may have also been informed by God to write it all down. Scripture states/gives credit for the first five books of The Bible to Moses.

Jewish answer:

The Torah states that it was written in its entirety by one author, Moses (Deuteronomy 31:24), to whom it was dictated by God (Exodus 24:12), including earlier events.

The Torah has one creation-narrative, which takes the form of a summary (Genesis ch.1) followed by an in-depth recap (Rashi commentary to Gen. ch.2).

When we see a newspaper whose opening headline is repeated in the detailed story, we don't ascribe the repetition to different writers.

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12y ago

There's no such thing a creation stories, but there is such as a thing the creation story. The reason why we have the creation story is so we can learn how the world was created. The world was created by the One and Only God. Read Genesis chapter 1.

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Some hold to an opinion of one Scriptural 'Creation Story' with about a dozen writers contributing to it in their times - called genealogies in Genesis.

Then in my opinion, it would seem logical for the survivors of the worldwide Flood of Noah's time to each know about these events from Noah who being from the line of 'Righteousness' would of had the oral tradition passed on from Adam to Seth to his grandfather and father and then to Noah. He in turn would of passed it onto his sons and they to theirs, etc. Then at the Tower of Babel when the nations were dispersed, surely the masses would of recalled these oral traditions.

Over time, and for many reasons, the story took on slightly to vastly different characters and scenario of events differed a bit as well. We see this type of tradition passed on in mythologies, Celtic stories, and Native American Indian tribes to this day.

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9y ago

Scholars believe that the Book of Genesis was written by at least four sources, over a period of several hundred years. Thus the two accounts of creation were written down by different sources at different times and places.

Genesis 2:4b to 2:15 is actually the older account in the Judaic religion, and dates from around the eighth century BCE, or even earlier. It says that there was pre-existing dry land, but Yahweh had yet to make it rain for plants to grow. A spring arose and God took some moist clay and made Adam.
The King James Version contains a translation that is so obscure that few probably try to understand it fully. However, there are clearer translations that are also closer to the original Hebrew, one being the (Catholic) New American Bible which provides a clearer translation of the original Hebrew verses 2:4-6:

Such is the story of the heavens and the earth at their creation. At the time when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens - while as yet there was no field shrub on earth and no grass of the field had sprouted, for the LORD God had sent no rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil, but a stream was welling up out of the earth and was watering all the surface of the ground ...



Genesis 1:1 to 2:4a ( up to first sentence of 2:4) is believed to have been written by the Priestly ('P') source during or shortly after the Babylonian exile. In this account, the ocean was already present and a wind moved across the surface. The seas rested on the dry land, which appeared on day 3 when God gathered the waters together. The order of creation was as follows:

(Day 1) light (day); (2) the firmament, which was believed to separate the waters of the heavens from the lower waters; (3) By gathering the lower waters in one place the land appeared. Grasses and trees; (4) sun; moon and stars - the lights in the firmament; (5) fish, land creatures and fowl; (6) man, both male and female. Notice that the light of day was not yet understood to have originated from the sun, although the sun was universally understood to rule the day. That is why it was possible to have grass and trees before the sun was created.



More information can be found in Anchor Bible Series: Genesis (Speiser) and Middle Eastern Mythology (Hooke). Also, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

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The two creation stories in Genesis are so different that we should not think of them as originating with one single source of inspiration. Instead, we should see them as the efforts of two anonymous authors who wrote in different times and places, and in vastly different circumstances.

The second creation story, beginning in the second sentenced of Genesis 2:4, was written by the author now known as the Yahwist, early in the first millenium BCE. It reflects the early traditions of the kingdom of Judah. You will notice that the ocean does not play a part in this creation account, but there is a focus on the need for rain - appropriate concerns for an arid inland nation.

The first creation account, in Genesis 1:1-2:4a, was written by the Priestly author during or shortly after the Babylonian Exile, and closely parallels ancient Mesopotamian creation myths, including their emphasis on the waters.
For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

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There are two versions of the creation story in Genesis because Genesis was written by more than one author, over a period of centuries.


  • The creation story beginning at Genesis 2:4b (the second sentence of 2:4) to 2:25 was written by an anonymous author now known as the Yahwist.
  • The creation story in Genesis 1:1-2:4a was written by an anonymous author now known as the Priestly Source.


We can not regard them as two versions of exactly the same story, because they are not. In the first account, man and women were created together, at the very end of creation, after all other living things. In the second account, man is created first, then all other living creatures, then a woman was created.


For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

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Each religion has its own creation story, and sometimes more than one. In the Bible, there are two creation stories in Genesis plus fragments of a third in Job and the Book of Psalms. This occurs because there were different authors who wrote the different stories at different times and for different reasons.

The original creation story of Genesis is now the second one, starting at verse 2:4b (the second sentence of verse 2:4). The early Jews are believed to have encountered an early version of what is now the first creation story, in Genesis 1:1-2:4a, during the Babylonian Exile. It was assimilated and added to Genesis, without removing the second creation story, probably because the older story was popular and it would have caused dissent to have removed it.

Leon R. Kass (The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis) says that pious readers, believing that the text cannot contain contradictions, ignore the major disjunctions between the two creation stories in Genesis and tend to treat the second story as the fuller, more detailed account of the creation of man (and woman).

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

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According to tradition, there is only one Genesis creation-narrative, with ch.2 serving as an expansion of the brevity of ch.1, not a separate set of events (Rashi commentary, Gen.2:8). In ch.1, God created the universe from nothing (Exodus 20:11, Rashi commentary, Gen.1:14), and in ch.2, God performed specific acts within the broader picture.
The same literary devices which the Torah employs to enrich its text, have been used by Bible-critics in an attempt to reassign its authorship.

The Jewish sages, based on ancient tradition, identified many of these devices, which include:

recapping earlier brief passages to elucidate,

employing different names of God to signify His various attributes,

using apparent changes or redundancies to allude to additional unstated details,

speaking in the vernacular that was current during each era,

and many more. While Judaism has always seen the Torah as an intricate tapestry that nonetheless had one Divine source, some modern authors such as Wellhausen (the father of modern Biblical-criticism, 1844-1918) have suggested artificially chopping up the narrative and attributing it to various authors, despite the Torah's explicit statement as to its provenance (Exodus 24:12, Deuteronomy 31:24). This need not concern believers, since his claims have been debunked one by one, as archaeology and other disciplines have demonstrated the integrity of the Torah. No fragments have ever been found that would support his Documentary Hypothesis, which remains nothing more than an arbitrary claim:

Debunking the JEPD Documentary Hypothesis

The creation-narrative in Genesis (a Christian author)

The authorship of the Hebrew Bible

Archaeology

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The Torah states that it was written in its entirety by one author, Moses (Deuteronomy 31:24), to whom it was dictated by God (Exodus 24:12), including earlier events.

The Torah has one creation-narrative, which takes the form of a summary (Genesis ch.1) followed by an in-depth recap (Rashi commentary, Genesis 2:8).
When we see a newspaper whose opening headline is paraphrased in the detailed story, we don't ascribe the repetition to different writers.

But this kind of literary device, which the Torah employs to enrich its text, has been used by Bible-critics in an attempt to reassign and divide up its authorship.

The Jewish sages, based on ancient tradition, identified many of these devices, which include:

recapping earlier brief passages to elucidate,

employing different names of God to signify His various attributes,

using apparent changes or redundancies to allude to additional unstated details,

speaking in the vernacular that was current during each era,

and many more. While Judaism has always seen the Torah as an intricate tapestry that nonetheless had one Divine source, some modern authors such as Wellhausen (the father of modern Biblical-criticism, 1844-1918) have suggested artificially attributing the narrative to several unknown authors, despite the Torah's explicit statement as to its provenance (Exodus 24:12, Deuteronomy 31:24). This need not concern believers, since his claims have been debunked one by one, as archaeology and other disciplines have demonstrated the integrity of the Torah. No fragments have ever been found that would support his Documentary Hypothesis, which remains nothing more than an arbitrary claim:

Refuting the JEPD Documentary Hypothesis

The creation-narrative in Genesis (a Christian author)

The authorship of the Hebrew Bible


More information:

A Jewish summary of the Creation-narrative is that, day by day, God created the universe and everything in it (Genesis ch.1).God created the universe out of nothing (Exodus 20:11, Isaiah 40:28; Rashi commentary to Genesis 1:14; Maimonides' "Guide," 2:30). Nachmanides on Gen. 1:1 states emphatically that this is a fundamental Jewish tradition.Note that the Torah, in describing the Creation, deliberately employs brevity and ellipsis, just as it does in many other topics. See the Talmud, Hagigah 11b.


On day 1: God created the universe in general, light, and this Earth. The light was not the same as that of the sun. Rather, it was light that God created before the sun, and which emanated from a point in space without any physical source; like what we might term a "white hole."

On day 2: God created the separation between the Earth and the upper atmosphere.

On day 3: God separated the continents from the oceans, and created plants.

On day 4: God created the sun, moon, and stars.

On day 5: God created birds and fish.

On day 6: God created animals and people.

On day 7: God ceased creating, thereby creating the concept of rest.

See also:

Can you show that God exists?

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What are the three de-creation stories?

three de-creation stories are Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve, and the tower of Babel


Name the truths revealed in the Creation stories?

nothing is true in the creation story


What is the differences from creation stories and migration stories?

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In which of the first five books of the Old Testament will you find two creation stories?

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What are creation stories of the Cree tribe?

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Where can you get the Chinese creation story?

There are many Chinese creation stories. One is available via the attached link.


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Creation stories, Cain and abel, tower of babel, noah's flood stories, exodus, ect... :)


What are a part of the native American oral tradition -earth-diverstories - independence stories - origin stories - creation myths?

Independence stories.


Do all creation stories begin with chaos?

AnswerPerhaps not all, but many of the more ancient creation stories of the Mediterranean and Near East regions began with chaos. The struggle between good and evil, or between the righteous gods and the chaos monsters provided a satisfying and plausible explanation for the reasons for the creation of this imperfect world.We even find fragments of ancient Hebrew chaos stories in Psalms and Job, although the creation stories in Genesis 1 and 2 could perhaps be considered as reflecting more recent cultural attitudes to the older chaos-creation stories.


Creation stories of other cultures and different religions?

There are numerous stories of creation in many different cultures and religions. A very comprehensive compilation can be found in the Related links below.


How is God's creation story different to the Chinese one?

Just as there are two quite different creation stories in Genesis, plus fragments of a third one in the Psalms and Job, so also are there several Chinese creation stories. This is especially true because China is so large and has so many different traditions, including Buddhism, Daoism and folk religions. With so many different stories, both in the Bible and Chinese belief, there is no simple answer to a simple question like this. Since God is a Semitic concept, God's creation stories are naturally different to the Chinese creation stories. Each creation story is true to its believers.


Do creation stories tell religious communities about God?

Yes, they tell us that our creation was not accidental but was purposeful and meaningful. See also:Is there evidence for Creation?Can you show that God exists?Seeing God's wisdom