{"id":10166,"date":"2020-07-31T05:55:29","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T10:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/?page_id=10166"},"modified":"2025-07-26T14:45:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T19:45:57","slug":"creation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/mystery\/symbols-signs-types-copies-shadows-and-patterns\/creation","title":{"rendered":"Creation Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

GENESIS IS NOT ABOUT PHYSICAL CREATION<\/strong>
\nFor most readers, the bible appears to be a report of God interacting with people in real physical locations in actual historical events. While this makes for thoughtful reading, interesting sermons, beautiful art and entertainment, it is a serious mistake to think of the bible as a factual, historical document of real people in real places in chronological history because the bible as a book of Symbols, Signs, Types, Parables, Allegories, Copies, and Shadows<\/a> that transcend space and time.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See\u00a0Time: Hours, Days, Weeks and Ages\u00a0<\/a>for clues about how to interpret time in the bible.<\/p>\n

Failure to understand biblical references to time and interpret the bible as a book of Symbols, Signs, Types, Parables, Allegories, Copies, and Shadows <\/a>results in the formation of religion and wrong thinking about God and how he interacts with his people. A symbolic, spiritual perspective leads to a correct understanding of God and how people should relate to him. This is true throughout the bible but is especially true for the book of Genesis because it sets the tone for the rest of the bible.<\/p>\n

Most Jews and Christians will be surprised and disappointed to learn that adopting a historical perspective on the book of Genesis has led their religions astray. Moreover, that perspective has caused them to miss the important spiritual lessons contained in the book of Genesis. This page titled “Creation” begins to unravel the mysteries found in the symbolism of the book of Genesis and redirect people to the spiritual truths contained there and elsewhere in the bible.<\/p>\n

Understanding of the symbolism of Creation will be greatly enhanced for people who first read Egypt, Babylon and Canaan, <\/a>Land, Earth and the Promised Land,<\/a>\u00a0Kingdom of God\/Heaven<\/a>, and Heaven<\/a>. These pages introduce the symbolic meanings of biblical references to the natural world. It will also be helpful to read Genesis of Genesis: Where Did the Biblical Story of Creation Come From?<\/a> These links will help readers appreciate how Egyptian and Babylonian creation myths have influenced Genesis and many doctrines in Judaism and Christianity.<\/p>\n

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EGYPTIAN AND BABYLONIAN ORIGINS OF GENESIS<\/strong>
\nIt is well understood in scholarly circles that there are many similar themes in the Babylonian, Egyptian, and Genesis stories of creation. It is necessary to understand that these similarities exist before delving into the spiritual meaning of Genesis.<\/p>\n

To help understand those similarities, this page includes three articles that discuss them in some detail. It will be helpful for readers to notice words and phrases in bold type<\/strong> that identify Babylonian and Egyptian creation myth concepts that also appear in the Genesis narrative.<\/p>\n

This link<\/a> summarizes the similarities like this:<\/p>\n

In all the stories one god creates man and explains how all things on earth come to being<\/strong>. They also set up their calendars<\/strong> and show examples of evil within each story to set up moral rules for man to live by<\/strong>. How do these elements compare between each of these stories?<\/em><\/p>\n

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In the Babylonian myth the God Marduk creates man<\/strong> from the blood of another god Kingu. \u201cBlood will I compose, bring a skeleton<\/a> into being, Produce a lowly, primitive creature, \u2018Man\u2019 shall be his name.<\/strong>\u201d In Egyptian myth the God Rae creates man<\/strong> and takes this form. In the Genesis story there is only one God, he creates man in the image of himself.<\/strong> In the Babylonian and Egyptian stories, the major difference is they have many Gods. Also, in the Genesis story God creates man in his likeness, this might be the case with the Babylonian story, but that is not clear. The major similarity<\/a> is that all three of the stories only have one God that creates mankind.<\/em><\/p>\n

All the stories show how things came onto the Earth and how it was made;<\/strong> they also set up their calendars at the same time.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Egyptian and Babylonian similarities to the Genesis story are confirmed in the following abstract of a paper by Kirsten Theuma in the following article titled Compare and contrast the models of creation found in the myths of Mesopotamia, the Levant, and ancient Egypt.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The term \u2018myth\u2019 deals with stories and suppositions which are not true or which can exist only through one\u2019s capability of imagination.\u00a0<\/span>In spite of this fanciful <\/span>theme, myths are extremely popular worldwide and they are inherited by means of oral speech from one generation to another….<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Such myths may be found preserved in\u00a0<\/span>the archaeological records through written sources like clay tablets, which are believed to have emerged from the deities themselves. Such myths may relate to\u00a0<\/span>several different subjects, but through this essay, creation myths specifically from <\/span>the Levant, Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt will be tackled thoroughly…<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Myths dealing with creation can take several different forms. Creation myths are <\/span>very broad and more than that, they are split into sections, depending from what <\/span>creation emerged from. Such may include the creation from a cosmic egg, creation\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>from chaos or simply creation from nothing<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>as in the case for the creation of the <\/span>world in the book of\u00a0<\/span>Genesis<\/span>. When something is created out of nothing, it is <\/span>called\u00a0<\/span><\/span>ex nihilo.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>This term can be used for\u00a0<\/span>Genesis\u00a0<\/span> and also for other myths for\u00a0<\/span>which the world was believed to have been created out of nothing….<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
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The book of\u00a0<\/span>Genesis\u00a0<\/span> especially the first two chapters, were written based on\u00a0<\/span>mythical creation models from Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. This similarity <\/span>can be noticed from the very first sentence of the book of Genesis <\/em><\/em>which reads; \u201cIn <\/span>the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth<\/span>\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/span> In fact, this\u00a0<\/span>sentence shares a similarity of words with the Babylonian myth\u00a0<\/span> Enuma\u00a0Elish<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>which\u00a0<\/span> begins with\u00a0\u201cwhen on\u00a0high\u201d.<\/span>…..<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It has been argued that since this Babylonian <\/span>epic is much older than the creation story for\u00a0<\/span>Genesis<\/span>, Moses could have used the <\/span>Babylonian myth in order to write his own creation account. More than that, due to\u00a0<\/span>the several similarities which exist between these two stories, and since they are<\/span> both Near\u00a0Eastern creation accounts,\u00a0<\/span>Genesis<\/span> is also taken in consideration to be a\u00a0<\/span>myth….<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Moving further into the texts of both creation myths, one can observe that in the <\/strong><\/span>beginning primeval chaos is implied and that water is split into lower and upper\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>waters.<\/strong> Another two similarities which suggest a strong link between\u00a0<\/span>Genesis<\/span> and<\/span> Enuma Elish<\/span><\/span><\/a> can be seen through numbers. For\u00a0<\/span>Genesis,\u00a0<\/span>man is created on the 6<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>day while for the Babylonian epic<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>the creation of man occurs in the 6<\/span>th<\/span> tablet. In\u00a0<\/span>addition,<\/span> Enuma Elish\u00a0<\/span>is written on seven clay tablets while the world <\/span>according to\u00a0<\/span>Genesis<\/span> was created in a period of seven days. <\/span>As <\/span>aforementioned, due to the several similarities which these two myths have in\u00a0<\/span>common, they are taken into consideration to have materialized \u201cwithin a similar <\/span>conceptual world\u201d….<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
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The similarity\u00a0which exists between the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Genesis\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
which is a Hebraic work <\/span>and other Babylonian works is not something which has been discovered recently. <\/span>From the time of the historian Titus Flavius Josephus who lived in the 1<\/span>st<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
century <\/span>A.D and possibly even earlier, this similarity in the creation accounts was already <\/span>noted. In the meantime, Josephus is thought to have depended on another writer <\/span>and priest from Babylon named Berossus….<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
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Although there is a <\/span>difference for\u00a0<\/span>Genesis\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0in regards to the number of gods, the notion of water is also<\/strong><\/span> present for\u00a0the Biblical story<\/strong>.\u00a0In fact,\u00a0in the Bible\u00a0there is\u00a0the line\u00a0as follows:\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
\u201c\u00a0<\/span>the <\/span>Spirit of God moved up<\/span>on the face of the waters.\u201d <\/span>This suggests that in the very<\/strong><\/span> beginning when God created the world from a watery chaos is very similar to the <\/span>way in which <\/span>Enuma Elish<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong> begins.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>The mentioned notion of having salt water separated from soft water is to some <\/span>extent similar also for another Egyptian myth, namely that from Hermopolis<\/a>. For <\/span>this myth (Hermopolis), the primeval waters serve a very important part of the c<\/span>reation process <\/span><\/span>as is the case for <\/span>Enuma Elish.\u00a0<\/span>Furthermore, the deities which <\/span>represent these waters can be taken in consideration to be the creator gods….<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n

Comparisons of Egyptian and Genesis creation stories are also discussed in this extract of Egyptian Mythology Creation Story:<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The ancient Egyptians had a vivid imagination that led to a number of complex versions of how the ancient Egyptians were created. They believed at the moment of creating a world order was created which contained the basic principles of life, nature, and society<\/strong> that were governed by the gods at the moment of creation. All the pyramids texts from the old kingdom (2780-2250 BC) located on the pyramid walls, tombs, temples, and the legendary book of the dead showcases all the information related to the creation myth….<\/em><\/p>\n

Before the invention of time, the universe was full of endless dark waters and swirling chaos that appeared in the shape of an infinite expanse of straying invisible dark waters<\/strong> called Nun. In the darkness was a primordial hill known as the ben-ben on which rose a great god Ra (Atum) who created himself out of the Nun, who felt lonely and decided to create life using his magic known as Heka….<\/em><\/p>\n

It is believed that the creator god Amun came from the Nun as the Bennu Bird then went to the sun city of Heliopolis where he constructed a nest called Pyramidion where the bennu was miraculously brought to life from the breath of fire. The Bennu became a symbol of immortality and rebirth….<\/em><\/p>\n

He gave life to two children<\/strong> Shu (god of air) and Tefnut (goddess of moisture), they rapidly began creating the principles of life and order. They started building the world while leaving their father Ra on the Ben-Ben in the middle of chaos and sadness so he sent his eyes in search for them and when they returned with his eyes, in a moment of absolute happiness, he shed tears of joy that fertilized the earth of the Ben-Ben and gave birth to men and women….<\/em><\/p>\n

It took a long time to create the heavens at the same time where the ancient Egyptian gods lived in the earth which was seen as a sacred landscape and a true reflection of the heavens, it was divided into kingdoms built on the basis of justice….<\/em><\/p>\n

After the creation of humans, Shu and Tefnut created Geb (the earth) and Nut (the sky).<\/strong> Despite Geb and Nut being brother and sister, they fell in love which angered Ra, so he ordered Shu to separate them for eternity, but it was too late as Nut was pregnant with Geb\u2019s children. In anger, Ra ordered Nut not to give birth in any month of any year so the god of knowledge \u201cThoth\u201d gambled the moon and was able to add five extra days to the official calendar of 360 days where Nut was able to give birth to Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys, and Horus the elder….<\/em><\/p>\n

Osiris has shown himself to be a judicious and thoughtful god who was given the rule of the world.<\/strong> At the end of days, Ra will wipe the world out<\/strong> and return to the primeval mound, everything will be gone except for Osiris the Ruler of the Underworld. There is a possibility for a new creation to replace the old world with a new one….<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

From these reviews of Babylonian and Egyptian creation myths, it should be easy for anyone, including Jews and Christians, to see that Genesis contains many concepts found in Babylonian and Egyptian myths. To appreciate this relationship, it is also helpful to know the following:<\/p>\n