What truths about creation are revealed in the first creation story?

Answer 1

Religious truths may or may not be scientific truths. The most important religious truth in the first creation story is that God effortlessly spoke things into existence in just six days. Compare this to the second creation story, where God's powers are more limited and he could not make living things out of nothing, needing to model them in dirt. As for whether creation of the world itself was from nothing, ex nihilo, many experts in Hebrew have carefully examined the text in Genesis 1:1-2 and agree that the earth was pre-existing.

Yair Zakovitch, Dean of Humanities at Hebrew University, in discussing this passage describes a very important religious truth that is almost invariably overlooked, "The thing to remember about the Bible is that the events and characters are just vehicles to convey messages. The biblical narrative was written to educate our young nation, not so much to tell us what really happened."

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

Answer 2

The account of Creation, which is contained in Genesis ch.1 and 2, teaches us that God exists, that our lives and the world are meaningful, and that the created things may be assumed to contain vast wisdom in their beautiful and purposeful design. (In recent decades, this wisdom has indeed been partially revealed, through increasingly powerful microscopes.)Evolution through random mutations, on the other hand, may be understood as implying that life is an accident, that perceived beauty and wisdom are ultimately purposeless, and that our instinctive yearning for the Eternal is just an electrical impulse in our brain.

See also:

http://religion.answers.com/controversy/is-there-evidence-against-evolution

http://judaism.answers.com/jewish-philosophy/can-you-prove-that-god-exists

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, Isaiah 40:28; Maimonides' "Guide," 2:30; Targum and Nachmanides on Gen. 1:1; Rashi commentary, Gen.1:14), and in ch.2, God performed specific acts within the broader picture.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:

http://religion.answers.com/theory/debunking-the-jepd-documentary-hypothesis

http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=6&article=1131(a Christian author)

http://www.whoreallywrotethebible.com/excerpts/chapter4-1.php

And see also the wider picture:

http://judaism.answers.com/hebrew/does-archaeology-support-the-hebrew-bible

Answer 3

"The Genesis prologue presents those historical truths which are the necessary presuppositions for the valid pursuit of human knowledge." (The New Bible Commentary: Revised, p. 81). Today there are many Scientist through numerous lines of evidence that have come to accept the 'Big Bang' theory of the universe (see Genesis 1:1) - giving the universe a starting point. They go as far as explaining in their cosmological terms the same event found in Genesis 1:1 - space, time and matter came out of nothing in a single burst of light entirely and miraculously hospitable to carbon-based life.



The rest of the 'creation and renewal' of the Earth begins in Genesis 1:2 forward. Even Biologist and Chemist today agree that life had its origin in clay templates - Adam's name means 'red clay.' The two fundamental laws of Science - thermodynamics and bio-genesis support the Genesis account and not Darwinism.



But there are many different interpretations of the 'truth of God' (see John 17:17) and below:


Psalm 119:160New King James Version (NKJV)
160 The entirety of Your word istruth,
And every one of Your righteous judgments enduresforever.

Answer 4

In the first creation story in Genesis, it reveals that God created the world out of nothing, by speaking it into existence. It shows that God's creation is orderly and purposeful, with each element being created according to God's plan. It also emphasizes that God saw His creation as good, highlighting the perfection and beauty of the world in its original state.