Creation

When the world first began there was no land, but only the sea and the sky, and between them was a kite[1]. One day the bird which had nowhere to light grew tired of flying about, so she stirred up the sea until it threw its waters against the sky. The sky, in order to restrain the sea, showered upon it many islands until it could no longer rise, but ran back and forth. Then the sky ordered the kite to light on one of the islands to build her nest, and to leave the sea and the sky in peace. Now at this time the land breeze and the sea breeze were married, and they had a child which was a bamboo. One day when this bamboo was floating about on the water, it struck the feet of the kite which was on the beach. The bird, angry that anything should strike it, pecked at the bamboo, and out of one section came a man and from the other a woman. Then the earthquake called on all the birds and fish to see what should be done with these two, and it was decided that they should marry. Many children

were born to the couple, and from them came all the different races of people. After a while the parents grew very tired of having so many idle and useless children around, and they wished to be rid of them, but they knew of no place to send them to. Time went on and the children became so numerous that the parents enjoyed no peace. One day, in desperation, the father seized a stick and began beating them on all sides. This so frightened the children that they fled in different directions, seeking hidden rooms in the house - some concealed themselves in the walls, some ran outside, while others hid in the fireplace, and several fled to the sea. Now it happened that those who went into the hidden rooms of the house later became the chiefs of the Islands; and those who concealed themselves in the walls became slaves. Those who ran outside were free men; and those who hid in the fireplace became negroes; while those who fled to the sea were gone many years, and when their children came back they were the white people.

Basically, human beings can't but God can, and He has told us how in His instruction book, the Bible. We cannot rely on our conscience to be able to tell ourself the difference between right and wrong because that is variable, unreliable, and often wrong. For example, captured Russian spies could pass lie-detector tests because in their culture it was normal to lie. Interestingly, Russia's 'moles' ,who were Americans and raised and working in the USA but secretly working for the Russians, also passed polygraph tests, so culture could not be used to tell between right and wrong. Other factors are often used to excuse or condone wrong-doing, but at best they alone can only partially-differentiate between what is right and what is wrong.

You cannot rely on environmental factors: different people can believe different things

depending how they were brought up , but over which they have either no or little control - their own culture, history of their country, society itself, social upbringing, and peer-pressure.

You cannot rely on using your family-upbringing in the past as a reason for your own wrong-doing in the present. For example, you can't say that you are not guilty of child abuse because you yourself were also beaten as a child by a drunken father.

Likewise, you cannot rely on education - if a person wants to do the wrong thing, or does not like to be told that he is wrong and that he has a personal responsibility for how he behaves, then he will continue to do so regardless. For example, people still smoke regardless of knowing the results despite all the educational and anti-smoking programmes in the world: and some of those are doctors!

More education does not mean less crime: it sometimes actually results in more. For example, look at the number of highly-educated confidence-men who swindle astute business-men and shareholders out of millions of dollars but who cannot be charged with anything because they have exploited legal loop-holes and operate just within the law. Just because there is no law against something does not make it right.

(This is especially so when he thinks no-one can see him and no-one will know.)

You cannot rely on social class distinctions, with one social class always being better and more law-abiding than another (lower one). There is no such thing as a 'criminal class' per se: sometimes the only reason people are convicted is because they can't afford good legal defense, while those who can afford it often walk away scot-free, or with a token penalty and no conviction recorded against their name. For example: criminals can come from the most highly-educated, intelligent, talented, richest, law-abiding, and highly-respected families which are pillars of society, while in contrast some of the most-honest and trustworthy people you can meet can be poor illiterate menial workers at the bottom of society with no prospects whatsoever.

You must not rely at all on 'situation ethics' , where what is right one day is wrong the next, because this is both variable and useless if you are looking for permanent black-and-white s.

All countries and races have certain common laws, telling their people the difference between right and wrong which they already unconsciously know; for example against murder, theft, and adultery. They may sometimes be honoured more in the breach than in the observance and be selectively-enforced, but the laws are still there. Because these laws cross all boundaries and apply to all mankind in the same way, this means that man alone could not have originated them: they had to have been put into mankind by someone or something greater than man. This was when God created Adam and Eve. These laws have been codified as the Ten Commandments, with the last six telling us how to love fellow man. Put simply, they are:-

Respect your father and your mother...

Do not murder.

Be faithful in marriage.

Do not steal.

Do not tell lies about others.

Do not want anything that belongs to someone else....

(Exo 20:12-17)[Good News]

The NET Bible (which is not copyrighted) translates these same verses as below (plus notes):-

Exo 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother...

Exo 20:13 "You shall not murder.

Exo 20:14 "You shall not commit adultery.

Exo 20:15 "You shall not steal.

Exo 20:16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

Exo 20:17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor."[NET Bible]

"Note on verse 14:

Adultery is a sin against the marriage of a fellow citizen - it destroys the home. The Law distinguished between adultery (which had a death penalty) and sexual contact with a young woman (which carried a monetary fine and usually marriage if the father was willing). So it distinguished between fornication and adultery. Both were sins, but the significance of each was different. In the ancient world this sin is often referred to as "the great sin.""Note on verse 16:

The expression 'false testimony' means "a lying witness" , or "you will not as a lying witness." The prohibition is against perjury. While the precise reference would be to legal proceedings, the law had a broader application to lying about other people in general (see Lev 5:1; Hos 4:2).

"Note on verse 17:

The word 'covet' focuses not on an external act but on an internal mental activity behind the act, the motivation for it. The word can be used in a very good sense (Ps 19:10; 68:16), but it has a bad connotation in contexts where the object desired is off limits. This command is aimed at curtailing the greedy desire for something belonging to a neighbor, a desire that leads to the taking of it or the attempt to take it. "

There are a myriad of other laws and regulations in the Bible, but Jesus cut right through them and summarized the last six Commandments of Exodus in just one line: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

(To see it in its context, the full section is :-

Mat 22:35 And one of them, a lawyer, questioned Him, testing Him, and saying,

Mat 22:36 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? [ie The 10 Commandments]

Mat 22:37 And Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."

Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.

Mat 22:39 And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Mat 22:40 On these two commandments all the Law and the Prophets hang.

By himself, man cannot tell the difference between right and wrong: every time something different appears, either a new law has to be made or an old one amended. One of the reasons laws have to be continually updated is that by the time a law has been created to fix one problem another loophole either appears, or it is manipulated and massaged to make it as good as useless. Leglislators, politicians, and legal draftsmen cannot read peoples' minds.

However, with God's help that problem has been overcome. Jesus did not look at laws as external and requiring enforcement, but instead as internal and self-policed. With the mind controlling ( to a greater or lesser degree) that person's thoughts, it means that because all external actions originate in the mind that a persons' intent can be controlled. If everybody went around treating others the same way they themselves would like to be treated, then there would be no gray areas. (It's a bit like censorship: no censorship is as effective as self-censorship.) For this to be done it requires people to want to change, to be converted, and to allow Christ into their lives to be able to change their minds and thus their actions: but with Jesus Christ the humanly- impossible becomes possible.

In most Western countries, it is illegal to teach creationism in public schools as if it were verifiable fact. It is completely legal to teach about creationism as a religious subculture.

This is because most Western countries try and uphold a separation of church and state, so as to prevent religious conflict. Teaching creationism as fact would be seen as official endorsement of a particular religion, which might possibly provoke a reaction from other religious subcultures and spark conflict.

According to a recent Gallup poll 66% of Americans believe God created them. Thus, while evolution was not specifically part of the question, the two are exclusive - although you would need to research the figures for the percentage of those who believe that 'God used evolution' to get a definitive answer.

Researchers compared the results of past surveys of attitudes toward evolution taken in the U.S. since 1985 and similar surveys in Japan and 32 European countries. In the U.S., only 14 percent of adults thought that evolution was "definitely true," while about a third firmly rejected the idea. In European countries, including Denmark, Sweden, and France, more than 80 percent of adults surveyed said they accepted the concept of evolution. In the spring of 2007, following an all-candidates meeting of ten Republicans seeking the presidency, three denied a personal belief in evolution. This promoted the Gallup Organization to ask American adults between 2007-MAY-21-24: "Do you, personally, believe in evolution or not." This is one of the poorest polling questions that we have ever seen, because people generally hold one of three beliefs concerning origins: Naturalistic evolution:Evolution happened according to purely natural forces and processes without any divine guidance. Theistic evolution: Evolution happened and was/is guided by God. Creationism: Species were created separately by God.

When a person is asked if they believe in evolution, they might interpret the question as belief in naturalistic evolution only. Alternately, they might consider it as asking whether one believes in either naturalistic or theistic evolution. Pollsters tend to like simple yes and no answers. Sometimes they do not handle questions well where there are three discrete positions. Also, some people regard evolution as covering only the development of life forms from the first one-celled animal to the present diversity of plants and animals. Others include the origins of the universe, the development of galaxies, stars, planetary systems, development of mountain ranges, continental drift, etc. The results, for what they are worth are a statistical draw: 49% believe in "Evolution;" 48% do not; 2% have no opinion.

As expected, more highly educated adults believe in "evolution:" 74% of people with post-graduate degrees believe in "evolution," as do: 48% of college graduates 50% of adults with some college 41% of adults with high school or less.

More frequent attendance at religious services correlated with a lack of belief in "evolution:" 24% of those who attend weekly believe in evolution, as do: 52% of those who attend nearly weekly or monthly, and 71% of those who attend seldom or never.

As expected, political affiliation reflects a difference of opinion on origins: Only 30% of Republicans believe in "evolution;" 68% do not. 61% of independents believe in "evolution;" 37% do not. 57% of Democrats believe in "evolution;" 40% do not.

The five main reasons why people say they do not believe in "evolution" are belief Jesus Christ, belief in God, due to my religion or faith, not enough evidence, and belief in the Bible. 9 Excerpted from; "Beliefs of American adults -- 1991 to 2007:" === === == == Americans would rather hear about evolution from scientists than from judges or celebrities, according to a new survey that finds a majority agree that evolution is at work among living things. In the new FASEB poll, researchers asked half of the respondents about their views on the evolution of "all living things" and found that 61 percent accepted that "all living things have evolved over time." Of those, 36 percent thought all living things "evolved due to natural processes such as natural selection," and 25 percent thought "a supreme being guided the evolution of living things for the purpose of creating life in the form it exists today." The researchers asked the remaining respondents to consider human evolution and found that 53 percent accepted that "humans and other living things" evolved. This majority included 32 percent who accepted that humans and other living things evolved through natural processes and 21 percent who thought they had evolved with guidance. Scientists accept evolution as the best and only theory that accurately explains how humans and other species came to be so diverse. The theory is supported by many studies in many different fields of science. Intelligent design is a thinly veiled creationist argument designed to make the public doubt the theory of evolution, according to nearly all scientists and a 2005 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge John E. Jones III in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.

See link History Survey: 61 Percent Agree with Evolution

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The Priestly ('P' source) creation account starts in Genesis 1:1 and proceeds through the creation of night and day, the firmament, plants, the heavenly bodies, fish, beasts and fowl, then finally man, both male and female, ending in the first sentence of Genesis 2:4. The Priestly account is well-known for creation taking just six days, and God rested on the seventh. Its God is all-powerful and merely has to talk things into existence.
The Yahwist ('J' source) creation account is more primitive and is much older in Judaism. It starts in the second sentence of Genesis 2:4 and continues through the creation of Adam, then the beasts of the field and fowl of the air, and finally the creation of Eve in Genesis 2:20, with a very different order of creation than in the first story. In this account, there are limits to God's powers and he can not create living things from nothing. He creates Adam and the beasts from the dirt, but creates Eve from a rib taken from Adam. We are not told how long creation took, but pious readers, believing that the stories are somehow the same, assume that once again creation took just six days.

The first story begins with the earth as a watery waste until God separates the waters to make dry land, while the second begins with the dry earth, because God has yet to make it rain. In the first story, man is to have dominion over the earth, whereas in the second story, Adam is to be the servant of the earth and must till the ground. The Priestly account is principally just a theological explanation of our origins, whereas the Yahwist account leads into an important moral story about our longing for immortality.

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