5 THE "MODERN" CREATION STORY: A MOST UNPOPULAR TRUTH

Jewish Scripture starts, of course, at the beginning. Their writings were on scrolls that were limited physically in size. Each was named by their first words. GENESIS is Hebrew for "In the Beginning". Thus began the first scroll because the first story was, logically the most current of their several creation stories. At the time the scrolls were edited in the present form (the 600'S B.C) the Jews were mainly exiled in Babylon. The physical description of the universe that is depicted was therefore the current (modern) one of that time and place, Babylonian. But the story is their own, Jewish. That this creation story was different in most every way from their older and simpler Adam and Eve story, was of no concern for them, so therefore it shouldn't bother us either, if we value them as they were valued then. The TRUTHS, the WHY the stories told were all that mattered. It was understood that the WHYS were there for us to learn. The HOWS were God's business and were not any concern of people's

There are many truths here for them and us. But there are two connected truths that shout at us over the centuries, especially to us today. THE EARTH IS HOLY! God created, and it was GOOD! God blesses the earth. Humans are the last creatures made. And what is our purpose? To tell and to keep God's creation. To be stewards. To love and keep the Earth GOOD even as the Creating God made creation good.

Those today who claim that Judaism and Christianity are to blame for the rape of the Earth clearly have not read the literature. The most basic of Jewish understanding is that "The Earth is the Lord's and all that is there-of!" No matter where we are on earth, we are standing upon holy ground. It is such an assumption in Jewish understanding that it rarely is spoken of within scripture but is often expressed in song (psalms).

We can easily see why this understanding would be unpopular today, especially in the churches of "the West" where consumption is the measure of success. It is much easier and safer for church goers to argue over how many days or years it took God to make the world. As if it really made any difference! It obviously didn't make any difference to the Jews who share their stories with us.

Be that as it may, the truths are there. Fact: we have been given control of the earth. Fact: we can destroy it so easily. Fact: we are. Fact: we can choose to become stewards of our and God's world and treat it as holy. God loves us. With love comes responsibility.

Again, it is up to us entirely. Are we going to use our heads or believe the lies that surround us? Are we to be a blessing or a curse to the earth? Are we going to enact our divinity and start living as God's Children or to stupidly continue to kill off the earth and ourselves? Only time will tell. The story of truth is still there for us, so very old and so very new.