1.2.1 Christian Beliefs about the Creation of the World

The Creation Story

Genesis 1 describes the creation of the heavens and the earth, while Genesis 2 focuses on the creation of the first humans, Adam and Eve.

Genesis 1:1 begins with, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth."

Genesis 2:7 adds, "Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."

Creation

Key Points from Genesis:

• God is the only creator and existed before He created the world.
• The creation was well planned and is sustained by God.
• God blessed creation, declaring all of it holy.
• God created everything in six days and rested on the seventh.

Genesis 1:27 states, "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."

Stewardship and Dominion

Genesis 1:26 expresses this: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

This dominion suggests humans have power over the world and its resources, but it also implies a responsibility not to exploit these resources.

Genesis 2:15 reinforces the idea of stewardship: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

Fundamental Christian Beliefs about Creation

• The creation story in Genesis details God creating the world in six days and resting on the seventh, known as the Sabbath.
• Christians view God's creation as planned and purposeful, believing that everything has a specific purpose set by God.
• This belief influences the Christian understanding of nature and human life, emphasizing that all life is sacred because it is created by God.

Interpretations of the Genesis Account

• Literal Interpretation: Some Christians, known as Young Earth Creationists, believe in a literal six-day creation as described in Genesis.
• Symbolic Interpretation: Other Christians, such as Old Earth Creationists and Theistic Evolutionists, interpret the six days as symbolic periods of time. Theistic Evolutionists believe that God guided the process of evolution, harmonizing scientific understanding with faith. These different interpretations can influence Christian views on scientific theories and the relationship between faith and science.

God's Relationship with His Creation

They believe God empathizes with human suffering, demonstrated through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. God's ongoing maintenance and preservation of the universe is referred to as divine providence. Christians also believe in stewardship, holding that humans have a responsibility to care for the world God created.