Reflections on September 12, 1979 –

http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2tb2.htm

I think there are many that do not know or understand that there are 2 creation stories. We always hear about the world being created in 7 days and we hear about the garden and the fall, but no one ever focuses on the two stories being separate. But I had never heard that they were written at different times and that the second story is the older of the 2. This second talk focuses much more on the first account (the 7 days) but the second account chronologically.

God is much more human in the second account. He forms man out of dust (instead of by just speaking), breaths into man’s nostril, takes out the rib, walks in the garden, etc. I had never noticed that before. I also think it is interesting that Christ uses both stories in making His argument to the Pharisees. There are some out there that might argue that because the 2 different stories of creation, the Bible contradicts itself and is not reliable. I think Christ shows that both stories have validity, are not contradictory, and teach us different aspects about our creation and relationship to God. Nothing could prove it more than Christ using different aspects from both stories in the same argument.

In the first account, humans are the peak, the climax, of all creation. Everything is building up to that point. The talk speaks to the fact that although humans are tied to the world (created with animals on the 6^th day), we are set apart and over all the animals and other created things and are the only things made in the image of God. JPII states that not only does this distinction set us apart from the other worldly things, but means there is an “absolute impossibility of reducing man to the world”. I think this fact will become much more important as we go forward and flies in the face of all those that want to reduce humans to highly intelligent animals. There is a formula for all the other creations. Scripture says “God said: Let….”. But when it comes to humans, “God said :Let us…”.

The story of 7 days of creation is so simple that my 4 ½ year old knows it pretty well, yet it can be dug into so deeply that JPII says that “this text of Genesis has become the source of the deepest inspirations for the thinkers who have sought to understand being and existing”. There are so many out there that see the 7 days and blow off the whole story as so unrealistic that it should not be taken seriously. (There are some that use the 7 days as a reason to not take the whole Bible seriously) Then there are those that take the 7 days so literally that they miss the other meanings of the story and the deeper theological teachings that it gives us. Both ways are wrong.

Words I looked up.

Yawist - a writer of the earliest major source of the Hexateuch, in which God is characteristically referred to as Yahweh rather than elohim.

Hexateuch - the first six books of the Old Testament. (I had only heard of the

Pentateuch – first 5 books.)

Anthropomorphic - ascribing human form or attributes to a being or thing not human, especially to a deity.

Elohist - a writer of one of the major sources of the Hexateuch, in which God is characteristically referred to as Elohim rather than Yahweh.

Cosmological - the branch of philosophy dealing with the origin and general structure of the universe, with its parts, elements, and laws, and especially with such of its characteristics as space, time, causality, and freedom.

Metaphysical - the branch of philosophy that treats of first principles, includes ontology and cosmology, and is intimately connected with epistemology.

Ontology - the branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of existence or being as such.

Cosmology - the branch of philosophy dealing with the origin and general structure of the universe, with its parts, elements, and laws, and especially with such of its characteristics as space, time, causality, and freedom.

Anthropology - the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind. (I thought another definition was maybe more precise or relevant to what we are looking at). the study of human beings' similarity to and divergence from other animals.