CREATION – BY CHANCE OR BY A CREATOR?
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Rev. Paul Wrightman 2/12/23
IN THE TOWN HALL IN COPENHAGEN
STANDS THE WORLD’S MOST COMPLICATED CLOCK.
IT TOOK FORTY YEARS TO BUILD
AT A COST OF MANY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TODAY’S MONEY.
THIS CLOCK HAS TEN FACES, FIFTEEN THOUSAND PARTS,
AND IS ACCURATE TO TWO-FIFTHS OF AS SECOND
EVERY THREE HUNDRED YEARS.
THE CLOCK COMPUTES THE TIME OF DAY,
THE DAYS OF THE WEEK, THE MONTHS AND YEARS,
AND THE MOVEMENTS OF THE PLANETS
FOR TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED YEARS.
SOME PARTS OF THIS CLOCK WILL NOT MOVE
UNTIL TWENTY-FIVE CENTURIES HAVE PASSED!
PERHAPS WHAT IS MOST INTRIGUING ABOUT THIS CLOCK
IS THAT IT IS NOT ENTIRELY ACCURATE.
AFTER ALL, IT LOSES TWO-FIFTHS OF A SECOND
EVERY THREE HUNDRED YEARS.
LIKE ALL CLOCKS, THIS TIMEPIECE IN COPENHAGEN
MUST ITSELF BE REGULATED BY AN EVEN MORE PRECISE CLOCK –
THE UNIVERSE ITSELF --
WITH ITS COUNTLESS TRILLIONS OF MOVING PARTS,
FROM ATOMS TO STARS, ROLLING ON CENTURY AFTER CENTURY
WITH MOVEMENTS SO RELIABLE
THAT ALL TIME ON EARTH CAN BE MEASURED AGAINST IT.
THE EXISTENCE OF THE UNIVERSE ITSELF
IS WHAT THE AUTHOR OF THIS FIRST SECTION
OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS IS CELEBRATING.
THIS AUTHOR IS MAKING IT UNMISTAKABLY CLEAR
THAT ACCORDING TO THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN
WAYS OF LOOKING AT THE WORLD,
THE WORLD IS NOT A PRODUCT OF CHANCE,
BUT THE WORK OF A CREATOR,
AND THIS CREATOR IS NO ONE LESS THAN GOD.
TODAY WE BEGIN A NEW SERMON SERIES
ON THE KEY TEXTS THAT WE FIND IN THE BIBLE.
WE’LL BEGIN WITH THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE, GENESIS,
AND EVENTUALLY MAKE OUR WAY
TO THE BIBLE’S LAST BOOK, REVELATION.
SINCE WE WILL BE LOOKING AT KEY TEXTS
FOR THE CHRISTIAN FAITH TRADITION,
WE WILL FOLLOW THE ORDERING OF THE BIBLE
AS GIVEN TO US IN ONE OF CHRISTIANITY’S MAIN BRANCHES –
PROTESTANTISM.
CATHOLICISM DIFFERS ONLY IN ACKNOWLEDGING
MORE BIBLICAL BOOKS THAN WE PROTESTANTS DO,
BUT THE CATHOLIC ORDERING IS BASICALLY THE SAME.
OUR JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE WILL COVER
ALL THE TEXTS THAT ARE IMPORTANT
FOR CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS,
OR CHRISTIAN THOUGHT AND ACTION, IF YOU WILL.
(For ease in reference, we will consider Genesis 1:1-2:4a
to be the first chapter of the Bible.)
IT IS IRONIC THAT THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE BIBLE
SHOULD BE AT THE SAME TIME ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED
AND ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERTED TEXTS IN ALL OF SCRIPTURE.
SINCE THE WAY WE BEGIN AN INQUIRY LARGELY DETERMINES
THE DIRECTION AND CONTENT OF THAT INQUIRY,
IT IS OF CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE
THAT WE BEGIN WISELY, AND NOT FOOLISHLY.
WISDOM LEADS TO FURTHER WISDOM;
FOOLISHNESS TO FURTHER FOOLISHNESS.
SOUND INTERPRETIVE THEORY IN ALL AREAS OF LITERATURE,
INCLUDING THE BIBLE, TEACHES US THAT TO MAKE A GOOD START
IN UNDERSTANDING A PARTICULAR TEXT WE NEED TO
IDENTIFY THE LITERARY FORM THE AUTHOR IS USING AND,
IF POSSIBLE, TO DISCOVER THE INTENT OF THE AUTHOR
IN WRITING THE PASSAGE UNDER CONSIDERATION.
MANY BIBLICAL SCHOLARS CONSIDER GENESIS 1
TO BE A MAGNIFICENT POEM.
THEY REMIND US THAT IN HIGHLY DIVERSE CULTURES
ACROSS THE GLOBE, THE LITERARY FORM OF POETRY
IS NOT TAKEN LITERALLY, BUT METAPHORICALLY.
CONCERNING THE DESCRIPTION OF CREATION IN GENESIS,
THE AUTHOR’S CHOICE TO USE THE LITERARY VEHICLE OF POETRY,
RATHER THAN, LET’S SAY, THE RUDIMENTARY SCIENCE OF THE TIME,
ALREADY TELLS US A GOOD DEAL ABOUT WHAT WE CAN EXPECT
TO FIND IN THIS AUTHOR’S ACCOUNT:
WE CAN EXPECT TO FIND AN ACCOUNT THAT ATTEMPTS
TO MAKE SENSE OF THINGS, BUT NOT IN A LITERAL WAY.
LIKE ALL GOOD POETRY, THE POETRY OF GENESIS 1
WANTS TO GO BEYOND THE LIMITATIONS OF WORDS AND CONCEPTS
AND TO LEAVE US IN THE PRESENCE OF THE TRANSCENDENT –
IN THIS CASE THE TRANSCENDENT PRESENCE OF GOD AS CREATOR.
OUR AUTHOR WAS NOT ATTEMPTING TO GIVE US
A LITERAL, POINT-BY-POINT DESCRIPTION
OF HOW CREATION UNFOLDED;
OUR AUTHOR WAS ATTEMPTING TO GIVE US
AN ACCOUNT OF THE WHO AND THE WHY BEHIND CREATION.
WHO? GOD THE CREATOR.
WHY? BECAUSE PART OF GOD’S VERY NATURE
WAS AN IMMENSE DESIRE TO BE IN RELATIONSHIP
WITH OTHERS BEINGS AND OTHER FORMS OF BEING.
FOR THE AUTHOR OF THE FIRST CHAPTER OF GENESIS,
THE ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL FACT WAS THAT
CREATION WAS THE WORK OF A PERSONAL GOD.
THE EXACT WAY,
OR THE “SCIENCE” BEHIND THE WAY CREATION UNFOLDED
WAS NOT NEARLY AS IMPORTANT
TO OUR AUTHOR AS THE AWESOME FACT THAT GOD CREATED.
IT IS SAD THAT CHRISTIANS
FROM DIFFERENT THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
OFTEN FIGHT ABOUT EVOLUTION VERSUS “INTELLIGENT DESIGN,”
WHEN THE MAIN POINT FOR ALL CHRISTIANS
IS THAT CREATION DID NOT COME ABOUT BY CHANCE,
BUT BY GOD’S OWN CREATIVE ACTIVITY.
FROM ITS ORIGINS IN JUDAISM,
THROUGH THE EARLY CHURCH,
THROUGH THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD,
AND THROUGH THE RENAISSANCE
WESTERN CIVILIZATION WAS UNITED IN SEEING CREATION
AS CAUSED AND DIRECTED BY GOD.
WITH THE SO-CALLED “ENLIGHTENMENT,”
AND ITS EMPHASIS ON HUMAN INDEPENDENCE
AND NEAR-DEIFICATION OF HUMAN REASON,
THE WEST HAS BEEN GRADUALLY BECOMING MORE AND MORE
ENAMORED WITH THE NOTION THAT CHANCE,
NOT GOD’S DESIRE TO BE IN RELATIONSHIP,
IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATION.
IN THIS CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT,
THE BIBLE’S PROCLAMATION OF GOD AS CREATOR
IS ONE OF THE MOST RADICAL, MOST REVOLUTIONARY,
TRUTHS THAT SCRIPTURE HAS TO TEACH US.
OUR CURRENT SITUATION OF REJECTING THE TRUTH
OF GOD AS CREATOR AND PROCLAIMING IN ITS PLACE
THE NOTION OF MATTER ORGANIZING ITSELF
INTO ITS OWN CREATION IS NICELY CAPTURED
IN THE FOLLOWING MODERN PARABLE:
IMAGINE A FAMILY OF MICE
WHO LIVED ALL THEIR LIVES IN A LARGE PIANO.
TO THEM IN THEIR PIANO-WORLD
CAME THE MUSIC OF THE INSTRUMENT,
FILLING ALL THE DARK SPACES WITH SOUND AND HARMONY.
AT FIRST THE MICE WERE IMPRESSED BY IT.
THEY DREW COMFORT AND WONDER FROM THE THOUGHT
THAT THERE WAS SOMEONE WHO MADE THE MUSIC.
THOUGH THIS SOMEONE WAS INVISIBLE TO THEM,
THEY COULD SENSE THE CREATOR’S CLOSENESS
THROUGH THE CREATOR’S MUSIC.
THEY LOVED TO THINK OF THE GREAT PLAYER
WHOM THEY COULD NOT SEE.
THEN ONE DAY A DARING MOUSE CLIMBED UP PART OF THE PIANO
AND RETURNED VERY THOUGHTFUL.
HE HAD FOUND OUT HOW THE MUSIC WAS MADE.
WIRES WERE THE SECRET; TIGHTLY STRETCHED WIRES
OF GRADUATED LENGTHS WHICH TREMBLED AND VIBRATED.
THEY MUST REVISE ALL THEIR OLD BELIEFS;
NONE BUT THE MOST OLD-FASHIONED
COULD ANY LONGER BELIEVE IN THE UNSEEN PLAYER.
LATER, ANOTHER EXPLORER CARRIED THE EXPLANATION FURTHER.
HAMMERS WERE NOW THE SECRET,
NUMBERS OF HAMMERS DANCING AND LEAPING ON THE WIRES.
THIS WAS A MORE COMPLICATED THEORY,
BUT IT ALL WENT TO SHOW THAT THEY LIVED
IN A PURELY MECHANICAL AND MATHEMATICAL WORLD.
THE UNSEEN PLAYER CAME TO BE THOUGHT OF
AS ON OLD-WIVES TALE.
BUT THE PIANIST CONTINUED TO PLAY.
I HOPE YOU CAN SEE THAT THE REAL POINT OF THIS PARABLE
IS NOT ARGUING ABOUT WHETHER IT WAS
THE WIRES OR THE HAMMERS THAT PRODUCED THE SOUND,
BUT WHETHER OR NOT THERE WAS A SOMEONE
WHO AT SOMETIME CREATED THE WIRES AND THE HAMMERS
THAT MADE THE MUSIC POSSIBLE TO BEGIN WITH.
IN THE SAME WAY, THE MAIN POINT OF GENESIS 1
IS NOT IF IT TOOK GOD A LITERAL SIX DAYS TO DO SO.
NEITHER IS THE MAIN POINT OF GENESIS 1 TO DETERMINE
IF GOD’S DIRECTING THE PROCESS OF EVOLUTION
IS SUPERIOR TO THE LITERAL SIX-DAY APPROACH.
THE MAIN POINT OF GENESIS 1 IS TO UNABASHEDLY AFFIRM
THAT GOD IS CREATOR.
THE WAYS IN WHICH GOD CHOOSES TO ACCOMPLISH
THE PROCESS OF CREATION IS UNIMPORTANT
COMPARED TO THE VASTNESS OF THE CLAIM
THAT GOD, AND ONLY GOD, IS BEHIND IT ALL.
EARLIER ANOTHER IMPORTANT ASPECT
OF SOUND BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION WAS MENTIONED:
IF POSSIBLE, TO DISCOVER THE INTENT OF THE AUTHOR
REGARDING A PARTICULAR PIECE OF WRITING.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO DISCOVER THE INTENT
OF THE BIBLICAL AUTHOR WHO WROTE
THE FIRST CHAPTER OF GENESIS?
MANY BIBLICAL SCHOLARS BELIEVE THAT IT IS.
BASED ON HISTORICAL, LINGUISTIC, AND LITURGICAL FACTORS,
IT IS GENERALLY RECOGNIZED THAT THE AUTHOR OF GENESIS 1
WAS AN ISRAELITE PRIEST LIVING IN BABYLON
SOMETIME DURING THE TIME OF THE EXILE FROM 587 TO 539 BCE.
WE KNOW THAT THE EXILE WAS A PARTICULARLY DEVASTATING TIME
IN THE LIFE OF THE HEBREW PEOPLE.
MANY OF THEM WERE EXPERIENCING
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
AND THEIR DISPLACEMENT TO BABYLON
NOT ONLY AS A MILITARY DEFEAT,
BUT AS A RELIGIOUS DEFEAT AS WELL.
THE BABYLONIANS WITH THEIR MANY GODS
HAD TRIUMPHED OVER THE JEWISH PEOPLE, WITH THEIR ONE GOD.
THE TEMPTATION WAS VERY GREAT
TO SIMPLY GIVE UP ON EVERYTHING JEWISH
AND QUIETLY ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE ASSIMILATED
INTO BABYLONIAN CULTURE AND RELIGION.
THE AUTHOR OF GENESIS 1 HOPES
TO COUNTERACT THIS TEMPTATION
BY CONCENTRATING ON THE CREATIVE POWER
OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL,
AND BY LOCATING THE UNIQUENESS OF ISRAEL
IN ITS THEOLOGY, WORSHIP, AND ETHICS,
RATHER THAN IN ITS LOST NATIONHOOD.
TO THIS END, OUR BIBLICAL AUTHOR OFFERS
AN UNSPARING CRITIQUE OF THE BABYLONIAN CREATION MYTH.
THIS MYTH HELD THAT THE GODS WERE AT WAR
WITH ONE ANOTHER AND THAT THE CREATED WORLD
WAS THE DIRECT RESULT OF THE VIOLENCE OF THAT WAR.
IN SHARP CONTRAST, THE AUTHOR OF GENESIS 1
PAINTS A PICTURE OF A SINGLE GOD EFFORTLESSLY CREATING
SIMPLY BY SPEAKING CREATION INTO BEING.
UNLIKE THE BABYLONIAN MYTHS, WHERE THE SUN AND MOON
WERE CONSIDERED TO BE GODS IN THEMSELVES,
GENESIS PRESENTS THE ONE TRUE GOD AS THE CREATOR
OF THESE HEAVENLY LUMINARIES.
UNLIKE THE BABYLONIAN CREATION MYTH,
WHICH DESCRIBES A MULTITUDE OF GODS
BANISHING HUMAN BEINGS TO EARTH
BECAUSE THEY WERE TOO NOISY,
GENESIS DESCRIBES THE MAKING OF HUMANITY
AS BEING THE CULMINATING ACT IN GOD’S DRAMA OF CREATION,
A CULMINATING ACT WHICH GOD DESCRIBES AS VERY GOOD.
IN CONTRAST TO ALL OTHER DEPICTIONS OF THE TIME,
GENESIS DESCRIBES GOD AS MAKING HUMAN BEINGS
IN GOD’S OWN IMAGE,
THAT IS, AS SHARING IN GOD’S OWN NATURE.
AND IN A DARING PIECE OF THEOLOGICAL THINKING,
GENESIS DESCRIBES WOMEN AS WELL AS MEN
AS MADE IN GOD’S IMAGE.
IN MY BOOK, HOWEVER, THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BY FAR
BETWEEN GENESIS AND ALL OTHER ACCOUNTS OF CREATION
IS THE FACT THAT GOD CREATED OUT OF LOVE,
OUT OF A DESIRE TO BE IN RELATIONSHIP WITH BEINGS
OTHER THAN GODSELF.
THE GOD DESCRIBED IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS
IS A PERSONAL GOD FOR WHOM RELATIONSHIP,
BEING WITH, IS THE HIGHEST AND DEEPEST VALUE.
FRED MUSSER SHARES THE FOLLOWING
IN HIS BOOK THE TABERNACLE:
“A FEW DAYS BEFORE I LEFT TO PREPARE FOR THE MINISTRY
MY GRAY-HAIRED PASTOR, REV. TEMPLE, TOLD ME THIS STORY.
I HAVE TOLD IT MANY, MANY TIMES SINCE,
ESPECIALLY IN CONNECTION WITH THE SONG,
‘I KNOW WHO HOLDS TOMORROW.’”
HERE’S THE STORY:
“WHEN MY SON WAS SMALL, WE OFTEN WALKED TOGETHER
OUT THROUGH THE FIELDS AND NEIGHBORING PASTURE
BEHIND THE PARSONAGE.
AT FIRST THE LITTLE FELLOW WOULD HOLD ON
TO MY LITTLE FINGER,
BUT HE FOUND THAT WHEN HE STEPPED IN A HOOFPRINT
OR STUMBLED OVER SOMETHING,
HIS GRIP WOULD FAIL AND DOWN HE’D GO IN THE DUST OR SNOW.
NOT GIVING IT MUCH THOUGHT, MY MIND ON OTHER MATTERS,
I’D STOP AND HE’D GET UP, BRUSH HIMSELF OFF,
AND GRAB MY LITTLE FINGER AGAIN,
GRIPPING A LITTLE HARDER THIS TIME.
NEEDLESS TO SAY, THIS OCCURRED FREQUENTLY,
UNTIL ONE DAY AS HE WAS BRUSHING HIMSELF OFF,
HE LOOKED AT ME AND SAID, ‘DADDY?’
I REPLIED, ‘YES, SON, WHAT IS IT?’
HE SAID, ‘I THINK IF YOU WOULD HOLD MY HAND, I WOULDN’T FALL.’
PASTOR TEMPLE THEN TURNED TO ME AND WITH A TEAR IN HIS EYE
HE SAID, ‘YOU KNOW, HE STILL STUMBLED MANY TIMES AFTER THAT,
BUT HE NEVER HIT THE GROUND.
NOW, AS YOU WALK WITH GOD, DON’T TRY TO HOLD ON TO HIM,
LET HIM HOLD ON TO YOU.’”
(End Quote)
WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE, I THINK THE GREATEST GIFT
THAT GENESIS HAS TO GIVE US
IS A PORTRAYAL OF GOD THAT NOT ONLY SHOWS
THAT GOD IS IN CHARGE OF CREATION,
BUT A PORTRAYAL OF GOD THAT TELLS US
THAT GOD IS NOT ONLY IN CHARGE, BUT THAT GOD CARES,
THAT GOD WANTS TO BE IN A ONE-ON-ONE LOVE RELATIONSHIP
WITH EACH OF GOD’S CREATURES,
AND THAT IT’S NOT ONLY SAFE, BUT THE MARK OF TRUE WISDOM,
TO PUT THE EMPHASIS ON GOD’S HOLDING ON TO US,
RATHER THAN ON US HOLDING ON TO GOD.
AMEN .