Post by Malcolm on Jul 9, 2013 22:34:09 GMT -5
Robert Feather, author of "The Mystery of the Copper Scroll of Qumran" has written an excellent chapter on the origins of the Creation theories showing us exactly how each facet moved and even changed through thousands of years before the version we now see in Genesis.
The following comparison illustrates the basic ideas from ancient times through to the Old Testament:
"The order of creation in Egyptian cosmology varies through the Dynastic periods, as well as according to the perspectives at the different centres of religious culture - Heliopolis, Hermopolis, Memphis, Thebes, Herakleopolis - so it is not easy to establish a standard format. The prevailing pattern as presented in later dynasties is, generally, as follows:
1. The Supreme Being exists and nothing else.
2. Primeval waters encompass everything.
3. Light and space. (Shu and Tefnut).
4. Heaven and earth are separated (Nut and Geb)
5. Light creates the first dawn.
6. Land emerges from the waters
7. Vegetation (flowers, trees etc.) springs from the pure earth.
8. Creatures emerge from mud and slime.
9. Primeval geese, birds, and animals.
10. Man is created (Note 11).
Compare the contents of Genesis 1:1-31.
1. There is God and nothing else.
2. Formless heaven and earth are covered by endless water and darkness.
3. There was light.
4. Earth and heaven are separated.
5. Land and Sea are separated
6. Vegetation appears
7. Day is separated from night.
8. Birds, creatures and animals are created.
9. Man is created.
The Biblical version encompasses all the elements of the Egyptian cycle and perpetuates the anomalies and confusions that become apparent in the light of modern cosmology.
"In both versions there is a clear concept of earth and sky being connected and, therefore, having a need to be separated. One could, of course, argue that this was a profound understanding of the twentieth-century idea of 'Big Bang', where everything in the Universe started from one concentration of matter about 15 billion years ago. "
The following comparison illustrates the basic ideas from ancient times through to the Old Testament:
"The order of creation in Egyptian cosmology varies through the Dynastic periods, as well as according to the perspectives at the different centres of religious culture - Heliopolis, Hermopolis, Memphis, Thebes, Herakleopolis - so it is not easy to establish a standard format. The prevailing pattern as presented in later dynasties is, generally, as follows:
1. The Supreme Being exists and nothing else.
2. Primeval waters encompass everything.
3. Light and space. (Shu and Tefnut).
4. Heaven and earth are separated (Nut and Geb)
5. Light creates the first dawn.
6. Land emerges from the waters
7. Vegetation (flowers, trees etc.) springs from the pure earth.
8. Creatures emerge from mud and slime.
9. Primeval geese, birds, and animals.
10. Man is created (Note 11).
Compare the contents of Genesis 1:1-31.
1. There is God and nothing else.
2. Formless heaven and earth are covered by endless water and darkness.
3. There was light.
4. Earth and heaven are separated.
5. Land and Sea are separated
6. Vegetation appears
7. Day is separated from night.
8. Birds, creatures and animals are created.
9. Man is created.
The Biblical version encompasses all the elements of the Egyptian cycle and perpetuates the anomalies and confusions that become apparent in the light of modern cosmology.
"In both versions there is a clear concept of earth and sky being connected and, therefore, having a need to be separated. One could, of course, argue that this was a profound understanding of the twentieth-century idea of 'Big Bang', where everything in the Universe started from one concentration of matter about 15 billion years ago. "