In The Beginning … God?

Christians claim absolute certainty that this world and the universe of which it is a part was brought into existence by an unseen supernatural entity.

Why do they believe this?

Because a several thousand year old book they refer to as “The Holy Bible” says so in its opening dialogue, i.e,  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The questions that are never answered, however, are (1) who is God, and (2) who was there to witness this event?

Neither of these questions is answerable because the statement itself is called a “creation myth” —  a cultural, traditional or religious story describing the earliest beginnings of the present world. It is said creation myths are the most common form of myth, are found throughout human culture, and usually develop first in oral traditions.*

What is most fascinating about creation myths is they are frequently accepted as history, which is generally defined as “All that is remembered of the past.” Of course the question then becomes … if there were no human beings yet in existence, who was there to remember this event?

It has been commonly accepted throughout several centuries that the book in which this origination statement is made is “holy;” that is, belonging to, derived from or associated with a divine power, and as such, no matter its age or its contents, everything is factual or, at the very least, based on highly possible/probable happenings.

But this is fallacy.

To place credibility in such a story does not speak well of human reasoning powers. In fact, it demonstrates a complete lack of rational thinking. It is equivalent to a belief in fairies, unicorns, dragons, goblins, cyclops, gremlins, etc. — whose existence all came about through folklore. Such creatures were fabricated to thrill, terrify, entertain and, yes, even to inspire, much like the many and magical gods of the ancient past.

Yet rational, sane, and describably intelligent individuals will look you in the eye and without even the hint of a blink tell you this story is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Some will undoubtedly ask, if not a god, then how did this world/universe get its start? The most direct answer is “I don’t know. I wasn’t there.” But God-Believers will not accept that answer. To them, it’s all or nothing. Even though their “proof” is contained entirely in a book that wasn’t even in existence “in the beginning.”

The indisputable facts are this. We — NONE of us — know how this world began. Scientists/Cosmologists have their theories, but that’s all they are. They weren’t there at its origination any more than those who wrote the creation stories.

P.S. For anyone who’s interested, here is a link to the MANY ways people have traditionally explained the origin of earth and its life.

---

*A form of human communication wherein cultural material and tradition is transmitted orally from one generation to another.