The Enuma Elish was dug up in the ruins of the library of Ashurbanipal, and was written in Akkadian cuneiform.
Posted on 02/06/2023 8:44:34 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In the middle of the 19th century, an archaeologist discovered fragments of multiple clay tablets in what is modern-day Iraq. Translated, the cuneiform writing on these and other tablets subsequently found revealed the “Enuma Elish,” the Babylonian account of the creation of the world.
The Enuma Elish starts with formless chaos and water. The waters divide into a god and a goddess, who have children who are also gods. War breaks out between mother and father, and between mother and children. Ultimately, the offspring of the first two gods create human beings to be their servants.
Other ancient cultures have strikingly similar creation stories. Egyptians believed multiple creation myths, but most also begin with chaos and water, out of which come gods, war, and ultimately, human beings. The Genesis account, skeptics proclaim, is simply one of these accounts, and therefore should not be taken any more seriously than the others.
Too many Christians, even those who may not go as far as to call the Genesis account false, seem embarrassed by it. A purely naturalistic and neo-Darwinian account of human origins now dominates both the academy and the wider culture, and most Christians simply lack the confidence to engage the issue at all. So instead, they merely accept the claim that Genesis should be filed away under ancient creation myths with all the others.
Not only does this approach ignore the scientific doubts growing about these theories mistaken for fact and fail to take Jesus’ professed belief about the Genesis account seriously, it leaves unquestioned the assumed premise. Are the similarities between the biblical account of creation and other ancient accounts as obvious and conclusive as we are told?
C.S. Lewis didn’t think so. In his book Miracles, Lewis argued for the opposite conclusion. If multiple disparate cultures recorded similar stories of the world’s beginning, isn’t it possible these ancient peoples derived clues from the nature around them about the world’s actual beginning? In other words, if a story is true, we should expect multiple people in multiple places to discover it, and to muddy details along the way.
As an example, Lewis noted how the biblical account of the Incarnation, when God became man, followed a pattern similar to other ancient deities, especially those associated with agriculture. Noting that seeds fall to the ground, die, and then bear fruit, ancient tribes worshiped gods of seeds, fruit, and harvest. God became man, died, descended into burial, and then re-ascended into life and Heaven. Does this mean the Jesus story plagiarized what Lewis called the “Corn-Kings” of ancient civilizations? Not at all.
"The Hebrews throughout their history were being constantly headed off from the worship of Nature-gods; not because the Nature-gods were in all respects unlike the God of Nature but because, at best, they were merely like, and it was the destiny of that nation to be turned away from likenesses to the thing itself."
Even more, if the similarities between ancient deities and creation myths do not disqualify the biblical accounts, what about the obvious differences?
In an excellent analysis in his new book Biblical Critical Theory, scholar Christopher Watkin rightfully concludes that the Genesis account stands apart as profoundly different from other creation myths:
Genesis 1, by contrast, spares us the violence and conflict. Indeed there is no one for God to be in conflict with, no rival to play the antagonist in his grand creation plan, stealing away the sun he puts in the sky or pulling up his newly created trees and plants. In contrast to other ancient creation myths, Genesis 1 is remarkably calm and ordered. No one gets hurt, no one loses a corporeal appendage, and no one dies. The universe is not created in war and through fighting but in peace and through speaking.
Not only is this account of creation not like the others, but every claim it makes about the world also holds up to human experience, even today. That’s one reason belief persists in the Genesis story, unlike the other ancient myths. A world born of violence and power inevitably leads to privileging violence and power above all else. The Genesis account explains the violence and power that plagues the world but puts it in the larger context of a world made of order and peace, made by a loving Creator. That’s not only a better story, it better reflects the world as we know and experience it.
Originally published at BreakPoint.
John Stonestreet serves as president of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. He’s a sought-after author and speaker on areas of faith and culture, theology, worldview, education and apologetics.
Maria Baer works for the Colson Center for Christian Worldview.
Genesis is completely pertinent to eternity and the life and resurrection of Jesus.
Paul refers in his writings to the first Adam and the second Adam. He says in Romans 5:12 that through one man (Adam) sin entered into the world. It is the second Adam (Jesus) who came to destroy the works of the devil (1John 3:8)
If Adam isn’t a historical figure, then Christ came, lived a sinless life and died a horrific death based on a “creation myth”.
Jesus himself said in Matthew 19:4-5 and a parallel passage in Mark 10:6: “Have you not read that in the beginning, God made them male and female”.
If you are a disciple of Christ you should trust in what He said.
If you have ever done the exercise where you whisper a short story to one person who then whispers it to the next on and on and on and then have the last person say what they heard it would explain what this article is speaking about perfectly.
At one point all of Gods children were told the story, but it changed in many cultures over time and got twisted into what we know today. Only the Jews were able to keep the story unchanged through time at Gods direct command.
The only thing really up for serious debate in Genesis is the time frames in regards to creation. Which can easily be explained by God being outside of our time and that the days mentioned in the biblical account of creation have no relationship to how we count a day.
Why, SURE it’s a myth!
Because - Once upon a time, there was NOTHING…
And then, just like that, the nothing went ~BOOM!…
And then, there was everything!.. perfect order!..
Makes a whole lotta sense, don’t it?
And there wasn’t even a written form of the Bible available to the general public until what, the 1700s?
So how could you describe the story in a manner that could be spread through spoken word?
Modern man is to smart to believe in biblical myths like a seven day creation, Adam and Eve, etc. Also, there will be an awful lot of intellectuals in hell.
Yes.
*Then you are full of mis information and need to learn Hebrew*
Here’s what the leading Hebraist in the US says about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3txmpHQJ520
He disagrees with you.
William Shatner’s “The Unexplained” on the History Channel has an Episode on the book “The 12th Planet” by Zecharia Sitchin which is about a wandering planet that is involved in Earth’s beginnings, and the book is available on Amazon. Looks interesting, have ordered it.
The Enuma Elish was dug up in the ruins of the library of Ashurbanipal, and was written in Akkadian cuneiform.
Enuma Elish?
Didn’t he win a Grammy last year?.............................
Ah, but it is even more subtle that. (See the text under my FreeRepublic name). Genesis has the complete sequence of Earth’s creation and evolution from the Big Bang through the formation of the seas and continents, to the creation of plants, the atmosphere, and the development of dinosaurs (birds), and then mammals and then Man.
It generally ties in the a sudden melting associated with the end of the last ice age. Sea levels rose about 400 feet.
The climate change folks today don’t “think big.”
“Genesis it true, but told with a set of metaphors that would be understandable to readers thousands of years ago.
Science has revealed the details behind each of those metaphors, but unlike the creation myths of every other ancient faith the basic structure of Genesis has been entirely confirmed by modern science.”
Well you absolutely had me in full agreement until you denied objectivity with the “all other stories but the Bible are wrong.”
Considering many of them metaphorically tell the exact same story... Some of them written long before the Biblical timeline. Too bad you started with an intelligent objective out of the box perspective and then threw yourself right back into the box of 12th century ignorance.
Sorry, I thought this was in General/Chat. I did not realize it was the religion forum, I stepped in by accident. I try to stay out of here as a rule because it is far too radical and extreme for my own objectivity.
“Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy”
Hadn’t heard that one before.
It’s got to be the most commonly used “trick” by every single media (propaganda) outlet of both sides (or any side).
It’s the essence of propaganda. Emphasize facts that support your point of you, bury the ones that don’t.
Bingo! Genesis 1:1 is the foundational premise for the entire Bible. If that verse is not true, everything that follows is a lie.
You’re making my point, gundog.
Adam is a historical figure and Jesus came to undo what was done in the garden... Adam’s sin.
1Corinthians 15: 44-46:
45 So also it is written: “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” The last Adam was a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.
Genesis is completely relevant.
This light is variously known as the Ohr Rishon ("first light"), Ohr HaGanuz ("hidden light"), and Ohr Mashiach ("Messianic light").
It's described as the revelation of all knowledge which had to be concealed because it was too intense, and that evil had no business knowing about it, being unworthy to receive it.
It's a deep dive into Lurianic Kabbalah but really all that mystical stuff is analog and metaphor, which is why it remains mysterious. The simple hides in plain sight. Parable-code speak.
I have not seen any place containing the info in post 23. It's a simple observation, so maybe it's noted elsewhere aside from my posts.
I suspect it would be dismissed outright because "day" is transliterated. "You can't do that", or some such excuse. Yet there it is, "Day", which adds up to 24, and is "concealed" in the very period of time that confounds the best minds in the biz, because, "What is it?" Well, we do know that's exactly how manna got its name.
Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Day -- the very first of Creation to receive a name. Funny-obvious thing is, names are what someone (or some place) is called, so when they are used outside of their original tongues, they remain as they are. Someone surnamed "White" is called by that name, not by a translation of the color word.
It's not unusual at all for people to acquire nicknames based on plays on their names. That *is* the reality on the ground. Happens all the time. What average folks would immediately understand (and even have a good chuckle over), might sail right by serious experts.
For example, imagine 1000 years from now, scholars discover the movie Christmas Vacation. They watch and listen to Cousin Eddie explaining how he named his dog, "because he's got this sinus condition..."
Try as they might, the crypt-keepers can find no record anywhere of that "sinus condition" in all of the medical records of aniquity. It's a big mystery, but the theories and arguments flow.
It's like that. An epiphany is a big flash of light that appears suddenly like a lightning bolt, and can be seen by everybody even if their eyes are tightly shut.
Then again, no it can't.. Not much of a mystery how that happens.
Bill and Ted were the great ones, because when Bill looked up So-crates...
"The only true wisdom consists in knowing that you know nothing.."
Ted understood. "That's us, Dude."
It keeps the lamps of learning turned on bright. Never boring! 😎
Here's something fun: Alchemy made simple.
You and I define “ history” differently.
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