Teaching Nonviolent Atonement
The creation account in Genesis is often pitted as a debate between faith and science. But the biblical account of creation isn’t about a literal seven days of creation. It’s about the meaning behind creation.
There were many different creation stories in the ancient world. One story was told by the ancient Babylonians. They claimed the world was made from a war among the gods. Marduk, a young god, went to war with his mother, the goddess Tiamat. After a long battle, Marduk and his friends killed Tiamat and her general, Kingu. Marduk took Tiamat’s “evil” body and split it in half, making the earth and the sky. Then he took the blood of Tiamat’s general, along with some clay from the ground, and formed humans.
The Babylonian creation account not only says that the world was created from violence and war, but that the world is an inherently evil place.
Contrast that ancient story with the Genesis creation account. In Genesis, God simply speaks creation into existence. No war. No violence. And as opposed to the world being evil, the story repeats the phrase after each day, “And it was good.”
It’s actually quite easy to believe the meaning behind the Babylonian story. Violence seems to be everywhere in our world. Terrorism at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub and in Nice, France. Shootings on the streets of Chicago and the continued “War on Terror.” The Babylonians story that claims the world is a violent and evil place makes a lot of sense.
But the ancient Jewish creation story enters into our despair to transform it. The writers Genesis 1 knew violence. They knew evil. They knew despair. Their people were conquered, murdered, and enslaved by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians. And yet, they told a story of hope, where creation is fundamentally good.
The point wasn’t about naively turning a blind eye to violence. Rather, the point was to protest. The creation story is a protest that says the world isn’t supposed to be full of violence. Humans aren’t supposed to act this way. The world is good, indeed, very good, and human beings are created in the divine image.
How would the world be different if we finally understood the truth of Genesis 1? That truth is this: the world is fundamentally good and that the closest we will get to God is to see God’s image reflected in the face of our fellow human beings.
Image Copyright: pakhay / 123RF Stock Photo
For more in this series:
Part 1: Creation is No Myth
Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the “Image of God”
Part 3: The Bible is Progressive
Part 4: The Apocalypse Revealed
Part 5: The Key to Biblical Violence
Part 6: Adam, Eve, and the Mimetics of Being Human
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