If the first book of the bible is flawed then......??
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toktaylor
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(a bit long but worth the read).......Is it gods word by Joseph Wheless
"The first chapter of Genesis declares by inspiration that creation took place in six days, in this
exact order: 1. on the first day light and day and night were created, (though the sun and moon
were not created until the fourth day); 2. on the second day, the "firmament of heaven," a solid
something "dividing the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were
above the firmament"; 3. on the third day, the dry land, the seas, and all manner of plants and
trees; 4. on the fourth day, the sun, moon, and stars; 5. on the fifth day, every living creature that moveth in the waters, and every winged fowl; 6. on the sixth day, all manner of beasts, and cattle, and creeping thing: then, afterwards, on the same sixth day, "? [Elohim] created man in his
own image; male and female created he them." And then (1: 28 ), "? [Elohim] blessed them,
and ? [Elohim] said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue
it."' And, running over into the second chapter, this "Elohim" account concludes:
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished; and all the host of them. And on the seventh day
? [Elohim] ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day" (2: 1, 2 ).
Thus all creation, including man and woman, was fully made and finished in six days.
No mention is made of any Adam and Eve, or Eden. This is the Elohist version of the creation.
Then, beginning with the fourth verse of the second chapter, a totally different "Yahveh" account
of creation of the world and of man, without woman, all in one day, is related: "These are the
generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord ? [Yahveh Elohim; i.e., Yahveh of the Gods] made the earth and the heavens." Then follows this description of the processes after the earth was thus already created: "And no plant or herb of the field was yet in the earth; ... and there was not a man to till the ground. ... And Yahveh Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And Yahveh Elohim planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there be put the man whom he had formed." And he planted all kinds of trees in the garden, and put the man into the garden to till it (2: 15 ). Then Yahveh Elohim said: "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make an help meet [i.e., fit, appropriate] for him" (2: 18 ). Then "out of the ground Yahveh Elohim formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto the man" (2: 19 ).
Before proceeding further, to the creation of the woman, we will note the glaring contradictions
already apparent in these two accounts. First we see a creation of everything by Elohim (Gods) in
six days; then a creation of the heaven and naked earth by Yahveh in one day. In the first or
Elohim account, on the third day, after creating the dry land, Elohim (Gods) commanded, (Gen. 1: 12 ) "and the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed, and tree bearing fruit," etc. But in the second or "Yahveh" account, after the earth was all rough-finished and read , on the one day, it is declared (Gen. 2: 5 ): "no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up." Then immediately follows the declaration (2: 7 ) "And Yahveh Elohim [Eng., Lord
? ] formed man out of the dust of the ground"; then planted the Garden of Eden, and all its trees, and put the man into the garden. Nothing could be more contradictory than this.
There is another very notable contradiction: in Gen. 1: 20, 21, on the fifth day, the "living creatures" (Heb., nephesh hayyah), and the "winged fowl" were brought forth out of the waters --
"Let the waters bring forth abundantly the living creatures Inephesh hayyah] and the winged
fowl"; and this, of course, before the creation of man and woman on the sixth day; whereas, in 2:
19, after the creation of the man, and when Yahveh was trying to find a "help-mate" for him
among the animals not yet created, "out of the ground Yahveh formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them to the man."
Another notorious contradiction: in the Elohim version (1: 24, 25 ), Elohim made every beast, and
animal, and cattle on the sixth day, before man was created. In the Yahveh account, as we have
just seen, after the man was created and put into the Garden of Eden, Yahveh "out of the ground
formed every beast of the field, and brought them to the man" (2: 19 ).
Most notorious of these creation contradictions is that of the creation of the woman. In the Elohim
account, as we have seen, on the sixth day-after all else was created and done "Elohim created
man in his own image, male and female created he them [i.e., man and woman]; and Elohim said,
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" (1: 27, 28 ): thus both man and woman were
created on the sixth day, and were sexually equipped and commanded to multiply and reproduce.
But in the second or Yahveh account we have man created all alone, and put into the Garden of
Eden alone.
Afterwards Yahveh considers: "It is not well for the man to be alone; I will make an help meet for
him" (2: 18 ). Then we have the very remarkable, not to say ridiculous, episode of Yahveh making
all kinds of animals and parading them before the man for him to choose a female animal helpmate or wife, but none was "meet," or fit, or satisfactory for him-"but for the man there was not found an help meet [fit] for him" (2: 20 ). Then follows the rib story, of woman being made from the rib of the man and brought to him to be his wife (2: 22 ). A peculiar contradiction resulting from these divergent forms of myth relates to the modus operandi of the creation. According to the Elohist, it was all the work of divine fiat; the Gods sat "upon the circle of the earth" (Isa. 40: 22 ), "and Elohim said: Let there be ... and the earth brought forth ... and it was so" (Gen. 1: 2, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26 ); "he spake, and they were made"-were brought into existence by his word. But the Yahvist represents the superman ? as coming down ? to earth and as busily engaged molding the dust of the ground into man and animals and fowls (but not fishes), planting a garden and trees, talking to the man, and then artistically carving the rib into Eve; all creation thus being "the work of his fingers" (Psalm 8: 3 ).
These are two totally contradictory stories of the creation of the earth, and of living creatures.
Hence one is false; the notion of the inspired truth of ? in one or the other of them must be
abandoned as impossible. Of course we know that both are mere fables, equally false, and wholly
disproved by every fact of the sciences of geology and anthropology and astronomy, which prove
that the earth and sun and stars were countless ages in formation, and that human and animal life has existed for perhaps hundreds of thousands of years, far beyond the lately discovered Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon men, who outdated the biblical Adam by tens of thousands of
years. But we will stick to our Bible "facts," and not appeal to the discoveries of science, nor to the
common elements of modern human knowledge, to gainsay divine inspiration of the Bible. The
book and its truth must be tried by itself. It is also evident on the face of these two conflicting
accounts that two different writers, "E" and "J," wrote them, and not Moses; and also that the
third man, "P," who patched them together, did it in a very apprentice-like manner, and without
any inspiration or critical knack at all."
"The first chapter of Genesis declares by inspiration that creation took place in six days, in this
exact order: 1. on the first day light and day and night were created, (though the sun and moon
were not created until the fourth day); 2. on the second day, the "firmament of heaven," a solid
something "dividing the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were
above the firmament"; 3. on the third day, the dry land, the seas, and all manner of plants and
trees; 4. on the fourth day, the sun, moon, and stars; 5. on the fifth day, every living creature that moveth in the waters, and every winged fowl; 6. on the sixth day, all manner of beasts, and cattle, and creeping thing: then, afterwards, on the same sixth day, "? [Elohim] created man in his
own image; male and female created he them." And then (1: 28 ), "? [Elohim] blessed them,
and ? [Elohim] said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue
it."' And, running over into the second chapter, this "Elohim" account concludes:
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished; and all the host of them. And on the seventh day
? [Elohim] ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day" (2: 1, 2 ).
Thus all creation, including man and woman, was fully made and finished in six days.
No mention is made of any Adam and Eve, or Eden. This is the Elohist version of the creation.
Then, beginning with the fourth verse of the second chapter, a totally different "Yahveh" account
of creation of the world and of man, without woman, all in one day, is related: "These are the
generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord ? [Yahveh Elohim; i.e., Yahveh of the Gods] made the earth and the heavens." Then follows this description of the processes after the earth was thus already created: "And no plant or herb of the field was yet in the earth; ... and there was not a man to till the ground. ... And Yahveh Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And Yahveh Elohim planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there be put the man whom he had formed." And he planted all kinds of trees in the garden, and put the man into the garden to till it (2: 15 ). Then Yahveh Elohim said: "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make an help meet [i.e., fit, appropriate] for him" (2: 18 ). Then "out of the ground Yahveh Elohim formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto the man" (2: 19 ).
Before proceeding further, to the creation of the woman, we will note the glaring contradictions
already apparent in these two accounts. First we see a creation of everything by Elohim (Gods) in
six days; then a creation of the heaven and naked earth by Yahveh in one day. In the first or
Elohim account, on the third day, after creating the dry land, Elohim (Gods) commanded, (Gen. 1: 12 ) "and the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed, and tree bearing fruit," etc. But in the second or "Yahveh" account, after the earth was all rough-finished and read , on the one day, it is declared (Gen. 2: 5 ): "no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up." Then immediately follows the declaration (2: 7 ) "And Yahveh Elohim [Eng., Lord
? ] formed man out of the dust of the ground"; then planted the Garden of Eden, and all its trees, and put the man into the garden. Nothing could be more contradictory than this.
There is another very notable contradiction: in Gen. 1: 20, 21, on the fifth day, the "living creatures" (Heb., nephesh hayyah), and the "winged fowl" were brought forth out of the waters --
"Let the waters bring forth abundantly the living creatures Inephesh hayyah] and the winged
fowl"; and this, of course, before the creation of man and woman on the sixth day; whereas, in 2:
19, after the creation of the man, and when Yahveh was trying to find a "help-mate" for him
among the animals not yet created, "out of the ground Yahveh formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them to the man."
Another notorious contradiction: in the Elohim version (1: 24, 25 ), Elohim made every beast, and
animal, and cattle on the sixth day, before man was created. In the Yahveh account, as we have
just seen, after the man was created and put into the Garden of Eden, Yahveh "out of the ground
formed every beast of the field, and brought them to the man" (2: 19 ).
Most notorious of these creation contradictions is that of the creation of the woman. In the Elohim
account, as we have seen, on the sixth day-after all else was created and done "Elohim created
man in his own image, male and female created he them [i.e., man and woman]; and Elohim said,
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" (1: 27, 28 ): thus both man and woman were
created on the sixth day, and were sexually equipped and commanded to multiply and reproduce.
But in the second or Yahveh account we have man created all alone, and put into the Garden of
Eden alone.
Afterwards Yahveh considers: "It is not well for the man to be alone; I will make an help meet for
him" (2: 18 ). Then we have the very remarkable, not to say ridiculous, episode of Yahveh making
all kinds of animals and parading them before the man for him to choose a female animal helpmate or wife, but none was "meet," or fit, or satisfactory for him-"but for the man there was not found an help meet [fit] for him" (2: 20 ). Then follows the rib story, of woman being made from the rib of the man and brought to him to be his wife (2: 22 ). A peculiar contradiction resulting from these divergent forms of myth relates to the modus operandi of the creation. According to the Elohist, it was all the work of divine fiat; the Gods sat "upon the circle of the earth" (Isa. 40: 22 ), "and Elohim said: Let there be ... and the earth brought forth ... and it was so" (Gen. 1: 2, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26 ); "he spake, and they were made"-were brought into existence by his word. But the Yahvist represents the superman ? as coming down ? to earth and as busily engaged molding the dust of the ground into man and animals and fowls (but not fishes), planting a garden and trees, talking to the man, and then artistically carving the rib into Eve; all creation thus being "the work of his fingers" (Psalm 8: 3 ).
These are two totally contradictory stories of the creation of the earth, and of living creatures.
Hence one is false; the notion of the inspired truth of ? in one or the other of them must be
abandoned as impossible. Of course we know that both are mere fables, equally false, and wholly
disproved by every fact of the sciences of geology and anthropology and astronomy, which prove
that the earth and sun and stars were countless ages in formation, and that human and animal life has existed for perhaps hundreds of thousands of years, far beyond the lately discovered Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon men, who outdated the biblical Adam by tens of thousands of
years. But we will stick to our Bible "facts," and not appeal to the discoveries of science, nor to the
common elements of modern human knowledge, to gainsay divine inspiration of the Bible. The
book and its truth must be tried by itself. It is also evident on the face of these two conflicting
accounts that two different writers, "E" and "J," wrote them, and not Moses; and also that the
third man, "P," who patched them together, did it in a very apprentice-like manner, and without
any inspiration or critical knack at all."