Christians get themselves into trouble when they say that mankind was created by "God." Many are not aware of the fact that the bible reflects that humans were created by more than one "god." "And the Lord God formed Man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Man became a living soul." This is in chapter 2, Verse 7 of the book of Genesis, King James English translation, and it is what Christians believe. If Christians were to study the Hebrew bible, which is the ORIGINAL, they would discover that, first of all, the creative act is attributed to a certain ELOHIM---- a plural term that at the least should be translated as "gods," not "God." And second, they would become aware that the quoted verse also explains why "The Adam" was created: "For there was no Adam to till the land." These are two important --- and unsettling --- hints to who had created Man and why.
There is another problem that exists,"God said, Let us make men in our image, after our likeness"; then the suggestion was carried out: "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." The problem is pluralism. The suggestion originates from a plural entity who addresses a plural audience.
As both Orientalists and Bible scholars now know, what went on was the editing and summarizing by the compilers of the Book of Genesis of much earlier and considerably more detailed texts first written down in Sumer.
Sumeria - The Garden of Eden |
