Part 74 (1/2)

521:18 The reader will naturally ask if there is nothing more about creation in the book of Genesis. Indeed there is, but the continued account is mortal and material.

521:21 _Genesis_ ii. 6. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

The story of error

The Science and truth of the divine creation have been 521:24 presented in the verses already considered, and now the opposite error, a material view of creation, is to be set forth. The second chapter of Gene- 521:27 sis contains a statement of this material view of G.o.d and the universe, a statement which is the exact opposite of scientific truth as before recorded. The history of error 521:30 or matter, if veritable, would set aside the omnipotence 522:1 of Spirit; but it is the false history in contradistinction to the true.

The two records

522:3 The Science of the first record proves the falsity of the second. If one is true, the other is false, for they are antagonistic. The first record a.s.signs all 522:6 might and government to G.o.d, and endows man out of G.o.d's perfection and power. The second record chronicles man as mutable and mortal, - as hav- 522:9 ing broken away from Deity and as revolving in an orbit of his own. Existence, separate from divinity, Science explains as impossible.

522:12 This second record unmistakably gives the history of error in its externalized forms, called life and intelli- gence in matter. It records pantheism, opposed to the 522:15 supremacy of divine Spirit; but this state of things is declared to be temporary and this man to be mortal, - dust returning to dust.

Erroneous representation

522:18 In this erroneous theory, matter takes the place of Spirit.

Matter is represented as the life-giving principle of the earth. Spirit is represented as entering mat- 522:21 ter in order to create man. G.o.d's glowing denunciations of man when not found in His image, the likeness of Spirit, convince reason and coincide 522:24 with revelation in declaring this material creation false.

Hypothetical reversal

This latter part of the second chapter of Genesis, which portrays Spirit as supposedly cooperating with matter in 522:27 constructing the universe, is based on some hypothesis of error, for the Scripture just pre- ceding declares G.o.d's work to be finished. Does Life, 522:30 Truth, and Love produce death, error, and hatred? Does the creator condemn His own creation? Does the un- erring Principle of divine law change or repent? It can- 523:1 not be so. Yet one might so judge from an unintelligent perusal of the Scriptural account now under comment.

Mist, or false claim

523:3 Because of its false basis, the mist of obscurity evolved by error deepens the false claim, and finally declares that G.o.d knows error and that error can improve 523:6 His creation. Although presenting the exact opposite of Truth, the lie claims to be truth. The crea- tions of matter arise from a mist or false claim, or from 523:9 mystification, and not from the firmament, or under- standing, which G.o.d erects between the true and false.

In error everything comes from beneath, not from above.

523:12 All is material myth, instead of the reflection of Spirit.

Distinct doc.u.ments

It may be worth while here to remark that, according 523:15 to the best scholars, there are clear evidences of two dis- tinct doc.u.ments in the early part of the book of Genesis. One is called the Elohistic, because 523:18 the Supreme Being is therein called Elohim. The other doc.u.ment is called the Jehovistic, because Deity therein is always called Jehovah, - or Lord G.o.d, as our common 523:21 version translates it.

Jehovah or Elohim

Throughout the first chapter of Genesis and in three verses of the second, - in what we understand to be the 523:24 spiritually scientific account of creation, - it is Elohim (G.o.d) who creates. From the fourth verse of chapter two to chapter five, the creator is called 523:27 Jehovah, or the Lord. The different accounts become more and more closely intertwined to the end of chapter twelve, after which the distinction is not definitely trace- 523:30 able. In the historic parts of the Old Testament, it is usually Jehovah, peculiarly the divine sovereign of the Hebrew people, who is referred to.

G.o.ds of the heathen

524:1 The idolatry which followed this material mythology is seen in the Phoenician wors.h.i.+p of Baal, in the Moabitish 524:3 G.o.d Chemosh, in the Moloch of the Amorites, in the Hindoo Vishnu, in the Greek Aphro- dite, and in a thousand other so-called deities.

Jehovah a tribal deity

524:6 It was also found among the Israelites, who constantly went after ”strange G.o.ds.” They called the Supreme Being by the national name of Jehovah. In 524:9 that name of Jehovah, the true idea of G.o.d seems almost lost. G.o.d becomes ”a man of war,” a tribal G.o.d to be wors.h.i.+pped, rather than Love, the divine 524:12 Principle to be lived and loved.

_Genesis_ ii. 7. And the Lord G.o.d [Jehovah] formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils 524:15 the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Creation reversed

Did the divine and infinite Principle become a finite deity, that he should now be called Jehovah? With 524:18 a single command, Mind had made man, both male and female. How then could a material organization become the basis of man? How 524:21 could the non-intelligent become the medium of Mind, and error be the enunciator of Truth? Matter is not the reflection of Spirit, yet G.o.d is reflected in all His 524:24 creation. Is this addition to His creation real or un- real? Is it the truth, or is it a lie concerning man and G.o.d?