The "factual" truth of Genesis was accepted for many years but early in the Enlightenment, around the 17th and 18th centuries, problems arose due to new discoveries in paleontology and geology. Charles Darwin also caused quite a stir with the ideas he presented. This controversy continues today but contemporary biblical scholarship sees them (creation stories) as ancient Israel's stories of the world's beginnings. (Borg) sees them as profoundly true mythological stories. They are not God's stories of the beginning but Israel's stories of her pre-history.

The Genesis stories of creation can be told in more than one way and have meanings on many levels. "Myths do not speak facts but are necessary if we are to speak at all about the world" - Walter Brueggemann. "Myth is not a distortion of fact but the womb through which fact must come." -- Seth

The first three chapters of Genesis contain two stories of creation that modern scholarship generally agrees were written about 400 years apart. They spent many years as oral tradition and were more than likely used in liturgy before they were written down. The first one, Genesis 1:1-2:3 was probably written about the 500s BCE (before the common era) by the Priestly author, one of four writers. Here we stopped to read the story aloud. (One gets the feeling this was truly meant to be read aloud or sung aloud in community!) This version is written in protest to the dominant culture's (the Babylonians - see "The History of God" - Karen Armstrong) myths of creation meaning in part it went counter to the prevailing ideas at the time that believed that if one people were conquered by another people, the conquering peoples god was the true, original and more powerful god.

In Hebrew biblical language, being old means being closer to God. It does speak to actual age in years. The second story was written earlier and begins in Genesis 2:4 and continues through the of Chapter 3. Written about the 900s BCE and called the Yahwist or J stories because the author uses Yahweh as the name for God. Here we stopped to read it aloud. This author was influenced by the dominant culture of the Canaanites.

The two stories are quite different. Chapter 3 parallels the Epic of Gilgamesh, which was the mythology of the Babylonians.

The Book of Genesis begins with a hymn of praise to God as Creator. It is a Creed so to speak, a confession of faith. The point the text makes is "from whom does creation derive its meaning? Answer: From God From whom does human life derive its meaning? Answer: From God

The bible is a book about revelation, not about creation science. The story carries the meaning. The creation stories are world affirming. All that is, is good. But the idea has developed that something has gone wrong.

There are also creation stories in Psalms 8 and 104 and even one in Job. We read Psalm 8 aloud.

Thank you cousins for your service and the magnificent presentation!

We had a few minutes of large group discussion that revolved around the "fall" and what that represents or represented to the ancient Hebrews and one of us had another take on the symbolism of the creation story supposedly given by a disciple of the apostle, John, which I find intriguing.

The idea is that we all have an inner light that we variously call consciousness, spirit, Self or Soul. This inner consciousness is the root of the tree of our life, the basis of all that we think, all that we perceive, all that we feel, and all that we do. Calling this inner light the root of the tree of our life is reminiscent of the metaphorical passage in the Bible about the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

"The tree in either case, the Tree of Life or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, is the human nervous system. When it is used properly it functions as the Tree of Life, bringing health and all good things to human kind. When the human ego (the serpent) is drawn into the experience of duality, the emotional nature (Eve principle) eats of the apple of duality, and the rational mind (Adam principle) follows - the individual perceives duality, feels hot and cold, believes in good and bad. In this state (a) judging, dualistic life necessarily ends in death. A house divided against itself cannot long endure. It will rot, it will decay it will fall. If we live by the two-edged sword of judgment, we will surely die by it." -MSI-

The solution is to take the apple out of the mouth. To do this we stop listening to the serpent, the desires of the ego that lead to duality. There are two voices in humankind. One speaks for the ego and leads to judgment, to separation, to fear, to defense, to the continuance of ignorance; the second speaks for the Ascendant (God-within) and leads to clear perception, to love, to invincibility, to Self-realization. Kind of like the "Two wolves" story we know and love. Which one do we feed, eh?

Someone also brought forth an idea of Joseph Campbell's she saw in an interview with him that resonated with the group. The full interview was published in "In Context A Quarterly of Humane Sustainable Culture" winter 1985-86 page 52.

Interviewer, Tom: There's a lot of interesting material in the Old Testament, isn't there? For instance, it says that God created everything except the water. (The woman who brought this to our attention also mentioned that God doesn't actually create the water in Genesis, its already there!)

Joseph: You've put your finger on it. The water is the goddess. You see, what happens in the Old Testament is that the masculine principle remains personified and the female principle is reduced to an element. The first verse says, when God created, the breath of God brooded over the waters. And the water is goddess.

Someone else then brought up the Book of Wisdom and that in the beginning She was with God. As if they were two separate entities! Go figure. Ok, talk amongst yourselves, we're getting hungry right about now!

As we stumble and trip our way to the snack shack, we darn near knock over the refreshing and reviving cups of cranberry apple juice and if that isn't your cup of tea, there were also pre-poured cups of orange pineapple juice. Cousin! As one refreshes with this nectar of the goddesses(!) rumors begin spreading that a small community of a most spectacular delectable called a 'scruffin' (I think) were waiting to be consumed. Alas, we found these rumors to be self-evident and what a treat. They were like a cross between a muffin and a scone and for my money, were better than either. These were made with blackberries and were marvelously fresh and soft and rich and the right amount of tart. Now those of you that don't know the treat-bearer may not know that the reason we love her so much is not only that she is a wonderful woman full of life and love but because she brought REAL BUTTER with which to slather the scruffins with! Are you kidding me!! Where did you get these?

It's me it's me it's me oh lord
Standin' in the need of prayer!

It's me it's me it's me oh lord
Standin' in the need of prayer!

Any rate, we did finally get to our small groups where we spent about 40 minutes discussing the questions and realizations we came upon while reading Borg and the first three chapters of Genesis: Is the Knowledge of good and evil a bad thing? How come we were never told that there were two creation stories in the bible? Man, that really frosts a fella! We discussed original sin, the fall and some of the ideas presented by Michael Morwood on Monday evening. We also discussed who and what we are and how the heck do we feel about all of these things. Are we ready to start asking relevant and "dangerous" questions? Do we really want to know the answers? Are we willing to drink the cup to the fullest draft and receive the bliss and the responsibility that goes with that?

Let's keep emptying and filling ourselves in silence and gathering in community. We'll find out.

For next week please read chapter 5 in Borg, "Reading the Pentateuch Again."

Privileges for next week include:

• Facilitator Claire
• O. Prayer Denise
• C. Prayer Kerri
• Treats Rita
• Clean-up Jeanne
• Bookstore
• After 9 Maybe Elise (no pressure!)
• After 11 Sheila

Rik Murray
(612) 872-8694