The bible account lists 10 major stages in this order:
(1) a beginning
(2) a primitive earth in darkness and enshrouded in heavy gases and water
(3) light;
(4) an expanse or atmosphere;
(5) large areas of dry land;
(6) land plants;
(7) sun, moon and stars discernible in the expanse, and seasons beginning;
(8) sea monsters and flying creatures;
(9) wild and tame beasts, mammals;
(10) man.
Caveat: I am aware of Rule 7. The lighthearted tone of my post below is intended to show how random guesswork couldnt be a basis for a creation myth. Its not meant to cause offense.
Just for fun, I randomly drew out the ten stages from a bag and guessed at my own Creation story. Heres how it happened according to that method:
1. A beginning.
Honestly, I
did draw this first. So were in agreement that starting the story with In the beginning... is the way to go. Off to an excellent and thoroughly logical start, then.
5. Large areas of dry land.
Makes sense, right? Look at what were standing on. Must have been around before, you know, all the things that are
on it. So God is
literally laying the
groundwork for his creation.
8. Sea monsters and flying creatures.
What monsters, now? Whats this sea business? Sure, get some flying things in here, though. Gods above us in heaven and needs to demonstrate whats above by filling the air with wondrous creatures.
4. An expanse or atmosphere.
Phew! Couldnt come along soon enough, if you ask me. God realised that those flying creatures have to be flapping about in
something - makes perfect sense to give them an atmosphere to live in. Maybe the sea monsters will be ok with that too, do you think? Or do they get the expanse (whatever that is)? Is it an either/or thing, or just separate terms for the same thing, I wonder. Whatever, weve got land and air - thats the basics in place and the storys shaping up well.
3. Light.
Oh, wow. Howd he miss that? Cant deny its useful. I would have popped this in on Day Two if it were me, just to make the rest of the week a little easier. That third day must have been pretty unsettling for the flying creatures that were left in the dark with no atmosphere, but whats forty eight hours when they then get air
and light? Im still a bit concerned about the sea monsters though - isnt there something missing?
2. A primitive earth in darkness and enshrouded in heavy gases and water.
Duuude!!! - who switched out the lights? And what happened to the atmosphere? And the
land? Cmon! Is this just overcompensation for the sea creatures, now? Im not sure many survived the three days without water anyway, but I know some Australian lungfish [strike]evolved[/strike] were created to survive a drought, so perhaps theres a few that made it through that weird period of suffocating darkness before the Big Day of Light and then final, moist salvation. Kinda like a mini-story of suffering then happiness, so I get that Gods still got a plan here. Clearly not just chucking things into existence willy-nilly.
10. Man
OK, this is logically where we come in. We were created in darkness, theres water everywhere... and the atmosphere is
heavy, man - although for some reason were not allowed to call it an atmosphere, ok? Yeah, it was primitive times for sure, but God had a plan for us - everything will make sense by Day Six or so, trust me.
6. Land plants
Aaaand.... boom! The lands back! Got plants on it, too. Check it out. Sure, still in darkness and a pretty heavy vibe going down, but were all vegetarian (plus fish-eaters, of course) and things are coming together nicely. I say fish, but mostly its sea monster, which tastes the same but is a bit chewy, if Im being picky.
Not that Im complaining. Gods doing great work. Got a nice night garden going.
9. Wild and tame beasts, mammals.
Bit of a mixed bag, if Im honest. The tame beasts are
great - got all sorts of big plans for using them. Not quite sure why we needed the wild ones as well though. For one thing, some of them are quite bitey and want to eat the tame beasts, or us. And trying to catch fish or tend the garden in the dark has got a lot harder when theres wild beasts sneaking around. The mammals - well, were still sorting them out from the other beasts, as some of the mammals are tame, and some are wild. Difficult to tell (especially in the dark). Did we get our atmosphere sorted, by the way? Still seems... stuffy, if you know what I mean.
7. Sun, moon and stars discernible in the expanse, and seasons beginning.
Holy c**p! What was
that??? The lights back! What are those sparkly things? So many questions...
Its pretty obvious that this was just
Gods Great Surprise! Sure, it may not make much sense read literally, but this shows how God works in mysterious ways, tests his people and then provides a big reveal at the end. It all makes perfect sense this way.
