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How does the story of creation affect world views around the world? Accounts
vary greatly - from a giant egg with eventually became the earth, to nothingness,
in which there was only God, who spoke the world into being.
The Chinese account begins with chaos in the shape of a giant black egg. In
the midst of it was a being named Pan Gu. After 18 thousand years, Pan Gu awoke.
Feeling cramped, he used an axe to break the shell of the egg. The two parts
of the egg separated and the light part (white) became the sky while the heavy
part (yolk) became the earth. For the next 18 thousand years, Pan Gu stood between
the heavens and the earth to keep them apart. When he died, his breath became
the wind and clouds, his blood the rivers, his voice the thunder, his eyes the
sun and moon, his body mountains, and so on. One version of this account says
that the fleas and lice which had been living on him were the ancestors of man.
This account appears to indicate a culture in which the wind, water, mountains,
sun, moon, etc. would be worshipped because they were all, at one time, part
of the man who founded the earth and kept the sky from growing back onto it.
It does not appear that this society would believe in any god(s). Where could
they come from? Such a view of the world would probably lead to a society where
there would be few absolute laws, because there would be nothing to base them
on. Without any higher authority, who cares if they break all the laws? There
would be nobody to punish lawbreakers, except the government, either in this
life or after death. It seems logical to think the Chinese believed that after
death, they simply became part of the earth, just like Pan Gu. It also seems
logical that, since the Chinese viewed the world as having come from chaos,
they would view the universe as being chaotic.
The Christian account is found in the Bible, in the book of Genesis. “In
the beginning. God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without
form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the water. And God said, Let there be light: and
there was light” (Genesis 1:1-3). According to the Bible, God created
the heaven, earth and light the first day, the second he created dry land, the
third, plants, the fourth, the sun, moon, and stars, the fifth, aquatic creature.
The sixth day he created land animals. Also on the sixth day, God created man
in his own (God's) image. He created all things simply by speaking.
The Christian account comes from a very different culture, where the inspired
Word of God, the Bible, is the rule of life. "The Word of God, which is
contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule
to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him....The Scriptures principally
teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duties God requires of
man." (Westminster Shorter Catechism, answers to questions #2 and #3) In
this culture, the people worship one God, the creator. The laws are unchangeable,
because they come from the Bible. For Christians, death leads to a second life,
in which they are immortal and live in heaven with God. The universe is an exquisitely
designed machine designed to work exactly as it does.
These two accounts of creation are quite different; in fact, the only real similarity
between them is that they both tell about how the world came to be. The one
says it came from chaos, the other that it came from nothing when God spoke.
One says that the sun and moon came from Pan Gu’s eyes, the other that
God spoke them into being. There is no place for any gods in the Chinese account,
but Christians say that without God, absolutely nothing would exist. The Chinese
version says that after death a person becomes a part of the earth, while the
Christian account says that after death, Christians go to heaven and unbelievers
to hell. One says that the universe is originally chaotic, the other says that
it was made by an orderly God and is therefore orderly.
Bible, The. Old King James Version. Sept. 18-19, 2003
Morgana's Observatory Sept. 19, 2003
Westminster Assembly "Westminster Shorter Catechism" Sept 19, 2003 Related Essays
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