Chapter 6/ An Ancient Creation Record-Can You Trust It?

"WHO can say whence it all came, and how creation happened?"  You find that question in the poem "The Song of Creation."  Composed in Sanskrit over 3,000 years ago, it is part of the Rig-Veda, a Hindu holy book. The Poet doubted that even the many Hindu gods could know "how creation happened" because "the gods themselves are later than creation. " 

Writings from Babylon and Egypt offer similar myths about the birth of  their gods in a universe that already existed.  A key point, however, is that those myths could not say where the original universe came from. You will find, though, that one creation record is different.  This particular record, the Bible opens with the words:  "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." -Genesis 1:1. 

Moses wrote that simple, dramatic statement some 3,500 years ago. It focuses on a Creator, God, who transcends the material universe because he made it and hence existed before it was.  The same book teaches that "God is a Spirit," which means he exists in a form that our eyes cannot see . (John 4:24)  Such an existence is perhaps more conceivable today, since scientist have described powerful neutron stars and black holes in space-invisible objects that are detectable by the effects they produce.  

Significantly, the Bible reports: "There are heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies: but the glory of the  heavenly bodies is one sort, and that of the earthly bodies is a different sort."  (1 Corinthians 15:40, 44)  That does not refer to the invisible cosmic  matter that astronomers study.  The "heavenly bodies" mentioned are intelligent spirit bodies.  'Who, besides the Creator,' you may wonder,  'has a spirit body?'

Next time: An Ancient Creation Record-Can You Trust It? -Invisible Heavenly Creatures

From the book Is There a Creator That Cares About You?