Creation , two different accounts?

What are your thoughts when we read the first two chapters of genesis, the first chapter says god made the earth then plants then animals then man and woman and told them to be fruitful and multiply. The second says god made man from dirt then placed him in the garden, then made animals and then woman.They are never told to multiply.The stories are not even similar . Anybody read that and pondered that?

You read it different than me......... (just saying)

What I wonder is at what point the dinosaurs were created then God took them out. Also, why some valid Christians like Ken Ham, would suggest the earth is only 5,000 yrs old which is fodder for the atheists gets laughs from 'the science guy'.

Hello @stellpony, you may find these two, similar articles helpful in regard to your question(s).


If you have questions about anything in the two articles above after reading them (or if you have any additional questions about anything else), please don't hesitate to ask them

God bless you!

~Deut

Very simple. The first account is general, relating to the whole earth. The second account is God's creation of the Garden of Eden, an area set aside for man to live, work and eat. Just like the church is meant to take the gospel all over the earth, Adam and Eve were supposed to bring the whole physical realm under their control, Adam being the prime responsibility and Eve his helper.

It is instructive that Satan is a creature in Eden. Adam had dominion over him. As we well know, Satan turned the tables and Adam became Satan's slave. Lord Jesus, as the Last Adam, reversed that. The story of creation is symbolic of salvation. "The Mystery of Creation" by Watchman Nee is well worth reading on this subject.

You say first is general but the two are completely opposite. i have seen some theologists explain it as two separate people wrote the two accounts or the way deuterononmy gave examples. The two accounts are completely different, and when we see once adam and eve get kicked out of eden and then cain kills able and gets a wife and we are never told adam had other kids before then but that the next kid they had was the replacement for able, if she had many other kids why was this one special to be the replacement for able, there had to be people on earth at the same time adam and eve were put there. That could very well be the explanation, god made the earth and humanity then made adam as special out of the dirt and then placed him in the garden, a special place. He fell and then had to go back out to earth with the rest of humanity. As far as the devil in the garden the bible never mentions the devil as present in the garden. It says that the serpent is the most cunning of the creatures god made, and it talks eve into eating the fruit. Look at the history of theologists of where they got the idea that the serpent was the devil, they connect the serpent from revelations and say that the serpent must be satan with no written evidence any where in genesis. It is interesting how we are told this from childhood and just expected to believe because someone hundreds of years ago said it was so.

Gap theory explains dinosaurs and young earth. Also why the world was without form and void.

why is it hard for christians to believe in science, the dinosaurs existed millions of years ago, the proof is overwhelming, scientific real proof. The bible just needs to be reconciled with the time information from the universe.

I've considered this as well. Whether the earth is billions of years old or not, the thing that puzzles me the most are the far off galaxies that our space telescopes are picking up remnants of. They're millions or billions of light years away and in fact may not even exist anymore, we are only seeing the light of them that have traveled for so many billions of light years to reach out telescopes.

We are constrained by physics. But the Creator created physics and has set the physical laws of nature aside on occasions. Nothing is impossible for him, so all we really know is that God placed the heavens in the locations they are in by hand. (Isaiah 45:12) He could have placed "Galaxy X" close to the earth and then flung it billions of light years away leaving the light it gave off while it was there previously that our telescopes are picking up.

But, that is PURE SPECULATION and IMAGINATION on my part and totally unscientific.

I should explain why I "disagreed" with your statement. It isn't against you personally, for you may not realize how close to Heresy your statement comes.

The Holy Bible IS the Book of Truth! It does NOT need to be reconciled with any of mans knowledge. That comes real close, just saying.

1 Corinthians, 3:19) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

As for man and his science regarding the age of earth/creation. As I recall the vast majority of this is based on Carbon Dating. You are aware that there is strong evidence that Carbon Dating is a flawed science, right?

I have to honestly say that the idea than any Christian could believe the Bible needs to be reconciled with the science of man is offensive to me. You probably did not mean it the way it reads, but that is how I read it.

All you have to do is properly harmonize chapter 2 with chapter 1. Chapter 1 focuses on the entire creation. Chapter 2 focuses on the first man and woman. But there is no inconsistency.

chapters 1 & 2 are the same creation.

like you watch a war movie, and the first 10 minutes gives an overview of the whole conflict, then the next part of the movie deals with individuals that the movie is specifically about. that doesn't mean there's two wars. it means the author is giving you the information you should know to understand the setting, then focusing on the things meaningful to what they are trying to communicate to you.

we read the NT and the first 4 books are 4 different accounts of Christ's ministry on earth.
nobody thinks, wow there must be 4 different Jesus??
yet people get their minds blown by Genesis 1-2

smh

The dirt is also a creation from light.
There is many elements that exist in dirt that exist in light such as a star.

Its not, it just depends how you ask. The bible teaches lots of science. God most definately has an intelligent mind, and understands biology and science. Many great sciencetists believe they have proofed the existence of God through scinence. whilst others believe that they have proofen the big bang is more believable and that there is No God. The bible tells us God is light what do you believe ?

They are exactly the same.

I love you, but what a mixed up mess you are. The Word of God does not have to be reconciled with anything. Until you let the Lord light a little candle in your head, you will continue to stumble in utter darkness.

The two accounts do not conflict each other.. The second simply gives more detail..

I can see the same thing. Even though the order (in which they were created) in somethings is not the same.. that does not matter to some So is it true God .. lets say first creation (just saying it not that I believe it) means Elohim vs the other YHWH? Go for it put each side by side.. match do they? What SOME speculate is it had two authors so just ONE creation.

So who wrote Genesis? Moses is considered the author of Genesis. Yeah.. not that clear cut.

Chapter one of Genesis seems more like an outline to me, and Chapter two clarifies Chapter one with specifics.

Genesis 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
Genesis 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.


This is the fifth day. God creates sealife and birds. Take note that fowls/birds are also created from the waters not from the ground.


Genesis 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.


Yet in Gen. 2 we are told about fowls/birds being created out of the ground, not out of the waters. Most people do not notice these differences when they read the accounts.



Genesis 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Genesis 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.


This is the 6th day. What does God make first? Land animals!



Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.


Now man is made and has dominion over the animals that were made first.


Gen 1: animals created BEFORE man.



Genesis 2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
Genesis 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.


God sees no man that would be for tilling the ground, farming. Historically mankind were not farmers but were primarily hunter-gatherers which modern Archeology has also documented. The fact that Adam is a farmer means he is a more modern type of human.


Genesis 2:6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.


And he makes a man, alone. No female is created.


Genesis 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.


He is in charge of the garden of Eden, working alone.


Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.


God decides Adam needs help. Adam is alone! No animals are there!


Genesis 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.


Genesis 1, animals created before man.
Genesis 2, man created before animals.

Obviously these are two different creation accounts. Gen 2 is a smaller creation account in a smaller place where as Gen 1 details a much larger creation account in a larger area. Also take note that there is no mention of fish being created in Gen 2 because fish were already created in Gen 1.

I can understand several arguments about the differences, but ponder that in Gen 2 Adam was made in one place and then placed into the garden. he then named the animals of which they talked, as we know form the serpent talking to Eve and she talked with him no problem so she had done it before. Why don't the animals talk today if that is the same creation as day 6. Another thought about the serpent, we are told that the serpent is the devil, no where does it say in Genesis that it is the devil, it does say that God made the serpent the most cunning animal in the garden, some theologian decided that it was the devil because it metions serpent in revelations as the devil. The devil had no part in the fall of man, he did it all by himself.