Prof Van Wolde, 54, a respected
Old Testament scholar and author, will present a thesis on the subject at
Radboud
University in
The Netherlands where she studies.
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| English: Study Centre of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in Nijmegen, the Netherlands Nederlands: Studiecentrum van het Universitair Medisch Centrum St Radboud in Nijmegen, Nederland Deutsch: Das Studienzentrum der Radboud Universität Nijmegen Medizinisches Zentrum in Nijmegen, Niederlande (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
She had
re-analysed the original
Hebrew text of the first book of the Bible: Genesis, and placed it in the context of the
Bible as a whole, and in the context of other creation stories from ancient Mesopotamia.
She claims she has carried out fresh textual analysis that suggests the
writers of the great book never intended to suggest that God created the
world -- and in fact the
Earth was already there when he created humans
and animals.
Bijbelvorsers also looks at the creation and agrees the whole world and everything around was created from the void by the eternal Spirit God. It was the Spirit Jehovah, who had no beginning, and as such has always been, and has no end, so can not die and shall never die, He as an eternal being made things coming into being and placed them in a certain order.
According to
Judeo-Christian tradition, God created the Earth out of nothing.
Prof Van Wolde, who once worked with the Italian
academic and novelist Umberto Eco, said her new analysis showed that the
beginning of the
Bible was not the beginning of time, but the beginning of a narration.
She said: "It meant to say that God did create humans and animals, but not the Earth itself."
When we look at ancient texts we can find writings about the chaotic situation in the beginning. According to the old writings there used to be an enormous body of water in which monsters were living, covered in darkness, the professor said.
Though we can only find that there might have been dust and water in darkness.
She said technically "bara" does mean "create" but added: "Something was wrong with the verb.
"God was the subject (God created), followed by two or more objects. Why
did God not create just one thing or animal, but always more?"
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| English: In the Beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth; as in Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."; illustration from the 1728 Figures de la Bible; illustrated by Gerard Hoet (1648–1733) and others, and published by P. de Hondt in The Hague; image courtesy Bizzell Bible Collection, University of Oklahoma Libraries (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
She concluded that
God did not create, he separated: the Earth from the
Heaven, the land from the sea, the sea monsters from the birds and the
swarming at the ground.
About this you could clearly see in the
Holy Scriptures, we would agree, that order was made by the ordering of God. He was it who led His
words come over everything and by speaking it happened. In
Creator and Blogger God 1 Emptiness and mouvement and in the Dutch counterpart:
Schepper en Blogger God 1 Leegte en Beweging is spoken about the
Voice of God hovering over the darkness, the land and the deep waters.
"There was already water," Prof Van Wolde said, and when we look at the text you could not disagree with that. Because in the Holy Scriptures Moses wrote that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, which was unformed, so it did not have yet its form, but could have been composed of dustmatter. The Bible-writer let us also know that there was void. He also says that the darkness was on the face of the deep, so that deepness existed already. It was then
the spirit of God which hovered over the surface of the water. Which means also that there was already water. After the Spirit hovered over the water He said, “let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God divided the light from the darkness and by doing so He brought order in the system. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. So that what we know now as evening and morning was given a name by God.
“1 in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth. 2 and the earth was without form and empty. and darkness [was] on the face of the deep. and the spirit of god moved on the face of the waters. 3 and god said, let there be light. and there was light. 4 and god saw the light that [it was] good. and god divided between the light and the darkness. 5 and god called the light, day. and he called the darkness, night. and the evening and the morning were the first day.” (
Genesis 1:1-5 MKJV)
We do not seem to find anything about the monsters of which the professors says that there were.
"There were sea monsters. God did create some things, but not the Heaven
and Earth. The usual idea of creating-out-of-nothing,
creatio ex
nihilo, is a big misunderstanding."
According to her God came later and made the earth livable, separating the water from the land and brought light into the darkness.
She said she hoped that her conclusions would spark "a robust debate",
since her finds are not only new, but would also touch the hearts of
many religious people.
She said: "Maybe I am even hurting myself. I consider myself to be
religious and the Creator used to be very special, as a notion of trust.
I want to keep that trust."
A spokesman for the Radboud University said: "The new interpretation is a
complete shake up of the story of the Creation as we know it."
Prof Van Wolde added: "The traditional view of God the Creator is untenable now."
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You may find additional reading on the creation:
- Cosmos creator and human destiny
- The World framed by the Word of God
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #1 Kings Faith
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #2 Calling upon the Name of God
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #1 Creator and His Prophets
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #2 Instructions and Laws
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #3 A voice to be taken Seriously
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #4 Words in Scripture
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #5 To meditate and Transform
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #6 Words to feed and communicate
- The manager and Word of God
- A viewpoint on creation
- Creation gift of God
- Destination of the earth
- Without God no purpose, no goal, no hope
- Man made life
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