Genesis 1
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Such a truly perfect opening line. What drama. So succinct. Love it.
The story of Creation is very dramatic and compelling.
Thanks, God, for making birds that “fly above the face of the firmament.” So thoughtful. I love birds.
Plants make seeds so that more plants can grow; way to think ahead, God. I wish he hadn’t said that thing about subduing the earth though. We have subdued it too well. So many of those great creatures God made are going extinct. Please stop subduing the earth, y’all.
Creation in Genesis is similar to creation in other world mythologies. There was a void, then a powerful being created the earth, the sun, the water, the critters and people. Hooray! It’s funny how pleased with himself the Judeo-Christian god is. He stops after every creative act to tell himself what a great job he’s doing. Fair enough, God. If I created stars, I would be impressed with myself too.
Genesis 2
The timeline is already going wobbly. In Gen. 1 he creates men and women and all the plants, but in Gen. 2 there are no plants, because there is no man to till them, and we get this whole man first then women hooey. I guess most mythologies have multiple versions of the origin myth. It’s a bit weird to see them printed in one text though.
God makes Adam a helper out of his own rib, which is a lame way for women to enter the universe. I greatly prefer myths in which women are created simultaneously and not presented as a gift to man to help him out with his important business.
Genesis 3
Oh dear. God is the angriest Dad. First of all, why would he lie to them and tell them that the tree of knowledge of good and evil would kill them? That’s exactly the problem that the D.A.R.E. program had. If you tell kids that all drugs will kill you and lead to a life of addiction and crime, the first time they meet someone who smokes weed, but doesn’t do heroin or rob people, they will assume that every single other warning you gave about the dangers of drugs was also a gross exaggeration and disregard everything. So, instead of telling Adam and Eve “don’t eat this fruit, because if you do, I will be very angry and make your lives miserable” he says “it’ll kill you,” which leaves the door wide open for the serpent. Bad parenting.
I can understand why the writers of Genesis thought that whoever created women must hate them. Whenever I have my period I start to wonder if I’m being punished.
As a myth that explains hardship in the world, Genesis 3 makes sense, but God as a character comes off as a controlling father with rage issues, prone to overreact.
Atheist Reads the Bible 