Not All Myths Are Created Equal
Part 1: The World
A sermon
delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson
January 5, 2014
at Gordonsville
Presbyterian Church, Gordonsville, Virginia
Genesis 1: 1-27
John 1:1-14
Let us pray,
Help us to see despite our eyes
Help us to think outside of our minds
Help us to be more than our lives
For your eyes show the way
Your
mind knows the truth
Your
being is the life.
Amen.
Sometime in the middle of the fall, as I was
mired deep in the throes of lectionary preaching, looking mostly at the gospel
of Luke, I decided that I wanted to preach from the Old Testament at the start
of this year. I thought it would be fun to walk through the Old Testament
Narrative, doing some storytelling, preaching the stories that often get
relegated to Sunday School; they are familiar, though they typically remain
away at a distance. We know them but we do not study them much as a whole, how
they are connected, and what they tell us about God and ourselves. We often
look at them from afar and see a very different God from the Gospels, but what
I want to do in this series is look at these stories, see how they picture God,
see how they paint the human experience, and see how these two aspects of life,
God and us, despite our thinking to the contrary, hasn't changed all that much.
I haven't staked out the Sundays yet, so I'm not sure how far I'll go, I'm not
sure how long it will take, I'm not sure of much, but I think the Old Testament
story is very much worth telling, for it is foundational to how we see God and
how we see Humanity, and therefore is very important for giving us a better understanding
of Jesus and the Gospel of Christ, since he is both. So let's start this
morning, and this new year at the very beginning . . .
1 In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was
without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the
Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. 3 And God
said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw
that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5
God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was
evening and there was morning, one day.
6 And God
said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate
the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the firmament and
separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were
above the firmament. And it was so. 8 And God called the firmament
Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
9 And God
said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place,
and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry
land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God
saw that it was good. 11 And God said, “Let the earth put forth
vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is
their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.” And it was so. 12
The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to
their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according
to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was
evening and there was morning, a third day.
14 And God
said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day
from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and
years, 15 and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens
to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the
two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to
rule the night; he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the
firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, 18 to rule
over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.
And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there
was morning, a fourth day.
20 And God
said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly
above the earth across the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God
created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which
the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to
its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them,
saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let
birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there
was morning, a fifth day.
24 And God
said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds:
cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.”
And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according
to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that
creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then 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 birds of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon
the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image
of God he created him; male and female he created them. [1]
I took a risk with the title of this
sermon, but I did so on purpose. I wanted to push us a bit from our fragile comfort
zone, to hopefully establish a new more substantial and lasting one. Most
people do not like biblical stories, especially this story to be called a myth.
We have this feeling that calling something a myth suggests that it isn't true,
but that is a modern notion, the ancients did not see things that way. And if
you study the myths of different civilizations it isn't history that comes into
question, but rather truth. Truth is the essential quality of a myth, all things
else are irrelevant. So what makes a myth is the truth that it represents.
A good definition for this ancient
understanding of myth is "a traditional and legendary story told to reveal
truth" Traditional means closely tied to a culture, and defining of that
culture. Legendary means that the story is told as if it were historical fact,
it may be fact, but that is not the purpose of the story. All myths fit this
part of the definition. The second part
of the definition is that the story is told to "reveal truth." Truth
comes in all shapes and sizes from why the sky is blue, to the idea that sons
don't listen to their fathers, to bigger things like what the world is all
about, and what the purpose of human life is. Genesis 1 very much fits the definition.
It's a good definition because it remembers that the purpose of the story is to
reveal truth, and is then geared to do so. Genesis fits into a special category
of myths called origin myths, because their plots center around the beginnings
of the world. The key though is that they aren't so much about that beginning,
but more about the truth of the world as it is now. In other words origin myths
are centered around defining a culture's worldview, and that world view is very
much what it sounds like, simply what is the world like? How do we see it? Most
ancient civilizations have one of these origin myths and they tend to reflect
the ways in which that culture viewed the world around them, but as the title
of this sermon suggests, these myths are not created equal. This is the true
claim of Genesis 1, and an important distinction to make for us. . . not about
science, nor history, but about the present, about truth, about our world. Yes
the Big Bang Theory and its Brother Evolution also fit definition the ancient
understanding of what an origin myth is,
but in their claim to be historically and scientifically accurate they paint
the picture of a world and a humanity that just doesn't really hold water. It seems
that what Faulkner said about truth and fact rings true, that they "rarely
have much to do with one another."
Having said that by way of preface,
I'd like to jump right in to the text. I want to focus on the two sides of this
story, one today and one next week., They are each central to its claim and
formative of the Christian Worldview as depicted by the Biblical revelation,
and I will raise some of the other origin myths of the world at the end to help
us distinguish that Biblical claim. Many people believe that all religions and
world views are basically the same, but I think you will see that they just
aren't the same at all. The first side of the creation story is the role of
God, what it means to create, how he creates, and what creation means, this
will be our focus this week. Then the second is the place and role of us within
that creation, which we'll get to next Sunday.
The Bible does not wait around to
drive home it's central message. All through Advent we looked at how so much of
the Christmas story calls out that God is in control, and it is there from the
beginning. The first 5 words in English, and three in Hebrew. "In the
Beginning God Created" or in Hebrew "Beresheet" (Beginning),
Bara (Create), Elohim (God)." I want to focus on that middle word, Bara,
the verb. It's translated as creates, but there is more to it, because it is a
verb that only God can be the subject of, no one else can "bara"
other than God. The Hebrews had a different word for the kind of creating that
people do, but God is the only one that can Bara. Here we have one unified
creator, doing it all, there is no help, no other forces, just God, and only
God baras.
So the big question then is what
does it mean to create, what does it mean to bara? It says that God creates the
heavens and the earth. Great, but what was there first? In English it says in
most translations "formless and void, with darkness upon the face of the
deep." But what does that mean? Formless and void to me is hard to
imagine. Is it something or is it nothing? I'm not sure, but in the original
Hebrew language there is a really interesting image. It's a compound word,
To'u-vovo'u, two words that have great poetic imagery. Hebrew has to use
figurative language often because they just don't have words for things,
especially abstract things like "formlessness and the void." So they
use images. So the first half of the world is To-om. . . it's onomatopoeia. . .
this is the part that means "void" . . . . onomatopoeia, means sound
words. . .like buzz or crash, where the meaning is based on what they sound
like. . . many ancient words are like this. So To-om is a sound. . . it's the
sound of a rock being thrown down in the bottom of a well. . .
"To-om" do you see how that is void, the empty, hollow darkness, like
the bottom of a well, and there is water. . . important, keep that water image
in your head. The next part "vovo-u," is actually a word that means
chaos monster like a dragon, crazy and out of control. So these are the images
that come together in the pre-creation world. Emptiness, darkness, and
disorder. God then bara's, filling the emptiness, bringing light to the
darkness, and bringing order where there was chaos. Pretty cool image huh, do
you notice the Trinitarian sense of it? Do you hear the connection to John 1
that we read as the gospel passage, especially the "light shining out of
the darkness." It's impressive. . . impactful.
So God's first act of Creation is to
speak, more connection to John 1, speak, sending out his Word, and it says
"let there be light" and it was light. There is the Word, but the
spirit is there as well, look "the spirit of God" the Hebrew word is
"ruach" breath, wind, is on the face of the waters." In the beginning was the word, father, son, and Holy
Spirit, let there be light, and it was.
The cool imagery continues, showing
what God does, day 2, the firmament, dividing the waters from the waters. It's
cool because the word for water in Hebrew is "Shamayim", but do you
know what the word for sky is, yes, "ha-shamayim," which literally
means "the water." So God separates, water from the water. Makes
sense right, they are both blue, and water does fall from the sky at times.
There is logic, there is truth, they are describing the world around them,
describing truth, the truth of a God who is unique, single, one, unified, with
a will, a purpose, a plan, in control, creating an ordered world, and calling
that ordered world Good. The next few days of creation go to show God
meticulously building a home. All pointing towards the 6th day creation of
human beings. Breathing life into us, and shaping us, both male and female in
his own image. We'll get to that next week.
But now I want to compare this world
view to some of the others in the world because the distinguishing features can
give them even more emphasis. Many believe that most of the world's origin
myths were written about the same time, in what is called in history the Axial
age: the period of the exile for the Jews in Babylon, the Greek Golden Age and
their rivals the Persians, the Vedic Period in India, and the period of the Han
Dynasty in China. These all roughly take place at the same time. These are each
of the main centers of civilization known as the fertile crescent. From all of
these centers you get very unique world views, and each is reflected in their
origin myths, and each is different from the Biblical. It's important because
these world views, sometimes by different names are very much still around, and
some have found their way within our own Christian understanding, for better or
worse.
Babylon and Greece both have a
polytheistic worldview. Unlike the Biblical account they have many gods who
have hands in creation, resulting in much conflict. Human beings then are
caught in the balance of that conflict and often seek to manipulate those
conflicting forces to best benefit themselves, called to create along with the
gods, all in conflict. There is no real right, only what can be pulled off,
each god has their own perspective and their own power, and you appeal to
whichever one you need. Very different in perspective from the Biblical, one
God in control, baraing alone based on his own perfect will. You'll find that
polytheism has many similarities to atheism, in that there is conflict,
individual human beings left in the balance to claw their way, nothing of
substance above to set real standards, so other much more transient things set
the standards like who is the strongest, smartest, or whatever the opinion is
of the majority. It lacks the peace, unity, and purpose of the Biblical Claim.
The Persians altered this slightly
with the idea that there really is only two Gods, and one is good and one is
bad. The Good one creates and the Bad one destroys. . . again you see the
distinction between this and the account in Genesis 1, though certainly the
Christian notion of the devil is similar. . . we'll have to look sometime at
where that aspect of the story comes in, since it doesn't seem to be present at
all in Genesis 1.
In India the Hindu take the idea of
God and put it within all things, believing that the truth, the eternal, the
forever living is within each individual created thing, and therefore cannot
die, but instead is reincarnated in different bodily forms forever. Looking for
truth within, also is a big part of the Christian landscape, perhaps with the
idea of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The worlds then are created, but they don't
matter because they are just blips on the eternal cycle of life. I believe we're
more than that.
In China there is the belief that
all things are connected, that the entire world makes up what God is equally. The
butterfly is a piece, the grass, you and I, we are all equal pieces of the
concept of God (for lack of a better more accurate term). I believe there is difference
and variety. I'll touch on it more next week.
So there are all these opposing
viewpoints about the world, and how it is created. We could even bring a modern
atheistic secularist world view into play, but you will find that these myths
are not at all the same, nor they do not paint the same picture about what this
world is all about, and how it is in balance around us. The Bible makes very
unique claims, and they are claims that can offer real comfort to us. Peace not
conflict, order rather than chaos, good rather than bad, eternal, timeless, in
control, forever, shaping, molding, creating, baraing, bringing light out of
darkness, again and again, then, now, and forever. The truth of the Genesis
account is vivid, impressive, all inclusive, and believing it to be true is
very much a foundation for the rest. There must be a God, a God in control, a
God creating, in order for there to really be a Jesus. Like so much it is a
matter of faith. We all as humans ask ourselves what we believe. I've seen the
other options, seen what they do, seen how they affect life, and I just don't
see how they measure up. The God of Genesis 1 creates a world that is good. . .
all we need do is believe that to be the case, and we will know freedom, hope, and
peace, like you cannot even believe. . . No not all creation myths are created
equal. It just can't be so.
[1]The
Revised Standard Version. 1971 (Ge 1:1). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research
Systems, Inc.
Sermon Notes from Bulletin. . .
Sermon Notes from Bulletin. . .
Myth - a traditional (tied to and defining of culture)
legendary (told as historical fact) story told to reveal truth.
Origin Myth - a myth about the origins of the world used to
reveal truth about the way the world is.
In
the Beginning God Created --אלהים ברא בראשית -- B'reshit bara
elohim
Formless
and Void - תהו-ובהו (to-u v-vo-u) sound of a
rock falling into a well and the chaos monster
water
- שמים
(sh'my'em) sky - השמים (ha
sh'my'em)
|
Culture
|
Type
|
Who
Creates
|
What
is the world like
|
|
Bible
|
Monotheist
|
God
(elohim)
|
Ordered
according the will of God called good
|
|
Greek
|
Polytheist
|
gods
in conflict / natural forces
|
Conflict,
humans manipulating world to fit their will
|
|
Persian
|
Dualist
|
Ahura
Mazda (good)
Ahriman (Evil)
|
World
in struggle of Good versus Evil, Life versus destruction
|
|
Indian
(Hindu)
|
Panentheist
|
Manifestations
of Brahman
|
Worlds
are created and destroyed in endless cycle
|
|
Chinese
(Taoist)
|
Pantheist
|
World
is One
|
All
things are connected and equal, humans are simply a part
|
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