The Bible, Christianity and Philosophy - God as creator

[Atubiga]

Your comments are very welcome

Genesis the first book of the Bible written by Moses talks about God as the creator of heaven and earth and everything that is in it. God according to the Bible is characterized not just as a creator but also the heavenly father. God defines himself several times in the Bible but no attempt is made to give a philosophical or rigorous definition neither of God or how God acts in this world. This God of the Bible is not the God of philosophy since the God of philosophy originates in thought not as a living God. let's see some biblical statements and their philosophical implications.

"And God said, let us make man in our own image after our likeness and let them have dominion over all the earth and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And so God created man in his own image and in the image of God created him; male and female created them. And God blessed them, and said unto, "be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

From the above, one can see that man was created for two main reasons. 1. To tend or take care of all the things God has created and 2. To reproduce and fill the earth. The question here is that: Why then do Catholic Priests not marry?

We can also see from above that man even though inferior to God, is superior to all the things God has created because unlike any other thing, Man was created in the image and likeness of God. Can we say then that man is superior to the Angels?

" And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the surface of all the earth and every tree in which is the fruit of a yielding seed: to you it shall be for meat and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat and it was so. (Gen 1:30-31).
From these two verses, one can see that basically, man was born to be a vegetarian for God specifically showed man what to eat. Why then do Christians eat meat?

“And on this day, God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work he had made. (Gen 2:1). This verse shows that indeed man is somehow related to God or man was really created in the image of God. The Lord blessing the Sabbath day also shows how important was the rest to Him. Man need rest after a tedious work especially at the end of the day’s work and this, God really did by resting on the Sabbath day and making it holy.

Adam said this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. It was not however mentioned anywhere in Genesis that Adam (the first man created) was a man. He might be a hermaphrodite. do you agree to this?

“And Adam gave names to all the cattle, and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found and help meet for him”. From this verse, one can see that woman was created purposely to help man. is there gender equality?

And now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which God had created. And he said unto the woman, “yea”, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman replied that; we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat from it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
The serpent is mostly misconceived as a devil however, he was also created by God not as an enemy.” and God saw that, everything He has created was good.” There seems to be some sort of rivalry between God and man. The serpent said. God does not want their eyes to be opened as his. These statement shows that God is a jealous God who does not want man to be like him and indeed after man has eaten from the forbidden fruit, he was able to recognize his nakedness therefore made some clothes from leaves to cover himself up. Also, from this verse, one can see that, women have better eyes in other words, women see better things than men. “The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband.
One can see that, women are very creative and imaginative. God said that they should not eat from the tree of life and death but when the woman was reporting to the serpent, she modified this statement making it very strong and rich that God said they should not even touch it.

God cursed the serpent and God cursed the ground but nowhere did God cursed Adam and Eve. God only pointed out judgments, such as multiplied child bearing pains, sorrow in gathering food all the days of his life, thorns, thistle and sweat, but no mention of punishment in death or after death. This verse shows that some how the idea that man was born in sin can not be fully true. This particular verse also throws more light on the general idea of hell or eternal punishment after death. If Adam and Eve were to have a far greater punishment at death or after death, why didn't God warn them of such a horrible destiny? Why would God tell them one thing and then pull a trick on them and do something totally different when the time came? Their life was but a slow death until they returned to the ground from whence they came. They did not come from some terrorists hell hole of torture in fire, so how could they ‘return” to such a place when God plainly stated that they would “Return unto the ground?” They came from the earth and they return to that earth.
These verses also show that Human beings are full of mistakes and that they always tend to do the opposite of what is expected of them and also human beings do not easily accept their mistakes. For example when God ask Adam whether he had eaten from the fruit, he said it was the woman who gave him and the woman also said it was the snake. Thus man shifted blame in order to escape punishment.

This verse: “And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, where art thou?” shows that God was not sure where man was hiding in the garden. God also asked if Adam had eaten from the forbidden tree. These statements show that it is not absolutely everything that God knows and that He has to ask at times.

16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. 17 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. 20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me “ and if not, I will know”. 22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
And this idea can also be seen in the verse18 of Genesis when Abraham bargained with God before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. God did not give Abraham the specific number of righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah but said He will not destroy if He should find certain number of righteous people. Abraham bargaining with God also gives man credit of being able to think for himself. It also shows that man has feelings and so feels sorry for his fellow humans in times of trouble. Abraham, feeling sorry and having compassion for Sodom and Gomorrah pleaded on their behalf. Abraham bargaining with God shows how patience, loving and how friendly that God is to the extent that man was able to bargain with him. This and many other statements show some of the important philosophical thinking one can make from the Bible.

Your comments are very welcome