Page 13 - Pentateuch

Let’s get Personal…

All our understanding of life -- ethics, human relationships, sin, salvation, etc. – is based on Genesis
chapters one and two. We should not be surprised when someone who rejects the creator God behaves
very differently. It is valuable to examine and compare our beliefs with scripture and the beliefs of others
with scripture.

The Babylonian epic called Enuma Elish was written on seven tablets, each with an average length of one
hundred and fifty lines, and dates to perhaps 1750 BC. One can easily see from reading one short segment
how very different the Babylonian concept of God and of humans was from the Bible. We can only imagine
how this different view of creation affected the people’s understanding of God and their way of worship.
Even relationships between people are changed in response.

So Marduk called in session the mighty gods,
Instructing how to chair an Assembly:
To the conduct of his speech did the gods pay attention
While the King to the Anunnaki made a formal address:
By saying, “We declare unto you that the evidence is true,
Swear now by me that you will testify to the truth.
Who was it among you who started the conflict?
That urged Tiamat to revolt, and the battle was staged.
If he who started the conflict surrenders to me,
I will lay the punishment on him – be you still set on relief?’
The great gods, the Six-hundred, answered him,
Even to Lugal-dimmer-an-ki-a, ‘the king of the gods’:
“Verily, it was Kingu that started the conflict,
Who made Tiamat revolt and staged the battle staged.”
They (formally) bound him, held him fast before Ea,
Laid the (total) crime upon him, cutting into his blood:
Thereupon, from his blood he created mankind,
Imposed the service upon him, released the gods who must else have served.
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Like ancient cultures, modern science has chosen a very different understanding of how this world came to
be. While some scientists see evidence for “intelligent design,” the reigning explanation excludes any divine
part of the world as we know it. Instead, life has gradually evolved over millions of years from single-celled
organisms to humans. Usually, evolution expects more change in the millions of years ahead, assuming that
the best species will be selected by natural processes and the more flawed will die out.

Classic evolution can be found in any number of biology textbooks. None can answer some of the most
basic issues. How did life first come about? How did plant life become animal life? How did animal life
become human life? Yet modern discoveries constantly change the mix of thought. In the last few years, for
example, scientists have mapped out one of the most basic aspects of life, the genetic code. Without
getting into details here, all life is made up of different sequences of chemicals. So even human personality,

13 J. V. Kinnier Wilson, “The Epic of Creation,” Documents from Old Testament Times, ed. D. Winton Thomas (New
York: Harper, 1961), 12.
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