Sunday Thoughts on the Creation

As I was sitting on the stand, my mind couldn't help but go to the Creation story. I have been studying it a lot lately. Genesis has fast become my favorite book of scripture and the Old Testament has always intrigued me. It is a difficult set of book but the depth is vast. I have been listening to a Jordan Peterson's Biblical series lately. He approaches it from a psychology perspective following in the footsteps of Carl Jung and others. It has been very intriguing. Over the last year I have read several blogs, articles, and books on Genesis and the Creation. John Walton being among them. He is an Evangelical scholar with a unique perspective taking into account the cultural and historical context of Genesis. Many fascinating insights reading his book. 

My thoughts on Sunday are as follows:

I do believe there is an Adam and Eve. I think we have adequate revelation on them from the Restoration. I just do not believe story given in Genesis, Moses, Abraham, and in the Temple is their story. Rather, it is our story. It is archetypal or representative in nature. Adam and Eve represent each of us in a play or drama. The drama covers premortal life, mortal life, and post mortal life. Our descent and ascent, our journey. The Fall is our coming into mortality. The snake represents time or change. The snake detection hypothesis suggests snakes played a role in the development of our visual system.  As tree dwellers, our ancestors were very aware of the danger a snake represents. It meant certain death. So they were always on alert for a snake. This evolutionary pressure to be on alert ultimately shaped our visual system. (More here) Maybe what we are seeing is echo to our ancient past with the snake and it has been accommodated for this meaning. Often God accommodates our current understanding to teach us Gospel principles. For instance, circumcision was widely used in the ancient Near East before Abraham was commanded to do it. God accommodated it to teach certain, important principles.

Back to the snake, it is often seen anciently as a circle with the snake eating it's tail. Called the Ouroboros.

Time is continual change. It also represents boundary. What is safe lies within the circle, danger outside of it. To cross the boundary is to cross into chaos, into change, into the profane. The center of the circle is the axis mundi, the cosmic center, the sacred place, the Holy of Holies, the cosmic pillar. Where the connection between the underworld, Heaven, and our world takes place. Within the circle is the sacred. Outside the profane. But we cannot stay within the circle either. We must venture forth lest we become static and do not progress. But venturing out is fraught with danger. It is perilous but necessary. From there we have the call to adventure. This the descent, the Fall. That is where change and progression lie. But we must prepare. We must be ready to some degree. And we are not alone either, there is always help as we make our way forward. And as we venture outside of the circle into the chaos, we conquer and make it sacred thus ever increasing the size of the circle. 

These are a few of my thoughts this past Sunday.