Before the beginning there was silence.

There was no song. No whisper. There were no hues of blues and greens, no blends of color, no child’s laughter and no aromas, no yellow flowers, no buzzing black bumble bees, not even red sky at dawn. There was no fire and there were no rhythms. There was no work, no ice cold drink on a hot day, no flow to the center, no far and no near, for there was nothing to be measured. There was no structure, no system, no birth and no moonlight dancing on the evening tide. There was no bitter and no sweet and there was no breeze on the face. There was no texture, no form and no early morning fog. The darkness was not black for there was no color. But there was hope. Hovering there in the silence was the One. The One was Spirit. He was the Uncreated. He was in the silence not for one day, nor for one trillion years. The Uncreated Spirit simply was. He was in the silence of the endless deep. The Uncreated Spirit knew his own solitude. He was without another to listen to the voice of his heart. He was without a pool to reflect his passion back into his eyes. He was without a heart friend to passionately love and be loved by. His passion drifted into eternity past. There were no echoes for there was no other spirit to listen to his magnificent solitude. The Uncreated wept for He knew He was alone. Evil was born in the moment that the Uncreated Spirit wept. All space and time beyond him became the place of evil for it violated his passionate longing to love and be loved, to know and be known. He felt the urge to replace nowhere with somewhere. He longed to embrace someone rather than no one. The empty silence was the first problem, the original injustice. The Uncreated Spirit looked around and saw the emptiness. He longed to set fire to the silence. He felt the urge to unleash his breath of life into the darkness. Within the heart of the Uncreated Spirit, the passion of the Artist to paint the empty canvas around him exploded into life. The urgency to design was activated. The will to shape was launched. The tune was heard in the composer’s heart. The poetic impulse emerged. A movement of the heart to blaze the three colors of light into the darkness was advanced. It was the urge to carve life out of the dark, to blend shapes and colors, to replace formlessness with beauty. The Spirit lifted his head and though his eyes only saw darkness his heart imagined what would be. He shouted with elation. His mind saw beauty and his heart embraced form. Imagination was ignited in his mind and his unbridled ideas gave way to dreams as they swirled and danced through his heart and transformed into vision as they moved toward his throat. Faces emerged in his dreams and He knew them and talked with them and loved them. He measured space and time. He saw it all teeming with the creative expressions of his heart. The Uncreated Spirit smiled and then He laughed out loud. He laughed with shining moist eyes. His laughter rose like a waterfall of joy. The Uncreated Creator opened his mouth. He parted his lips. He unleashed the mighty primal shout. His words poured out from within. They advanced into the waiting silence like a mighty consuming fire. This was the ancient command that shook into existence the universe. The Uncreated Spirit shouted with triumph as He watched this Consuming Fire, this brilliant Light, this expression of his Passion, this Word that was emerging from him. He rejoiced for He saw that what was sent out from him was overpowering the evil, dark, emptiness with radiant light .For a moment He was silent and He closed his eyes and listened to the music around him erupt with fresh and delicious life. He breathed in the tantalizing aromas of his creation. He wept again, this time with pure delight, for He saw that all He had formed was good. He knelt down and caressed one of his dazzling sprays of yellow tulips on a mountain pass. He waded into a pool of spring water, catching sight of his own reflection. Then He reached his hands down into the deep, rich, life giving black mud. He grasped a handful and lifted it to his face and breathed in the delightful smell. In exhilaration He paused to drink in the moment. His moment for friendship had come. From this dirt He would create another, another like Him. In his own image He would shape them from this glorious mud. He reached down into the mud and played joyfully up to his elbows and knees. He smiled for He was embracing the highest and most dizzying adventure of creation. He called forth the waters and He summoned fire to burst through their bodies. Then He placed his mouth over their mouths and from his own breath Heignited life within this crowning masterpiece of his creation, his heart friends. Man and woman, Hecreated them. They lifted their sparkling eyes. The Uncreated Spirit extended his strong hands; He wrapped his arms around them and lifted them up. His voice was warm and tender. “Come with me, my beloved friends. Walk with me. Create with me. Take my hands and share my life with me. Know that my passion is for you.”They listened to the Creator’s joyful song and they danced to the Creator’s tune and they slept to the Creator’s lullaby.What happened on each of the six days of creation in Genesis?

The account of the six days of creation in Genesis tends to be a controversial subject among Christians. There are various theories to reconcile the biblical account of creation with the secular account of creation. Taken literally, the biblical account of creation does contradict the majority of university textbooks on the issue of our origins.

1. On the first day God created the Earth, which at the time would have been a giant ball of water, and divided light from darkness. The supernatural light would not be talked about in science textbooks.

2. On day two God separated the water from the air. In most textbooks, the origins of oxygen would not predate land.

3. On the third day God created the land and plants.

4. On the fourth day God created the stars and the sun. The Earth predating the sun and stars by three days is considered a heresy among secular scientists.

5. On day five fish and birds were created. The birds coming before land animals contradict macro-evolutionary models.

6. On the sixth day of creation, land animals and man were created. At this time there was no death on the Earth, and God proclaimed it was good. The six days of creation contradicts the Darwinian model, which claims death predates man.

In order to reconcile these contradictions with secular science, Christians have proposed several theories. One is the gap theory, which claims there are billions of years between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth” and shortly after that Darwinian evolution takes place. Of course this still requires ignoring the various contradictions with secular science described in the six days of creation. Another is the day-age theory. This is the belief that each of the six days of creation could represent more than an actual day, as we know according to Einstein’s general theory of relativity, time is relative. A day to God could mean a thousand years to us. Again, this does nothing to explain the contradictions between God’s Word and the word of secular science. Billions of years cannot be added to any particular day, and still reconcile the word of God with the word of the science of today. Even if we could miraculously find a place for the billions of years within the six days of creation without sacrificing the inerrancy of the bible, we would then have to accept that death and bloodshed came before sin. Death came as the result of sin. Because of this, the crucifixion was needed to reconcile us to God in accordance with the law of the Old Testament that states that death is the consequence of sin. Reinterpreting the bible to suit the science of the day undermines this concept.

Another theory is that the Bible is only the word of man, and not the truth. The truth is that science is also the word of man, and it changes from day to day. The proofs of evolution and an old Earth today are completely different from the evidence my father would have learned about going through school. And what we know today will most likely be discarded when the next generation comes along. The Bible, on the other hand, has remained unchanged. The final theory is that every word of the Bible is true. Every day, creation scientists are finding more and more evidence to support the six days of creation. There is nothing wrong with science, but in the end it is the fallible word of man.

Adam and Eve: Who are they?

Adam and Eve were the first humans, according to the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian religions, and all humans have descended from them. As stated in the Bible, Adam and Eve were created by God to take care of His creation, to populate the earth, and to have a relationship with Him. Their very names are indicative of their roles. Adam comes from the Hebrew adomah, meaning "man." Eve is from the Hebrew for "life." The complete biblical account of Adam and Eve can be found in Genesis 1:26 to Genesis 5:5.

Most of our preconceived ideas about Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden come from John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost," published in 1667. He took the Genesis account and greatly expanded it using his creative flair. Milton used his imagination to create "behind the scenes" conversations with God, Satan, and various angels. His additions to the Genesis account have become imbedded in our culture and have caused many people to mistakenly think Milton's account is found in the Bible. Adam and Eve: The Garden of Eden Adam and Eve were the first gardeners. They lived in the Garden of Eden, a perfect place with no thorns or weeds, and where plants produced their fruit easily. We find in Genesis 2:15-20 that God told Adam to cultivate the garden, keep the garden, name the animals, and eat of the garden's fruit, except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve: The First Parents Adam and Eve were the first parents. The Jewish, Islamic, and Christian religions hold that all people are descendants from them. According to Jewish tradition, Adam and Eve had 56 children. This was possible, in part, because Adam lived to be 960 years old. Some scholars believe that the length of the life spans of the people of this time was due to a vapor canopy in the atmosphere. This may have made the earth's environment more hospitable to human life and increased life spans. These scholars believe this canopy was destroyed during the Flood and contributed to the great amount of water covering the earth.Adam and Eve: The First People to Disobey God Adam and Eve were the first people to do something wrong. As it is told in Genesis 2:16-17 , God told Adam that He was free to eat from every tree in the garden, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God said that he would die if he ate the fruit. We don't know what kind of fruit this tree had. Milton introduced the idea that it was an apple. Later, Eve was deceived by Satan speaking through a serpent and ate the fruit. She then took the fruit to Adam and he ate it knowing he was doing the wrong thing. Because they disobeyed what God had explicitly told them and chose to believe Satan, they began to experience spiritual death, and soon physical death. God expelled them from the garden. Adam and Eve sinned by placing their desires above what God had told them and through this act sin entered the world. No longer would it be easy to harvest fruit. Thorns and weeds would make planting and harvesting hard labor. Men would have to work to eat. Women would give birth in pain. Animals became dangerous and carnivorous.

Adam and Eve: The End of the Story?

Is this the end of the story about Adam and Eve? Did God expel Adam and Eve from the garden without providing a way for them to repair their relationship with Him? Or did God make a way for people's sin to be taken care of? How can what you believe about Adam and Eve affects your life today? If you believe that Adam and Eve were created by God and disobeyed Him, bringing sin into this world, does that make you a sinner? If so, how does that change your view of yourself?