How did it all begin?

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Return to stories about how our world began.

Background:

The story of Creation is found at the very start of the Christian Bible in the first chapter of Genesis. It describes how God created different aspects of creation over the course of seven days. Some Christians believe this is literal account of what happened, while others believe that a day could refer to a period of time and prefer to view the story as a way of describing the sequence of events.

The creation story has been written in poetic language rather than scientific details and uses rhythm and repeating pattern of words to help the reader imaging the unfolding events.

Follow up questions:

  1. Did you notice any repeating words or phrases?

  2. On the seventh day God rested; do you think it is a good idea to set apart times of rest during the week?

  3. Are there any similarities or differences with other creation stories you have heard?

  4. What have you learnt about the Christian view of God? What do you want to remember?

In the Beginning

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God separated the water under the vault from the water above it. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years.” And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky” God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.  Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested.

(This story is adapted from Genesis Chapter 1 in the Good News Bible)