Creation Essay

CREATION

RELEVANT CREATION TEXTS
Gen 1 (all, esp. 2); 2 (all); 3 (all); 6:6-7; 14:19, 22; Exod 20:11; 31:17; 1 Sam 2:8; 2 Kings 19:15; 1 Chron 16:26; 2 Chron 2:12; Neh 9:5-6; Job 10:8-12; 26:7, 13; 33:4; 38:4; Ps 8:3-6; 19:1; 33:6; 90:2; 94:9; 100:3; 102:25; 104:5-7, 30; 115:15; 119:73; 121:2; 124:8; 134:3; 139:13; 146:6; 148:5; Prov 3:19; Ecc 11:5; 12:1; Is 17:7; 29:16; 37:16; 40:12-13; 42:5; 43:15; 44:24; 45:7, 12, 18; 48:13; 51:13-16; Jer 10:16; 27:5; 32:17; 51:15-19; Jonah 1:9; Zech 12:1; Mal 2:10; Matt 19:4, 8; 24:21; Mark 10:6; 13:19; John 1:1-3, 10; Acts 4:24; 7:50; 10:6; 14:15; 17:24-28; Rom 1:18-25; 4:17; 9:20-21; 1 Cor 8:6; 11:9; 2 Cor 4:6; Eph 3:9; Col 1:16; 1 Tim 2:13; 4:4-5; Heb 1:2, 10-12; 3:4; 11:3; 2 Pet 3:4-5; Rev 3:14; 4:11; 10:6; 14:7.

QUESTION 51: What other perspectives are there on nature and how do they differ from the creation concept?
The Biblical doctrine of Creation opposes the following concepts of and approaches to the world: a) maya (the concept found in Eastern Pantheistic monism that the universe reality in all its diversity is merely an illusion for the cosmic ONE), b) mana (the concept that the essence of nature is an invisible force inherent in all things also referred to as wakan [energy] as in animism), c) emanation (the neo-platonic concept that the One essence of the universe spills over into lesser modes of being), d) demiurge (the Platonic concept of a mythic figure who uses the eternal Forms/Ideas/Essences to shape and “inform” eternal matter into the existing things), and e) evolution (the concept underlying naturalism that believes all life forms result from natural selection determining what life forms die or survive).
151-154. Briefly define these concepts that express a different relationship of the Divine to the universe than the concept of creation (4 points).   maya (the concept found in Eastern Pantheistic monism that the universe reality in all its diversity is merely an illusion for the cosmic ONE; mana...