Genesis Essay, Research Paper

I have never read the Bible before, in reading the chapters I find myself even

more confused about God then I was before. I wrote what I thought was going on

in each chapter and even asked a few questions. If this is not what you are

looking for please let me know so I can do it right for the next time. Chapter 1

In this chapter God created heaven and the earth. We are to see God in this

chapter as a spirit. On the first day God divided the light (good) from the dark

(bad). On the second day God divided the waters and called the firmament heaven.

(I do not know what the word firmament means. Can you please explain?) On the

third day God made the earth with grass and trees that grew fruit on them. On

the fourth day he made the stars in the heaven to point out day from night. He

also created the sun and moon. On the fifth day God created the sea animals and

the birds. On the sixth day God created male and female to rule over all the

other animals. I don?t understand the wording in the next section; ?He

Marucheau 3 refers to everything as ?his kind? and lets make man in OUR

image.? To whom does our refer to? Later he mentions that it is in his own

image. On the seventh day he rested, so he could sit back and enjoy all that he

created. God is not a living person in chapter one; he is a spirit that moves

across the earth. God says something and it happens. We believe that it took

only six days to create earth but who is to say it didn?t take longer. There

were no clocks at that time and there was no one around to see what actually

went on. Chapter 2 This chapter also is about the creation. Only in this chapter

God is a man. God formed man out of dirt of the ground with his two hands and

then he gave him life. God also brought forth all the animals for the man to

name. Now in class we said this was the way man was to find a mate, I never

thought of it that way. I just thought this was the way God was showing man why

he was going to rule the earth by giving the animals names. This was a way to

show authority over them. Then God saw how lonely man was and then decided to

create woman to keep him company. God puts man to sleep and takes out one of his

ribs then forms woman with it. I was always taught to believe that God was a

spirit so this version of creation I do not believe in. Marucheau 4 Chapter 3 In

this chapter a serpent in present in the garden (which God created), that I

always thought it was the Devil. The serpent tricks the woman into eating the

forbidden fruit (which I always thought it was an apple). In class we discussed

that the fruit meant sex. I still don?t understand how this is so. Man and

woman now know all that is good and evil, they figure out that they are naked.

God knows that they ate the fruit that he told them not to so he punishes all

three of them. I think the punishment were not fair, the serpent now has to

crawl on his belly for the rest of his life, the woman has the pain of child

birth and the man walks away with a slap on the hands. I know God tells him that

he shall go back to the dirt in which he was made but we all do, not just man.

Chapter 6 This chapter explains that we began to multiply and man take woman for

his wife. When God mentions 120 years I though that was how long man was going

to be aloud to live upon earth. God was mad in everything that he created so he

was going to destroy it. So he could wash away all of his mistakes and start

over. God chooses Noah and his family to build an ark so they would be saved.

God chooses Noah because he was obedient to the Lord. God told Noah that he was

going to destroy the earth with water. God told Noah how to build the ark and

what to take with him on the ark. Noah did everything as God asked. Marucheau 5

Chapter 7 In this chapter God tells Noah to take clean beasts by sevens and

dirty beasts by twos. What does he mean by clean and dirty? Were dirty beasts

something like pigs? God gave Noah seven days to get ready for the rain. God

causes the rain to fall upon earth for forty days. After the flood the only

things that would still be alive were the things on Noah?s Ark. It took a

hundred and fifty days for the water to dry up. God destroyed the earth because

there was so much evil upon it. God must have been human because he made

mistakes. Chapter 18 In this chapter God is trying to decide if Abraham shall be

the one who is saved when God is to destroy the town. God says to Abraham and

Sarah that they were going to have a son. Sarah laughs at this idea because they

were very old and she does not think this could happen. Abraham starts to

compromise with God and try to save the city. Abraham says to God if he finds

fifty righteous people in the city will he save it from being destroyed? God

chalenges him by saying find them and I will not destroy it. In hearing this

Abraham thinks to him self maybe he will go lower. So Abraham asks what about

forty-five people, forty, thirty, twenty, ten? God does not seem to answer but

Abraham is pleading for the lives of the people in the city. I didn?t

understand this chapter very well. Verses one through eight were confusing.

Marucheau 6 Chapter 22 God tells Abraham to take his son Isaac to the burnt

offering to offer his son up to God. Isaac asks Abraham where is the lamb for

the offering, he is very smart and worried. Abraham says that the Lord will

provide it. Abraham builds an altar and places his son upon it; he is about to

kill his own son when an angel calls out to him. The Angel asks him if he is

about to kill his only son who was given to him by the Lord as an offering. Then

Abraham panics and offers a ram instead. The Angel of the Lord came to him a

second time and offered him a blessing for what he did. The verses nineteen

through twenty-four who were they talking about was it Abraham?s wife?