Mankind or Alive! It’s Alive!

Y ep. God is about to get his Young Frankenstein on and give his creation LIFE! This is where the scriptural creation account reaches its apex, but don’t get too excited. In case you didn’t read the first post or suffer from short-term memory loss, the origin story Genesis presents is merely a preamble. It doesn’t concern itself with the scientific ins and outs of how the cosmos, or life within it, came into being. It offers a Ripley’s-style “God did it, believe it or not!” scenario. The text puts zero effort into detailing where God came from or how he went about creating something out of nothing. Genesis 1 ticks through the events without bothering to fill in the gaps. The first 25 verses recorded in Scripture is God on Red Bull. There’s no slowing him down for a quick explanation. Once he’s done with one project, he’s on to the next one and we’re left with our hands raised in perpetuity. If there’s ever a test on this stuff, we’re screwed.

In the scriptural timeline the entire animal kingdom, human beings included, appear on the scene on the sixth day. It’s a day purposefully isolated from the others as the climactic highlight of God’s activities and shouldn’t be confused with Adam Gibson’s dilemma with Replacement Technologies. And while answers remain at a premium, the arrival of human beings isn’t recorded with the same haste as the other events. In fact, it gets recounted multiple times. After instructing earth to produce animal life, God flushes the caffeine from his system and gives a steady-handed summary of what he’s about to do. The entirety of verse 26 is God thinking out loud. As usual, he skips the opportunity to give a Walter White chemistry lesson and simply states what the end product will be. It’s the first time mankind is mentioned in Scripture and there’s nothing casual about it. God isn’t wearing his relax-fit jeans. The text describes him giving deliberate and specific thought to what he’s about to make and why.

In what sounds like a sexist declaration God says he’s going to “make man.” But wait. There’s no need for a Marcy Rhoades women’s rights speech. In this case, the word Man actually indicates mankind. Some Hebrew translations capitalized the M for emphasis. Both sexes are included. God also says he’s going to make them in his “image,” a unique ingredient that isn’t offered to anything else mentioned in the creative process. This either makes God an extremely generous Charlie Lang or a totally narcissistic Derek Zoolander. But just when you’re thinking God has 3% body fat and 1% brain activity, he proves that he knows there’s more to life than just being really, really ridiculously good looking by giving his final creation purpose: “let them rule over … all the earth.” Apparently, there will be more work to do once he’s finished—he just won’t be the one doing it. News flash: God is a delegator. The company has just been built and already he’s giving humanity a management position. Mankind’s rule will include authorization over land, animals, birds, fish, insects—the works. Humans don’t even exist yet. There’s no vetting process. God hasn’t reviewed a single productivity chart. For all he knows humanity is a young Carter Duryea. He’s going into it blind with complete trust in the potential of who shows up for work. Talk about confidence.

Having stated his plans, God immediately gets to it. The very next verse confirms his activity in making mankind “in His image … male and female” (v. 27). The text reiterates the importance of the task by emphasizing God’s personal involvement, but it’s vague on the particulars. More detail emerges in Genesis 2:7, where the text is more straightforward. It says God formed mankind like a potter making a clay mold. Is it bad the only potter image that comes to mind is Molly Jensen? I don’t think the scene in Genesis 2 had that kind of sex appeal, but feel free to cue up “Unchained Melody” anyway.

Similar to animal life, earth provides the core properties needed to produce mankind, but instead of being independently “brought forth” like the animals, God gets handsy. As young Dr. Frederick Frankenstein would say, “For what we are about to see next, we must enter quietly into the realm of genius.” Verse 7 specifies how the first named hominid, Adam, became a fully realized human being: “God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” or, as the Torah says, the “soul of life.” Genesis repeatedly speaks of God creating substance, then developing it. With mankind, the process is reversed to Doctor Strange extremes. Human beings are developed first, only later does God impart the mystical substance that will define them. This presents more detail than 1:27, but it’s still missing about 4,197 steps, give or take. In one sentience mankind goes from a mud pie to a living, breathing, flesh and bone human being. That’s quite a jump.

The scientific evidence we currently possess indicates the universe has been around for billions of years and Scripture says God lives outside of time (see Psalm 90:4), so pretty much anything is possible. The text always describes Adam as a fully developed man and, like Kon-El, it’s generally assumed that he skipped his formative years on his way to being born as an adult. With that in mind, allow me to toss a potential blasphemy grenade into the mix. It stands to reason that the comma in verse 7 represents more than a fractional pause in time as we read it. The comma is where the dramatic pause comes into play. This leaves room for two possibilities: either God rolled out the Play-Doh and immediately performed the holy Heimlich maneuver on it or he made man, but allowed time for development before implanting his image. Perhaps he even selected Adam from other upright walking hominids? Yep. The blasphemy grenade just went off. Nobody panic. Verse 7 concludes, “and man became a living being.” Some Hebrew translations read, “became to a living being,” indicating Adam existed in an alternate state prior to receiving the final ingredient. What his condition was and how long he existed in it is unknown. He could’ve been running around like a regular George of the Jungle before God decided to impart a little civilization. Dr. Paul Brand wrote:

When I heard [Genesis 2:7] as a child, I imagined Adam lying on the ground, perfectly formed but not yet alive, with God leaning over him and performing a sort of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Now I picture that scene differently. I assume that Adam was already biologically alive—the other animals needed no special puff of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide to start them breathing, so why should man? … I see Adam as alive, but possessing only an animal vitality. Then God breaths into him a new spirit, and infills him with His own image. Adam becomes a living soul, not just a living body. God’s image is not an arrangement of skin cells or physical shape, but rather an inbreathed spirit.

Maybe the Molly Jensen reference isn’t so far-fetched, after all. God set a pretty intimate precedent here. If true, he didn’t just make himself available to interested parties, he fused part of himself within all humanity from that moment forward. There’s a lot of debate about this so-called image. When you think image typically external features come to mind, which is what the English definition implies. But the original text uses the Hebrew word tselem and it’s far more elusive than its English counterpart. Tselem represents a “shadowy” likeness and, by definition, is more akin to a spirit or phantom. Jeepers! That sounds like a mystery for Scooby-Doo and those meddling kids. To be fair, there are passages in Scripture that describe God as having some of the same physical characteristics as humans: eyes, face, hands. To be fair, he also appears in natural elements like fire (note Exodus 3:2 and 13:21). It looks like Johnny Storm isn’t the only guy who knows his way around fiery plasma. Scripture itself asks, “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?” (Isaiah 40:18). In reality (and I’m using the word reality loosely here), God probably pulled a Zartan on occasion as a method of communication, so as not to melt faces upon arrival.

Apparently, the tselem he shared with humanity isn’t something you can see in a mirror. If we’re to believe God exists and the universe is the product of his ingenuity, then the ability to reason and articulate intelligent thought is likely the answer to the tselem/image question. Humans live in a rational state with the ability to reason, communicate and make self-aware decisions. As Jules Winnfield would say, “Check out the big brain on Brad!” Notably, the capacity to think logically and utilize intelligent speech is the only thing that separates humans from the rest of the animals. Legendary biblical figure Solomon speculated God was testing humans to make them understand that without him they’re no better than wild animals (see Ecclesiastes 3:18). This is obviously something people have thought about for a long time.

It should also be noted the tselem appears in juxtaposition with both males and females. Separate of each other men and women possess unique qualities, but, according to Scripture, it’s only together that they exhibit the completeness of God’s image: “He created them male and female. He blessed them and called their name [M]an on the day they were created” (Gen. 5:2). It’s not exactly Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but it appears partnership between the sexes was always part of God’s plan.

It’s like Christmas morning when human beings arrive on the scene. Immediately upon their arrival God is interacting with them. He treats them differently from everything else. He doesn’t even try to hide his bias. When light appeared on scene he didn’t stop to check the corners of the universe for his missing Frisbee. When the primordial waters were separated he didn’t go for a celebratory swim. But the moment mankind shows up he becomes a full-on stalker. Genesis 1:28 records his first words to them. If you’re expecting a dictatorial statement, you’re in for a surprise. Right out of the gate God lends this young couple his Marvin Gaye records and encourages a healthy sex life. “[F]ill the earth,” he says. Wait, isn’t he supposed to be a total Mrs. Grundy? I thought the scriptural narrative was always about what you’re not supposed to do and here God is all Samantha Jones, not just okay with the possibility of sex, but plainly advocating it—lots of it. It’s not an aside. It’s the first thing he encourages the earliest members of humanity to do. Turns out, God’s no prude.

Adam and Eve are still buzzing about being able to storm the cotton gin anytime they want when God hits them with more good news. Without having any prior work experience, he hires them on the spot to serve as earth’s administrating CEOs. He allows that earth and everything in it—excluding other human beings—is theirs (and their offspring’s) to manage. Contrary to popular belief, humans aren’t intended to stand around singing Kumbaya every waking hour of the day. Using much of the same language as before (see v. 26), God instructs them to subdue and harness the planet’s natural resources and to control “every living thing that moves on the earth” (v. 28). It’s a call for responsible management.

The final thing God mentions is diet. Scrub those images of Fat Bastard pining for “the other, other white meat,” we’re talking about everyday food consumption. God isn’t going all Hans and Franz trying to be your personal trainer here. The text states animals, birds and humans were all originally intended to be vegetarians (see vv. 29, 30). Like Lisa Simpson, God has enough gazpacho for everyone. Evidentially there was no such thing as a carnivore at that time. Without reading between the lines too much, it appears God isn’t keen on the idea of killing. Perhaps after witnessing dinosaurs rule the earth like those guys at Terminus he decided a world full of plant-eaters was the way to go. You know as well as I do this doesn’t last, but it’s hard to argue that God’s intention at this point isn’t noble.

“And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good” (v. 31). Today this is a questionable observation. It’s easy to isolate the bad elements within life—natural disaster, disease, death—and label God’s assessment incorrect, but Scripture doesn’t make any effort to explain away the bad stuff, quite the opposite. According to the text, “[God] has made everything appropriate in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Everything? Really? This is where God could’ve benefited from the unusual syntax in Yoda’s speech pattern: “Suffering and death. Hard to accept, they are.” It’s harder to come to terms with when you’re reading it in black and white. But at least Genesis is consistent. From the start it views death as normal within the overall goodness of life. And if death is okay, then anger, sadness and pain don’t even tip the scales.

The real mystery is that we’re able to complain in the first place. This makes the age-old question, “Why does God allow bad things to happen?” something of a joke. No need to question the author like Harold Crick or shout into the storm like Lieutenant Dan. Scripture has already given an answer. God made a system that works, not one that’s perfect. Things aren’t ideal and nowhere does the Torah say otherwise. God calls the end product “very good.” That’s it. There’s not an asterisk followed by a bunch of fine print describing what “very good” means in the context of how he used the words. By scriptural standards, God made something effective with the potential for perfection.

The creation story ends when God punches his time card on day seven. Genesis 2 says his work was completed because he abstained from working (v. 2). That sounds like a brain teaser Edward Nigma would come up with, but really it’s just another way of calling God a delegator. He quit working with confidence human beings would finish the job. He was aware more needed to be done, but instead of going under the hood himself to make the improvements, he turned the whole thing over to mankind. After driving the team eighty yards downfield, God reduced his role to backup quarterback so that you can get your Shane Falco on. If we’re to believe Genesis, God chose partnership over dictatorship.

It may also interest you to know the text never implicitly states that the seventh day came to a close—nor does it mention a new day being established. Does this indicate the “seventh day” comprises the here and now? As Brandt would say, “Well, Dude, we just don’t know.”

That’s the long and short of it. The scriptural account teaches God was the catalyst, the universe wasn’t conceived randomly and mankind has purpose. Genesis may not answer all of our questions concerning the origin of life—not by a long shot—but it gives a glimpse into the mind of God and, if there is a God, that’s huge. Starting in the earliest verses of Genesis, God’s innermost thoughts are disseminated, revealing him as an intelligent and highly personal Being who desires to interact with the world he created. Logical? Not on your life. But that’s what the Torah teaches and, if true, it’s a game changer. The real question is, will our introduction to this personal God hold up moving forward. What’s his character? Is the Force with him or has he been turned to the dark side? Everything hinges on the answer to this question.