04/01/01

An Asian creation myth states that before anything, there was only a single hen’s egg. From that egg came the first man. There is no explanation of where the egg came from, or why a man is hatching from a chicken egg. This man was lonely so he created the god, Tu. The man and Tu proceeded to make other gods and thus was the beginning of time.

Are you bothered by this myth in its reversal of the role of man and God? And what if this was the creation story being told to your kids in school? In fact, what if the account of Genesis is presented to your kids under the category of "fiction"?

Are you bothered now?

For some time now, I have been highly skeptical about forcing schools to observe any Christian activities or teachings. The reason is not because I don’t want the schools to revere God. Rather, I don’t want a non-Christian "industry" to be the purveyors of a Holy Doctrine.

Think of it this way: would you want your heart surgeon to have been trained by a lawyer? Similarly, we should want our kids to learn about God from godly people. I am increasingly convinced that public schools are not (necessarily) godly.

Furthermore, let’s say that we successfully petition the school board to include creationism in their curricula for natural science alongside of evolution. What this means is that any and every creation theory is now fair game as mandatory study for your child. And in case you are wondering, there are many, many creation theories. At a recent open house at my son’s elementary school, I spotted a book in the library titled In The Beginning. Well, of course I had to pull it out to see what it was about. This book was a summary of several creation myths. And to my disappointment, the Genesis account was also included and poignantly tagged as myth along with the others. Let me give you a brief run-down of some of these myths.

Pea-Pod Man:
This is an Eskimo myth in which man sprouts from a pea pod and is greeted by a raven who claims to be the creator. There is no explanation of the origin of the raven.

Creator Quat:
In this myth, Quatgoro (mother earth) gives birth to 12 sons, the firstborn of which is Quat who becomes the master creator. There is no male involved in the conception of the 12 sons.

Death Creator:
In the myths of the Kono people in Guinea, Death, his wife and daughter exist first. There is no mention of any other creation; however, a visitor appears. The visitor is god. God marries Death’s daughter against Death’s wishes and the children of god are men. To show his vengeance, Death claims the children of god at his discretion.

Phan Ku:
In this myth, god burst forth from a primordial egg. The first separation of sky and earth became the first yin and yang. Phan Ku, the god, dies and his body parts make up the features of the earth. His death is considered a "sacrifice" for the good of man. (Cosmic egg)

Blackfoot Indian:

This Native American myth is of an "Old Man" who creates as he wanders from south to north. He creates man to live eternally, but woman spoils the deal and man becomes mortal. (Death due to transgression)

Ulgen:
Ulgen, god, creates the first man, Erlik. Erlik tried to imitate god by creating life. Ulgen becomes angry and condemns Erlik to be the leader of dead spirits. (Fall of Satan)

Anansi:
Many African myths incorporate a character named Anansi. Anansi is a notable trickster and is able to match wits with god and in some cases is said to have achieved equality with god because of his wit. (Type of Satan)

Olorum:
This African myth has Olorun as the "Highest Being" but there is also a lesser being who is called "Great God." Great God is given the task of creating earth and man, but is not able to give life. Olorun, on the other hand, cannot create, but can bestow life. In this myth, there is no creation aside from the gods but there are spiders (a common theme in African creation myths).

Marduk:
Marduk is descended from a line of gods who are all the descendents of Tiamat (salt water) and Apsu (fresh water). Marduk earns supremacy over the gods by killing his father. This Babylonian myth views the sun as Marduk watching over earth. In this myth, the god who is considered supreme is not self-existent.

Egypt:
In Egypt, Ra is considered the supreme god but has a father. His son Horus is considered the "savior of mankind." This myth has many variations, but the central story reads like a soap opera where Isis weds her brother Osiris and Horus kills his father Osiris.

Greek Mythology:
In Greek mythology, the original beings are mother earth and father sky. The Greek myths also read like a soap opera. And like other myths, Zeus, the supreme deity is not the original deity. Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus are found guilty of favoring mankind and are punished by Zeus. Zeus creates a woman (Pandora) as a wife for Epimetheus. Pandora has a box with a "surprise" in it. The surprise is all forms of peril on earth. Prometheus is seen as a type of Satan; that is, he brings fire (light/wisdom) to man. Also, the earthly woes are brought about by a woman.

The book also contained two separate sections of Biblical creation. One was taken from Genesis chapter 1 and the other from Genesis chapter 2. Neither account does justice to the Holy creation.

There are many more creation myths than were in the book and than I have summarized here. The point is that if we allow a secular world to teach our children creationism it has many options to choose from. I would wager that the Biblical creation would not be chosen.

A second observation that I have is that nearly every creation myth contains some element of similarity to the Biblical account. To me, this seems to indicate the validity of the Biblical account that has been corrupted over time.

I have not mentioned Evolution here, because it is not considered myth.  I personally consider it fiction, but the popular notion is that it is fact.  I spend a great deal of discussion on Evolution in my book The Millennium Agenda chapters 4 and 5.

The point is this.  We cannot bombard our school boards insisting that they give Creationism equal time with Evolution.  We may get more than we bargained for.  Rather, we should insist that schools continue to recognize and teach Evolution for what it is -- A THEORY.