The First Chapter of Genesis

Question:

This is more about the first chapter of Genesis. I grew up as Assemblies of God, but apparently I question too much. Anyway I grew up believing God created the heavens/earth in six days. What is your interpretation of this and could you tie in evolution?

Comment:

Chapter 1 of the Book of Genesis (it really continues into the first three verses of Chapter 2) describes the first of the two distinct and different versions of creation that open the Book of Genesis—the "Priestly Version," written around the time of the Hebrews’ return from Babylonian exile. It defines the seven “days” of creation, which metaphysically represent the seven stages of the creative process through which the Allness of God is focused and defined in the realm of Divine Ideas. (We use the same creative process, sometimes calling it the Law of Attraction, as we continue the creation process by bringing our own thoughts and beliefs into tangible expression.)

Now, nothing could be clearer, I think, than that time is entirely a human construct. There is no time in Divine Mind. So to hold God to seven 24-hour days is to try to squeeze the divine into human limitations; it simply can’t be done. Early storytellers trying to describe the wonder and power of creation had to use terms and concepts people could understand, so they spoke of specific days and creative events rather than the spiritual process of creation really at work. In spiritual truth, creation is a process that is still going on—through us. And a process is, by very definition, an evolution, not a series of finite and definable steps. So the underlying metaphysical truth is that creation is a divine process eternally at work, an energy that evolves through all forms of life and substance in the eternal "Now" moment that is all there is in Divine Mind—and that could represent billions of years as humans measure them.   I can barely scratch the surface of this very important correlation between the creative process defined in Genesis and the same creative process as it expresses through us. A very thorough discussion can be found in the Charles Fillmore book Mysteries of Genesis.   The first step in the process—"Let there be light"—requires a simple but profound realization of the possibility of creation. There is no outer source of light yet—the sun has not yet been created—but there is the realization that, with or without a definable source, light exists as a creative presence, an expression of the eternal energy of the divine.   On the second day "God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters.’" Within the realm of infinite possibility represented by the waters, creation requires a beginning point, a foundation. This is the quality of faith—a confidence in our ability—our calling, really—to act upon the infinity of spiritual substance.   The third day—"Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear"—introduces the power of imagination. Out of infinite possibility we begin to choose, organize and arrange according to our personal creative choices.   On the fourth day, "God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night." Charles Fillmore associates this with the twin powers of will and understanding. I think the key element here is the realization that the divine light already (and eternally) present must be both focused and reflected for the creative process to move forward. The differentiation already begun becomes duality—darkness and light, yin and yang, all expressive of the underlying Truth of spiritual light.   On the fifth day "God said, ’Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.’" This is the realm of tangible ideas—"sensation and discrimination," according to Fillmore—from which we make orderly and creative choices.   On the sixth day "God said, ’Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind,’ ... And God created man in his own image." At this stage in our own creative process our ideas become clear, focused and fully formed—in potential. This is all happening in the realm of divine ideas, as we claim our creative power and become pregnant, as it were, with new expressions of divine life.   And on the seventh day we rest, and allow the creative energy of God to move through us without resistance, bringing into expression that which we have created.

It’s important to note that this is simply my own quick overview of this process, an understanding of which is crucial to embracing our life purpose. If I were to describe it again tomorrow, it would probably seem different in specific aspects, but absolutely constant in spiritual flow. The important thing is not to “understand” it, but to engage it, to wrestle with it, to allow the seven steps to explain themselves to you as you start from the firmament of faith to express your own creative power.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed