Alright, onto the rest of the chapter.
[Gen 1:2]
I don't plan on going into detailed creation theories, but I always thought this verse was interesting. The Sunday school version of this process starts with nothing, then light, but the actual order of the verses has a formless void heaven and earth as the first steps of creation, then references the Spirit of God hovering over "the waters." This confused me for a long time, because it didn't make sense for there to be waters when the rest of the stuff hadn't happened yet.
Then I read this article about an experiment done with the LHC, and it made a little more sense. (that article wasn't the exact one I read, but I can't find the other one at the moment.) In short, the article states that, immediately after the Big Bang, matter existed as a "quark-gluon plasma" before forming into the matter we know today. Plasma is liquidity, so, in my completely non-science-trained mind, I think this makes sense. God spoke the universe into existence (bang), and it was void and without form (existing in a chaotic plasma form) and God hovered over these "waters" and formed the Universe we know today. Works for me.
[Gen 1:3-25]
And the Creation order we're all familiar with. Light, separation of Heaven from Earth (I guess? Possibly formation of planets? I don't remember what the one-word kid-friendly version was on the chart), separation of water from land, plants, stars (including the sun), fish and birds, then critters. (It's okay, Oxford Comma, you'll always be correct in my style book.)
Not a whole lot to say here I didn't already cover in the last couple of comments.
[Gen 1:26-31]
This passage basically defines my outlook on life. It's the idea that, with our creation, came the command to "subdue [the earth], have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." While the Fall and the subsequent mission to spread the Gospel changed mankind's priorities, it still stands that, when we were created, our job was to master the Earth we were put on.
Now, common sentiment thanks to the slant of movies and cartoons makes that like a horrible, Captain Planet villain mission, but that's a simplistic view. To have dominion over the Earth means to find every possible way to make it work for our benefit and our enjoyment. This means to study the way everything works and learn how to care for it and manipulate it in the way that is best for us. As man was first encountering fruit, eating the fruit was the first way we had dominion over the creation. As we learned to plant it and create more of it, that was also dominion. When we learned that not watering the plants kills them and that not planting more means we'll eventually not have any, that was a step towards dominion. When we learned we could combine them with other foods, that was dominion. When we learned to make cobblers out of them, that was delicious dominion.
But it's not just in the plant and sciencey way; anything we learn about and make work for us is part of this dominion mandate. When we learned rubber was bouncy and we could use it to play sports that were fun, we were having dominion over the creation. When we learned we could use silicon and electricity to carry a current and store information, we were having dominion. When we create music, poetry, and funny internet videos, we're having dominion over speech, sound, and words.
The call to have dominion over the earth is a call to get an education, to master a skill, and to contribute to the world around you. Some pervert this mandate as an excuse to destroy entire ecosystems so we can have fun for a little while, but dominion includes taking care of the creation. Even more disgusting, though, is this popular perception that humans are evil and anything we do to the world is horrible. Go to any kid's talking animal cartoon and the "scariest" part of the movie is when the humans show up (dun dun dunnn). We have it pounded into our heads our entire lives that humans are evil, any footprint we leave on our environment is an abomination, and that our attempts to improve our quality of life are shameful. When the Bible tells us that mankind was given the highest honor of all Creation: to be a human is the greatest honor God gave any creation. We were put here to take care of this creation; our destruction would be catastrophic, not good for the planet.
So go to school. Pick your favorite aspect of this world and choose to dominate it. Learn everything you can about it, and make it work for you and for us as a whole. And be proud of whatever you achieve in this pursuit and whatever success you may gain from it, because it is your duty as a human being, the only part of Creation God considered important enough to die for.
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