Our Spiritual Declaration: Creation Beliefs

Chapter 10: Creation Beliefs

Australian Aborigines
1. In the beginning Karora slept in the ground, and darkness veiled the world. Later the sun flooded the world with light. Karora came out of the ground and ate.

2. One night a piece of wood took human form and grew into a young man. This was Karora's first son. When morning dawned the youth sprang to life. He and his father ate a meal that day and rested come night.

3. That night two more sons were formed and came to life the next morning. Every night more and more sons sprang forth. Eventually they ran out of food.

4. Finally, a flood of honey swept the sons underground.

5. Notice the similarities. Karora came out of the ground, and Adam was created out of the Earth. This story also has a flood which swept away the descendents as did the flood of Noah.

Western Polynesians
6. In the beginning Ta-aroa was encased in a shell and later burst forth. Ta-aroa made the god Tu and together they created man, Ti-i, out of the earth. Then woman was created (Hina), and she was a half-goddess.

7. Ti-i was evil and spread calamity throughout the world. Ta-aroa and Tu cursed the stars, moon, earth, and humans because of the evil man had spread.

8. Hina redeemed the stars so they twinkle rather than completely fade, she saved the moon so it fades away only to return again, she saved the earth so winter destroys life only to regrow in spring, and she saved humanity so we die yet new life comes from women.

9. In this story we see comparable elements, such as how Yaldabaoth cursed the earth and humanity, yet woman (Eve) was sent to correct the errors of man (Adam).

Eastern Polynesians
10. In the beginning only the ocean existed. God (Lowa) created the Marshall Islands. Four men were sent down and traveled different directions. The eastern man created light and was the sun. The man in the west created life. The man in the south created wind. The man in the north created death.

Melanesians
11. In the beginning light shined continually. Beneath the light a stone called Quatgoro (mother) split into twelve sons. The first born, Quat, was a wise man and the second born, Tangaro, was a fool.

12. Quat carved six humans from a tree and brought them to life using music.

13. Tangaro wanted to create humans as his brother had done, but he buried them. Later he dug them up, but the humans had rotted. This was the start of death.

14. Quat's brothers complained of the constant light, and Quat sailed away to find Oong (night). Upon finding Oong Quat was taught how to sleep. He sailed back and taught his brothers of the night and how to sleep.

15. Here one may see similarities between Quat and Tangaro and Sabaoth and Yaldabaoth.


Native Americans of California
16. In the beginning darkness and water existed. Turtle and Pehe-ip floated on a raft and from the sky descended Earth Starter.

17. Turtle plunged to the ocean's bottom and brought up dirt which Earth Stater used to make dry land.

18. Earth Starter told his sister, the Sun, to rise.

19. Earth Starter created the first deer out of mud and made all the animals.

20. Earth Starter created the first man, Ku-ksu, and the first woman, Morning-star Woman. He made their hands resemble his, unlike the animal's paws, so humans could climb trees to escape danger.

21. Earth Starter told Ku-ksu when he was old to dive into a lake and become young again.

22. Notice the sequence of events in this creation story mostly parallel the events in Genesis (darkness, water, land, animals, man). Also interesting is the idea of humans diving into a lake (returning to nature) to be made young again. This smacks of reincarnation.

Mayans
23. In the beginning sea and darkness existed. The Maker and Feathered Serpent came together and Heart of Sky was found with his three parts: lightning hurricane, new lightning, and blue-green lightning.

24. These came together and planned existence, with Their thoughts being so clear and words so faithful whatever They said came to be.

25. They created dry land, mountains, valleys, plants, and animals.

26. They attempted to show animals the ways of civilization, but animals lacked the intelligence needed. So They made man but failed the first time. In Their first attempt, man was made from mud but fell apart.

27. On the second attempt, They carved man from wood. This attempt lead to a creature which could walk and talk and procreate, yet it lacked a soul. A flood came swept the carved people away, and today they are known as monkeys.

28. Corn was then used to make the first humans: Jaguar Quiché, Jaguar Night, Ma-hu-cutah, and Wind Jaguar. These men possessed knowledge of everything. God curbed some of their knowledge and abilities, reasoning they were humans and not gods.

29. This story is extraordinary in that it explains evolution as first came the monkeys then humans. Also interesting is the mention of lightning having a place in creating life, which is how science claims it happened. This story actually agrees with scientific reasoning more than any other creation story. The chronology of what was created also follows along that of Genesis. How the Mayans possessed so much foresight, no one knows, but their society was filled with spiritual curiosity.

Icelanders
30. In the beginning the south was full of fire and the north full of ice. In the middle of the two was the Yawning Gap. The combination of fire and ice lead to a thaw in the Gap and from this Imir, a frost giant, emerged.

31. From Imir came other frost giants. A giant cow emerged from the water and Imir lived off the cow's milk, and the cow lived off ice.

32. A man named Buri came out of the ice, and he had a son, Bor. Bor and a frost giant mated and the offspring were Odin, Ve, and Vili. These brothers killed Imir, and from his corpse the Earth was made.

33. From trees the brothers made the ancestors of humans – Ask and Embla.

34. Note in this story the mating of humans with spiritual beings and giants.

West Africans
35. In the beginning God (Wulbari) existed as Heaven and was only a few feet above the Earth. So God was frustrated and raised up but was still too close to humans.

36. God went up higher and made His guard a spider named Ananse. One day Ananse got a corncob from God and traveled to Earth. There he fed the corncob to chickens then complained to the villagers about his lack of corn. The villagers gave Ananse a whole bushel of corn. This deception was just the beginning for Ananse.

37. Ananse became prideful and claimed superiority to God. So God told Ananse to go find 'something' on Earth. Ananse came back with a feather hat, and when he was spotted in Heaven everyone wondered what kind of animal he was. God revealed to the people the 'something' he wanted was the sun, moon, and darkness.

38. Overhearing this without anyone knowing, Ananse brought back what God wanted and in doing so outwitted his creator.

39. This story contains elements similar to the struggle between God and Lucifer.

Guineans
40. In the beginning Sa (Death) lived with his wife and daughter. Sa formed mud and built his house upon it. The God Alatangana then turned the mud solid.

41. Alatangana secretly married Sa's daughter. They had many children together. Some of the children were black and some were white, and they spoke different languages. Alatangana went to Sa for help understanding the languages, but Sa was angry over the secret marriage.

42. Sa told Alatangana the languages were confused as punishment for the secret marriage and said the children should marry their own color. Death also told Alatangana that every time when he feels like it, a human will be taken because of the secret marriage.

43. This story has a similarity with Genesis in mentioning the dividing of language.

Egyptians
44. In the beginning Ra was the first being. He came forth from Nun, a watery mass.

45. Ra created Shu and Tefnut and sent his only eye to watch over them. In place of his eye, Ra grew a second eye to weep. His sons then brought back his original eye, and Ra put the eye in the center of his head.

46. From Shu and Tefnut, Heaven and Earth (Nut and Geb) were created and seperated.

47. From the tears of Ra, humanity came into being.

Babylonians
48. In the beginning Apsu and Tiamat (the seas) existed. From them came a multitude of deities. Anshar and Kishar were created, from them came Anu, and from Anu came Ea.

49. Apsu plotted to kill all his creations, but Ea killed Apsu before he could accomplish his plan.

50. Ea and his wife brought forth Marduk.

51. Tiamat created many terrible creatures to avenge the death of Apsu, and their ruler was Kingu.

52. Marduk was enabled ruler of the universe so he could defeat these creatures. He cut Tiamat in half and destroyed her evil creations. From one half of Tiamat, Marduk made the Heaven and from the other half the Earth.

53. Marduk then created humanity.

Greeks
54. In the beginning there was chaos, and from chaos came Eros (Love). The Earth and Underworld sprang forth - Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Heaven) manifested.

55. Gaia and Uranus came together to create the Titans. One of the Titans was Kronos. Uranus hated his children and hid them. Because of this Kronos turned against his father.

56. Some time later Kronos became suspicious of his own children and ate them. Zeus was hidden from his father, Kronos, and later successfully fought against him.

Northeast Indians
57. In the beginning Earth and Sky married, and, between the two, humanity feared Sky and Earth would come together to crush them. So humans beat the Sky which fled and left the Earth behind.

58. Earth gave birth to two daughters from whom a great light came forth. A woman who raised the two daughters died, and the daughters died of grief so the light they illuminated vanished.

59. Humans wondered why the two grieved over the woman and dug up her grave to see if she stole from them. In the grave they found two large shining eyes. The men saw their reflection in the eyes.

60. Using magic the reflections were taken out and became the two daughters. They were locked up to contain their light, but they escaped. Too much light and heat came from them so one of the daughters was murdered.

61. The other sister found out about this and hid under a rock, and the Earth darkened. The men created her another sister, but this one was made smaller so the Earth wouldn't become too bright and hot or too dark and cold.

Chinese
62. In the beginning the universe was shaped like an egg and contained Phan Ku, the creator of everything. The egg exploded, and Phan Ku came forth.

63. Phan Ku separated the sky from Earth. The light sky was yin, and the dark sky was yang. Phan Ku existed between the two.

64. He created everything then passed away. Soil came from his body, rain from his sweat, and thunder from his voice.