How (Not) to Read the Bible: Making Sense of the Anti-women, Anti-science, Pro-violence, Pro-slavery and Other Crazy-Sounding Parts of Scripture

by Dan Kimball

The other creation stories portray the gods as violent deities, fighting each other and not caring at all for human beings. This is one of the unique aspects of the Genesis story. It tells of an amazingly wonderful God, who is entirely unlike the Egyptian or Babylonian gods and goddesses. • Only in Genesis do we meet a single God (not multiple gods) who has a covenantal (committed with promises) and personal relationship with people • Unlike other narratives, the God in the Genesis creation story doesn’t need assistance from other gods to create. He is all powerful and can do it all with just his word. • The God in the Genesis creation story creates human beings with dignity and beauty, and they are created in his image. None of the other creation stories reveal a god or gods who treat humans with such love and care. • The God in the creation story entrusted human beings with the task of caring for the creation, rather than creating them as servants to serve the whims of that god. Put yourself in the place of an ancient Israelite.