The Creation of God - Jacob Hartmann (readict TXT) 📗

“And God said, Let there be light in the firmament of the heaven” (in the eighth verse God calls the firmament heaven, but in the 14th calls it the firmament of the heaven) “to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.”

Verse 15: “And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon earth: and it was so.”

Verse 16: “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser to rule the night: he made the stars also.”

The inventor or the writer of these passages had not the slightest conception of what he was talking about. He spoke and wrote of the mere appearance of what he beheld daily and nightly, the sun and the moon. They could not know, in those remote ages, the important role the sun plays in the solar system, because whatever is known thereon is of very recent date. Talk of setting the sun in the firmament, 93,000,000 miles’ distance from the earth, considering its bulk, weight, and condition, is an outrage on common sense. It is a monstrous piece of stupidity to make children believe it, and it is an infamous fraud for any priest or preacher to teach it.

Writers in order to explain away the above difficulty quote, for example: “Maimonides (born 1131 A.D.) in his guide, Rashi (1030) and Aben Ezra (1119) in their commentaries, hold that the light of the first day was that of the sun itself, which revolving in its sphere from west to east and from east to west made a day of twenty-four hours. The scripture’s saying that it was created on the fourth day is incident to its thus demonstrating its effects upon plants, which appeared on the third day; rain, which proceeded from the exhalations and vapors raised from the earth by the action of the sun’s heat thereon, being necessary to their vegetation. Therefore, it is clear that there was no new creation on the fourth day; but the heat implies that on that day the sun developed the effects of his heat on plants.” This is one of many explanations of philosophical commentators who have tried to explain away the difficulty of creation, owing to the many doubts that arose in the minds of learned men about the tenth and eleventh centuries A.D.; and especially the Greek philosophers, Aristotle1 and others. Volumes upon volumes have been written in order to explain away the difficulties theologians encounter. As science advances, explanations and reconciliations become more difficult. Maimonides, in his pious enthusiasm, after having consulted Aristotle and others, is not quite certain, but he claims (according to More, xi, 15): “I propose to show that the creation of the world, as our religion teaches, is not impossible, and all philosophical reasonings to the effect that it is not so, as I have said, they may overthrow, but cannot make any objection against us. As for me, I stand firm in my belief on the question, of whether the world had a beginning or not. I accept the solution of this problem from the prophets, as the prophets explain these things, which speculation cannot reach,” etc. (Kusari I, 65, 67). In other words, Maimonides, the authors of the Talmud, and all other writers, theological philosophers, Hebrew and Christian, prove the truth of the Bible by the Bible. One portion of scripture must prove another portion to be true. The Jews use their own biblical authorities to demonstrate one another’s statements. Isaiah gives evidence for Moses, and Moses is made to testify for Isaiah, and so the Jewish philosophers whip the devil round the ring. The Christians have a double hold. They have a New Testament. They prove the statements made by persons figuring in the Old Testament by statements made in the New Testament. That is, they make Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Moses, etc., give testimony for John, Mark, Matthew, and Luke; and then make Luke, Matthew, Mark, and John give evidence for Moses, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Elisha, Elijah, etc.

The majority of theological writings and commentaries, yes, all of them, were composed and written during the Christian era, and nearly one-half of these after the twelfth century. All are employed with the same subject-matter. Although they lay claim that the Talmud and other works treat of mathematics, physics, medicine, etc., they knew little or nothing about these things, and the little they did know was mostly appropriated from the Greek and other nations.

It is not an unusual occurrence for modern thinkers to interpret the statements of ancient writers as they originally never intended. They spoke in enigmas, parables, simply philosophical phrases, without stating a single fact, implying nothing in particular and everything in general.

“And he made the stars also.” Make the stars! We have shown in a previous chapter that this our solar system is but a speck among the starry host of the universe.

From verse 20 to 23 inclusive, God created moving creatures in the water, and fowl that may fly above the earth. This general statement, like all other statements in the Bible, is based on the principle that “with God everything is possible.” Unfortunately for God’s adherents, that is absolutely not the case. The laws of nature are fixed, permanent. There is no exception in favor of any mortal and natural being, and certainly not for any supernatural and imaginary being.

Does it not seem strange that the only animal mentioned in the fifth and sixth days’ performance is the whale? “Great whales,” it says. Why great whales? They had heard something about the whale, he therefore received prominence, and was mentioned. They had no knowledge of other animals. Or was this great whale purposely inserted to do that extraordinary service to Jonah?

And after all this work was done, God saw that it was good. Evidently pleased with his handiwork.

On the sixth day he finishes his work—he “brings forth living creatures.” Why living creatures? Are not fish, fowl, and whales living creatures? Next come cattle and creeping things. After he created the creeping things he made man.

Verse 27: “So God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them.”

If man was made in his own image, God’s image, God must have the semblance of man, otherwise man would not be like him. If God has the semblance of man, and creates and desires, works and rests, like a man, he is a man, therefore cannot be supernatural—a God!

Verses 28, 29, 30: God places all that he has created at the service of man, giving him full control and dominion to make use of these benefits as he, man, thinks best. “And behold it was very good,” and then God took a rest.

The entire creation must have taken place in a mild or warm climate, in some isolated locality on the face of the globe. No mention is made of icebergs, snow or hail. There does not seem to have occurred the slightest impediment in any of the work done. No evolutionary period, except the night’s rest God reserved for himself, in addition to the whole day Sunday, or rather the seventh day.

We are now prepared to make some very pertinent remarks and ask some very pertinent questions:

(1) What period elapsed from the time man was created to the time man could use words or speech intelligently?

(2) We may assume that no one was present at the time of creation, because man and woman were made the last thing on the sixth day.

(3) Who was the first man that received this information? After how many generations or centuries was this news published, and to whom?

(4) We are not informed, even by the holy book, of the man’s name who was the fortunate recipient of this valuable information.

(5) Is it not highly probable that the man who first told this story might also have invented it? We have no proof to the contrary, except the mere say-so of somebody.

The statement, as written, is well enough as a fable; that’s all. As to fact, there is not a particle of truth to sustain it. But if men are determined to believe it, and are not open to conviction, if they are willfully blind to the truth, they must remain the slaves to a powerful ecclesiastical organization.

The 14th verse, however, betrays its origin. When the sun and moon were made for seasons, days, and years, as also for signs, that shows a high degree of civilization. These divisions did not take place before man was created? Were really these divisions made before a living creature inhabited this earth? For whom? For whose use? Writing had not been invented. Athates, or Hermes, the Egyptian, is supposed to be the founder of hieroglyphics, 2,136 B.C. And we do not hear of writing until 1,494 B.C. It is claimed that writing was taught to the Latins by Europa, daughter of Agenar, king of Phœnicia. The doctrine of the solar system as it is now accepted was first taught by Pythagoras of Samos about 529 B.C. Copernicus proved it in the sixteenth century, and Newton demonstrated the truth fully in the year 1695. History claims for the Egyptians that they were the first who fixed the length of the year. The Chaldeans and Persians had adopted the lunar year before Abraham ever dreamed of being exiled by his countrymen, the Chaldeans. Can any man be so silly as to believe that an almanac was made before man was created? There is not an intelligent priest living who is ass big enough to believe any such nonsense.