The Lord God is the creator of heaven and earth
The Lord God is the creator of heaven and earth.
“At the beginning God created heaven and earth.”
But nobody was there to witness, to take photos, to take video. Nobody can say that he saw…
Is the account of the creation invented? Can we believe it? Or how can we understand it?
We believe that is was revealed. It is the answer of many questions that people had and have and will have. For instance: Who created heaven and earth? Where are we coming from? Where are we going? What is life all about? Man and women? Sexuality? Heaven and earth? Life and death?
About creation!
The people of Israel lived surrounded by many other people. And these people
were different. They worshiped different gods… the sun, the moon, trees, rocks …
So Israel was asking? Why are these people worshiping all these elements? And
we, we know from Abraham that there is only one God… !!??
So God gave the answer to all these questions. He inspired somebody to write
down for all generations to come in a way that can be understood what it is all
about.
The answer is clear and understandable. God, the One, the Most High, the
creator of all thing is behind, before and beside all things. He created the moon,
the stars, the sun, the trees, the rocks etc… the time, the seasons, the day and the
night, the months and the years… everything is created and wanted by God.
So to worship what is created makes no sense. Only the creator has power in
itself. God is the creator and has power over everything he created. The sun and
the moon, and the stars and the trees cannot save. They have no power in itself.
Only God. So worship him alone and give thanks for his love and goodness.
About man and woman/sexuality
God created man, as man and woman he created them. And it was very good.
Man is attracted by the woman. And woman is attracted by man. How comes?
This is nature. It is normal, it is good. It is God who wants it like this. He puts into
man and woman the desire to be united, to complement each other, to help each
other, to be partners. The Bible expresses this with the image of the ripe. It is not
that the woman was formed out of the ripe of man. No, this is only a symbol that
man and woman are attracted to each other and that they are to be one. Nothing
is wrong with it. Be happy that you are man / woman and that you have the
feeling for the opposite sex. Give thanks to God. He is wonderful and great.
But sexuality is an energy not to be wasted. It is meant to be used for the building
of the identity, for the being man and woman as God wants me to be in marriage
life. ‘Therefore man will leave father and mother and be attached to his wife and
they shall be one body. And what God has united, man should not separate.’
About Adam and Eve and sin.
The name of the first man was not Adam!!! The name of the first woman was not
Eve!!! Adam means man and Eve means Mother of all the living. So with Adam
and Eve God created all people. All men and women have their origin in God, the
creator of heaven and earth and all that is in it.
But Adam became the father of disobedience, because he wanted to be like God.
Eve didn’t become the mother of all living. She became the mother of all who are
dead through sin. Because the fruit of sin is death!!!
God said: You can eat from all the fruits of the garden …. You can do everything;
you are free to do whatever you want, but there is only one thing that you cannot
- You cannot be GOD. God is God and you are man / woman, you are created
beings. If you accept that God is God you will live in peace, in freedom, in union
and communion with God. But if you refuse to be man/woman you cannot live,
you have to die. THERE WAS NO FRUIT, NO APPEL AT ALL! THERE WAS ONLY THE
COMMANTMENT “DON’T DESIRE TO BE GOD.”
Therefore JESUS is the second ADAM and MARY is the second Eve. Through one
man death came into the world (Adam) and through one man (Jesus) life came
into the world. The disobedience of Adam and Eve was reversed by the obedience
of Jesus and Mary. I am the handmade of the Lord. Let it be done according to
you word. Mary became the Mother of Jesus, the life of the world and she
became the mother of all who find life through Jesus.
About heaven and hell.
Heaven is not a place. It is a state of life. It is to be happy, to be free, to be in
union with God and creation. Heaven is not up, somewhere in the cosmos. It is
not a location. It is the closeness, the oneness with God, to see who he is, to
experience his presence.
And Hell is not a space either. It is the absence of God, the knowing of God and
the not being with him. It is burning like a fire in once heart. It is the experience of
being lost and lonely.
We want to be in heaven, in the highest heaven. We want to be with God for
eternity.
About life and death
The paradise was not a garden somewhere in Minor Asia, Iran or Mesopotamia ..
or somewhere else. Paradise means the life in full harmony and peace with God,
with mankind and with the creation as large. It is like a beautiful garden, with
flowers, fruit trees and good food etc… It is something desirable. But life in
paradise was not to be laziness, eating and drinking. It was to be meant to work
and to sow and to harvest… it was to continue the creation of God. Work was not
the fruit of sin. Not a punishment… work is the fulfillment of mans being, to be
alive is the glory of God. Death also was not the fruit of the sin… even in paradise
man was to die. Only through sin came the experience of the absence of
God. God asked where are you? Why are you hiding? Why are running away? I
am your God, your creator, why are you afraid? I love you … you are mine…
God takes initiative. He makes the first step. He offers life. They saw that they
were naked. It doesn’t mean that they did have cloths. It means that they saw
that they had lost everything. They refused to be man and they could not be
God… so they were dead.
Therefore respect God as God and you will live forever.
The creation and the future
The creation is a gift, a free gift that God gave us, not to destroy, not do misuse. It
is a wonderful, beautiful and lovable for all generations to come.
The stars and the sea, the fruits and the animals, the human beings… the creator
is seen in the creation, the giver in the gift. Look around you… there is the rising
of the sun and the sunset… the little children and the flowers, the plants and
mankind. There are Millions of people in the world and not one is identical to
another. We are all different. God is present in each and everybody. He created
us all in his image and likeness. There is God in each and everyone. And Jesus is
the visible image of the invisible God. He is our Brother, our mediator, our
redeemer, our savior. He is with us in his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Creator Spirit.
Our future is in God alone. Creation can only survive if we respect God the
Creator and love his creation as a precious gift to us.
Fr Peter Hillen SAC