Hello all,
Recently I've started to slowly wade back into the waters of worldbuilding. And as I do, I'm confronted by the same horrible, hairy beast that scared me away to begin with: the issue of creation.
As is sit down to work on my world I'm confronted with the question of how my world came to be. Obviously it's source is in God (in one version, it was created by *Me* a "Son of God" who created it on his own only to taint it and then God stepped in and brought it to life (but the "taint" of sin was still upon it). But I find myself wondering how God created my world.
I look at the story of creation found in Genesis (or will when I have time) and wonder why He went about it the way He did and what principles can be gleaned from the Genesis account. This makes me wonder things like:
Why did God make the world?
Why did he use the method that he did?
Why did he make the world that way that he did? (different question from the one above)
Why did he create everything that he did?
Why did he put that darned tree there to begin with?
Primary among these concerns is the concept of Imago Dei (the concept that man is created in the image of God) and how it applies to the creation of my races. This brings to my mind such questions as:
Just how are we made in God's image? (to which theologians have varied answers, all uniting in that our souls have something to do with it. [side note: the Hebrew word: "image" is used five times in Genesis to mean image, and translated six times as "idol" which is a physical representation of a deity])
Why did God want to make man in his image?
Why would he theoretically make other races?
How are the races in my world made in the image of God?
Why did He choose to create each one the way He did?

Let me clarify here, I'm not looking for a way to copy the first 3 chapters of Genesis, but rather the principles found in the story of creation and the fall, that can be transferred and applied to the creation of my world. And I figured since I'm now a part of this forum that rather than letting this be my own personal headache, I could see what other minds thought of it. All opinions and comments are welcome.However, Neil of Erk and Sir Emeth, I'm particularly interested in getting your thoughts on this.

In Christ,
Jordan

Wow. Those are some good questions. Some of them I'd like to study just a tad bit more before I give a definite answer. But here are my thoughts right off the bat:

Why did he create everything that he did?
In a broad sense, there are two basic reasons. One, for His glory. Two, for our benefit. I don't think we can really be much more specific than that. I do that He created everything with an order and design to it because that's just the kind of God He is.

Why did he put that darned tree there to begin with?
I believe it was to give mankind a choice. Love that is forced ceases to be love.

Just how are we made in God's image? (to which theologians have varied answers, all uniting in that our souls have something to do with it. [side note: the Hebrew word: "image" is used five times in Genesis to mean image, and translated six times as "idol" which is a physical representation of a deity])
I believe that God gave us His core traits. Those being an intellect, emotion and a will. These are things that He did not give the plants or animals.

Why did God want to make man in his image?
He simply wanted someone like Himself that he communicate with. He couldn't have had a relationship with someone who did not have an intellect, emotion or will.
Why would he theoretically make other races?
Hmmm...I think it would have to be for the same reason He made man. He wanted to have a relationship with them as well. Or, you could use the reason which He made the angels. In their case, it wasn't so much to have a personal relationship. Rather, angels were to be ministering spirit whose sole perhaps is to bring glory to God.
How are the races in my world made in the image of God?
Just like man they have an intellect, emotion and a will.
Why did He choose to create each one the way He did?
That's hard to say. We could also ask why God chose to create such diverse forms of life in our world. We have mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, ect. Our God is a creative God. There simply is no end to His creative ability.

Hope that helps somewhat.

Gracias Seraph.
I just spent the past hour and a half browsing through Bible commentaries and theology books discussing the Creation and it was nice to hear a normal person's take on it.
In Christ,
Jordan

I think I know the topic of the next JoaWB miniseries...

Actually, most of what I say will be stuff I learned from Sir Emeth!

One thing that we have to remember is that we can't know everything about why God did what He did. Some questions just can't be answered because we are not God! On those ones, I usually don't even try to answer them in my stories.

Actually, I should be able to provide an answer to most of the questions.

I'm looking forward to hearing them!

Say what?

Sorry, you just inspired me for a post in the series I'm writing for the blog.

Aaah! I see.

As much as I love that sentiment, there is so much stuff in the first chapters of Genesis that is absolutely foundational. Genesis outlines the three human institutions created by God: Family, Church, and Government.

There is so much about modesty (if you have Strong's Hebrew), marriage, the place of the man and woman in the family.

Not only that, but recent breakthroughs like Dr. Russel Humphrey's "Starlight and Time", explain so many things about the seven days we didn't understand before.

Think of it less as a parable, and more like a well told story. Think of the passage in Joshua where the sun stands still in the sky. It's just like that: We know it happened, God just didn't bore us with the scientific details. Thankfully, he made plenty of believing scientists who supply an ample share of ideas.

Thanks for all the responses everyone they've been insightful and helpful. Along with your comments, thanks to my school's library (sometimes Bible college has some real perks ), I've been able to do some study of my own, and think I've come to answer most of the questions I had about creation and why God did it and how we're made in his image, etc. Still haven't quite figured out how this all works into world-building and Christian fantasy. So continue posting your comments to my questions, they are very interesting to read. And now I have a second question to add to all that: how do you handle creation in your world(s)? Thanks again for all the input.

In Christ,
Jordan

Well I agree with PotK and Inesdar on most of this. And I would the same answer to the same question that Inesdar did. After all it says in Deuteronomy 29:29, "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law."

I would have to disagree with Inesdar on one point though. I take the entire account of Genesis literally. I do believe that there is more to it than what is said in Genesis, but everything that is said is completely true and not just a parable.

Do you hold the Framework view on Creation, Inesdar? You don't have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable, but I was curious, you could even PM me.