In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1-2 (KJV)
THE CREATOR – The great work of Genesis as written by Moses under inspiration of the Holy Spirit during his long self-banishment from Egypt is of prodigious importance to the History of Mankind. In just two verses the writer depicts the opening scenes of our galaxy & planet’s formation, through the Eternal GOD and His Spirit. “The darkness” or lack of light over the face of the “great deep”… the formless abyss of “waters”, was “hovered over” or “moved upon” by the Spirit of GOD. Ancient civilizations such as Sumer, Egypt, China & India all speak of an “ancient being”… “A God” or “self-existent principle” that existed alone “In the beginning”… that in some form or shape is associated with the “great deep” or a primeval substance.
Ronald Munroe
In Sumer, The god Anu, derived from the Sumerian word “An” which translates as "sky or heaven" was a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spirits and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions.” [1] In the Sumerian cosmogony, “Anu existed… as a dome that covered the flat earth; Outside of this dome was the primordial body of water known as Tiamat”
Etymology Sumerian… In Mesopotamian Religion (Sumerian, Assyrian, Akkadian and Babylonian), Tiamat is a primordial goddess of the ocean. Hebrew… Tehom (Hebrew: םהְּת ) ֹו, literally the Deep or Abyss (Greek Septuagint: ábyssos), refers to the Great Deep of the primordial waters of creation in the Bible. It isn’t until later traditions through the Babylonians, that the story gets a bit more complicated and we are introduced to a “male and female principle, the twin horizons of sky and earth... Anshar & Kishar”. “Their parents were either Apsu (the watery deep beneath the earth) and Tiamat (the personification of salt water) or Lahmu and Lahamu, the first set of twins born to Apsu and Tiamat. Anshar and Kishar, in turn, were the parents of Anu (An), the supreme heaven god. See Enuma Elish”[2]
Ronald Munroe
In Egypt, “To the great and supreme power which made the earth, the heavens, the sea, the sky, men and women, animals, birds, and creeping things, all that is and all that shall be, the Egyptians gave the name neter. This word survives in the Coptic, but both in the ancient language and in its younger relative the exact meaning of the word is lost... … M. Pierret,[2] following de Rougé, connects it with another word and says that it means "renovation" (renouvellement), but Brugsch[3] renders it by "göttlich," "heilig," "divin," "sacré," and by three Arabic words which mean "divine," "sacred or set apart," and "holy" respectively. By a quotation from the stele of Canopus he shows that in Ptolemaic times it meant "holy" or "sacred" when applied to the animals of the gods… … Mr. Renouf[4] says that "the notion expressed by nutar as a noun, and nutra as an adjective or verb, must be sought in the Coptic ###, which in the translation of the Bible corresponds to the Greek words {Greek du'namis, i?sxu's, i?sxuro's, i?sxupo'w} 'power,' 'force,' 'strong,' 'fortify,' 'protect,'"[5] and he goes on to show that the word neter means "strong" or "mighty.” As in the Sumerian Cosmogony, we see various changes to the original understanding of God; this is due to a multitude of factors such as Region, Time, Rulership, among other reasons. In “The Pyramid Texts, tomb wall decorations and writings, dating back to the Old Kingdom (2780 – 2250 B.C.E) have given us most of our information regarding early Egyptian creation myths. These myths also form the earliest religious compilations in the world. The ancient Egyptians had many creator gods and associated legends. Thus the world or more specifically Egypt was created in diverse ways according to different parts of the country. In all of these myths, the world was said to have emerged from an infinite, lifeless sea when the sun rose for the first time, in a distant period known as zp tpj (sometimes transcribed as Zep Tepi), "the first occasion". Different myths attributed the creation to different gods: the set of eight primordial deities called the Ogdoad, the self-engendered Ronald Munroe
god Atum and his offspring, the contemplative deity Ptah, and the mysterious, transcendent god Amun. While these differing cosmogonies competed to some extent, in other ways they were complementary, as different aspects of the Egyptian understanding of creation.�[5]
Egyptian Cosmogonies The different creation accounts were each associated with the cult of a particular god in one of the major cities of Egypt: Hermopolis, Heliopolis, Memphis, and Thebes.To some degree these myths represent competing theologies, but they also represent different aspects of the process of creation.
Hermopolis The creation myth promulgated in the city of Hermopolis focused on the nature of the universe before the creation of the world. The inherent qualities of the primeval waters were represented by a set of eight gods, called the Ogdoad. The god Nu and his female counterpart Naunet represented the inert primeval water itself; Huh and his counterpart Hauhet represented the water's infinite extent; Kuk and Kauket personified the darkness present within it; and Amun and Amaunet represented its hidden and unknowable nature, in contrast to the tangible world of the living. The primeval waters were themselves part of the creation process, therefore, the deities representing them could be seen as creator gods.[10] According to the myth, the eight gods were originally divided into male and female groups.[11] They were symbolically depicted as aquatic creatures because they dwelt within the water: the males were represented as frogs, and the females were represented as snakes.[12] These two groups eventually converged, resulting in a great upheaval, which produced the pyramidal mound. From it emerged the sun, which rose into the sky to light the world.[13]
Heliopolis In Heliopolis, the creation was attributed to Atum, a deity closely associated with Ra, who was said to have existed in the waters of Nu as an inert potential being. Atum was a self-engendered god, the source of all the elements and forces in the world, and the Heliopolitan myth described the process by which he "evolved" from a single being into this multiplicity of elements.[14][15] The process began when Atum appeared on the mound and gave rise to the air god Shu and his sister Tefnut,[16] whose existence represented the emergence of an empty space amid the waters.[17] To explain how Atum did this, the myth uses the metaphor of masturbation, with the hand he used in this act representing the female principle inherent within him.[18] He is also said to have Ronald Munroe
"sneezed" and"spat" to produce Shu and Tefnut, a metaphor that arose from puns on their names.[19] Next, Shu and Tefnut coupled to produce the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut, who defined the limits of the world.[20] Geb and Nut in turn gave rise to four children, who represented the forces of life: Osiris, god of fertility and regeneration; Isis, goddess of motherhood; Set, the god of male sexuality; and Nephthys, the female complement of Set. The myth thus represented the process by which life was made possible. These nine gods were grouped together theologically as the Ennead, but the eight lesser gods, and all other things in the world, were ultimately seen as extensions of Atum.[21][22]
Memphis The Memphite version of creation centered on Ptah, who was the patron god of craftsmen. As such, he represented the craftsman's ability to envision a finished product, and shape raw materials to create that product. The Memphite theology said that Ptah created the world in a similar way.[23] This, unlike the other Egyptian creations, was not a physical but an intellectual creation by the Word and the Mind of God.[24] The ideas developed within Ptah's heart (regarded by the Egyptians as the seat of human thought) were given form when he named them with his tongue. By speaking these names, Ptah produced the gods and all other things.[25] The Memphite creation myth coexisted with that of Heliopolis, as Ptah's creative thought and speech were believed to have caused the formation of Atum and the Ennead.[26] Ptah was also associated with Tatjenen, the god who personified the pyramidal mound.[25] Thebes Theban theology claimed that Amun was not merely a member of the Ogdoad, but the hidden force behind all things. There is a conflation of all notions of creation into the personality of Amun, a synthesis which emphasizes how Amun transcends all other deities in his being “beyond the sky and deeper than the underworld”.[27] One Theban myth likened Amun's act of creation to the call of a goose, which broke the stillness of the primeval waters and caused the Ogdoad and Ennead to form.[28] Amun was separate from the world, his true nature was concealed even from the other gods. At the same time, however, because he was the ultimate source of creation, all the gods, including the other creators, were in fact merely aspects of Amun. Amun eventually became the supreme god of the Egyptian pantheon because of this belief.[29] Amun is synonymous with the growth of Thebes as a major religious capital. But it is the columned halls, obelisks, colossal statues, wall-reliefs and hieroglyphic inscriptions of the Theban temples that we look to gain the true impression of Amun’s superiority. Ronald Munroe
Thebes was thought of as the location of the emergence of the primeval mound at the beginning of time.[30]
In China, “Shangdi or Shang-ti (Chinese: 上帝; pinyin: Shàngdì), also written simply as Di or Ti (Chinese: 帝; pinyin: Dì; "Emperor"), is a supreme god and sky deity in China's traditional religions. At a point he was identified as Tian, "Heaven", the "Universe", the "Great All".”[6]
Etymology The name is the pinyin romanization of two Chinese characters. The first – 上, Shàng – means "high", "highest", "first", "primordial"; the second – 帝, Dì – is the same character used in the name of Huangdi—the Yellow Emperor, originator of the Chinese civilisation—and the title huangdi, emperor of China, and is usually translated as "emperor". The name Shangdi is thus generally translated as "Highest Emperor", but also "Primordial Emperor", "Ancestral God", "First God". The deity preceded the title and
Ronald Munroe
the emperors of China were named after him in their role as Tianzi, the sons of Heaven. [6] “Some Chinese cosmogonic myths have familiar themes in comparative mythology. In contrast, other mythic themes are uniquely Chinese. While the mythologies of Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia believed primeval water was the single element that existed "in the beginning", the basic element of Chinese cosmology was qi "vapor; gas; life force". Anne Birrell (1993:23) explains that qi "was believed to embody cosmic energy governing matter, time, and space. This energy, balls ccording to Chinese mythic narratives, undergoes a transformation at the moment of creation, so that the nebulous element of vapor becomes differentiated into dual elements of male and female, Yin and Yang, hard and soft matter, and other binary elements." As we have seen heretofore in the history of Sumer and Egypt, the “original understanding of God” and “the creation” begins to get misconstrued and altered… shortly before the “4th century BCE, Daodejing suggests a less mythical Chinese cosmogony and has some of the earliest allusions to creation. There was something featureless yet complete, born before heaven and earth; Silent – amorphous – it stood alone and unchanging. We may regard it as the mother of heaven and earth. Not knowing its name, I style it the "Way." (tr. Mair 1990:90) The Way gave birth to unity, Unity gave birth to duality, Duality gave birth to trinity, Trinity gave birth to the myriad creatures. The myriad creatures bear yin on their back and embrace yang in their bosoms. They neutralize these vapors and thereby achieve harmony. (tr. Mair 1990:9)
Later Daoists interpreted this sequence to mean the Dao "Way", formless Wuji "Without Ultimate", unitary Taiji "Great Ultimate", and binary yin and yang or Heaven and Earth. Girardot (1976:300) reasons that Daodejing evocations of the Dao as "a cosmic principle of the beginnings would seem to make little sense without seeing the possibility that it was rooted in the symbolic remembrance of archaic mythological, especially cosmogonic, themes." [7]
Ronald Munroe
In India, “According to Adi Shankara, there is only one supreme Para Brahman, and all of the other deities are its forms and expansions. Para Brahma(n)(Sanskrit:परब्रह्म) (IAST: para-brahma) is the "highest Brahman," beyond all conceptualisations. Etymology Para Brahma (Sanskrit), that which is beyond Brahma: - para, "beyond" - Brahma (neuter), universal self or spirit) Synonymous terms are Paramatma, Purushottama, Parameshvara, Bhagavan, Brahma are held to be synonymous with ParaBrahma. The syllable OM is also a name for Param Brahma (Shvetashvatara Upanishad 1:7).[9]
Under terms of some schools of Vedanta, it has three modal aspects, with the highest being Para Bramh. Para Bramh means Supreme Brahman, or Supreme Cosmic Spirit. Although an ineffable entity, it could be said to be that which contains and pervades the universe. Para Brahman, from beyond, encompasses the transcendent and immanent ultimate reality, Bramh, The Absolute Truth is both subject and object, so there is no qualitative difference. A wide range of Vedic scriptures is quoted by Vaishnavas as pointing to Narayana as the Supreme Being: "He is the prime eternal among all eternals. He is the supreme living entity of all living entities, and He alone is maintaining all life." (Katha Upanishad 2.2.13)
Ronald Munroe
"All incarnations are either plenary portions or expansions of plenary portions appearing in various universes to protect the theists; but Lord Krishna is the original supreme lord and the source of all." (Bhagavata Purana 1.3.27-28) "Lord Krishna is the supreme absolute controller, whose form comprises immortality, omniscience, and bliss. He is without beginning, the origin of all, the cause of all causes and the source of the Vedas." (Brahma Samhita 5.1) "There is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread." (Bhagavad Gita 7.7) "Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahma, the ultimate abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental, original Person, the unborn, the greatest." (Bhagavad Gita 10.12) In The Research Article “Water Cosmogony… The Universal Womb”, Authors Aditi Kulkarni, Shilpa Bisht & Niharika Manchanda relate the following: “Our earth is shaped like a wheel and is the innermost of seven concentric continents. In the centre of the world is Mount Meeru, whose summit 84,000 leagues high, is the site of Brahma’s heaven, which is encircled thrice by the river Ganges and is surrounded by the cities of Indra and other deities. The foothills of Meeru are the home of benevolent spirits such as Gandharvas, while the valleys are peopled by the demons. The whole world is supported by the hood of the giant serpent Shesha, who is sometimes coiled upon the back of a tortoise floating on the primal waters. At the beginning of each cycle of creation the waters of the cataclysmic flood covers the universe. According to the Vedic version of new creation, the cosmic egg (Rg Veda 10-12-1), symbol of fire, was floating on the waters for a thousand years. At the end of this period, the egg burst open to reveal the Lord of the Universe, who took the form of the first eternal man, Hiranyagarbha or Akash Purusha. He then divided himself into two, male and female. Purush is the first tatva (element), principle, pure Consciousness, the primordial materiality.[10] It’s pretty plain to see that the Creation story as told by the Early Hindus is an intermingled transposed retelling of The Creation Story in conjunction with the Creation of Man and woman (Adam & Eve). Upanishad clearly says… “O Shwetkatu, precede thou from effect to cause and learn that solids (earth) proceed from liquids, Apah (water) from Tejah (fire) whose properties are heat and light etc, and Tejah from the uncreated Prakriti. This Prakriti is the source of all universes. “Water thus plays a prominent role in Vedic cosmogony. The genesis of the Universe takes place in the primeval water. Once the chaotic condition existing before the genesis Ronald Munroe
is overcome through creative process, the emergent one abhu emerges into an orderly cosmos. Thereafter, waterelement ap-tattva appears as one of the products of creative process. It has a role to play in the further development of the Universe through its transformations.” The mythical sage Manu, claims in his code that he created mankind though not universe. He acknowledges the superiority and precedence of Brahma- whom he recognizes as his father. Manu says… “This universe was enveloped in darkness, unperceived, indistinguishable, undiscoverable, unknowable, as it were entirely sunk in sleep. Then the irresistible, selfexistent Lord, undiscerned, causing this universe with the five elements and all other things to become discernible, was manifested. He who is beyond the cognizance of senses, subtle, indiscernible and eternal and is the essence of all beings, and inconceivable, shone forth. He desiring, seeking to produce, various creatures from his own body, first created the waters, and deposited in them a seed. This (seed) became a golden egg, resplendent as the sun, in which he himself was born as Brahma, the progenitor of the entire world. That lord having continued a year in the egg, divided it into two parts by his mere thought. With these two shells he formed the heaven and the earth, and in the middle he placed the sky, the eight regions and the eternal abode of the waters.” [11] As we see in this description… There was an “irresistible, self-existent Lord, undiscerned”; and it was from him, that came the creator known as “the seed” who became a golden egg, resplendent as the sun, in which he himself was born as Brahma, the progenitor of all the world. That lord having continued a year in the egg, divided it into two parts by his mere thought. With these two shells he formed the heaven and the earth, and in the middle he placed the sky, the eight regions and the eternal abode of the waters. In later traditions, we see a stark shift from the original beliefs and understanding of God, with the addition of a “female principle” or “consort”… same as we found in Sumer, Egypt and China!!! “In Shiva and Shakti philosophy, Shaivism, Shiva is para-Brahman, Parameshwara (para-Ishvara, the Transcendent Lord), and Satchitananda. Shiva itself is changeless, but his female consort Shakti is that Power of the formless and static Param Brahma that is necessary for creation.[14] Shakti is the first desire (Kama) of Shiva, the Primordial Will to bethat pervades all manifestation. The cosmos enables the Supreme Self to know, see, and live the Supreme Consciousness through its own self-willed limitation. The penultimate purpose of the cosmos is mergence of the created drop with the ocean that is its Mother.”[8] Ronald Munroe
In Conclusion, All of the World’s Oldest Creation Myths involve many of same elements as found in Genesis, with various similarities but with also distinct differences and contradictions. If studied in Truth under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, one will begin to see a pattern of original truth that was ultimately affected for various reasons, such as region, rulership, time and ultimately separation from GOD! As The Apostle Paul recorded in Romans‌
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. Ronald Munroe
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” ~Romans 1:18-32 (KJV)
In any and everything you study, may GOD give you wisdom and discernment through the agency of His Holy Spirit… Peace and Blessings in the Name of Our Lord & Saviour JESUS CHRIST!
REFERENCES [1] Anu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anu [2] A Mesopotamian Pantheon http://my.raex.com/~obsidian/MesoPan.html [3] Lahmu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahmu [4] THE BOOK OF THE DEAD… The Papyrus of Ani http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/ebod/ebod06.htm [5] Ancient Egyptian Creation Myths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_creation_myths [6] Shangdi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangdi [7} Chinese Creation Myths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_creation_myth [8] Hindu Deities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_deities [9] Para Brahman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Para_Brahman [10] Water Cosmogony… The Universal Womb file:///C:/Users/The%20Spirit%20of%20Elijah/Downloads/Water-Cosmogony.pdf [11] Sacred books of the East (Max Muller) http://www.sacred-texts.com/sbe/
*This is an ongoing exhaustive study… as I update my notes and complete the subsequent parts, I will make it available to study, research and share! Ronald Munroe