religion reflection essay

Essays About Religion: Top 5 Examples and 7 Writing Prompts

Essays about religion include delicate issues and tricky subtopics. See our top essay examples and prompts to guide you in your essay writing.

With over 4,000 religions worldwide, it’s no wonder religion influences everything. It involves faith, lessons on humanity, spirituality, and moral values that span thousands of years. For some, it’s both a belief and a cultural system. As it often clashes with science, laws, and modern philosophies, it’s also a hot debate topic. Religion is a broad subject encompassing various elements of life, so you may find it a challenging topic to write an essay about it.

1. Wisdom and Longing in Islam’s Religion by Anonymous on Ivypanda.com

2. consequences of following religion blindly essay by anonymous on ivypanda.com, 3. religion: christians’ belief in god by anonymous on ivypanda.com, 4. mecca’s influence on today’s religion essay by anonymous on ivypanda.com, 5. religion: how buddhism views the world by anonymous on ivypanda.com , 1. the importance of religion, 2. pros and cons of having a religion, 3. religions across the world, 4. religion and its influence on laws, 5. religion: then and now, 6. religion vs. science, 7. my religion.

“Portraying Muslims as radical religious fanatics who deny other religions and violently fight dissent has nothing to do with true Islamic ideology. The knowledge that is presented in Islam and used by Muslims to build their worldview system is exploited in a misinterpreted form. This is transforming the perception of Islam around the world as a radical religious system that supports intolerance and conflicts.”

The author discusses their opinion on how Islam becomes involved with violence or terrorism in the Islamic states. Throughout the essay, the writer mentions the massive difference between Islam’s central teachings and the terrorist groups’ dogma. The piece also includes a list of groups, their disobediences, and punishments.

This essay looks at how these brutalities have nothing to do with Islam’s fundamental ideologies. However, the context of Islam’s creeds is distorted by rebel groups like The Afghan mujahideen, Jihadis, and Al-Qa’ida. Furthermore, their activities push dangerous narratives that others use to make generalized assumptions about the entire religion. These misleading generalizations lead to misunderstandings amongst other communities, particularly in the western world. However, the truth is that these terrorist groups are violating Islamic doctrine.

“Following religion blindly can hinder one’s self-actualization and interfere with self-development due to numerous constraints and restrictions… Blind adherence to religion is a factor that does not allow receiving flexible education and adapting knowledge to different areas.”

The author discusses the effects of blindly following a religion and mentions that it can lead to difficulties in self-development and the inability to live independently. These limitations affect a person’s opportunity to grow and discover oneself. Movies like “ The Da Vinci Code ” show how fanatical devotion influences perception and creates constant doubt.

“…there are many religions through which various cultures attain their spiritual and moral bearings to bring themselves closer to a higher power (deity). Different religions are differentiated in terms of beliefs, customs, and purpose and are similar in one way or the other.”

The author discusses how religion affects its followers’ spiritual and moral values and mentions how deities work in mysterious ways. The essay includes situations that show how these supreme beings test their followers’ faith through various life challenges. Overall, the writer believes that when people fully believe in God, they can be stronger and more capable of coping with the difficulties they may encounter.

“Mecca represents a holy ground that the majority of the Muslims visit; and is only supposed to be visited by Muslims. The popularity of Mecca has increased the scope of its effects, showing that it has an influence on tourism, the financial aspects of the region and lastly religion today.”

The essay delves into Mecca’s contributions to Saudi Arabia’s tourism and religion. It mentions tourism rates peaking during Hajj, a 5-day Muslim pilgrimage, and visitors’ sense of spiritual relief and peace after the voyage. Aside from its tremendous touristic benefits, it also brings people together to worship Allah. You can also check out these essays about values and articles about beliefs .

“Buddhism is seen as one of the most popular and widespread religions on the earth the reason of its pragmatic and attractive philosophies which are so appealing for people of the most diversified backgrounds and ways of thinking .”

To help readers understand the topic, the author explains Buddhism’s worldviews and how Siddhatta Gotama established the religion that’s now one of the most recognized on Earth. It includes teachings about the gift of life, novel thinking, and philosophies based on his observations. Conclusively, the author believes that Buddhism deals with the world as Gotama sees it.

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7 Prompts on Essays About Religion

Essays About Religion: The importance of religion

Religion’s importance is embedded in an individual or group’s interpretation of it. They hold on to their faith for various reasons, such as having an idea of the real meaning of life and offering them a purpose to exist. Use this prompt to identify and explain what makes religion a necessity. Make your essay interesting by adding real-life stories of how faith changed someone’s life.

Although religion offers benefits such as positivity and a sense of structure, there are also disadvantages that come with it. Discuss what’s considered healthy and destructive when people follow their religion’s gospels and why. You can also connect it to current issues. Include any personal experience you have.

Religion’s prevalence exhibits how it can significantly affect one’s daily living. Use this prompt to discuss how religions across the world differ from one another when it comes to beliefs and if traditions or customs influence them. It’s essential to use relevant statistical data or surveys in this prompt to support your claims and encourage your readers to trust your piece.

There are various ways religion affects countries’ laws as they adhere to moral and often humanitarian values. Identify each and discuss how faith takes part in a nation’s decision-making regarding pressing matters. You can focus on one religion in a specific location to let the readers concentrate on the case. A good example is the latest abortion issue in the US, the overturning of “Wade vs. Roe.” Include people’s mixed reactions to this subject and their justifications.

In this essay, talk about how the most widespread religions’ principles or rituals changed over time. Then, expound on what inspired these changes. Add the religion’s history, its current situation in the country, and its old and new beliefs. Elaborate on how its members clash over these old and new principles. Conclude by sharing your opinion on whether the changes are beneficial or not.

There’s a never-ending debate between religion and science. List the most controversial arguments in your essay and add which side you support and why. Then, open discourse about how these groups can avoid quarreling. You can also discuss instances when religion and science agreed or worked together to achieve great results.

Use this prompt if you’re a part of a particular religion. Even if you don’t believe in faith, you can still take this prompt and pick a church you’ll consider joining. Share your personal experiences about your religion. Add how you became a follower, the beliefs that helped you through tough times, and why you’re staying as an active member in it. You can also speak about miraculous events that strengthen your faith. Or you can include teachings that you disagree with and think needs to be changed or updated.

For help with your essay, check out our top essay writing tips !

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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Home — Essay Samples — Religion — Religious Beliefs — My Idea of Religion and Faith: Personal Reflection

My Idea of Religion and Faith: Personal Reflection

Categories: Existence of God Faith Religious Beliefs

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Published: Aug 14, 2023

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Reflections on christianity and freedom.

By: William Inboden

December 17, 2012

Yet as a theological principle, Christianity’s emphasis on the interior and eternal dimensions of freedom establishes a foundation for some of the exterior and temporal dimensions of freedom, including freedom of conscience and freedom from religious coercion. Thus Christ’s famous command to “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17) was not just a directive that his followers obey the civic authorities, but also a declaration distinguishing between the areas of life that Caesar was competent to rule in, and those he was not. The interior freedom promised by Christianity had at least an exterior implication.

Any inquiry into the relationship between Christianity and religious freedom soon encounters a paradox of history. Christianity has been associated with some of the most notorious episodes of religious intolerance in history, yet Christianity is also associated with some of the greatest advances of religious freedom in history. Indeed, it is these former instances that are often cited as examples of the alleged hypocrisy of Christianity: the Spanish Inquisition, the burning of Servetus in Geneva, the social constraints of Puritanism, and so on. But the accompanying historical record of the Christian tradition’s role in the realization and advance of religious liberty bears another witness. Indeed, perhaps it is this implicit (and sometimes explicit) expectation that the Christian faith support religious freedom that accounts for the severe judgments incurred when it has not. One way to view the unfolding of church history is as an ongoing interaction between the biblical principles described at the outset and the human experience. This historical drama in turn has produced some consequential figures who, in drawing on the theological resources of the Christian tradition during times of great tumult, laid key foundation stones in the development of religious liberty as a political right. Three of them, discussed below, are Martin Luther, Roger Williams, and Charles Malik.

Luther’s appearance in 1521 before the Diet of Worms is regarded by Protestants as a landmark theological moment, but it was also a landmark moment for religious liberty as well. The words of his famous refusal to recant his teachings and writings are instructive: “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason…my conscience is captive to the Word of God, I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.” While Luther’s primary concern was defending his theological convictions about salvation and ecclesial authority, the basis of his appeal was liberty of conscience – a precedent that countless other religious dissenters who followed would take as their lodestar. Luther soon applied this insight to his understanding of the very nature of religious faith. “Faith is a free work to which no one can be forced. It is a divine work in the spirit. Let alone then that outward force should compel or create it.” For Luther, his belief that Christian salvation began as a sovereign act of God led naturally to the conclusion that the State had no competence to interfere. To be sure, in practice Luther did not always honor the spirit or letter of these insights, but more important is the precedent he set for those who later did. Historian Roland Bainton has described religious liberty as one of the signature legacies of the Protestant Reformation. “The age of the Reformation prepared the way [for religious liberty] in the realm of fact by breaking the monopoly of a single confession, and in the realm of idea elaborated all of the salient concepts which in the West came into their own through the Enlightenment.”

One hundred years after Luther, a Cambridge graduate ordained as an Anglican minister named Roger Williams became disillusioned with what he believed to be the errors of Anglicanism and sought refuge in New England. Arriving in Boston in 1631, he soon began attracting many followers – and attracting the displeasure of the Puritan authorities – with his then-unusual views. He held that civil authorities had no authority in religious matters, and so could not require church attendance on the Sabbath or punish citizens for violating any of the first four commandments. For a Puritan society founded on the conviction that they had a national covenant with God, and that He would bless and provide for them only so long as the society stayed united and pure, such views were not only unsettling – they were seditious. After being rebuked by the Massachusetts Bay Colony authorities, Williams just became more radical. He soon began teaching that the King of England had no authority to grant the colony its charter in the first place, and charged the King with blasphemy for usurping the prerogatives of God. Not surprisingly, this upset the Puritan leaders even more; when they denounced Williams again, he responded by declaring all of their churches apostate. At their wits end, the Puritan authorities banished Williams from the province. He headed south in the dead of winter, depending on the care of Indians whom he had befriended previously, until he arrived in present-day Rhode Island and founded Providence. Williams by this time had come to embrace believer’s baptism, and in March of 1639, a man named Ezekiel Hollyman baptized Williams, who in turn baptized Hollyman and ten others to form the first Baptist church in America. From that point to his death, Williams was not a member of any particular church. As the eminent Puritan historian Edmund Morgan has described him, Williams was “a charming, sweet-tempered, winning man, courageous, selfless, God-intoxicated – and stubborn – the very soul of separation…[he] would separate not only from erroneous churches but also from everyone who would not denounce erroneous churches as confidently as he did…he could follow a belief to its conclusion with a passionate literalness that bordered on the ridiculous.” Eccentric and hyper-schismatic though he was, Williams’ distinction between civil and religious authority, his progressive relations with the Native Americans, and his resolute commitment to freedom of conscience all stand as admirable legacies.

If Roger Williams laid the groundwork for religious liberty to be realized in the eventual founding of the United States, three centuries later Charles Malik helped codify it as a right for the rest of the world. A Harvard philosophy professor, distinguished diplomat, and one of the main architects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Malik made a particular priority of ensuring that the UDHR include a protection of religious freedom. Malik’s own background as a Lebanese Christian who grew up amidst the multiple faiths of his homeland, including Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, Druze, and Christians, gave him a particularly acute firsthand appreciation for the importance of religious toleration. Indispensable to this, Malik believed, was the right not only to believe and practice one’s faith, but also to change it. Any restrictions on the right to leave one’s religion and adopt another (or none at all for that matter) amounted to an unconscionable interposition of the State between the human person and the transcendent. Accordingly the final wording of Article 18 of the UDHR bears Malik’s distinct imprint: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; this includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance.” As significant as the principle of religious liberty that Malik articulated was the foundation that he asserted. Human rights in general, and religious liberty in particular, he believed, were endowed in all human beings not by an abstract deity but by the “Lord of History” by which Malik meant the biblical God. He was clear that belief in this deity was not a prerequisite for having the right to religious liberty – thus his advocacy for the rights of all people – but in his mind this right had a transcendent grounding derived from the Christian faith.

Considered from the vantage point of history, the relationship between Christianity and religious freedom is not a mere set of abstraction ideational influences, but a demonstration of the role of individual Christians, attempting to be faithful to the implications of their faith in their own lives, yet with great consequence for the lives of others and for generations to come.

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Sociology of Religion: Beliefs in Society Essay

The sociology of religion is the study of how different sets of people in religious groups interact and how their behavior is influenced by these interactions. People’s religious practices, norms and behavior are influenced by interactions they have with each other in their religious groups.

Religion is a collective set of beliefs and practices with a spiritual foundation meant to influence people’s perceptions and behaviors. People who share similar religious ideals have collective behavior which identifies them as followers of that specific religious group. They have strong ties to fellow devotees in their religious groups.

These beliefs strengthen people’s adherence to religious doctrines which define the essence of a religion. Followers of a religious group have common ways of interaction which bind them together. They are required to perform specific roles which determine their status and power in their religious groups. They have faith in religious teachings which are strongly emphasized as sacred.

Religions has a set of beliefs and practices which all members need to adhere to. Followers of different religions have to be familiar with sacred texts which spell out beliefs and their relevance. They need to satisfy various expectations by performing religious rituals and other activities which have a lot of spiritual symbolism. Members of a particular religious group are socialized to treasure various moral codes of conduct in their lives.

By fulfilling moral objectives, members satisfy important tenets of their religion. The sacred aspects of religion make people interpret extra ordinary experiences differently. Any extra ordinary event is associated with a revered form of supernatural power or deity.They believe that a supernatural power guides their lives and as such, they need to reciprocate by devoting by their lives to the religious order they believe in.

Religious sociology is important because it helps people understand the value of religion in their lives. This makes one understand the essence of religion and how it shapes human character, identity and personality. People devote their thoughts and emotions to their religion for various reasons. Therefore, this helps one understand how religion binds members of a particular society to enable them have collective practices and beliefs.

People are able to understand the relationship they have with their religion and how this contributes to their existence. They are able to look at various rituals, practices and teachings rationally. This helps them understand how these religious tenets build their faith. The sociology of religion makes one to look critically at religious rituals which bind him or her with other devotees. The devotee is able to understand how these interactions shape their personality and behavior.

This subject helps a person understand the moral implications he needs to satisfy as stipulated by his or her religion. Therefore, this models an individual’s behavior to conform to acceptable societal norms and standards of behavior. Religious affiliation makes people more aware of their identity and the roles they are supposed to play within a given society.

Interactions people have with each other in a particular religious group gives them a sense of belonging and identity. General beliefs which bind people within various religious groups help them focus on life and what they seek to achieve out of it. Sacred texts enable believers interpret the teachings contained therein and apply them in their own lives. Sacred texts reassure people to be more righteous in what they do to reduce their pre-occupation with material objects.

The Rational Choice Theory argues that people are motivated by their own self interests before they choose to perform certain actions. Therefore, natural human behavior inclines people to engage in activities which have material or psychological benefits. The theory argues that people who choose to observe religious doctrines are motivated by their own individual needs. They expect to benefit from their devotion to religion by improvements in their personal welfare.

This theory argues that people are rational beings who only engage in an action after assessing benefits they stand to gain. Individual human actions determine how people in a group interact with each other. Different life experiences shape human behavior and they impact on choices people make. Therefore, people make personal religious decisions based on their past experiences after assessing how these choices will work for them.

This theory asserts that people opt for religious choices which give them personal satisfaction. They evaluate results they intend to achieve and come up with ways to attain them. The theory argues that human behavior is planned and this makes every individual calculate rewards and losses likely to be experienced before engaging in a particular action. People prefer to engage in actions that are naturally rewarding over those that punish them.

Therefore, they are willing to devote themselves to religion to gain protection, consolation and future promises of personal prosperity. Human consciousness drives them into religion to gain recognition, status, social connections and money. This is made possible by interactions they have with other devotees who have similar aspirations. Therefore, by being active in religion, devotees achieve their own personal interests.

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IvyPanda. (2018, December 19). Sociology of Religion: Beliefs in Society. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sociology-reflection-paper/

"Sociology of Religion: Beliefs in Society." IvyPanda , 19 Dec. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/sociology-reflection-paper/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'Sociology of Religion: Beliefs in Society'. 19 December.

IvyPanda . 2018. "Sociology of Religion: Beliefs in Society." December 19, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sociology-reflection-paper/.

1. IvyPanda . "Sociology of Religion: Beliefs in Society." December 19, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sociology-reflection-paper/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Sociology of Religion: Beliefs in Society." December 19, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sociology-reflection-paper/.

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A Few Reflections on Creation in Genesis 1

By david adams & charles p. arand.

Introductory Note: In the previous posts , we have surveyed three camps in the faith–science debates regarding origins among contemporary Evangelicals. Three issues arise in these debates: (1) the exegesis of Scripture, (2) the methods and conclusions of science, and (3) the attempt to harmonize theology with science. Without adequate background or knowledge to discuss the methods and conclusions of science, we will leave that aside in this and upcoming posts and discuss the first and third issues only. This post will consider some of the key biblical texts where our interpretation of Genesis 1 conflicts with the conclusions drawn by many scientists from their reading of nature (and its history). How to deal with these texts is crucial for the three evangelical camps in their quest to show that God’s “two books” (the book of Scripture and the book of Nature) do not contradict each other. Because of their central role in these debates, I want to set forth the historical interpretation of these texts in Genesis 1 within the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). We will then explore the larger theological approach that seeks to develop a theological–scientific synthesis. My thanks to David Adams for writing much of this as we talked together. Also thanks to my faculty colleagues for looking over this post, as well . CPA

Reflection #1: The God of Creation

When we read the creation account in Genesis 1 we typically focus on what it says about us, that is, about the world of creation and our place in it. While these are important truths, they are not the most important thing that Genesis 1 teaches. All the religions of the Ancient Near East taught that the gods they worshiped were responsible for shaping the world in which we live.

And so before looking at a few passages or words, and before bringing our questions to the text, it is helpful to understand God’s purpose and goal in using Moses to write Genesis 1 for his people past and present. This begins with the question regarding the context in which Moses wrote this chapter and what it would have meant for the people of Israel. What questions was Moses seeking to address for the people of Israel as they looked at the world?

What is fundamentally distinctive about Genesis 1, when compared with creation accounts from the Ancient Near East, is what it teaches about who God is. While most of us think of this difference primarily in terms of the Hebrew Bible being monotheistic and other religions of the Ancient Near East being polytheistic, there are at least three other fundamental differences reflected in the creation account.

FIRST , what Genesis 1 says about how God created the world shows us that the God revealed in the Bible is radically different from the gods worshiped in the Ancient Near East with respect to the relationship between the divine and the material. There is no such thing as creation ex nihilo (out of nothing) in any Ancient Near Eastern religion that we know of outside the Bible. For all other religions of the Ancient Near East both the gods and the material world are thought to be derived from a single fundamental but undifferentiated substance which is understood to be eternal. [1]

This leads to a SECOND important difference. While the gods of the Ancient Neat East were not limited by what we call space and time, they were understood to be a part of the perpetual cycle of the cosmos. They are born, they age, they mate and produce offspring, they may become sick or injured, and they may die. When the cycle is complete and the world returns to its primitive state (i.e., chaos), the gods will cease to exist and the process will begin again.

THIRD and finally, no god in the ancient world was truly supreme. None had absolute power. To be sure, polytheistic systems often had a chief god or top god (e.g., Zeus, Odin) who had more power than the other gods. But that “top god” did not have all power, that is to say, he was not Almighty . As a result, they were subject to the same “fates” that shaped the destinies of humankind, and even the most powerful of them could be thwarted by the combined efforts of the other gods.

The biblical creation account, indeed the whole of Scripture, reveals a radically different God. There is only one God. God is not a part of the continuum that includes the material world but brought into being even the unformed substance from which all things were made (the “empty and void” deep of Genesis 1:2). God is not subject to the cycle of the cosmos, but the distinctions that he introduced into the material world brought about time (Gn 1:3–4, resulting in the day as the fundamental natural cycle of time) and space (Gn 1:6–7). Since no part of the material cosmos is a manifestation of his being, he may not be worshiped using any image (Ex 20:4; Dt 4:11–12, 15–19). God and God alone, of all the things worshiped as gods, is all-powerful and can bring about whatever he wills. In this way, the creation account reveals that YHWH stands apart, and YHWH stands alone.

Reflection #2: The Creation Week of Genesis 1

Another unique feature of the biblical account of creation quickly emerges when compared with other “creation” accounts in the ancient world.

Genesis records God creating both time and space and everything that fills them within the span of six days after which God rested on the seventh day. It is the only creation account that is temporally structured. Not only is this temporal ordering one of the biblical account’s most distinctive features, but the period of time in which God creates the world lays the foundation for key elements of the theology of the Bible.

The “liturgical calendar” for the religions of the Ancient Near East is based on the naturally occurring cycles of nature: the year, the season, and the month (including some half-monthly elements). The Bible alone recognizes a period of time that is not based on the naturally occurring cycles of nature but on God’s distinctive activity. In other words, the week as we know it is both unique to the religion of Ancient Israel and fundamental to the theology of the Bible.

This pattern, based purely upon the account of God’s activity in which he created the world over the course of a week, is fundamental to the theology of the Bible in three ways. FIRST , it provided the basis for the rhythm of the Israelite’s own life within creation, especially, with the observance of the Sabbath as the central element of Israel’s worship. SECOND , it provides the framework for almost all of the chief promises and blessings that God gives to Israel. And THIRD , it unites God’s creative work (Ex 20:11) and his redemptive work (Dt 5:15) to understand Christ’s saving work as the fulfillment of God’s plan to restore the state of “rest” that was lost as a result of the fall, and by whose grace we are brought into that rest.

For these reasons we can hardly overstate the significance of the Sabbath to the theology of the Bible and the importance of the creation account’s temporal structuring in laying its foundation. Confessing the pattern of God’s creative work in seven days, culminating and including the Sabbath rest, is confessing what God did, is doing, and will do both in creation and in redemption. This literal weekly pattern lays the foundation for our understanding that God’s redemptive work in Christ brings about what is sometimes called the “eighth day,” the day when all things become again as God intended them to be.

God makes a special connection between the first week of creation and the dawn of the new creation with Jesus’s resurrection. At times, the early church focused on the days of creation in its preaching during the days of Holy Week. The parallels are striking. God creates humans on the sixth day—the second Adam dies on the sixth day, namely, Friday. And so when Jesus was tried, Pilate said, “behold the man.”

During the first week of creation, God rested on the seventh day, Saturday. Jesus in turn “rested” in the tomb on the seventh day, Saturday. Then on the next day, Sunday, the Gospel of John stresses that it was “the first day of the week,” the beginning of a new week, the beginning of a new creation. Thus, it became known as the “eighth day” of creation for which our baptismal fonts often have eight sides.

Reflection #3: The Age of the Earth and Genesis 1

So how old is the earth? Although the Scriptures do not give a specific age to the earth or a specific date for its creation, the Scriptures portray a world that has been created in the relatively recent past, that is, within a historical span of time measured in thousands of years rather than millions or billions of years. [2]

To be sure, the exegetical reading of the creation account raises certain questions but does not give clear and definitive answers to them. For example, how long was the Spirit hovering over the waters? How long were Adam and Even in the garden before the fall?

More importantly, possible gaps in the biblical genealogies may not allow us to pin down a specific age as advocated by many in the Young Earth Creationist movement (especially by the influential organization Answers in Genesis). What is the purpose or the function of those genealogies within their literary context? What is their role or place within the narrative? Genealogies perform one (or more) of three functions in relation to narratives.

First they may serve to establish the bona fides (or identity) of someone in the account. The genealogy of Moses and Aaron in Exodus 6:14–26, for example, does this. Similarly, Matthew’s account of Jesus’s genealogy establishes the identity of Jesus. Matthew organizes Jesus’s genealogy through his mother, Mary, into three patterns of fourteen generations each. The first fourteen generations following Abraham are a period when the people had no king. The next fourteen generations beginning with David focus on the period when Israel had a king. The third fourteen generations again focus on a time when Israel had no king, and end with Jesus who is born to be king. Matthew’s genealogies thus serve to identify who Jesus is.
Second, they may be used to “wrap up” the account of a person, summarizing their history and descendants. Many of the smaller genealogies in the book of Genesis function in this way. For example, the short genealogy of the descendants of Abraham by Keturah (25:1–4) serves to wrap up the discussion of all of Abraham’s descendants except those who come from the line of Isaac.
The third literary function that genealogies sometimes perform is to “fast-forward” from one major event to the next by summarizing the generations in between. This is how the genealogy of Genesis 5 functions. It moves the narrative quickly from the end of the aftermath of the fall in chapter 4 to the account of the conditions that led God to decide to bring about the flood at the beginning of chapter 6.

While genealogies do sometimes provide chronological information, we must also assess the purpose of the narrative so that we can understand the significance of that chronological information. Therefore, it is both legitimate and necessary to ask whether the biblical authors are providing genealogies for deducing the age of the earth or whether they are using the genealogy to perform a different function.

A consideration of the literary or theological purposes of genealogies does not mean that one can or should discount the chronological information. The challenge is to make sure that we honor the chronological and historical significance of these genealogies as well as their literary or theological function.

In other words, these genealogies give us a sense of the flow of time within the narrative in terms of actual years (even without a precise computation of the age of the earth). To that end, Moses records the age of each father at the son’s birth, as well as each father’s total years of life. Thus

even if the genealogies are selective and incomplete (but not inaccurate), and
even if the genealogies are not exhaustive in a way that one can add them up in order to arrive at firm date from which to calculate the age of the earth, [3]

it is difficult not to conclude that the cumulative year totals in the genealogies contribute to the impression that God created everything in the relatively recent past. [4]

For a good article on genealogies, see Andrew E. Steinmann, “Gaps in the Genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11?,” Bibliotheca Sacra 174, no. 694 (April 2017): 141–158. Steinmann responds to those who maintain that there are no gaps in the genealogies that such views are not correct. Steinmann also cautions that this does not imply that the earth is millions or billions of years old. “Instead, it simply argues that the earth is older than the 6,000 years that can be obtained by a simple arithmetic calculation based on the Genesis 5 and 11 genealogies” (158).

For an older discussion of science, genealogies, and age issues, I recommend Paul Zimmerman’s chapter “The Age of the Earth” in Darwin, Evolution and Creation (CPH, 1959). Zimmerman held a PhD in chemistry and served as president of Concordia Teachers College in River Forest, Illinois. The five-point summary of his chapter bears repeating:

1. The Bible does not give us sufficient information to date the time of creation and the age of the earth. 2. We cannot be certain how long a period of time is involved in Genesis 1:2 in the moving of the Spirit over the deep. It is not clear if this is before the reckoning of days begins. If it is outside the days, we cannot set a limit. However, important ordering of the world comes during the first three days. This includes the succession of day and night, firmament, separation of waters and dry land. 3. The creative days are best accepted as days of ordinary length. This is the obvious meaning. However, we must remember that God’s creation is vastly different from His present preservation where present-day laws of nature obtain. God created a dynamic, operating earth. To attempt to probe these beginnings by using modern conditions is to ignore the fact that creation was a once-in-eternity event to which present laws do not apply. This actually takes the question out of the realm of the scientific and places it into the purely theological and philosophical. 4. If the days of Genesis are days of normal length, then man is about as old as the earth. There is then no point in attempting to stretch the genealogies of Gen. 5 and 11 to cover more than thousands of years…. The really vast age estimates deal with the age of rocks whose condition possibly is the result of the initial creation of God. They did not need to wait for crystallization and recrystallization to achieve their present form. Moreover, we would expect that things were created in chemical and physical balance. 5. Scripture, then, does not give a precise calendar. But it does give the impression of an earth far younger than the theories of some scientists indicate. Neither side can be definite. However, the Christian must be sure that any conclusions he reaches must be in harmony with the very clear picture of a great creative act, of man specially created by God in his image, of man’s fall from perfection into sin, and of the first promise of the Savior in Genesis 3:15. To lose those precious truths would be tragic indeed! (Zimmerman, 165–166)

Exactly how recently did God create it? We simply can’t say definitively on the basis of Scripture. We can offer suggestions and guesses . . . but that is as far as we should go. LCMS President Matthew Harrison clearly stated as much in his own LCMS blog post of January 4: “it is true that the Synod has not defined as biblical doctrine a specific age of the earth” ( https://blogs.lcms.org/2018/64959 ).

Reflection #4: A Day is a Day in Genesis 1

The question regarding the length of the days of creation arises especially in connection with the new geological sciences that appeared in the century before Darwin. The idea of interpreting them as representing long geological epochs became a popular way to account for the conclusions of geology regarding the age of the earth. We also see this in the “day-age” theory popular among many Fundamentalists in the twentieth century.

Although the Scriptures are silent on defining the number of hours in a day (the Hebrew does not have a word for “hour,” which is why we have not made this a doctrine binding on consciences), exegetically strong arguments exist to regard it as what we ordinarily experience a day to be. Paul Zimmerman (above) referred to them as “days of normal length.”

In other words, the interpretation of “ yom” in Genesis 1 to mean something other than a day is exegetically unconvincing. For example:

There are no linguistic or literary grounds—either in the etymology of the word “day” in Hebrew or the grammar, syntax, context, or in any figure of speech related to its usage in Genesis 1—that can justify an understanding of the term in any way other than as a day as we ordinarily experience it.
Genesis 1:5 defines what is meant by a “day” in this context: a day is a period of light (daylight) and a period of darkness (night) separated by two transitional periods (morning and evening). [5]
All of the other time-related words in Genesis 1 appear from the context to be used in what we might call their natural sense. [6]
Most importantly, in Exodus 20:8–11 Moses speaks of the “days” of creation and relates them to the “days” of Israel’s week that culminates in the Sabbath. Moses reiterates this in Exodus 31:15–17. Here, as in Genesis 1, Moses intended “six days” to be what we ordinarily experience six days to be.
Interpreting a “day” as what we ordinarily experience as a day is the cleanest way of interpreting the text in that it creates no difficulties for interpreting other portions of Scripture. Put another way, it best fits the overall scope or stream of Scripture.
Over the course of these six days, we have “eight originating miracles” (as my colleague Paul Raabe refers to them). One on each day with two on the third day and two on the sixth day. These creative acts (the initial opera ad extra of the Trinity) are miracles , and miracles are by definition not accessible to human reason or empirical science (in the same way that Jesus’s calming of the storm is not accessible to science).

Horace Hummel expressed it well in his classic introduction to the Old Testament, The Word Becoming Flesh (CPH, 1979):

Grammatically , it is impossible to try to calculate a date for creation on the basis of the meaning of “day” ( yom ). The word is undeniably used in Hebrew as in English in a variety of extended senses. Yet in the context of Gen. 1, its ordinary 24-hour sense is certainly the most natural or “literal” sense, if external criteria are not invalidly introduced. The problem of Gen. 1–11 is not primarily exegetical, but hermeneutical (philosophical and epistemological starting points). (64)

Reflection #5: Animal Death and the Fall

One of the questions that arises both for Old Earth Creationism and Evolutionary Creationism is whether or not animal death existed before the fall.

The narrative of Genesis 2, and the scriptures that follow, focuses on those two human creatures that God made in his image and to whom he gave dominion over his creation. It focuses on their life, their death, and their renewal of life as the gift of eternal life. Thus Paul writes, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned ” (Rom 5:12, italics added). Paul follows with, “For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many ” (Rom 5:15, italics added).

Although the biblical record focuses primarily on human history, human life, human sin, human death, and human restoration, it does not do so in isolation from the wider creation of which Adam and Eve were members. As the catechism puts it, “God made me together with all creatures.” Consider the following connections.

FIRST , in Scripture, animals and humans were both created on the sixth day and both seek their food from God (Ps 104:27). In addition, God’s human creatures and non-human creatures possess the breath of life and thus are both regarded as “living creatures” ( nephesh chayyah— Gn 2:7, 19; Ps 104:29–30). This linkage binds them together in both life and death after the fall. Plant “death” is not of concern since plants do not have nephesh or breath (thus humans and animals were given plants to eat).

SECOND , given the role of humans as stewards of creation, it follows that all creation is impacted by human dominion, sin, and restoration. Scripture repeatedly suggests that animal life and death are closely bound with humanity’s fall and restoration. On the ark, God preserved Noah’s family and the animals. Outside the ark, everything that had the breath of life died. After the flood, God made a covenant three times with humans and every living creature (Gn 9:9, 12, 15; cf. Hos 2:18–20).

THIRD , we might also note that animals were not given to humans for consumption in the initial creation. Genesis 1:29–30 portrays a world in which both animals and humans are given plants to eat. This would further support the idea of no animal death prior to the fall. Then, following the flood, God grants humans the right to kill animals and consume their flesh. At the same time, he puts the fear of humans into animals that they might flee and preserve their life (Gn 9:2–3).

FOURTH , animal life was analogous enough to human life that substitutionary sacrifice was logical and acceptable to God, for the life is in the blood.

Finally, when Paul talks about the fall in Romans 8, he speaks about how all creation was impacted and subjected to futility (pointlessness or meaninglessness). The same language is used in Ecclesiastes to describe life hemmed in by death. In humanity’s restoration the animal creation will participate as well; in the eschaton when humanity is liberated, animals will be, too. Hence Isaiah describes what has been called the “peaceable kingdom” (Is 11 and 65) in terms of humans and beasts living in harmony, and an end of predation.

Luther comments on Genesis 3:17–19 about the curse making the earth resistant to bringing forth its bounty:

Moreover, it appears here what a great misfortune followed sin, because the earth, which is innocent and committed no sin, is nevertheless compelled to endure a curse and, as St. Paul says in Rom. 8: 20, “has been subjected to vanity.” But it will be freed from this on the Last Day, for which it is waiting. Pliny calls the earth a kind, gentle, and forbearing mother; likewise, the perpetual servant of the need of mortals. But, as Paul points out, the earth itself feels its curse. In the first place, it does not bring forth the good things it would have produced if man had not fallen. In the second place, it produces many harmful plants, which it would not have produced, such as darnel, wild oats, weeds, nettles, thorns, thistles. Add to these the poisons, the injurious vermin, and whatever else there is of this kind. All these were brought in through sin. (Luther’s Works , vol. 1, 204, italics added)

A few paragraphs later, he reiterates, “The earth indeed is innocent and would gladly produce the best products, but it is prevented by the curse which was placed upon man because of sin” (LW 1, 205).

But even as we identify these similarities or correspondences between humans and animals, we cannot ignore the scriptural differences with regard to their role and telos within Scripture. Even though they both are “living creatures,” only humans were made by the hands and breath of God. Only humans were made in the image of God, and only humans are given the task of serving as God’s vice-regents upon the earth.

These are a few of the significant exegetical issues raised for those searching for harmony or synthesis between theology and science, or faith and reason. We have crafted these reflections so as to say neither less than Scripture says nor more than Scripture says. In such matters, about which people quite rightly have strong opinions and deep concerns, it is difficult to provide answers without saying more than what the Word of God itself says.

When we encounter conflicts between the conclusions reached by Scripture and science it is natural for us to ask how they can be resolved. God created us to want to understand the world around us, and to find answers to all the questions that our study of the Bible and of the world raises. We want answers, but sometimes we cannot find them.

In this we share Habakkuk’s dilemma as we wonder how long it will be until we see all things fully revealed. It can be hard to hear God say, “Wait for it” (Hab 2:3). Like Habakkuk, God calls us to wait in faith. Until that day, genuine faithfulness requires us to confess the truth of God’s Word while having enough humility to recognize that when the Word of God does not speak directly to a question, we may have to live without answers. This we can do by the grace of God that constantly recalls us to the cross, the empty tomb, and the risen Christ who is both the source and the object of our faith, and who is the answer to the one question that we must ultimately know, “How can I be saved?”

[1] This primitive substance, which we often call “chaos,” is typically given a name and regarded as a god, but it is also a material substance. It is commonly pictured in these texts as “water.” The ancients employed this way of talking about the undifferentiated divine/material substance because water was the only thing commonly known to them that had a physical substance but no natural form.

[2] Paul Zimmerman, for example, in “The Age of the Earth,” in Darwin, Evolution, and Creation (Concordia Publishing House, 1959) writes, “Scripture, then, does not give a precise calendar. But it does give the impression of an earth far younger than the theories of some scientists indicate” (166).

[3] For a very good discussion on the topic of genealogies in Genesis, see Andrew E. Steinmann, “Gaps in the Genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11?,” Bibliotheca Sacra 174, no. 694 (April 2017): 141–158.

[4] I personally prefer this language to keep the focus on God’s creative act rather than the language of “young earth” which too easily gets into the issue of whether or not the earth looks young. By relatively recent past, I would understand a time scale measured in thousands of years rather than in millions and billions of years.

[5] This passage provides us with the one certain exception to the basic rule that we have just stated. In its first usage in Genesis 1:5 the Hebrew word for day is used in the sense of the period of light (what we commonly term “daylight”) in contrast to the night. This is within the common use of the term, both in Hebrew and in Greek (cf. Jn 9:4 and Rom 13:12) as well as in English, and does not invalidate the general point.

[6] These would include terms “night, “evening,” and “morning” all in 1:5, and “seasons” and “years” in 1:14. Genesis 1:14 includes the only ambiguous usage of the term “day,” there in the plural for the only time in the chapter. While the matter is debatable, the apparent meaning of 1:14 is that the “lights” function as signs to indicate the passage of two things, the “seasons” and the “days and years” (the grouping in this case suggested by the pattern of the usage of the prepositions in Hebrew). By this interpretation the term “days,” while plural, still refers to normal days. The other possibility, that the term “days” is being used euphemistically to refer to some other period of time, perhaps a “month” or a “week,” seems unlikely. The former (month) is unlikely because Hebrew has two other words (both related to the new moon) regularly used for a month and “days” is never elsewhere used that way. The latter (week) is unlikely since it is not a period of time for which the lights function as a sign, and thus makes no sense in the context. In either case the context requires that the term “days” as used in Genesis 1:14 refers to some naturally occurring period of time, apparently less than a year.

5 responses to “A Few Reflections on Creation in Genesis 1”

This is an excellent, well balanced article on this issue. Thanks!

Excellent article. I agree, Genesis 1 is the inspired truth of God’s own Word, but it does nothing to establish the age of the earth in geologic terms. I would refer you to an excellent article by Henry B. Smith, “MT, SP or LXX? Deciphering a Chronological and Textual Conundrum in Genesis 5,” Bible and Spade 31 1 (2018), 18-27. He makes a compelling argument that the Masoretic Text was shortened to conform to the time frame of the Book of Jubilees. He notes that the LXX, Samaritan Pentateuch and Josephus all have higher begetting dates of 100 years for almost every generation, raising the creation event to 5500 and the Flood to 3300 B.C.

According to the universal self-evidence of life-affirming, Divine Design, there is a particular hierarchy of natural dependencies in the Completed Creation. For example, creaturely life depends on the Earth’s ecology, and the Earth’s ecology depends on the Sun.

Indeed, the Day Four portion of Genesis 1 (vs. 14-18) mentions the value of the luminaries for life on Earth. This is the account’s textual central portion, being essentially halfway between v. 1 and v. 31. Indeed, by word count in the Hebrew, the central word or phrase of the account is firmly within this portion. By my count, this is the word translated ‘the light’ in v. 18. Or, leaving out v. 31, it is the word or phrase translated ‘to shine’ or ‘give light’ in v. 17.

But vs. 14-18 is the only part of the account to outright mention the luminaries at all. This has caused a deep debate regarding when, in the Creation Week, the account intends to say that the luminaries were created. Were they created on Day Four? Or, instead, were they created in the ‘in the beginning’ of v. 1?

Part of the issue of this debate is whether the account presupposes the universal self-evidence of Divine Design, not only of the Completed Natural World, but of Natural Language. For example, is the account

(X) straightforward, in that each verse in turn is to be understood on the basis of any and all prior verse(s)? or, instead, (Y) a bit of a ‘botch job’ that involves a measure of the less or more arbitrary kinds of ‘inside secrets’?

In other words, (X), is vs. 1:1-5 the context for interpreting vs. 14-18? Or, instead, (Y), are vs. 14-18 the context for interpreting vs. 1-5?

According to most readers, Believer and skeptic alike, the account teaches that the luminaries were created on Day Four (vs. 14-18). Let us call this the Earth Created Before Luminaries interpretation, or the ECBL.

But my impression of the ECBL is that the ECBL fails to take the account as a straightforward narrative. For, it can be charged that the ECBL ignores the particulars of the entire first thirteen verses, specifically of these particulars in terms of the universal self-evidence of Divine Design. For, these are particulars that, in their own terms—that is, aside from the ECBL—would seem to compel the impression that the luminaries are created in v. 1.

Of course, the account nowhere mentions the luminaries except in vs. 14-18. So, if we suppose that the account’s author intends to be understood as saying that the luminaries are created in v. 1, then why does he not ensure, contrary to vs. 14-18, that that is what all readers understand? I mean, it would be very easy for the author to have outright stated, as part of v. 1, that the luminaries are created at the beginning. For example, he could easily have said in v. 1,

‘In the beginning, God created the heaven and all its host, and created the Earth.’

That way, when a reader gets to vs. 14-18, the reader can sense that vs. 14-18, as a way of mentioning the value of the luminaries for life on Earth, are merely recapitulating the fact that the luminaries were created at the beginning.

But, countering this last problem is the very fact, as already stated, that the particulars of the first thirteen verses, in their own terms, would seem to compel the impression that the luminaries are created in v. 1. For, if one had only the first thirteen verses, and if one did not know of any of the rest of the account, one normally would never expect that any part of the rest of the account would contradict that impression.

Moreover, the universal self-evidence of Divine Design implicitly affirms the hierarchy of natural dependencies.

Moreover still, if one were an ancient Hebrew, one would be familiar with the common usage, on the part of one’s people, of the word ‘darkness’ as implying or identifying dense cloud cover (ex: Job 3; Job 38:9; Deuteronomy 4:11).

So again my issue: Does not the ECBL fail to take the account as a straightforward narrative? Is not the ECBL just an act of alternately arranging the Inspired-as-already-assembled pieces of the ‘jigsaw puzzle?’ What, regarding the luminaries, is the picture that the account’s author intends to present? And is his intention effective in the account’s own terms? What, exactly, are those terms. Do the account’s terms involve some elements that are foreign to the bulk of its terms?

Or, instead, are all its terms in keeping with one sole standard? If so, what is that standard?

And, what is the first thing the account is concerned to tell us was created, and why? According to a reading that may well be the simplest and most intuitive, childlike reading, the answer is ‘the heaven and the Earth’ (v. 1). Only an ‘aloof’ kind of reading would say ‘light’ (v. 3), in that an ‘aloof’ reading allows that v. 1 can be seen as constituting a mere title or summary title. This allowance, in effect, disparages the childlike observation that a things’ rightly servicing a need does not equate to the idea that that service is that thing’s own most proper purpose. By analogy, the service of Adam as Title Human in no way negates Adam’s historicity. If anything, it is that historicity that ‘puts the meat on the bones’ of that very service. By a clearer analogy, despite the service which 2+2=4 has as polemic against financial fraud, that service in no way negates the truth of the equation itself. On the contrary, it is the equation itself that makes that service both logically possible and right.

It may not be untrue, as far as it goes, to say that ‘In the chronologically absolutely first instant, God created space and matter.’ But, consider the depth to which vs. can express Divine Design:

1. the general cosmos and the special Earth. 2. The Earth, as its own general subject, implying that which we all intuit is most valuable about the Earth unto itself in all the cosmos: its abiding maximal abundance of open liquid water. 3. that water and its special relation to the Sun’s light, hence the water cycle; 4. The water cycle and its special beneficiary and member, biology; 5. biology and its special category, animal biology (plant/animal/mineral = animal); 6. Animal biology and its special category, human; 7. The man and his wife (Genesis 2:21-23)

Therefore, v. 1 can well afford merely to imply a blandly ‘creationary’ kind of ‘cosmic ‘physics’ information. This is because Genesis 1:1 can be found to be entirely concerned to affirm the fact that, since God designed and created us, we are—contrary either to a Godless or Platonic outlook—not insignificant.

Indeed, had God created everything together in a single durationless instant, and had He told us this, it would not show us His wisdom and goodness, but only His power. The Almighty is not defined merely as the Almighty. He also is wise, good, and relational toward us. He wants us to know of Him as He is, not merely that He is almighty.

So, we might want to ask, ‘One, how does the completed creation hold together, or operate; and Two, how did God created it?’ I think Genesis 1 constitutes a single recognizable answer to both questions.

The pagan gods ‘were subject to the same “fates” that shaped the destinies of humankind, and even the most powerful of them could be thwarted by the combined efforts of the other gods.’

How did the pagan peoples come to believe in such gods in the first place? What is the cause for the fact that such god’s were imagined to exist? Was it not by the common practice of historical revisionism on the part of delusional, superstition-inclined tyrants? Today, such revisionism is one of the means by which tyrants convince a people that those tyrants’ tyrannical ways are justified. So it seems highly doubtful that Genesis 1 is a *reaction against* the popular ancient belief in pagan god’s. For, how else can these ‘pagan gods’ even come to exist in anyone’s superstitious minds except by the first tyrants’ co-opting some original, naturally widely respected account of origins (an original, totally benevolent account that was, to begin with,, the only account to have any currency)?

Perhaps I am just missing something but I don’t think you ever got around to the second half of what you were aiming to write in response to the Evangelical positions you surveyed.

You said, “Because of their central role in these debates, I want to set forth the historical interpretation of these texts in Genesis 1 within the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). We will then explore the larger theological approach that seeks to develop a theological–scientific synthesis.”

You and Dr. Adams did a wonderful job with the first part, but in the years since this was published I cannot find anything pertaining to the second part.

Thank you again for your wonderful posts! Hopefully someone actually is made aware when comments are made to old posts, otherwise I have little confidence in this series ever being finished (unless it was meant to end with this post and I am missing something).

Religion Reflection Essay Example

Pages: 2 (480 words)
Published: May 23, 2016
Type: Essay

I think religion is important to people because its always there for people whenever they need it. If people ever feel depressed or there are headed down the wrong road they pray and vent their feelings without having anyone to judge them. They feel comfort because God is always there watching over them. They know God is always listening and will do anything he can.

Does society make it difficult to be faithful to our religion sometimes? Yes society does make it difficult to be faithful because there are certain temptations that are hard to resist like; sex before marriage, drugs and alcohol, and people give in because of the world we live in today. Also when people who follow different religions give

their opinions and beliefs its hard to tell what's the truth and what isn't. Also society makes it difficult because they pressure people to follow a certain religion and try to tell them what they can and can't believe in.

When in your life do you usually find yourself turning towards God and why? In my life I usually find myself turning towards God when I'm going through a tough time. When I'm feeling sad or mad or lonely I pray to God and I always end up feeling better because I know he's listening and he will always be there for me when I need him too. When my parents got divorced I went through a tough time for years and still am but God is always there for me to listen to what I have to say.

How important is a Catholic Education for you?

Would you send your kids here one day? A Catholic Education is Important to me because I want to learn about my background as a catholic and want my kids to be raised the same way I was. Yes I would send my kids to a Catholic School when they become age to attend school because they are a little better than Public Schools. They have more discipline and have a uniform to follow. I would also like to send them to a Catholic School because I went to Catholic Schools my whole life and would want them to go and learn the things I did.

How do you define religion and faith in your life? (what's the difference between the two?) The difference between religion and faith is religion is man made and faith is spiritual. Faith is belief, trust and loyalty to God. Religion is just what you know what you follow what your family and you believe in. I would define religion in my life as learning religion is school and going through communion, confirmation, baptism. Faith in my life would be going to church every sunday, praying to God all the time and doing Christian things like community service.

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