Chapter 5-3 The Origin of Humanity: Creationism

Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam are referred to as the world's three major religions. When it comes to religion, many people associate it with "pseudo-science" and consider it "feudal superstition." Friedrich Engels believed that: these early religious movements were spontaneous and devoid of deceit at their inception.

Among the three major religions, Christianity and Islam are "monotheistic religions", meaning they worship a single deity, while Buddhism is a "non-theistic religion", focusing on: the teachings of Buddhas to reveal the true nature of life, leading to liberation and inner peace.

Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. Christians believe that Jehovah (Jesus) is the son of God and the savior. He was born in a manger, preached God's teachings as an adult, and was crucified to atone for humanity's sins. He resurrected on the third day after his death, becoming Jesus Christ. Christian supporters believe that through faith and accepting the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, they can attain eternal life. The teachings of Christianity emphasize love, kindness, goodness, peace, understanding, and tolerance, and it has branched into numerous denominations, such as Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism.

Islam began in the 7th century AD, with all Muslims believing in the one true God—Allah. Muhammad is regarded as the founder and final prophet of Islam. Muslims aim to adhere to Allah's teachings and strive for truth, peace, love and respect. They believe that in the afterlife, people will be sent to either Heaven or Hell, depending on their actions during their lives.

The world was originally not so complex. The accounts of human origin in Christianity, Judaism and Islam all describe the creation of Adam and Eve by God, their subsequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and the Great Flood in prehistoric times. The only differences lie in the names of the founders (sons of God) of each religion. However, regarding the question of human origin, creationism and evolution are almost entirely opposed, with creationism being a true form of "devolution" (theory of degeneration).

Let's start with the great work—"the Bible". The Bible is considered the "Life Manual" by Christian and Jewish believers, a sacred text held daily by nearly 2.5 billion followers worldwide. Translated into over 2,000 languages and with more than 10 billion copies published, the Bible is unquestionably the most widely distributed book in the world.

Buddhist scriptures are vast and numerous, yet there is only one Bible. Why does it hold such immense appeal? Who wrote this magical book? It is generally believed that the Bible was written by multiple authors at different times. Moses is traditionally regarded as the author of the first five books of the Old Testament, while the Gospels in the New Testament were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The entire Bible took over 1,600 years to complete. Most believers hold that the Bible was written according to divine revelation and that the entire text records the words of God.

The first volume of the Bible—Genesis, recounts the creation of the world and the birth of humanity, presenting a very vivid story.

In the beginning, the heaven and the earth were in chaos, like a deep, dark abyss, and the Spirit of God was moving on the surface of the water. God said: "Let there be light", and there was light. God looked on the light, saw that it was good, then he made a division between the light and the dark, naming the light "Day", and the dark "Night". It was the 1st day.

On the 2nd day, God commanded: "Let there be a solid arch stretching over the waters, parting the waters from the waters." God gave the arch the name of "Heaven". And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

On the 3rd day, God said: "Let the waters under the heaven come together in one place, and let the dry land be seen." God gave the dry land the name of "Earth", and the waters together in their place were named "Seas". Then God said: "Let grass come up on the earth, and plants producing seed, and fruit-trees giving fruit, in which is their seed, after their sort." The land produced vegetation, and God saw that it was good.

On the 4th day, God commanded: "Let there be lights in the arch of heaven, for a division between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for marking the changes of the year, and for days and for years." He made the two great lights: the greater light to be the ruler of the day, and the smaller light to be the ruler of the night, and he made the stars.

On the 5th day, God said: "Let the waters be full of living things, and let birds be in flight over the earth under the arch of heaven." He made great sea-beasts, and every sort of living and moving things with which the waters were full, and every sort of winged bird: and God saw that it was good, blessed them and said: "Be fertile and have increase, making all the waters of the seas full, and let the birds be increased in the earth."

Figure 5.7: Oil painting "Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden" (Vatican Museums)

On the 6th day, God commanded: "Let the earth give birth to all sorts of living things, cattle and all things moving on the earth, and beasts of the earth after their sort." Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth." So God made man in his image, from the dust of the earth, breathing into him the breath of life: and man became a living soul. Then he planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man (which called "Adam" in Hebrew) whom he had formed. There was a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted and became four streams.

From the earth the Lord God made every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and took them to Adam to see what names he would give them, and whatever name he gave to any living thing, that was its name. Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air and to every beast of the field, but he had no one like himself as a help. God said: "It is not good for the man to be by himself, and I will make one like himself as a help to him." God sent a deep sleep on Adam, and took one of the bones from his side while he was sleeping, and made a woman. Then he took her to Adam. Adam said: "This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh: let her name be Woman ("Eve" in Hebrew) because she was taken out of Man." God blessed them: "Be fertile and have increase, and make the earth full and be masters of it; be rulers over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing moving on the earth." However, he also gave orders: "You may freely take of the fruit of every tree of the garden, but fruits of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not take; for on the day when you take of it, death will certainly come to you."

On the 7th day, God came to the end of all his work. He took his rest from all the work which he had done. God gave his blessing to the seventh day and made it holy: because on that day he took his rest from all the work which he had made and done.

After this, Adam and Eve lived in the beautiful Garden of Eden.They were "without clothing, and they had no sense of shame". later on, Eve was tricked by the deceit of the snake and ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She also gave one to Adam, who ate it. Then they were conscious that they had no clothing and they made themselves coats of leaves stitched together.

When God found out, he was very angry. He cursed the snake: "you will go flat on the earth, and dust will be your food all the days of your life." He said to Eve: "Great will be your pain in childbirth; in sorrow will your children come to birth; still your desire will be for your husband, but he will be your master." And to Adam he said: "The earth is cursed on your account; in pain you will get your food from it all your life. With the hard work of your hands you will get your bread till you go back to the earth from which you were taken: for dust you are and to the dust you will go back."

The Lord God said: "Now the man has become like one of us, having knowledge of good and evil; and now if he puts out his hand and takes of the fruit of the tree of life, he will go on living forever." He sent him out of the garden of Eden to be a worker on the earth from which he was taken.

After Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden, their first child was named Cain, the first farmer on Earth; their second child was named Abel, the first shepherd. After some time, Cain brought some produce from the land, and Abel chose the best lambs to offer to God. God favored Abel's offering but did not accept Cain's. This made Cain very angry, and he killed his brother Abel. God was extremely angry and sentenced Cain to a life of wandering in the land east of Eden. Later, Cain married and had a son named Enoch, and built one of the earliest cities there.

Adam lived to be 130 years old and had another son named Seth. Adam died at the age of 930. Seth had a son named Enosh when he was 105 years old and lived to be 912 years old. Enosh had a son named Kenan at the age of 90 and lived to be 905 years old...

During this time, the population began to increase rapidly, but people's lifespans significantly shortened. "The Book of Enoch" records that God sent 200 angels from heaven to watch over the earth, with each angel assigned to a different area. However, over time, these angels seemed to fall in love with life on Earth and were gradually assimilated by humans. God was angry and called them "fallen angels". The fallen angels lived ordinary human lives, teaching humans many languages, writing, and knowledge, thus beginning human civilization.

The fallen angels married earthly women and bore children who were exceptionally tall, known as "giants", as recounted in legends. However, the giants not only consumed all human resources but also attacked various animals, causing havoc and violence. Seeing the earth filled with wickedness and beyond redemption, God decided to unleash a cataclysmic flood to destroy everything, and to reset the earth.

Before the flood came, He only informed a man named Noah. He instructed him to build a large ark with 3 levels, and besides Noah's family, to bring onto the ark pairs of all living creatures, male and female, to ensure the continuity of life. This is the story of "Noah's Ark" and "the Great Flood", as recorded in many ancient civilizations.

Regarding the ancient cataclysmic flood that devastated the world, humanity shares a collective memory. It's not just the Hebrew civilization that venerates the Bible, but also the Chinese civilization with its "Classic of Mountains and Seas"（《山海经》）and the legend of "Dayu's flood control "（大禹治水）, the Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia, the Mayan civilization of South America, the Indigenous cultures of the Amis and Atayal in Taiwan, the Native American civilizations of North America, and even the ancient Greek civilization — all have records of "the Great Flood". Legends are legends, but could such consistent legends be true historical records?

However, mere flooding alone could not achieve the "world-ending" effect. The book "The Adam and Eve Story" begins with the description of the Great flood, and the following is an excerpt:

With a rumble so low as to be inaudible, growing,throbbing,then fuming into a thundering roar, the earthquake starts... only it's not like any earthquake in recorded history.

In California the mountains shake like ferns in a breeze; the mighty Pacific rears back and piles up into a mountain of water more than two miles high, then starts its race eastward.

With the force of a thousand armies the wind attacks, ripping, shredding everything in its supersonic bombardment. The unbelievable mountain of Pacific sea-water follows the wind eastward, burying Los Angeles and San Francisco as if they were but grains of sand.

Nothing -but nothing- stops the relentless, over-whelming onslaught of wind and ocean.

Across the continent the thousand mile-per-hour wind wreaks its unholy vengeance, everywhere, mercilessly, unceasingly. Every living thing is ripped into shreds while being blown across the countryside; and the earthquake leaves no place untouched. In many places the earth's molten sub-layer breaks through and spreads a sea of white-hot liquid fire to add to the holocaust.

Within three hours the fantastic wall of water moves across the continent,burying the wind-ravaged land under two miles of seething water coast-to-coast. In a fraction of a day all vestiges of civilization are gone, and the great cities - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, New York - are nothing but legends. Barely a stone is left where millions walked just a few hours before.

A few lucky ones who manage to find shelter from the screaming wind on the lee side of Pike's Peak watch the sea of molten fire break through the quaking valleys below. The raging waters follow, piling higher and higher, steaming over the molten earth-fire, and rising almost to their feet. Only great mountains such as this one can withstand the cataclysmic onslaught...

As the Arctic basin leaves its polar home, eastern Siberia, Manchuria, China, and Burma are subjected to the same annihilation as South America:wind, earth-fire, inundation, and freezing. Jungle animals are shredded to ribbons by the wind, piled into mountains of flesh and bone, and buried under avalanches of seawater and mud... Then comes the terrible,cold. Not man, nor beast, nor plant, nor earth is left unfrozen in the entire eastern Asian continent, most of which remains below sea level...

Antarctica and Greenland, with their ice caps, now rotate around the earth in the Torrid Zone; and the fury of wind and inundation marches on for six days and nights. During the sixth day the oceans start to settle in their new homes, running off the high grounds.

On the seventh day the horrendous rampage is over. The Arctic ice age is ended - and a new stone age begins. The oceans - the great homogenizers - have laid down another deep layer of mud over the existing strata in the great plains, as exposed in the Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, and Badlands.

The Bay of Bengal basin, just east of India, is now at the North Pole. The Pacific Ocean, just west of Peru,is at the South Pole. Greenland and Antarctica, now rotating equatorially in the Torrid Zone, find their icecaps dissolving madly in the tropical heat. Massive walls of water and ice surge toward the oceans, taking everything - from mountains to plains - in gushing, heaving paths, creating immense seasonal moraines. In less than 25 years the ice caps are gone, and the oceans around the world rise over two hundred feet with the new-found water, The Torrid Zone will be shrouded in a fog for generations from the enormous amounts of moisture poured into the atmosphere by the melting ice caps.

New ice caps begin to form in the new polar areas. Greenland and Antarctica emerge with verdant, tropical foliage. Australia is the new, unexplored continent in the North Temperate Zone, with only a few handfuls of survivors populating its vastness. New York lies at the bottom of the Atlantic, shattered, melted by earth-fire, and covered by unbelievable amounts of mud. Of San Francisco and Los Angeles, not a trace is left.

Egypt emerges from its Mediterranean inundation new and higher - still the land of the ages. The common place of our time: becomes the mysterious Baalbek of the new era.

A new era! Yes, the cataclysm has done its work well. The greatest population regulator of all does once more for man what he refuses to do for himself, and drives the pitiful few who survive into a new stone age.Once more the earth has shifted its 6o-mile thick shell, with the poles moving almost to the equator in a fraction of a day. Again the atmosphere and oceans, refusing to change direction with the earth's shell, have wiped out almost all life...