God and creation

Here's how the word of God begins:

¹In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  ²And 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

Frequently, when reading the word, you find that God is teaching us new things almost as much as he is helping us discard things that we have already learnt!

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

As a two-edged sword, the word pierces and divides asunder pre-conceived notions and biases.  When talking about "creation" for instance the picture that we are wont to conjure up is of the sort that we commonly see in the world.  The painter creates the painting and a composer creates melodies.  But creation, the way it has been described in Genesis 1:1-2 refers to, I believe, a completely different notion.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9

Nothing that man has "created" is new.  The thing that has been is that which is and shall be.  Nothing that has been made can be called truly original or new.  We observe, interpret and transform.  We draw inspiration from and use things that already exist to produce what we do.

What is remarkable in God's creation is not in that he created the physical universe or earth or life as wonderful and awe inspiring as they are, but that he conceived of these things in his mind!  All of reality as we see it (and also as we don't see) it was created, truly created, by God.  Before that, the very notion of a universe and all of its variety simply did not exist!  Quite literally, all that is came out of nothing!

There was no "raw material" that God worked with to create the universe.  The idea that something can be created only out of something is a feature of the reality that we inhabit.  It appears impossible to us for instance, that a piece of rock can simply be thought into existence.  Our resistance to that notion however is merely a consequence of having only known that reality since the day we were born.  One of the things that we find ourselves having to unlearn is the idea that God also is so constrained!

Now, God created man in His image.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness

Genesis 1:26

I believe what has been referred to here is not as much our physical likeness to God as it is to our likeness to Him in every other way!  For instance, like God, before we can bring anything to fruition it must first be conceived in our hearts.  We must see it in our mind's eye before it can come to pass.  Further, that which we see in our heart is the whole of creation!  Whether it takes form in the physical reality as we know it is of lesser significance.  Here's what the Lord said when He spoke about the sin of adultery:

²⁷Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery: ²⁸but I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Matthew 5:27-28

Clearly, God does not distinguish between thinking adulterous thoughts about a woman and committing it physically.