Throughout the first chapter of Genesis and in three
verses of the second, - in what we understand to be the
523:24 spiritually scientific account of creation, - it is
Elohim (God) who creates. From the fourth
verse of chapter two to chapter five, the creator is called
523:27 Jehovah, or the Lord. The different accounts become
more and more closely intertwined to the end of chapter
twelve, after which the distinction is not definitely trace-
523:30 able. In the historic parts of the Old Testament, it is
usually Jehovah, peculiarly the divine sovereign of the
Hebrew people, who is referred to.
Gods of the heathen
524:1 The idolatry which followed this material mythology is
seen in the Phoenician worship of Baal, in the Moabitish
524:3 god Chemosh, in the Moloch of the Amorites,
in the Hindoo Vishnu, in the Greek Aphro-
dite, and in a thousand other so-called deities.
Jehovah a tribal deity
524:6 It was also found among the Israelites, who constantly
went after "strange gods." They called the Supreme
Being by the national name of Jehovah. In
524:9 that name of Jehovah, the true idea of God
seems almost lost. God becomes "a man of war," a
tribal god to be worshipped, rather than Love, the divine
524:12 Principle to be lived and loved.
/Genesis/ ii. 7. And the Lord God [Jehovah] formed man
of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
524:15 the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Creation reversed
Did the divine and infinite Principle become a finite
deity, that he should now be called Jehovah? With
l8 a single command, Mind had made man,
both male and female. How then could a
material organization become the basis of man? How
524:21 could the non-intelligent become the medium of Mind,
and error be the enunciator of Truth? Matter is not
the reflection of Spirit, yet God is reflected in all His
524:24 creation. Is this addition to His creation real or un-
real? Is it the truth, or is it a lie concerning man and
God?
524:27 It must be a lie, for God presently curses the ground.
Could Spirit evolve its opposite, matter, and give matter
ability to sin and suffer? Is Spirit, God, injected into
524:30 dust, and eventually ejected at the demand of matter?
Does Spirit enter dust, and lose therein the divine nature
525:1 and omnipotence? Does Mind, God, enter matter to be-
come there a mortal sinner, animated by the breath of
525:3 God? In this narrative, the validity of matter is opposed,
not the validity of Spirit or Spirit's creations. Man re-
flects God; /mankind/ represents the Adamic race, and is
525:6 a human, not a divine, creation.
Definitions of man