The Story of the Creation of the Story of Creation - Third & final chapter
When we left God and John, God had just gone into a very long and detailed description of the process by which He created the Universe, and John was transcribing the accomplishment so he could spread the word among the people. John, writing as fast and accurately as he could, transcribed the following: “In the beginning God created…”
We now join John and God as they continue their project.
“’In the beginning God created…’?” God asked. “That’s it?”
“Yes,” peeped John, embarrassed.
“What about the quark-gluon plasma and the rapid expansion of the Universe and all that?” God asked.
“Um, no, I didn’t get that,” John admitted. “Honestly, I don’t what any of those words are.
“You know what would help?” John offered. “Tell me how long all this took.”
“Just the part I explained took hundreds of thousands of years, and I didn’t even get to where I create you and the animals!” God said.
“How many days does that make?” John asked.
“Hundreds of millions of days, even billions of days!” God exclaimed.
John sat silently, processing what God said, then held up both hands, fingers outstretched.
“More days than this?” John asked.
“Yes!” God said. “Way more!”
“More than this too?” John pressed, sticking out his legs and stretching his toes.
Now God was silent.
“Maybe I’m not the right guy for this job,” John said quietly, looking down.
“No, no, it’s not you,” God reassured him. “You’re the right guy for the job.”
John looked up a little.
“I’m just not telling the story very well,” God continued.
“Want to try again?” John asked, eager to help.
“Yes,” God said. “Let’s try this again.”
Then God told John about how in the beginning He created the heavens, in which all of
creation would sit, and how all the stuff in those heavens at first were without form or shape. God told John how His spirit moved across the heavens and with that there was light, and that the light was balanced by darkness.
“How many days did all that take?” John interrupted.
“I’m going to say ‘one,’” God said.
“OK, that was the first day. Got it.”
Then God continued, and told of the creation of Heaven on the second day.
“It took all day to make Heaven??” John exclaimed.
“Well, Heaven’s a pretty special place,” God explained.
“Hmmm. Must be.”
God then described the swirling clouds in the heavens gathering together to create a great expanse of water, and then how dry land emerged on the water, and God called these Earth and the Seas.
“This was good,” God said.
“Yeah,” John agreed. “Otherwise we’d all be walking on water, and that’s impossible!”
“Yes,” God said. “That would be something.”
God also told John of all the trees and grasses and plants He put on the dry land, and all
the animals He put in the sea and on the land and in the air, and how He made it possible for the plants and animals to multiply themselves without Him having to do it directly.
“That was a good idea,” John said.
“Thank you,” God responded.
God also talked about putting the stars and moon in the sky to give
light at night, and the sun to give light during the day, and how all these changed with the seasons, but always came back around again.
“And I saved the best for last,” God said.
“Women?” John asked.
“Well, yes, women and men,” replied God.
“Oh, good point,” said John. “And all this took six days? That’s a lot of work!”
“Yes, it was, but I’m very happy with it all,” God said. “Still, it was a lot of work, so the seventh day I made as a day of rest. That day is very important, so you can rest your body and your mind.”
John nodded and looked down at his notes.
“Shoot,” John said after a few minutes, “this is simple! Not like you made it out to be at first.”
“Well, the simplest things can be the hardest to understand,” God said. “But you know how I made it so that the animals and plants and you could make more of yourselves without me having to be directly involved?”
“Yeah,” John said.
“Same goes for you understanding this story,” God said. “I made men and women in such a way that you will be able to understand more and more about how I created all of this as you go along.”
“If you say so,” John said.
“Thanks for your help, John,” God said. “Take those back and get the word out. Oh, and don’t forget to pick up some berries and twigs on the way home. Your parents are coming for dinner, remember.”