Dust

Van · Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 6:19 am Post subject: Dust

The Bible says God made mankind out of the "dust". It says mankind came from dust and will return to dust. It suggests we are dust. Just as Eve was made from a rib (part?) of Adam (mankind?) could the dust from which Adam was made have been a pre-existing creation?

Note that the Serpent is describing as eating "dust" while evil personified is elsewhere described as devouring people.

Dust is used to indicate being assigned to a lower place (similar to our reference to the lower animals). Dust is used to indicate large numbers similar to stars, suggesting there may have been a large number of candidates to be used as a template for God's special creation.

As far as I know, there is no support for this interpretation, probably because it is without merit. But as Tiger is fond of saying, just a thought.

[This message has been edited by Van (edited 11-29-2002).]

Tiger75 · Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 7:35 am Post subject: Dust

Hi Van,

Can you ellaborate a bit more, I'm not quite following your train of thought.

Cheers

Tiger

Van · Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 8:10 am Post subject: Dust

The prevailing view, or so I believe, is that the dust is a reference to dirt, ground, earth, soil, inorganic material.
My thought, for what it is worth, which may not be much, is that dust might be a figurative reference to a spiritless creature that was modified by God, or used as a design template by God to create His special creation (Adam and Eve).

Are there Biblical passages or inferences in the Bible that suggest either that my idea is wrong or a possiblity. Clearly the word translated dust is used for inorganic soil (laid to rest in the dust, etc) and a good rule is not to deviate from a literal understanding so long as it makes consistence sense with the rest of the Bible; so to assume dust is a reference to a lower animal design template seems an unnecessary reach. I was just curious about what others thought of the concept.

SissiMay · Not So Newbie Joined: 20 May 2003 Posts: 8

Genesis 2:7 NKJ

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrills the breath of life; and man became a living being.

I believe that God made man from dust. It is small and very insignificant right. But God made man in his own image and then he breaths life into man. Then once God does that, man is very important. He has a soul now. Then God can put man into a deep sleep and take one of his ribs and make woman. Since Adam is from dirt, then so would his rib. When God made Eve, she was part of Adam, who was made from dirt. So, they are alike.

I hope this is simple for you to understand.
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~Melinda~

RevJP · Moderator Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 7003 Location: USA

Actaully Melinda, God created man in his own image, male and female (Gen 1:27), THEN he formed Adam from the dust of the ground (Gen 2:7), Eve came about in Gen 2:22, from Adam's rib.

One 'creation' of man, then God 'made' Adam and Eve out of existing materials... significant differences with a plethora of theological possibilities.
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JP's Mind - my blog

larryjf · Posted: Wed May 21, 2003 7:23 am Post subject:

RevJp,

I believe those 2 accounts of creation are just that - 2 accounts of the same creation.
The 2nd account just gets specific about the creation of man. Whereas the 1st part is very general.

Something else to ponder about the creation account -
It doesn't say anywhere that God created the WATER!!

Of course, verse 1 allows for created things to be in existence before the "days" of creation start. But, i still find it interesting about the water.