About Creationism: If God made humans out of the dust in the ground why is there still dust in the ground?

Question

Why don't we see God coming down on a cloud and taking dust from the ground to make human beings anymore?

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7 (New King James Version)


Here is the inspiration for this question:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhoDvWmXX2nJpLOgcO75Wkvzy6IX?qid=20060807104801AAj8Zep

Answer 1

I want to use that in casual conversation, please. May I?

Answer 2

I loved Billcompugeek's answer.

Here's mine (not as funny by any means): If someone thinks that God is a 5' 10" human who was on Earth way back when and who picked up dirt and built a person out of it (or people out of it) and then - further - yanked a rib out of one person to start another person.... There's really going to be no reasoning with such a person.

If you think of God as a force (even a thinking force), and you imagine that a planet was formed and that the force made some event occur that started the process of life growing on the planet, you can understand the dust thing and the poetic way of describing that living creatures would breathe. Even if you believe that such a force decides what life will get started or even what the purpose of that life will be, there's still no conflict.

My opinion is that the written word at the time of the Bible served a purpose for people who needed some enlightenment and guidance and education, but at that time in history when there was no explanation people thought up stories to offer one. I don't understand why today - when we do know so much more than those people did back then - people can't follow the Bible for its lessons and general direction without allowing the Fairy Tale aspect of it to be taken at face value.

God and the Bible would be much better served if people respected, honored and treasured the Bible for the work and
wisdom it is rather than continuing to believe its like a big, giant, ancient newspaper. (Hey....guess what.....there's a bunch of dirt in my yard missing. I wonder if God is building another person...)

In all seriousness, though, what is neat is the fact that before all the science and before all the philosophy, someone had it in his head that we came from dirt. Maybe he didn't know all the details or the science, but something made someone say that we came from the dirt. If people think it all out Creationism doesn't necessarily conflict with anything at all.

Answer 3

Now that would be one of your simpler questions. That is not how God wanted to populate the earth, but he formed the first humans to get things going. Reproducing the way we do forms family units, so I'm glad He chose this method. As to why there is still dust in the ground...God didn't use up all the dust, of course, but everything returns to dust when it dies, which feeds the new generation of plants, which feed us and the animals, etc. A brilliant cycle.

Answer 4

I understand what you're trying to say. Maybe a better question: if all the Christians know everything about what God is and does and how he wants us to live, why is there still God?

It's the same reason why there are still monkeys. Just because something better came along, doesn't mean the old was completely obsolete. We also evolved from amoeba and reptiles and we are still evolving. There can be more than one really awesome species here, kids.

[There isn't much in between because humans are discriminating creatures and would only mate with those who no longer looked so much like monkeys ; )]

Answer 5

Actually, I am playing god right now. I am creating a nice young, 24 year old, male under my couch as we speak. might be another decade or so before he is complete but if we move, I will have to interrupt the process and leave with a little dust bunny. This god thing is time consuming, I'm trying to mold my creation to perfection.

Answer 6

As always, I will answer your question with respect and understanding that you REALLY want to know the answer.

God made one human, Adam, out of the dust in the ground. He made Eve as a helper in the garden out of Adam's rib. From there;

Genesis 4
Cain and Abel
1 Adam [a] lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. [b] She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth [c] a man." 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

As for future generations in the earth, God said to Noah;

Genesis 9
God's Covenant With Noah
1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.

This is the most complete answer to your question that I could possible supply. I submit this information to you for your consideration and understanding. Hopefully, you will accept this answer with the same respect that it was delivered and will consider it as a "best answer" since it contains no sarcasm, nor does it contain any disrespect or theories.

God bless you always

Answer 7

He didn't use all of the dust from the ground silly. And these 2 arguments really don't compare in any way because the evolutional argument puts primates as only one stage of man's evolution so realistically they wouldn't be around any longer just as "Lucy" and her close relatives are no longer around. In evolution creatures are supposed to evolve - you know actually leave one stage when they emerge into the next because the first stage was ineffective and dying off (survival of the fittest). But God took some dirt (not all) and made it into one man (not every man) and that was the end of it. From there he took one rib from man (not all ribs) and created one woman (not all women) and then sex got involved! :) So we no longer come from the ground we come from our parents. :) God used dirt as a one-time event not as a step to leap from into our next stage. Evolution argues that monkeys were simply part of man's evolution which would render them non-existant at this point.

Answer 8

There are 6 billion of us average mass 100 lbs, so that's 600 billion lbs of dirt = 6.0 x 10^11 lbs. That is a miniscule amount compared to the total mass of DIRT on the earth.
The mass of the earth is 1.232 x 10^25 lbs.
God = self-organizing property of matter + evolution by natural selection.

Answer 9

God created the first human,Adam,from dust.Then He created Eve from one of Adam's ribs.After that nature pretty much took its course and God could let humans creat life.As for the dust on the ground.....we all return to dust eventually.Those that were cremated like my parents just quicker than others. Peace....

Answer 10

If there was no dust on the ground then how would we be able to comprehend what God meant by it. If it wasn't there we wouldn't know what dust was. It's just how it is. Do you like testing God? Don't be surprised when God test you.

Answer 11

I see you're trying to use my old arguement against humans evolving from apes. It aint working and heres why:

If man evolved from monkeys...why are there still monkeys? Was my question. The key element here that you are lacking is that monkeys are living beings that can reproduce...and thus over time even "evolve".

Dirt is just dirt. God took it one time and fashioned it into what He wanted. Then man existed....and monkeys existed... and biological life began to reproduce itself.

Dirt has never had that ability..to reproduce or to EVOLVE. Dirt is dirt and will stay dirt. Try another arguement..this one dosen't hold water.