Program 19: Creation myths

This program comparesthe creation myths the Hewbrew and Chritian Genesis account to the those  of the Babylonian , Egyptions, Hindo, Chinese  and Greeks.

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Ideas that have shaped human history as expressed in poetry, speeches, myth and documents. A podcast by Alan Anforth. This is Programme 19 on the creation myths of humanity. Creation myths are generally an attempt by early cultures to understand some of the basic issues that confront all civilizations, e.g. where do we come from? What is the point of our existence, etc. They are not meant to be literal accounts of cosmology, and internal contradictions within them are self-evident. There are over a hundred distinct creation myths that have been identified to date. Some early civilizations have a range of different creation myths, e.g. Egypt. Most early civilizations or cultures have some form of creation myth. They can generally be classified into different types, including those in which creation is ex nio, i. e. creation from nothing, or creation is out of existing matter, that is in a state of chaos, so that the creation is the imposition of water on chaos, or creation of the earth and humans as opposed to creation of the cosmos and is from the body or activities of some divinity, or creation of order on the earth is caused by some divine intervention in the form of what is commonly called an earth diver, being an animal or entity that creates order on the earth, or creation is in the form of emergence from a prior existence, which generally typifies Buddhist myths. Christian and Islamic creation myths stem from Genesis, which forms a part of both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. It reads In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness he called night, and there was evening and there was morning the first day. And God said Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water. So God made the vault and separated the waters under the vault from the waters above it, and it was so. God called the vault sky, and there was evening, and there was morning the second day. And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry land appear, and it was so. God called the dry ground land, and the gathered waters he called seas, and God saw it was good. Then God said, Let the land produce vegetation, seed bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to the various kind, and it was so. The land produced vegetation, plants, plant bearing seeds according to their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kind, and God saw it was good. And there was evening and there was morning the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as a sign to mark the sacred times and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, and it was so. God made two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night, and he also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light to the earth, to govern the day and the night and to separate light from darkness, and God saw it was good, and there was evening and there was morning the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters team with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky. So God created the great creatures of the sea, and every living thing with which the waters teem, and that move about in it according to their kind, every winged bird according to its kind, and God saw it was good. God blessed them and said, Be fruitful in and increase in number, fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning the fifth day, and God said, Let the land produce living creatures according to their kind, the livestock, the creatures that move along the earth, the wild animals, each according to its kind, and it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kind, the livestock according to their kind, and all creatures that move along the ground according to their kind, and God saw it was good. Then God said, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God he created them male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Then God said, I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth, and every tree that has fruit with seed in it, they will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky, and all the creatures that move along the earth, everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food, and so it was. God saw all that he had made and it was very good, and there was evening and there was morning the sixth day. This account then goes on to deal with the Garden of Eden, fall of man issue, and that's dealt with further below. In general terms. But have additional passages in the Quran such as Verily in the heavens and the earths are signs for those who believe, and in the creation of yourselves and the fact that animals are scattered throughout the earth are signs for those of assured faith, and in the alternation of night and day, and the fact that Allah sends down sustenance from the sky and receives therewith the earth after its death, and in the change of the winds are the signs for those who are wise. Now I pause there to say that in each of these Quran passages the hard copy has the citations of the particular verses. I won't put it in orally. The Quran says that the heavens and the earth were joined together as one unit before we clove them asunder and goes on to say turning to the sky and it has been smote and is as smoke. Following this big explosion it reads Allah turned to the sky and it had been as smoke. He said to it and to the earth, come together willingly or unwillingly. They said, We come together in willing obedience. Thus the elements of what was to become the planets and the stars began to cool, come together and form into shape following the natural laws that Allah established in the universe. The Quran further states that Allah created the sun, the moon and the planets, each with their own individual courses or orbits. The passage reads It is He who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon, all celestial bodies swim along, each in its rounded course. And it goes on further to say The heavens we have built them with power, and verily we are expanding it. There has been some historical debate amongst Muslim scholars about the precise meaning of the above quote since the knowledge of the universe's expansion was only recently discovered. The Quran account of creation differs from the Genesis account in terms of the sixth day. The Quran states that Allah created heaven and the earth and all that is between them in six days. While on its surface this might seem similar to the account in Genesis, there are some important distinctions. The verse that mentions six days used the Arabic word um. This word appears several other times in the Quran, each denoting a different measure of time. In one case the measure of a day is equated with fifty thousand years, whereas another verse states that a day in the sight of your Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning. The word um is thus understood within the Quran to be a long period of time, i. e. an era or an eon. Therefore Muslims interpret the description of six days of creation as six distinct periods or eons. The length of each of these is not precisely defined, nor are the specific developments that took place during each period. After completing the creation, the Quran describes that Allah settled himself upon the throne to oversee his work. This distinct point is made to counter the Genesis idea of a day of rest. The Quran goes on to say We created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them is six days, nor did any sense of weariness touch us. It further reads He it is who created the heavens and the earths in six days when he established himself in the throne. He knows what enters within the heart of the earth and what comes forth out of it, what comes down from heaven and what mounts up to it, and he is with you wherever you may be, and Allah sees well all that you do. Descriptions of creation in the Quran set in the context to remind the reader of Allah's majesty and wisdom. For example, what is the matter with you that you are not conscious of Allah's majesty, seeing that it is He who created you in diverse stages? See you not how Allah created the seven heavens, one above another, and made the moon a light in their midst, and made the sun as a glorious lamp, and Allah has produced you from the earth, growing gradually. Allah made from water every living thing. Another verse describes how Allah has created every animal from water. Of them are some that creep on their bellies, some that walk on two legs, and some that walk on four. Allah creates what He wills, for truly Allah has power over all things. While Islam recognises the general idea of the development in life in stages over a period of time, human beings are considered as a special act of creation, as in Genesis. Islam teaches that human beings are a unique life form that was created by Allah in a special way with unique gifts and abilities unlike any other, a soul and conscience, knowledge and free will. In short, Muslims do not believe that human beings evolved from ape. The life of human beings began with the creation of two people, a male and a female named Adam and Hawa or Eve. The Quran describes how Allah created Adam. It reads We created man from sounding clay, from mud moulded into shape, and he began the creation of man from clay and made his progeny from the quintessence of fluid. While the creation of Eve is not described in detail, Quran does make it clear that a mate was created for Adam from the same nature and soul. It reads It is he who created you from a single person and made this mate of like nature in order that he might dwell with her in love. She is not mentioned by name in the Quran, but Islamic tradition has it she is known as Hawa or Eve. From these two individuals generations of human beings have inhabited the earth. O mankind, we created you from a single pair of male and female, and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know each other, not that ye may despise each other. Verily the most honoured amongst you in the sight of Allah is the one who is the most righteous of you, and Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted with all things. It is not surprising that the Quran account of creation mirrors Genesis. Islam was a later development against an existing background of Christianity and Judaism and adopts much of the Old Testament and parts of the New Testament as part of the history of the Muslim faith. In Islam, the adherents of Judaism and Christianity are collectively referred to as the people of the book. What is more interesting are the similarities in Genesis with other older Mesopotamian myths and that of the Hindus. But again this should not be surprising, given that people bringing the ancient Verdic culture to India were from the same geographical area as spawned the Mesopotamian cultures, who in turn were familiar with the Jewish traditions, including the Jewish and Israelite periods in exile in Mesopotamia. Babylonian creation myth is known as Enuma Elish, meaning when on high. It is from the late second century BCE, around eleven BC BCE, and is the only complete surviving account of ancient Near Eastern cosmology and predates the earliest records of Genesis. It was recovered by the English archaeologist Austin Henry Lannard in 1849 in fragmentary form in the ruined library at the ancient site of Nineveh, present day Mosul in Iraq. The earliest manuscript of the myth was excavated from Ashur and dated to the seventh century BCE, though it may have been recited as part of an oral tradition prior to this date. This date coincides with the rise of the Babylonian Empire. A form of the myth was first published by English Assyriologist George Smith in 1876. Active research and further excavations led to near completion of the text and improved translations. About a thousand lines and is recorded in Arcadian on seven clay tablets, each holding between 115 and 170 lines of Sumerio Akkadian cuneiform script. Most of Tablet five has never been recovered, but aside from this lacuna, the text is almost complete. The tablet Smith examined also contained attributions on the rear of the tablets. The first tablet contained eight lines. Smith's reconstruction and translation of this states When above Palace of Yusubanipal, King of Nations, King of Assyria, to whom Nebu and Tazmit attentive ears have given, he sought with diligent eyes the wisdom of the inscribed tablets, which amongst the kings who went before me, none of whose writing had sought. The wisdom of Neb, the impressions, of the god instructor, all delightful. On tablets I wrote, I studied, I observed, and for the inspection of my people, within my palace I placed Nebu was the Assyrian god of literacy, scribes and wisdom. Tazmet or Tasmitu was his wife. Over the seven tablets it describes the creation of the world, a battle between gods. It opened with Apsu, the god of fresh water and Timet, the goddess of salt water, as pre existing deities, and so it was not a species of ex Nilio myth, but rather one of order being imposed on existing chaos. Apsu and Tomat created lesser gods, but then Apsu planned to kill them. The lesser gods conspi and executed their revenge by killing Apsu, and Ua took his place. Ua and his consort Damkina had a son called Marduk, who is the central character of the myth. Timat was angry about the death of her husband. She takes Kingu as her new husband and makes him supreme deity. She creates monsters of the deep, comparative to the Titans of Greek mythology to do battle with the other gods. Marduk comes to the rescue of the other gods on the condition that he is made supreme deity. He kills Timat in a battle and dismembers her body. He uses half the dismembered body to create the heavens and the other half to create the earth and allocated control of these realms to different gods. On the earth he created Babylon as his seat of power. At the end of the creation process, the gods gather to worship Marjuk and call out his fifty names, which is a list of his divine attributes. The epic does not rhyme and has no metre. It's composed of couplets usually written on the same line, occasionally forming quadranes. The following translation is based on the translation by EA Spizer Febru one When on high the heavens had not been named, firm ground below had not been called by name, naught but primordial Apsu, their begeta, and Timat, she who bore them all, their waters commingling as a single body. No reed hut had been matted, no marshland had appeared. When no gods, whatever, had been brought into being, uncalled by name, their destinies undetermined, then it was that the gods were formed within them. The commotion of these new gods disturbed and disgusted Apsu, and Apsu could not calm them. Apsu called Mamu to speak with Taimat, and he proposed to destroy the new gods, but Timat was reluctant to destroy what they had made. Mamu advised Apsu to destroy them, and he embraced Mamu. The new gods heard of this and were worried. Ea, however, crafted a spell to allow Apsu to sleep. Mammu sought to wake Apsu but could not. Ea took Apsu's halo and wore it himself, slew Apsu and chained Mamu. Apsu became the dwelling place of Ea, together with his wife Damkina. Then the Har of Apsu, Ea and Damkina created Marduk. The splendor of Marjuk exceeded Ea and the other gods, and Ea called him My Son the Sun. Anu created the four winds. Other god taunted Timat. When your consort Apsu was slain you did nothing, and complained of the wearisome wind. Timat then made monsters to battle with the other gods, eleven chimeric creatures with weapons, with the god Kingu chief of the war party and her new consort. She gave Kingu the tablet of destinies, making his command unchallengeable. Tablet two Eard of Timat's plan to fight and avenge Apsu. He spoke to his grandfather Ansha, telling that many gods had gone to Tamu's cause and that she had created eleven monsters, monstrous creatures fit for war and made Kingu their leader, wielding the tablet of destinies. Ansha was troubled and told Anu to go appease Taimat, but he was too weak to face her and turned back. Ansu became more worried, thinking no god could resist Taimat. Finally, Anshu proposed Marju as their champion. Marjuk was brought forth and asked what god he must fight, to which Anshu replied that it was not a god but the goddess Taimat. Marjuk confidently predicted his victory, but exacted the promise to proclaim him supreme god with authority over even Ansha. Tablet three Ansha spoke to Gaga, who advised him to fetch Lamu and Lamua and tell them of Taimat's war plans and of Marjuk's demand for lordship if he defeats her. Lamu and Lamua, another Agigai, heavenly gods, were distressed, but drank together, becoming drowsy and finally approved the compact with Marjuk Tablet four. Marjuk was given a throne and sat over the other gods who wanted him. Lord truly thy decree is first amongst the gods. Say but to recor create it shall be open thy mouth, the images will vanish, speak again, and the images shall be whole. His body was aflame. Using the four winds, Marjuk trapped Timat, adding a whirlwind, a cyclone, and the evil wind together. The seven winds stirred up Timat in his war chariot, drawn by four creatures he advanced. He challenged Timat, stating she had unrightfully made Kingu her consulate, accusing her of being the source of the trouble. Enraged, Timat joined Marduk in single combat. Marduk used a net, a gift from Anu to entangle Timat. Timat attempted to swallow Marjuk, but the evil wind filled her mouth. mouth. With the wind swirling within her, she became distended. Marjuk then shot his arrow, hitting her heart. She was slain. The other gods attempted to flee, but Marjuk captured them, broke their weapons, and netted them. Her eleven monsters were also captured and chained whilst Kingu was imprisoned and the table of destinies taken from him. Marjuk then smashed Timat's head with a mace while her blood was carried off by the North Wind. Marjuk then split Timat's remains in two. From one half he made the sky. In it he made places for Anu, Anel and Ea Tablet five Mark made likenesses of the gods in the constellations and defined the days of the year from them. He created night and day and the moon also. He created clouds and rain and their water made the Tigris and Euphrates. He gave the table of destinies to Anu. Statue to the eleven monsters of Timet were made and installed the gates of Apsu. Tablet six Marju then spoke to Ea, saying he would use his own blood to create man and that man would serve the gods. Era advised one of the gods be chosen as a sacrifice. The Egi advised a kingu be chosen his blood was then used to create man and to construct Babylon whose buildings you have requested let its bricks be fashioned. You shall name it the sanctuary Marjuk then divided the gods into above and below three hundred in the heavens six hundred on the earth. The gods then proposed to build a throne or shrine for him. Marjuk told them to construct Babylon. The gods then spent a year making the bricks they built the temple of Marjuk to great height, making it a place for Marjuk Ea and Enil. A banquet was then held with fifty of the great gods taking seat, Anu praising Enil's bow and then Marjuk. The first nine names or titles of Marjuk were given tablet seven the remainder of Marjuk's fifty names or titles were read. The Hindu Vedas contain the hymn of origins said to be three thousand years old, which are some similarities to Genesis account of creation but significantly inmits any reference to the creation of man and man's role in creation. It reads in the beginning there was neither existence nor non existence there was no atmosphere, no sky, no realm beyond the sky. What power was there? Where was that power? Who was that power? Was it finite or infinite? There was neither death immortality there was nothing to distinguish night from day there was no wind or breath God alone breathed by his own energy. Other gods there was nothing in the beginning darkness was swathed in darkness, all liquid and formless God was clothed in emptiness. Then fire arose within God and in the fire arose love. This was the seed of the soul sages have found this seed within their heart they have discovered that it is the bond between existence and non existence Who really knows what happened? Who can describe it? How were these things produced? Where was creation born? When the universe was created the one became many who knows how this occurred? Did creation happen at God's command or did it happen without his command? He looked down upon creation from the highest heaven only he knows the answer or perhaps he does not know. Hym of Origins comes from the Rigga Vita The Hindu Bhagavat Gita teaches that all creatures and things in the universe are composed of the same energy which manifests in different forms, including humans and godlike forms. The authors of the Gita were generally aware that this universal energy manifold was a continuous one and so all things were part of the one continuum. The energy forming a specific personal thing at one point in time is the energy forming something else or someone else at a different time. Hinduism and Buddhism both admit non human creatures and extraterrestrials populating an infinite number of interconnected universes, some of whom reincarnate in human form and vice versa. The most recent human Buddha Siddhartha Gautama circa four to sixth century BCE was said to have had incalculable previous lives as an animal human and gods in which he was inspired by previous Buddhas as he moved along the path to enlightenment. In general terms Buddhism teaches that the universe has no beginning, has existed forever but is constantly undergoing change. The English religious poet John Dunn fifteen, who was a contemporary of Shakespeare long ago expressed this same thought as follows No man is an island entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were as well as if a manner of thy friend or thine own were any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind and therefore never ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee Theogony, meaning the genealogy or birth of the Greek gods is a poem by Hesiod eighth seventh century BC, describing the origin and genealogy of the Greek gods. It is one of the most important sources for understanding Greek cosmology. It is not really a story about creation as such except in a very general way. According to Hesiod in the beginning there was nothing but chaos, a formless emptiness or void, but which was anthropomorphized i. e. attributed human characteristics. According to Hesiod, chaos created Nyx, a big bird with dark wings out of nothing, but the darkness was all around. Together Chaos and Nyx created Erebus to whom the underworld belonged. Erebus then took Nyx his mother as his wife and together they begot offsprings Aetha and Hemera. Aetha and Hemera were born Gaia the earth Gaia had three siblings Tartus hell Pontus Eros love. Without male assistance Gaia the mother earth gave birth to Uranus the sky. Uranus then took Gaia and brought forth the Titans there were six male and six female titans which included Cronos and Rhea. Uranus and Gaia also bred three cyclopses these were gigantic beings who are described as one eyed monsters these three represented lightning, thunder and lightning bolts named Bronte's, Argus and Sterops. These three were the first blacksmiths used by the gods. Uranus and Gaia also bred three Hecaton cherries, which means hundred handed these were also giant beings with fifty heads and a hundred arms each. They were named Agon, Cotus and Gaiges. They were very powerful beings and they were absolutely hated by their father Uranus. Uranus considered his children with Gaia to be monsters and as a result he ended up hiding them deep inside Gaia herself, i. e. deep inside the earth. Gaia began her plot against Uranus by creating a hard flint stone within herself. She turned this flint stone into a very sharp sickle with a curved blade. She then went to her children, all of whom were currently residing within her and making her increasingly uncomfortable for help to overthrow their father and bring an end to his tyranny. Unfortunately all of her children were afraid of the god Uranus, all except the last born son, Cronos. Gaia hid her son Cronos in ambush. That very evening when Uranus came to Gaia's bed, Cronos leaped out and cast straight at his own father with the sickle given to him by his mother. Cronus threw the severed genitals into the sea, where they created Aphrodite, the goddess of love. It is said that the blood which dripped from Uranus's severed genitals fell on the earth and with each drop a new creation was born. Uranus was overthrown and Cronos became the king of the gods. As the new king, Cronos took his sister Rhea, and together they had divine sons and daughters Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon and Zeus. Cronos feared that one of them would do to him as he had done to his father and overthrow him, so as soon as any one of them was born he would snatch it from Rhea and swallow it whole. Rhea plotted to have Cronos stopped and to put an end to his mistreatment of her children. When she was due to give birth to Zeus, she hid from Cronos and gave birth in secret. She then wrapped a rock in the baby's clothes and presented it to Cronos, who immediately snatched it and swallowed it whole. Zeus was hidden in the island of Crete where he drew up into a powerful young god. When Zeus was grown he challenged his father and forced him to vomit his siblings. Zeus also released the cyclopses and hectacheris from where Cronus had imprisoned them. In gratitude the cyclops being expert metal workers gave Zeus his lightning and thunderbolts to Poseidon they gave a powerful trident and to Hades a helmet of invincibility. Together the brothers and uncles banded together as Olympians to overthrow the Titans in a great battle. As the new king of the gods Zeus took his sister Hera, wife, but also carried on with numerous nymphs and other beings as concubines who bore him many sons and daughters. Theogony is long and is translated from classical Greek. It contains numerous references to other gods and places that would not be meaningful to most listeners. For that reason I've not recited the full text of Hesiod, but it is included in the hard copy that can be downloaded with this program. As with the Greek myths the Egyptians had some myths that dealt with creation and some that dealt with the genealogy of their gods. The myths originate in the predynastic period around six thousand to three one hundred BCE but were not necessarily recorded in that time. One of these creation myths the existing god Atom or Ra was the divine creator. His children Shu and Tefnut created Geb, the god of the earth and Nut, the goddess of the heavens, who in turn created Osirius a male and Isis a female god. Humanity was created from the eye of Ra, who incarnated himself as a human king. Isis was also incarnated as a human woman. In this incarnated state Isis plotted to overthrow Ra and trick him into disclosing his secret name, the knowledge of which carried the divine supreme power. Isis then used the power to displace Ra, who then disappeared from earthly existence. Pangu is a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology and in Taoism. According to legend Pangu separated heaven and earth and his body later became geographic features such as mountains and flowing waters. The earliest known writer to record the myth of Pangu is believed to have been Zi Seng during the Three Kingdoms period between 220 and 280 AD following the end of the Han dynasty. In the beginning there was nothing and the universe was in a featureless, formless primordial state. This primordial state coalesced into a cosmic egg over the course of about eighteen thousand years. Within it the perfectly opposed principles of Ying and Yang became balanced and Pangu emerged or woke up from the egg. Pangu is usually depicted as a primitive hairy giant with horns on his head. Pangu began creating the world he separated Ying from Yang with a swing of his giant axe creating the earth and the sky to keep them separated. Pengu stood between them and pushed up the sky. With each day the sky grew three meters higher and the earth three meters thicker and Pangu three meters taller. In some versions of the story Pangu is aided in this task by the four holy beasts the turtle, Qui Lin, or like a bull, the Phoenix and the dragon. There are many different legends about Pangu's creation of the world with some saying that this task took eighteen thousand years while others say that he lived for a million years. One version of the legend says that at the centre of Pangu's celestial realm stood a mountain he called Seven Treasures Peak, which is where he built a home called the Jade Terrace of the mysterious city. Far away resided the Jade Maiden who he saw wandering through the great limitlessness one day. He invited her to come and live with him at Seven Treasures Peak. The Union gave birth to the Emperor of the East and the Empress of the West as well as the celestial lord who then created the terrestrial lord who in turn gave birth to the Lord of humanity. Other versions of the legend state that he had no direct offspring and that his stead that instead his body transformed after his death into all forms of life in the universe. When Pangu died his breath became the wind, mist and clouds, his voice thunder, his left eye the sun, his right eye the moon, his head the mountains and extremes of the world, his blood rivers, his muscles fertile land, his facial hairs, the stars of the Milky Way, his fur bushes and forest, his boned valuable minerals, his bone marrow precious jewels, his sweat rain, and the fleas on his fur carried by the wind became animals another version to the story his body turned into a mountain. From their creation myths the Jewish Christian and Islamic theologies attempt to solve what is known as the riddle of Epicurus, which goes under the rubric of theodicy which deals with the presence of evil in the world and how evil in the world can be the product of a just God The riddle goes Is God willing to prevent evil but not able then he is not omnipotent. Is he able but not willing then he is malevolent Is he both able and willing then whence comes evil? Is he neither able nor willing then why call him God? Various answers to the riddle of Epicurus have been proffered by Jewish Christian and Islamic theologians over the centuries but they mostly come down to the following propositions The first in the Old Testament Isaiah forty five seven says that God actually created evil the second these calamities are allowed by God to test and strengthen the resolution of men as most poignantly identified in the book of Job and in one Peter in the New Testament third possibility suffering is good for the soul because it helps bring sinners to God the fourth the permitted evil is for the purpose of extracting a future good of some form the humans undergoing the calamities simply lack the vantage point to see the ultimate good. The fifth pain and suffering are caused by choices made by humanity and God respects humanity's right to choose this path. Sixth evil is the result of God's punishment for the sins of Adam, which is the traditional Christian line from Saint Augustine seven evil is necessary for the harmony of the world as a vehicle of change. Put differently evil is the God given means for the world self development eight evil is the self alienation of humans and their failure to have matured into a full self consciousness. nine evil is the work of Satan to this list can be added three more arising from Islamic scholars. First, humans don't understand the mind of God and it is arrogance on man's part to question why evil exists. Secondly humans should trust and defer to the wisdom of God that any suffering is good for them. Thirdly the suffering of innocent people is temporary in cosmic time scale and they will be compensated for in the afterlife. The Greek Orthodox view that infants are innocent creatures that progressively learn to adapt to the law of survival of the fittest is consistent with the idea of Rousseau that it is society that indoctrinates and corrupts the original innocence of the noble savage. The innocence of children is something most of us recognise and that is fairly expressed by the anonymous author Polychek in his poem The Innocence of a child which reads Upon first opening its eyes so new and so fresh, unable to believe in evil, seeing only the beauty laid out in magnificent vistas before its eyes, no darkness is able to embed itself in this child so pure are its thoughts only lights enter unchallenged and nestle inside it reaches its tiny cherub like fists and grabs fistfuls of light, holding that wondrous light in the palm of its hand, laughing at its perception of beauty a light as pure as this child, nothing dark in either in either it or the child. A frightening ethereal essence consumed them both, but they were unafraid of this nor was it afraid of them. The beauty of this child and the light it held were otherworldly when it first opened its eyes. By way of contrast the view of the Roman Catholic Church and most Protestant theologies is the Augustine approach and asserts that a child is born tainted with the original sin from Adam and Eve's transgressions. Which then just brings us back to the riddles post or as to why an all powerful and just God allowed any of this to happen anyway, and why it is fair to punish innocent children who had no role in the transgressions of Adam and Eve.