Creation Stories Essay -- Creation Beginning Life Religion Essays

Creation Stories   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Where do we come from? The creation of the world has for centuries been told through many different stories, in different languages, and from a variety of religions across the world. The founders of each religion developed every creation story, and as religions vary greatly in beliefs, so do their stories of how the world and mankind were created. Although many of these creation stories differ, they have a close mystical and spiritual bind that brings people together. Two particular creation stories from very diverse religions are that of the Native Americans and the Christians. Unlike Christians who worship one god, Native Americans worship two high gods as well as a variety of natural and supernatural forces. Although both stories may differ from one another in determining their belief of creation, they both are similar in which both religions believe that through ceremonies and worship that they will be at harmony with god. Through their creation stories we can interperate their understanding of the world around them, how they view life, and how they are compatible and incompatible with one another.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Native Americans believe that all things of nature have a spiritual value in life, they use animals, insects, plants, and other forms of nature to symbolize spirits in their stories. Native Americans have a variety of creation stories in which different tribes depict how they believe the world and evolution came to be. The Osage tribe has a creation story in which the world is emerged out of chaos; the Seneca tribe has a creation story in which the world came together through a clash of good and evil. The creation story that is found in many tribes is that of ?Inktomi?, also known as ? spider woman? whom they believe created earth and life. They believe that spider woman spun a line to form the east, west, north, and south, from which came the Four Corners of the earth. Those who had forgotten the gift of her thread would drown in the great flood she sent, but for those who remembered they floated to the New World and climbed unto the safety of mother earth. The N ative American creation story reveals that they understand the world to be a place of equality. In the following passage the creation of man is depicted from the use of different clays: ? Spider woman used the clay of the earth, red, yellow, white, and black, to c... ... But for some Native Americans they believe that when they die their soul takes form as a part of nature, whether a bird, tree, or wolf, and like their ancestors they will provide as a guardian for their people after them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After learning of the varying stories that the Native American and Christian religions depict of creation, I have come to the conclusion that they all have a similarity with one another despite their other differences. They both have the belief that a higher force, for the Native Americans it was the Spider Woman and for the Christians it was God, created the earth and humanity. For religions such as these the scientific explanation of creation holds no importance in their lives, because their faith and teachings of their creation story justifies their belief. Across the world the cultures, languages, and beliefs that separate people from one another are erased when it comes down to the story of our beginning, our creation story. Like seen in the compatibalities of the Christians and Native Americans their creation stories have for centuries interpreted their understanding of the world around them, spiritually binding people from all religions together.