Essay on Native American Creation Story versus Christian Creation

Creation myths have similar aspects involving the importance of issues allowed by the gods, nature, duality, and creation songs that all relate to the beginning of life, that are expressed in different ways. The Iroquois cultures in “The World on the Turtle’s Back” and the Hopi cultures in“The Four Kingdoms” both explore these different aspects specifically. They show how life can be created and maintained in different ways.

For thousands of years, scientists have tried to interpret the concept of creation. However, before people had access to modern scientific equipment, they told creations stories. A creation story is a myth that explains how and why the earth was made. A few cultures with differing opinions on creation are Europeans, Cherokee Indians, West Africans, and Hawaiians. Europeans tell the story of Genesis and God creating the earth in seven days and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Cherokee Indians believe that the earth was created by a water beetle. In West African culture, they teach the Golden Chain story, and Hawaiians have the Kumulipo story to explain their beliefs on creation. Although each story follows a basic guideline, they all have distinct disparities.

In the Christian version, there is nothing but darkness in the beginning. In the Native American version, there is a world like no other. In both versions, there’s one person who creates the whole world themselves. The Christian version says that God created Earth and everything

In some ways or what not, the bible of the Iroquois and Judeo-Christian are similar then most people see. To begin with, both religions are led by either a spiritual being or figure. As usual, the two stories begin with the spiritual thing or being creates the earth and all the animals and land on it.

Often a topic of debate, there are several different takes on the creation story existent in literature. Dependent on one’s religion, different beliefs about how the world we live in was created may arise. Looking deeper into the literature, one will realize there are also many similarities between creation stories. Based on the strong possibility that Genesis was influenced by the Enuma Elish, there are similarities that stem from the fact that they both describe the creation of a new world as well as differences in their interpretations and approaches to creationism.

Creation myths have varying optimistic views on the creation of man. However, most creation myths agree that a god or gods of sorts sculpted man from the Earth’s clay. The creation myths “The Golden Chain” and “The World on the Turtle’s Back” come from two different tribes, the Seneca and the Iroquois, and share an optimistic view of mankind as well as the idea that man is made from clay. Even though both the Seneca and Iroquois tribes both believe that man is made from clay, they believe that man is created using a different method than that of the other. The Seneca tribe believes that man is created by Obatala in a state of abnormality because Obatala is drunk, while the Iroquois believe that mankind was created in a normal state of mind

One of the first differences between the Iroquois’ beliefs and Christianity is the theory on “the creation of life”. The Iroquois believe in a creator God called ‘Hahgwehdiyu’, which was the good spirit of the twin Gods of Wind Breath. He shaped the world with the palm of his hands and recycled the corpse of his dead mother to create the sky, moon and the sun. He planted a grain of corn in her to give the world fertility. It is believed that when the Sky Woman, or the mother, fell from the sky she would fertilize the earth so her granddaughters could grow and harvest many things. They also believe in a current God called

Our origin stories and religions today can be phenomenally similar to those of ancient Native American tribes. The Iroquois and Shawnee creation stories each have great similarities to each other and to the creation story found in the Bible. For the Iroquois, the world started as water and sky, filled with birds and fish. The creation story found in the Bible includes a day when the world was only water and sky, only with fish and birds to inhabit the earth. For the Shawnee creation story, “Together [Grandmother and her

Another biblical example of a moral or intrinsic evil is the result of Adam and Eves disobedience of God’s free will in the Garden of Eden and becomes even more clear to them with the birth of their two sons, Cain and Abel. The birth of these two sons brings the evil of lethal violence to society. It begins with rivalry amongst siblings of jealousy and family fighting. Cain’s jealousy finally ends with him making the decision to commit murder and kill his brother Abel. This decision of moral or intrinsic evil made by Cain is the first taking of human life and the deterioration of humanity’s condition. The act of murder is not an act of God, it is an act of man and because of man’s action, evil succeeds in society. Again, the problem of

While the Hebrews believed that God created everything that surrounds us and follow the bible on creation. There is the Iroquois that believe that their world was created by the people above in the Sky World. Then there is the Hebrews that believe that God created all that there is in the world. Both cultures, have passed down their stories of creation to their younger generations and those generations have passed the stories down and so on. Also, both cultures have kept the stories alive by retelling them and following what they believe in. Through the generations, the stories have changed for both sides of the spectrum. However, the idea has stayed the same and the lesson is still just as clear as before. These stories are shared and taught to the youth in each of these

The difference in writing styles between the Iroquois Creation Myth and Christopher Columbus’ letters is very significant. The Iroquois Creation Myth is much more mystical and entertaining while Columbus’ letters are more formal and simply recounting events. Though the two pieces of literature have their differences, there are still some similarities. The Iroquois Creation Myths focus on nature and animals. Likewise, when Christopher Columbus is writing his letters, he describes the nature around him in great detail.

Imagine a man suddenly cast into a world he never could have dreamed of. He would be shocked by the unfamiliarity all around him, from the people to the plants, and confused of what to do. A man cut off from what he knows is only left with two options, either to reject his new circumstances, or find a way to assimilate to his new society. This man will either try to find a way to return back to his world, or find a way to adjust his life to his surroundings. Throughout history separate cultures have collided, and with each collision they have either melded together or rejected each other.The Heart of Darkness and The Poisonwood Bible both portray how although every individual can react differently, when faced with the collision of two

In Genesis, the first book of The Bible the Christian and Jewish creation story is told. God spoke and his Word was done. He made the heavens and the earth. He made light and drove away the dark. On the earth he created the waters and lands and man and beast.

A Mohawk Traditional proverb stated that every person "has both a bad heart and a good heart" and that "no man is perfect" ( Bilhartz, 2006, p. 342). The Native Americans did not have the Old World's concept of "sin" or human violations of the divine order, but their insights on the origins of good and evil were expressed in their creation stories. The story that stood out for me was the creation account of the Oneidas. The story explained that there were twin deities that had opposing ideas in regards to creation. When one of the deities created man for the other deity, they made an agreement that they would share control of the man's offspring. However, one of the deities broke the agreement in order to obtain total control of mankind and preserve their innocence. Consequently, the other deity would then try to regain control over mankind by influencing them to do evil (Bilhartz, 2006, p. 344). I found this intriguing because the Oneidas' notion that a deity is causing them to do evil would seem to provide them no accountability for their actions. This is different from Christianity's notion that evil is a result of humanity's choice to disobey

The only difference is that in this Indian story, not even God (or an equivalent form) was there. Egyptians and Chinese imagined the same scene, the Nun and the chaotic egg with a giant (Egyptian, Lin 1). In contrast with the creation out of nothing, the indigenous Australian mythology tells us that the stars, the sky, the sun, the moon, and the ancestors of all lives were already present in the beginning, but they are sleeping under the crust of the earth in the water holes (Aborigine). Seneca people believed that humans were living in the heaven originally, and there were only ocean and ocean living lives on the earth (Creation). It is very interesting to recognize how important water is to lives. Every account of creation that I have read included water before anything else was present.