What did God do on the eighth day?

These are questions that are not supposed to be asked. How dare someone question the bible and every word that can be translated literal or not-so-literal depending on the time of day and person reading it(please note: sarcasm applied).

I never got the whole "I screwed up, let me flush the world down the toilet and start over" thing either.
 
Last edited:
marksman said:
Question 2: When he was creating the Universe, did he pre-plan it, or did he just went along as it came to him and it just happened to take six days to do it?

No idea. God never explained the process.
Click to expand...

But doesn't the fact that it took six days imply that there was structure to his workplan? If he's omnipotent, and outside space and time, couldn't he just have created everything at once?

Question 4: Why did he need to rest?

It's never said God needs to rest. In fact, one of the points of Sabbath rest is that you rest whether or not you think you need a rest; you rest because rest is itself a good thing to do from time to time.
Click to expand...
But why is it good for God, an all powerful and eternal being? Rest from what? Does he feel fatigue?
 
Question 2.1. But doesn't the fact that it took six days imply that there was structure to his workplan?

No, it doesn't imply anything. As I said, it's metaphorical, not literal, to most Jews. Does a sonnet "need" to be broken into 14 lines? Does that imply that a sonneteer is incapable of writing longer poems? No.


Question 2.2. If he's omnipotent, and outside space and time, couldn't he just have created everything at once?

Yes, if he's omnipotent and outside space and time, obviously he could have. That's tautological. (I'm not sure that Judaism believes that God is or isn't omnipotent or outside space and time, by the way.)


Question 4.1. But why is it good for God, an all powerful and eternal being?

I don't know. The Book of Genesis doesn't say why God thinks it's good to rest. Perhaps "rest" means taking the time to appreciate the handiwork one makes. That sounds like a "good" thing to do, even if one doesn't "need" to do it. Or maybe some other reason. Maybe He's just leading by example in this instance. It's all speculation because He never explains why He chooses to rest on the first Sabbath.

But it doesn't mean that God "needs" to rest. God didn't "need" to created the world either. He just wanted to, so He did (according to the story).
 
Crossbow said:
The eighth day was for "Miller Time".

;)
Click to expand...

Well, if Saturday is the sabbath, and the day he rested, then given that Creation occurred in October, that means on Sunday he probably watched some football. So yeah, he might have cracked open a cold one.

If you are of the "Sunday is the day of rest" ilk, then clearly on the 8th day, he watched Monday Night Football.
 
Last edited:
On the eighth day, God noticed that all the stuff that seemed so good on days 1-6 (esp. day 6) were perhaps not so great after all: the man was lonely; the man and woman disobeyed; their children started killing each other. Eventually he decided they all sucked and pissed all over his creation.
 
Wasn't the eighth day the day God worked out the intimate details regarding masterbation?
 
As in Enuma elish, the Babylonian creation epic, the reason for God (or the gods, particularly Marduk) resting wasn't because they were tuckered out. Rather, the right to rest denoted sovereignty.

When the gods originally start ordering the cosmos they disturbed the rest of Ti'amat, which was tantamount to rebellion. Likewise, in the Akkadian flood myth, Atrahasis, the noise made by humans disturbs the rest of the gods. Also, when Saul, with the help of the witch of Endor, pulls the shade of Samuel from Sheol, the ghost angrily demands why Saul disturbed him. Saul, a mere mortal was disturbing the realm of the immortal dead.

So, the answer from those who worshipped Yahweh in ancient times would be that God was still resting, i.e. sovereign.
 
If God is omnipotent why didn't he do it in one second instead of six days? Hmm? Hmm??
 
IF he is perfect, why did he have to destroy the world and start over? What a tool.
 
pgwenthold said:
Well, if Saturday is the sabbath, and the day he rested, then given that Creation occurred in October, that means on Sunday he probably watched some football. So yeah, he might have cracked open a cold one.

If you are of the "Sunday is the day of rest" ilk, then clearly on the 8th day, he watched Monday Night Football.
Click to expand...

Sorry, back in those days it would have been "Sunday Night Stoneball".
 
Pardalis said:
To me one of the most obvious things in the Bible that shows humans have made it up is the idea that God had to rest after finishing the job of creating everything. Only human beings could have thought of giving God a resting period (how very altruistic of them). Why would an omnipotent and eternal being need to rest?
Click to expand...
The reason is that there was an existing Jewish tradition of observing the Sabbath. This probably arose for the practical reason that if everyone agreed to take a certain day off each week, there would be no unfair competition from people who continued to work while others were resting, and people wouldn't be economically pressured into working themselves to death.

The week, of course, is a period based upon the four phases of the moon.

Little Jewish children probably wondered why they had to observe the Sabbath, so, in the interest of impressing its importance upon them, a cute bedtime story was made up where God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh.

Unfortunately, nobody realized that in the absence of science, stories like that can get totally out of hand. I can imagine going back in time to find the person who originally made up the creation tale, and hearing him say "but it was just a story I made up to get my kids to fall asleep!"
 
Last edited:
"On the eighth day machine just got upset
A problem man had never seen as yet
No time for flight, a blinding light
And nothing but a void, forever night
He said: Behold what man has done
There's not a world for anyone
Nobody laughed, nobody cried
World's at an end, everyone has died
Forever amen (amen), amen (amen), amen (amen)"

(Hazel O'Connor, 'Eighth Day', 1980 #5 hit in the UK)
 
God had to neither pre-plan nor plan anything. Plans are a requirement in a world of incomplete knowledge and competency. Therefore God has no need of planning, and can just immediately start doing, perfectly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom