Creation

toc =How did the World Come to Be: Different Beliefs=

Christianity
According to the Christians (like the Jews), believe that Earth was created by God. They believe that God created the world in six days and that he rested on the seventh day. This is the order God created the universe and Earth in:
 * 1) On the first day, he created day and night
 * 2) Second day: God made the sky
 * 3) Third day: God separated the land from the sea, and he created plants
 * 4) Fourth day: he created the Sun, Moon and stars
 * 5) Fifth day: creation of sea creatures and birds
 * 6) Sixth day: all other animals and humans
 * 7) Seventh day: he finished and rested

Judaism
Like the Christians, the Jews also believed that God created the world in 7 days.
 * 1) In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. He created light, and realizing it was good, he separated it from darkness, and he named the two 'day' and 'night'. Some people say he also created the Torah, the Book of the Five Moses, which contains all religious and legal texts.
 * 2) On the 2nd day, after God had created day and night, he made an arch to the sky separating Earth and water.
 * 3) On the 3rd day, God made dry land with plants growing appear. God saw that this was good.
 * 4) On the 4th day, God created the great light and the small light for day and night. This was probably the Sun and the Moon. God was pleased.
 * 5) On the 5th day, God let the waters fill with creatures, and the sky with birds.
 * 6) On the 6th day, God created all life. Then God said, "I will take dust and create man, Adam to be the master of all creatures:" God created Adam in his own image. God realized that Adam needed a friend, so he created Lilith out of dust. But Lilith would not live with Adam, so God created another woman. While Adam was sleeping, God took one of his ribs and created Eve.
 * 7) On the last day, God rested in Paradise. When Adam and Eve ate fruit from the tree of knowledge, which they weren't allowed to, so God was angry. He sent them to live on Earth, as a punishment for what they had done.

Hinduism[[image:brahma.jpg width="194" height="240" align="right" caption="Lord Brahma, the creator" link="@http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/00137/indian_mythology.htm"]]
At the beginning of time, the God Lord Brahma (lord of the universe, keeping peace on earth), was floating on a banyan leaf on the beginning waters. Out of his different body parts he created the universe.
 * With his mouth he made speech, and out of speech communication.
 * From his mind he made the Vedas, the religious texts.
 * With his tongue he created the Holy water, the Amrita.
 * From his nose he made the sky and stars.
 * From his pupils, he created Heaven and the Sun
 * His ears became places of worship.
 * With his hair he created the clouds and rain.
 * From his beard, he created lightning, to show the power of the Gods.
 * His nails created rocks.
 * From his bones he made the mountains.

The Gods of the Hindu religion are: Lord Brahma the Creator, Lord Vishnu the Preserver and Lord Shiva the Destroyer. Hindu's believe that this isn't the first universe, or the first world. The universes have to be destroyed in order to be recreated, so Lord Vishnu destroys them, and Lord Brahma creates them again. The cycle keeps going.

Buddhism
The Buddhists believe that the universe is a cycle. They have no term of 'God', simply because they haven't got a God. They believe that first in the cycle (kalpa) there is a surface of water, on which lands form. Spirits that used to live in the previous kalpa would relive and make human-kind. Unhappiness would start taking over, like today they say. Buddhists believe that after a period of time the universe would start to dissolve, and eventually the cycle would start from the beginning again.

Taoism


Taoists believe that there once was chaos and darkness everywhere, and that in the darkness, an egg formed. Inside the giant Pangu came to life. In the egg he grew and slept, and when he had grown to a large size, he stretched out his arms and legs. Doing this, he broke the egg forming Heaven and Earth, the lighter parts of the egg going up and the darker ones going down. They were called Yin and Yang. But Pangu was afraid that Heaven and Earth might meld together again, so he placed himself between both by having his feet on the ground and his holding up the sky . This was a bit of a problem because Pangu about 3 meters a day for 18,000 years. When Earth and the sky were 30,000 km apart, Pangu though it would do. He was so exhausted of his work that he went to sleep and never woke up (he died). Because of Pangu's death, his different body parts created things on Earth:
 * His breath formed the wind and clouds
 * His voice created lightning and thunder
 * His eyes became the Sun and the Moon
 * His arms and legs made the four directions on a compass
 * His flesh became soil/earth and the trees that grow on it
 * His blood became the rivers
 * His veins became the paths people travel
 * His skin as well as body hair became the grass and herbs
 * His bones and teeth made precious stones
 * His sweat made dew
 * His hair on his head made the stars in heaven
 * The parasites on his body became the different races of humankind

**My Thoughts**

I don't think I actually believe in anything about how the world was created. I would say the scientific way is the most likely, but that's just what I think. If I had to choose one of these religions to believe, I would probably say it would be Buddhism. I don't think that there is any God (or any other supernatural being), but that the world could just slowly form. I don't know what else to say, because I don't want to offend anyone.

My Questions
These are some questions I keep asking myself.
 * Why are there so many religions?
 * If people are born with a religion, do they have to believe in it?