Magician's Assistant - Friends & Lovers Part 9

"Tell you what. On the off chance that either one or the other or both of you happen to be a Doubting Thomas about this, and thinks I'm bird-turdin' you, here's what I propose we do. After we finish up here, my suggestion is that the three of us head back up to my room. There, we should be able to locate a Gideon Bible without to much trouble. Then, the two of you can take a look-see for yourselves, and verify that what I'm telling you is the truth, and that there really are two distinctly different versions of the creation scenario.

"Let's see. if my recollection serves me correctly, and I'm pretty sure it does, Genesis 1:1 through 2:3 contains the first version, while Genesis 2:4 through 25 recounts the second.

"In Version One, over a six day period, God created the heavens and the earth, light, night and day, the sky, dry land, vegetation, trees, the sun, the moon, stars, the seasons, living creatures of the sky, sea and earth, and lastly, mankind. Now, this is where I'm in complete accord with Mark Twain, who I believe said something to the effect that man was created just a little lower than the angels, and has been getting a little lower ever since. Okay! So, after God does all of that, being that He's a tad bit tuckered out from all His labors, on the seventh day, God rested.

"Oddly enough, though it isn't germane to this discussion of ours, if you read Genesis 1:29 and 1:30, it appears that God was encouraging us to be vegetarians.

"Now, what is interesting about Version Number One is that there is no mention of Adam, or Eve, or the Garden of Eden. They are somehow reserved for Version Number Two. While it is true that Genesis 1:26 through 1:28 of Version Number One tells us that God created man, male and female, and directed them, or, if you'd like, us, to behave like a lot of gainfully employed bunnies in the midst of their annual rutting season, no specific names are mentioned. In other words, what God did was to direct mankind in general 'to be fruitful and multiply'.