When studying the Bible scholars tend to split it up into the Old Testament and the New Testament. Both canons were written at different times and reflect different types of Gods. In the New Testament God is seen mostly as a loving, kind God who sends his only son to save his people. To show how much he loves his creation, and is willing to sacrifice for it. Conversely, in the Old Testament, from which we read for Monday’s class, God is seen as an omnipotent being who has total control over the life and death of the population. This type of God can be paralleled with the God that the Pima story portrays. In the Pima adaptation the Doctor of the Earth sees that his creation is flawed and thus decides to start fresh by simply destroying all the life that he had created. The Doctor of the Earth does this several times because of the imperfections his creations portray. A similarity between Gods can be seen from the Christian story about Noah and his arc. In this story the God also sees that his creation had become flawed and corrupt. God is so disgusted that he only decides to save Noah, his family, and two of each animal. Although, both gods are omnipotent beings, they decide to save something from their original creation.

In the Old Testament God is not often unkind to his creations. Every once in a while when God decides that his people are doing something that is unsatisfactory to him he does not hesitate to punish them. In this way God is showing his authority over his people. The phrase “The Kingdom of God” is interesting because it implies that God is the monarch, the sole ruler of the kingdom who posses total control. God seems to give Adam and Eve ultimate freedom to do what they please. His only stipulation is to not eat of the tree of good and evil because they will then know what God knows, thus making them equals and breaking his dominion over them. When Adam and Eve eat from the forbidden tree, they created what is known in Christianity as original sin. By creating original sin Adam and Eve gave the rest of humanity free will to ultimately do as they please. After breaking this bond with God, he essentially curses them and their descendants. God’s theme of omnipotence continues throughout the rest of the Old Testament.

By Leila Laurila