Genesis, 2:4-7

This is the New American Bible: "Such is the story of the heavens and the earth at their creation. Second Story of Creation. At the time when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens--while as yet there was no field shrub on earth and no grass of the field had sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil, but a stream was welling up out of the earth and watering all the surface of the ground--the Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being." Let me quote from the note on Page 5 of this bible: "2, 4b-25: This section is chiefly concerned with the creation of man. It is much older than the narrative of Gn 1, 1--2,4a. Here God is depicted as creating man before the rest of his creatures, which are made for man's sake." Humans from the beginning are created from earth or clay and God breathed life into the earthen figurine, shaped but lifeless. Humans were half-physical and half-spiritual, with De's divine breathe breathed into them to give them spiritual and biological life, consciousness as living beings. The world and its creatures were made for humans's sake, and this the environmentalists need to remember, though environmental recklessness is not acceptable either. Now let me quote the same lines from The Holy Bible: "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord made the earth and the heavens. And every plant of the field before it was in the earth and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." This interpretation of alive man or humans as living souls gives me an insight into two kinds of soul made and recognized by God. While living mortals here on earth, we are living souls, earthly, alive creatures. After death we are departed souls, alive biologically no more, but still alive as spiritual beings, or dead souls so to speak.