ContentsChapter 3 of 11

The Origin of the World

Answers to Your Questions About the Origin of the World

Many people have questions about the origin of the world. How did the universe begin? Where did everything come from? Did someone make this world and the people who live in it, or is it all the result of chance? These are important questions. Their answers determine what you think about yourself, about other people and about the world around us.

Listen to what the Bible says!

  1. 1.How did our universe begin?

    God created it.

    By faith we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.

    Hebrews 11:3

  2. 2.Where did the first man and the first woman come from?

    God created them.

    The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

    Genesis 2:7

  3. 3.Where did these people live?

    In a beautiful place called the Garden of Eden.

    The LORD God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

    Genesis 2:8

  4. 4.What was their relationship to the rest of creation?

    God gave man a position of glory and honor over everything He had created.

    For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet:

    Psalms 8:5-6

  5. 5.What responsibilities did God assign to them?

    God told them to rule over the earth, care for it and fill it with their descendants.

    God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

    Genesis 1:28

  6. 6.What was the world like when God finished His work of creation?

    Everything was very good.

    God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

    Genesis 1:31

  7. 7.Why is it important that the world was created by God instead of being formed by accident or chance?

    The whole world and its inhabitants belong to God, because He made them.

    The earth is the LORD’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell in it.

    Psalms 24:1

  8. 8.What is God’s attitude toward His creation?

    God cares about this world and about its inhabitants, about each one of them.

    I will meditate on the glorious majesty of your honor, on your wondrous works.

    Psalms 145:5

    The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works.

    Psalms 145:17

  9. 9.How should we respond to God our Creator?

    We should love Him, worship Him and give Him honor.

    You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.

    Deuteronomy 6:5