(a) Highlight the steps taken by God to change a formless earth to a place of life and activity (b) ldentify four ways human beings are destroying God's cre...

Answer Details

(a) The steps God took to change a formless earth into a place of life and activity (Genesis 1:1 - 2:3)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, while the Spirit of God moved over the waters. God then brought order, light and life through the work of six days:

• First day: God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. He separated the light from the darkness, calling the light Day and the darkness Night.
• Second day: God made the firmament (the sky or expanse) to separate the waters above from the waters below, and called it Heaven.
• Third day: God gathered the waters under the heavens into one place so that dry land appeared. He called the dry land Earth and the gathered waters Seas. He then commanded the earth to bring forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees.
• Fourth day: God made the two great lights, the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night, and He made the stars, to give light and to mark seasons, days and years.
• Fifth day: God created the living creatures of the waters and the birds of the air, and blessed them to be fruitful and multiply.
• Sixth day: God made the beasts, cattle and creeping things of the land. Finally He created man, male and female, in His own image, blessed them, gave them dominion over all creatures, and provided plants for their food.
• Seventh day: God finished His work, rested, and blessed and sanctified the seventh day. He saw everything He had made, and it was very good.

(b) Four ways human beings are destroying God's creation

• Deforestation and indiscriminate cutting down of trees, leading to erosion and loss of habitats.
• Pollution of air, water and land through industrial waste, chemicals, sewage and refuse.
• Overexploitation of natural resources and killing of wildlife, including bush burning and poaching, which endanger many species.
• Wars, oil spillage, and gas flaring, together with careless dumping of harmful substances that damage the environment and contribute to climate change.