And last of all on the sixth day late on Saturday afternoon, God created man in his own image. And as he stepped back and surveyed the week's work which was before him he pronounced himself satisfied with it all. Everything was just as he would have it. Everything was perfect. "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good." In fact there was not a single thing he could see a chance to make any improvement on; for it is impossible for us to think of a perfect creator making an imperfect creature. And if by any mistake he had made anything not just as it ought to be, and as he intended, we should think that knowing the fact he would make the necessary improvement; and if he would not, then we must conclude that he is not infinitely good. Thus every turn we make in this story drives us to the conclusion that it is not true, that it is only an ancient myth. It is the brass of ignorance which has been palmed off upon us for the gold of truth. "So God created man in his own image," and yet in the next breath the writer informs us that after Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, they became more like God, and if they had been permitted to eat of the tree of life they would have become still more like him. But it is hard for one who has not been born again to understand how Adam and Eve could become more and more like God, when they were created in his image and pronounced very good. The command given them was, "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die." But the serpent said unto the woman, "Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil." And this was just how it turned out. After they had eaten of this prohibited tree, they became more like the gods than they had been. But we are led to immediately ask, could they have been made in the first place like them? And unless they were both counterfeits we cannot imagine how an image can be improved--that is, become more of an image. And the Lord God said, "Behold the man has become as one of us, (just as the serpent had foretold) to know good and evil." Here is a clear contradiction of terms. And in order to explain the matter at all satisfactorily to ourselves we have to recur to the assurance of authority that it is not claimed that the narration is literal history of fact, but merely the writer's opinions of how it seemed to him it ought to be. "Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and, every tree which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat."