Genesis 1; Matthew 1; Ezra 1; Acts 1 ALL FOUR OF THESE CHAPTERS DEPICT NEW BEGINNINGS, but the first reading—Genesis 1—portrays the beginning of everything in this created universe. On the face of it, this chapter, and the lines of thought it develops, establish that God is different from the universe that he creates, and therefore pantheism is ruled out; that the original creation was entirely good, and therefore dualism is ruled out; that human beings, male and female together, are