Learning Genesis

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So, up until my last thread was closed, I was invited to read Genesis properly so I've started at the beginning to get a handle on it.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was[a] on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Where it says the earth was "without form, and void" does that mean he made a uniform ball of rock with no features and no life? Nothing, just a rocky marble in space. That would be the most logical conclusion I suppose.

And "darkness was on the face of the deep" is the deep simply the rest of space that was presumably just black and empty because the sun had not yet been created?
 
So, up until my last thread was closed, I was invited to read Genesis properly so I've started at the beginning to get a handle on it.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was[a] on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Where it says the earth was "without form, and void" does that mean he made a uniform ball of rock with no features and no life? Nothing, just a rocky marble in space. That would be the most logical conclusion I suppose.

And "darkness was on the face of the deep" is the deep simply the rest of space that was presumably just black and empty because the sun had not yet been created?

When God said let there be Light, His glory burst fourth. His Radiance lit the whole thing up. You can see when the sun and moon were set in place.

And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
(Rev 22:5)


Strangely a big to do among Creationist and Evolutionist is that NASA had feared that a billion years worth of meteor impact on the moon calculated the dust to be 2 Inches per 5,000 years, meaning the rover would have been buried. A probe before showed that would not be the case. Moon estimated at about 6,000 years.
NASA never would give an official statement about it but some speculate the original calculations were way off some say they were not.

Hebrew word means Wasteland. (Form)

From an unused root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), that is, desert; figuratively a worthless thing; adverbially in vain: - confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.


I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
(Jer 4:23-25)


3 scriptures so far.......... good job TubbyTubby. A whole ton more to go. If you post with questions every 3 scriptures, we will have a full bible commentary and you could sell it and make money!!!!

Just saying.

:)
 
When God said let there be Light, His glory burst fourth. His Radiance lit the whole thing up. You can see when the sun and moon were set in place.

And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
(Rev 22:5)


Strangely a big to do among Creationist and Evolutionist is that NASA had feared that a billion years worth of meteor impact on the moon calculated the dust to be 2 Inches per 5,000 years, meaning the rover would have been buried. A probe before showed that would not be the case. Moon estimated at about 6,000 years.
NASA never would give an official statement about it but some speculate the original calculations were way off some say they were not.

Hebrew word means Wasteland. (Form)

From an unused root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), that is, desert; figuratively a worthless thing; adverbially in vain: - confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.


I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
(Jer 4:23-25)


3 scriptures so far.......... good job TubbyTubby. A whole ton more to go. If you post with questions every 3 scriptures, we will have a full bible commentary and you could sell it and make money!!!!

Just saying.

:)[/QUOTE]


Indeed, I thought that was only two scriptures though?

Incidentally, I'm not here to discuss the creationist vs science argument about the age of the moon/dust/NASA right now, it's not relevant to my understanding of the bible.

I can see you're trying to help with the other scriptures but I was hoping to go through it in order, one by one really. So far then, with the first two scriptures, I understand it as;

God created the earth (of no specific shape) which was a desert or wasteland, at this time the heavens also existed and the rest of space was what is described as 'dark'. God, or his spirit, was hovering above this wasteland (which is described as 'waters' but isn't actually water).

OK, I think I've got that bit although the earth not having a shape causes me difficulty in fully forming an image of this part. But basically, these first two scriptures explain that a wasteland was created along with heaven, no light yet, and god is looking down at his work so far. A tad abstract for me but I can go with that.
 
I can see you're trying to help with the other scriptures but I was hoping to go through it in order, one by one really. So far then, with the first two scriptures, I understand it as;

God created the earth (of no specific shape) which was a desert or wasteland, at this time the heavens also existed and the rest of space was what is described as 'dark'. God, or his spirit, was hovering above this wasteland (which is described as 'waters' but isn't actually water).

OK, I think I've got that bit although the earth not having a shape causes me difficulty in fully forming an image of this part. But basically, these first two scriptures explain that a wasteland was created along with heaven, no light yet, and god is looking down at his work so far. A tad abstract for me but I can go with that.
That's correct.

Remember Genesis is an account of how God created.

It starts with a really broad overview: God created the Heavens and earth. Then focuses in on the earth and how it was formed and populated.

On Day 2 He separates the water (v 6&7)

On Day 3 He caused dry land to appear (v9&10) and plants to grow (v 11&12)

On Day 4 He created the lights in the sky (sun for day & moon for night) (v 14-18)

On Day 5 He created fish & birds (v 20-22)

On Day 6 He created land animals (v 24&25) and man (v26-30)
 
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

Ok, this bit is easier. He created the sun presumably and he was pretty chuffed about it saying it was 'good'.

Divided the light from the darkness I suppose is just a bit of a generality to be filled in with more detail later on.

Anything more I need to know about this bit before I move on?
 
Oh and I notice that he just says 'let there be light' and it happens so he doesn't actually get physically involved he can just say something and it happens?
 
Oh and I notice that he just says 'let there be light' and it happens so he doesn't actually get physically involved he can just say something and it happens?
Yes
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

Ok, this bit is easier. He created the sun presumably and he was pretty chuffed about it saying it was 'good'.

Divided the light from the darkness I suppose is just a bit of a generality to be filled in with more detail later on.

Anything more I need to know about this bit before I move on?
Actually, the sun comes later.
 
So god made another light source or the light is coming from god himself?

I think I may be limited to a few scriptures a day at this rate but this is the first time I've ever read the bible.
The initial light is from God. He will make the sun and moon on Day 4.

Take your time.

A parallel verse is John 1:1:

1 In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He existed in the beginning with God.
3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.
 
The initial light is from God. He will make the sun and moon on Day 4.

I'm not ready for parallel verse just yet. Right so the initial light comes from god himself, I understand that he's not actually physical but he can do anything so I suppose being a light source is well within his means. Is this light as I would know it, i.e. like sunlight or does it have other meaning?

And the reason for him making himself a light source is just temporary so he can see what he's doing then?

I think I've got that bit, creates a wasteland with no defined shape in the dark, lights it up and is looking down at his work.
 
I'm not ready for parallel verse just yet. Right so the initial light comes from god himself, I understand that he's not actually physical but he can do anything so I suppose being a light source is well within his means. Is this light as I would know it, i.e. like sunlight or does it have other meaning?

And the reason for him making himself a light source is just temporary so he can see what he's doing then?

I think I've got that bit, creates a wasteland with no defined shape in the dark, lights it up and is looking down at his work.
He doesn't need light to see what He's doing.

Light is a form of energy and the law of conservation of energy states energy may be converted to matter and vice versa. The total amount will become constant once God finishes creating on Day 6, but for now, He can use light to create matter.
 
He doesn't need light to see what He's doing.

Light is a form of energy and the law of conservation of energy states energy may be converted to matter and vice versa. The total amount will become constant once God finishes creating on Day 6, but for now, He can use light to create matter.

Ok, that's interesting, god used light-mass conversion, I never knew that. It would be immense, to make the earth by E=mc^2 would take 5.4x10^35 MJ of energy. That's a LOT of energy.
 
I'm going to have to hold on and try to imagine this before moving on, could take a while just to get through Genesis.

I've worked out that to be about equivalent to the energy released by the sun in over two and a half hours.

So I'm correct in thinking that god is purely a source of energy then? He has no mass to speak of as such?
 
Why would you make that assumption? You have already accepted that energy can form mass, why would the source of energy not be able to present Himself as a source of Mass?
 
I'm going to have to hold on and try to imagine this before moving on, could take a while just to get through Genesis.

I've worked out that to be about equivalent to the energy released by the sun in over two and a half hours.

So I'm correct in thinking that god is purely a source of energy then? He has no mass to speak of as such?
God is outside the physical in the spiritual realm. He is outside the space/time continuum.
 
Why would you make that assumption? You have already accepted that energy can form mass, why would the source of energy not be able to present Himself as a source of Mass?

I'm asking the questions, HMS is doing a perfectly capable job of answering thank you.
 
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