I thought we could explore genesis and see how the bible matches up to science, or what we think of science, etc. etc... my hope is, after all, to figure out what really did happen to the dinosaurs. Please feel free to invite whomever would ENJOY this...
OK so for today, Genesis 1:1
בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ.
(remember hebrew reads from right to left) And this is taken from the P text (priestly text, most commonly used in translation by both orthodox jews and most Christian scholars... for more info see http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/Genesis_texts.html)
בְּרֵאשִׁית , בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים , אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ.
ha·'a·retz ve·'et a·sha·ma·yim eth e·lo·him ba·ra be·re·shit
read out loud:
bereshit bara elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz
literally translated to English:
bereshit:
the first, in place, time, order or rank (specifically, a firstfruit) -- beginning, chief(-est), first(-fruits, part, time), principal thing
bara:
(absolutely) to create; (qualified) to cut down (a wood), select, feed (as formative processes) -- choose, create (creator), cut down, dispatch, do, make (fat).
elohim:
angels, exceeding, God (gods)(-dess, -ly), (very) great, judges, mighty
eth:
self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)
ashamayim:
air, astrologer, heaven(-s)
ve'et ha: is the conjugation of eth: self with the object of a verb to follow
aretz:
the earth (at large, or partitively a land) -- common, country, earth, field, ground, land, natins, way, + wilderness, world, all creation, matter
Now that we have ALL THAT OUT OF THE WAY, let us explore the first half of this phrase:
bereshit bara elohim
In the First Place in Time Created God
or
In THE Beginning God Created
It is important to emphasize that the first half of this scripture is crucial to ALL of Christian theology - it is vital to all Evangelical world views, and it lays the first premise to which all humankind must contend with. First is the assumptive of God. The scripture assumes God - it assumes the audience assumes God. God is named but not defined. It is in the absolute form (because of the use of the word "bara" before it). The reader therefore is not permitted to debate God - God just is. So we can infer from this that the Genesis account, and the whole Bible therefore, is explicitly intended for those people who in their course of life assume God. The importance of this can not be ignored. The remaining stories, teachings, premises, all of the Gospel, and everything in between is built on this premise that God does infact exist. If the reader/audience does not acquiesce to this point, nothing else in this book is relevant or meaningful because it is built then on a false proposition. Ergo, faith must come before reason, or the Biblical Account of Life, the Universe, and Everything After is nonesense and subject to debate.
So an atheist when arguing any other point in the Bible must first be made aware that the Bible begins with God - argue this fact first. With only three words of text and go no further. Bereshit bara ELOHIM ...
I promise we will touch science today in this prose, continuing on...
In addition to the assumptive of God, we find our first touch of physics - the element of time and point 0. Bereshit only is used as the begining word in Hebrew once - its position denotes Absolute beginning. Like absolute 0, this is the absolute start. In common use Hebrew, to say the beginning of a segment, or at the start of a story, the verb or subject is spoken first then the descriptor of time, like bereshit is spoken. So if the author was actually trying to identify the begining of the Heavens and the Earth, but at some point after the start of time itself, the author would be best served by writing: Bara BERESHI T'elohim... or if to emphasize God's work, Bara elohim BERESH et hashamayim...
But here we have the start, the first place in time being denoted. This is it, start. And it was the result of Creation by God. The inference is clear: 1. God exists outside of time and by deduction (since matter and space do not exist yet) He exists outside of matter and space as well. 2. Time is the result of SUCCESSIVE CHANGE OBSERVED between at least two different states - in this case Creation and non creation. God caused and observed creation, and as a result time is caused. And this is infact the modern description of time (check it out for yourself).
ok... so tomorrow, or some point in the future we'll look at exactly what God creates, space, matter, energy, dark matter, light, plasma, and the cosmos... just by finishing the first verse of Genesis 1....
Helpful reading before my next note:
A physics book...
And remember all creation displays His Glory...
Be blessed and Happy Thursday.
