Genesis 1:3-4

Verses 3-4:

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Comments:
Light seems to me like the next reasonable, logical step in the formation of the world. First, to have the light shine upon the world, and second, to regulate how much time any given part of the world spends in light or in darkness - to set the hours of the day in the rotation of the earth, for there to be enough light for the living things that are to be put upon the earth, but not too much - or some other formative step in ordering or organizing things that can be construed as dividing the light from the darkness and creating cycles of day and night on the earth.

Light is necessary for all living things on this world; even ones that can survive in complete darkness still at some point rely upon complex ecosystems that would not be able to maintain themselves without light on some of the living organisms (both flora and fauna) that are a part of them.

This fact makes light very powerful as a symbol, and both light and sources of light are significant in scripture, with great meaning whether the light referred to is literal or symbolic. (we can also see in the scriptures that water, as another thing necessary for life, is symbolically important and meaningful when referred to in scripture, whether it is literal or symbolic water)

One other thing interesting to me, is that in these verses it does not explicitly say that God created the light at that time - by God’s word it was commanded to be upon the earth, God brought it and divided it from the darkness, arranged for the world to have the light that it would need, but the words “created” and “made” are not used in reference to the light at this time. Which does not necessarily mean that God did not ever create the light.

Perhaps, in the beginning of everything (and not just the beginning of this world and everything on it) God did create the light (the existence of light, not just sources of light) and thus came before it even if in a sense they are both eternal and have always existed, always were. I believe that as far as we could measure or comprehend in a finite mortal existence in three dimensions, God and light are both eternal, that light existed before this particular universe existed, just as the laws of nature, of physics and mathematics existed. (though not constrained by our current limited understanding and limited ability to create notations and languages to describe them)

Thus, in the earth’s creation, I feel it more a matter of bringing light to the earth, rather than the very concept and essence of light being created at that time.

Genesis 1, Verse 2, excerpt

Verse 2, excerpt:

“And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

Comments:

I really love the poetic sort of way this sounds. It’s not just about the idea of the spirit, soul, mind, or will of God passing over the waters, to me it invokes the idea of God’s influence coming into (or being in) contact with the surface of the waters, the seas, or perhaps all of the still-unfinished surface of the world that in this description could have been imagined or believed by the writer to have been bathed in liquid all over - or, in a more literal way, if it were molten in what has been suggested to have been one of the actual earliest stages in the formation of the earth. But even if none of this sentence is to be taken literally, I still believe it to be a beautifully poetic way to say that God’s influence was upon the still-unfinished world.

Genesis Chapter 1, Verse 2 (also through verse 31)

Genesis Chapter 1:

Verse 2:

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Comments:

(also with reference to the rest of the chapter, verses 3-31)

Here we have the first indication that the creation was a process, done in stages. God didn’t simply materialize a fully-formed and organized world environment with complex interactive ecosystems of adaptable living things and the weather and tides with a moon and the planet in its orbit around the sun in the solar system in its place in the universe, all just at the same instant. (nor, in speaking to Old Testament prophets such as Moses, did God oversimplify and claim to have done so) I might believe that with advanced planning (no matter how quickly an infinitely intelligent God might be able to plan it, even seeming instantaneous to us, perhaps) and everything previously arranged just so, God could possibly do such a thing instantly (or in a way that would seem instantly to us) but the fact that it wasn’t done that way, nor did God claim to have done so, suggests to me that it wouldn’t have been the best way to form and organize the earth. It seems to me more logical, more natural, more wise, to do this kind of work in stages, making sure each stage is just right and good, before proceeding on to the next. Which seems right to me with the way I believe God works; in keeping with laws of physics and nature and the universe, in wisdom and order, organized with thought put into it and even if God already knew each stage of work in the creation process would be right, to still check and see that it was, at each step. Like someone who would be patient and allow time for each step in the process to be organized in the optimum way naturally, not like someone with a deadline or with something to prove who wants results immediately and would, for example, simply cause all the microscopic life in the oceans to have multiplied and achieved an ideal equilibrium in some sort of instant method utilizing loopholes in the laws of physics and nature so that the plants, fish and other larger life to be put into the oceans could also be added instantly and have their water already ideally suited for them. The patient God would organize the oceans and introduce the microscopic life and allow them time to multiply and adapt and achieve just the right balance naturally, and then cause the larger (non-microscopic) forms of life to appear, in a gradual way that wouldn’t entirely ruin the balance that the microscopic life had achieved.

Genesis Chapter 1, Verse 1

Genesis

Chapter 1:

Verse 1:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Comments:

I do believe that God created the heaven and the earth. I believe in a God who can do so in accordance with and because of a knowledge of the natural laws of physics and the universe that so far surpasses our current understanding that we are not able to explain it, and perhaps may never be able to do so fully in the context of our present “reality” or frame of reference in the dimensions we finite human beings find ourselves living in.

You may not believe all the same things as I do about God. However, if you believe in a higher power that can be called “God” and which is the source of everything, or who can be said to have created all life as we know it and the known universe; whether you believe that higher power is a person or persons, a spirit or spirits, an ethereal all-permeating force, or even (as some futurists have speculated) an infinitely advanced race of beings whose knowledge allows them to transcend the known universe and limitations of ordinary finite mortals and who formed, guided, or shaped us into the sentient beings we are now and more or less also formed the reality we know or shaped the current universe as we know it through the vast knowledge of physics that they have… regardless of the type of God you believe in, if you believe in a higher power that can be referred to as “God” and credited with creating the heavens and the earth, then you and I have at least that much in common to begin with.

Introduction

Scripture Readings

The Holy Bible (King James Version)

Old Testament

Intro

When I was very small, my mother kept a big, old, decorated, old-fashioned family Bible  in the living room, in the middle of the very bottom of a bookcase that I no longer remember the dimensions of. It was probably either one of the ones we still had years later, or an assemblage of plywood and cinder blocks. Either way, I don’t think this was a bookcase full of books at the time--though there were such things in the house--but this may have simply been a set of shelves holding a varied collection of things, some of which may have been books, and of which the only thing I remember clearly from the time was that family Bible, Old and New Testaments.

It lay flatwise, face up, with the ornate words “Holy Bible” very large and filling up the front cover. It was a white (or perhaps off-white but likely had begun life as white) cover that had accents in what looked like gold leaf or gold paint in some places. I’ve since seen it a great many times, but whenever I think of that Bible I picture it in my mind the way I always remember seeing it as it sat on that bottom shelf.

My siblings and I had been read to from scriptures at bedtime and at church, and I recall we used to have some picture books that featured selected stories from scriptures. I always remember the one for the Old Testament had the stories of Esther and also Joseph who was sold into Egypt by his older brothers. I’m sure I could name many other stories that were in there, but of the stories included in the picture books, those are the two that I particularly remember for certain, and remember first. I think we had those picture books from before I could read the words in them, but honestly I don’t remember when we got them or when I learned to read. I also don’t remember if I started trying to read the Bible by myself soon after I learned to read, or if it was quite some time later.

What I do remember, though, is that when I did start to read the Bible by myself, it was years before I had my own copy of the Bible, no one was telling me to read the Bible by myself (from what I recall, I decided to do it on my own), and I read from that big, fat, fancy family Bible on the bottom shelf in the living room of the house we lived in at the time.

Sometimes I’d read more often, sometimes less, and I’d read different amounts at different times, but since it can be hard to pick up where you left off if you mark the page with a ribbon but have nothing to mark the verse, I would usually try to read at least one chapter at a time and read in chapter increments, starting at the beginning of Genesis and moving on page by page and chapter by chapter. Starting out, I often did not remember or understand some of what I read, but I followed along with the basics of the stories of what happened to the people and their families and where they lived. Back in those days, I always would get lost eventually, whenever I went long enough without reading that when I came back to it I couldn’t remember what had been going on. So then I would start back again at Genesis chapter 1.

To start with, I would generally get as far as Noah and the flood, or that was my primary goal; with practice over time, I could manage to work my way through all of Genesis and even all of Exodus… but back then while I was still small, I never did get past the combined might of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The lists of laws, observances, and census-taking that all seemed to never end or lead into any stories about Biblical heroes would eventually get me feeling lost again in one place or another and I’d start the Old Testament all over again back at Genesis chapter 1. I don’t even know how many times I read that first book of Moses, but I guarantee you it’s more times than I’ve read the other ones.

I’m not sure if I ever made it through to the book of Joshua while I was still reading from that family Bible; it may not have been until well after I got my own copy of the Bible to read and highlight and take to and from church with me. But eventually I did read all of the Old Testament from front to back, and then the New Testament as well. And a number of times since, including now at least twice in Spanish. I haven’t kept count and I’m sure there are a lot of people who have read the Bible all the way through more times than I have, but it is certainly something that I have felt was well worth the time and effort to do repeatedly. One can learn new things every time, if reading with an open heart.

It has been a while since I last read the Bible all the way through from cover to cover, and I feel it is high time I do so again, I also feel I should share some of my thoughts about what I see in the pages of scripture. I begin, as ever, with the Old Testament, book of Genesis, chapter One.

Please note that I read from the King James version, and furthermore my commentary is intended to be a partial expression of some of my personal thoughts and feelings on what I read, and not to be taken as official representation of the views of any other person, group, or organization.

[edit, 22 August, 2018:
Something that is a given for me but might not clearly go without saying for everyone else and therefore I realized I ought to make a point of acknowledging, is that I do not know everything, do not claim to know everything, and do not expect I will ever know everything in this life. I am always learning more, or attempting to do so, and any opinions or thoughts expressed by me have the potential of being revised later on when I have learned more about something or other. This is especially true of anything that I label as being speculation or theory, or that I (in any context, not just here) strongly suggest is just a thought, just something I'm thinking about, or something I think 'could' be.
However, this is different from when I say that I Know something or I Believe something. If I say I believe something, then I mean it more firmly than anything that I am simply speculating about, and I will always have multiple firm reasons for believing whatever it is, reasons that I accept as being more convincing than passing speculation about some theory or other.
When I say that I know something, I mean it more strongly and definitively than when I say I believe something. For example, when I say that I know there is a God, I know it as a fact that I am as certain of as I am of anything else in the world, up to and including my own existence.]