And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:First of all… I already asked, but what is a firmament? Why does it not exist, even though God supposedly created it before this, on day three?
And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Next… you’re telling me that the sun, moon and stars are there so that people can… mark time? God couldn’t have handed Adam a calendar? It was easier to create trillions of galaxies, each with trillions of stars, spread out over vast, mind-boggling distances? Really?
I’ll ignore that it is apparent that the sun is not seen as being just another star, but is something special (which it really isn’t… it’s one countless others like it). However, I can’t get over that the moon is called a “great light,” because the moon gives off no light at all. The moon merely reflects light from the sun, being itself completely dark. Why, then, is the moon called “a great light” when it’s just a “great reflector?”
Why does the sun and moon “rule over the day and over the night?” I thought only alone God rules in heaven, and here we have two big circles in the sky that supposedly rule over their portion of the 24 hour cycle. And how does a new moon rule over the night when it’s completely black?
Finally… how on Earth (literally) did we have three days of creation prior to day four… without the presence of a sun? Supposedly this is the day God divides the light from the darkness… even though He already did that on day one, when He said, “Let there be light.” How can you honestly take a fairy tale seriously if the writers of it can’t even stay consistent in the very first chapter?
my friend you just need to have faith and everything will then make sense.
ReplyDeleteFaith: The denial of reason & Science and almost every other logical thought.
DeleteJust goes to show, how very much, our Bronze Age Ancestors, the writers of the highly dubious 'bible' DIDN'T know... Since the SUN had to exist before any of the Planets in our Solar System, since the Planets are made up of the unused material not included in the mass of the Sun, there wouldn't have been any light... The Moon, was assembled out of the remains of the material remaining, that existed, after the collision, more than 4 Billion years ago, of the early Earth and another early proto-planet, who's orbits crossed, causing to two planets to collide, and isn't really a light, by itself.... but is instead, lit itself, as the Earth is, by the SUN. Any Ghod aught to know that! Proof that Ghod did not write the bible... Modern-day christians still need to learn the very same science.... Come-on folks, this is the 21st century.... Get with it! The only thing your religion is good at is fouling your mind with worthless drivel..
ReplyDeleteGood grief. You people make this so complicated. The sun and moon and stars are there so people can... see! See? That's all there is to it.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't God just give Adam night vision? Infrared thermal imaging would have been cool. Or hot. Represented by different colors :)
DeleteOr he could have given Adam echolocation like a bat.
But the little problem of plant photosynthesis means he still would have had to create a light source. Dang. What's the point I'm trying to make?
Each one of your questions is a complete area of study but let me add my 2 cents. It may not flow in order of your questions.
ReplyDeleteI believe (although I haven't collaborated my theories with anything or anyone else) is that God created the infrastructure for our natural system in the first days and then in starting on day 4, he began to fill in the outline. There is also an element that he was establishing his rule over all of creation (not just our world).
In the original languages, prior to day 1, God's Spirit hovers over the waters, the word for waters is Temen and refers to a lesser god. Genesis was written by revelation long after the events took place. It's believed to have been written by Moses and in the face of the Assyrians and Eqyptians, Genesis is quite an affront to their religions. Perhaps Moses wrote the book (by divine revelation) when he was tending sheep in the dessert during his self-imposed 40-year exile.
I've often pondered the creation of light on day 1 and the creation of the natural lights on day 4. First, there is already something created - the spiritual realm with angels and demons. Other Scripture says the angels were present at the creation of the world (our world) so obviously Genesis 1:1 is not the beginning, but simply our beginning.
God himself is the light that entered into the world and he, not the sun is the source of life. How can it be understood with our minds? I don't know, but on day 4, God created a system whereby the sun was created and from that point on, we have natural science and biology and it is currently studied.
You mentioned the sun and moon and the moon being a lesser light, when in fact it is not a light at all. In the book of Matthew, the writer says we are the light of the world, when in fact we are not the light but a reflection of the true light, which is Christ. Obviously, my comments leave a big hole but I believe it's along these lines.
You also mention about making it easier to give Adam a calendar than create a billion+ galaxies to mark time - kind of boring, wouldn't you think? And for God, it's all easy but for us, it's infinitely more interesting to discover how big the universe is because it gives a sense of the proportion of God. The whole world is in his hands - if that's true, then truly how magnificent and awesome is God?
Remember, the Bible is not a science book, or a history book, or a rule book although it has all those elements in it. Everything is written for us but not everything written to us. As I wrote in my post today, the Bible is more of a dating service profile, as opposed to study material.
Perhaps Moses wrote the book (by divine revelation) when he was tending sheep in the dessert during his self-imposed 40-year exile.
DeleteIt took him 40 years to write Genesis?
Just kidding, I'm being silly. I've been 'working' on my book for 17 years, so I shouldn't speak.
Why, then, is the moon called “a great light” when it’s just a “great reflector?”
ReplyDeleteYou left out the best parts! Often the moon appears during day time hours and only for part of the night. At least once a month the moon is in its New Moon phase where the side facing the Earth is completely dark and we can't see it at all. If you are in the Arctic circle, during peak summer months, you have nearly 24 hours of daylight. Then again, people living in the Middle East wouldn't have known anything about that.