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Genesis 1:2-4a
● Gen 1:2a . . the earth being unformed and void
That statement reveals the earth's condition prior to the creation of an
energy that would make it possible for its particles to coalesce into
something coherent.
Curiously, scientists have not yet been able to figure out what gives particles
their mass. In point of fact, the multi-billion-dollar Large Hadron Collider was
constructed for the specific purpose of finding a special particle called the
Higgs Boson (a.k.a. the God particle) because it's believed that the Higgs
particle "creates" a field that somehow grants other particles their mass.
● Gen 1:2b . . and darkness was over the surface of the deep
This particular "deep" I believe can be safely assumed to be the void; viz:
the seemingly infinite space housing the known universe.
● Gen 1:2c . . and Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the
waters.
The "waters" at this point in the earth's history probably weren't the liquid
commonly known as H2O. It's just a "place-holder" name; viz: a convenient
label for the colossal soup of freshly created particles that would eventually
be utilized to construct the universe's physical properties.
The Spirit's job, therefore, was as a sort of cattle wrangler circling the herd
and keeping all the various particles together so they didn't drift away and
get lost because as yet there were no forces at work keeping things
together.
● Gen 1:3 . . Then God said "Let there be light" and there was light.
I'm going to treat this particular light as a natural form of illumination rather
than something supernatural such as that of John 1:4-9 and/or 1Tim 6:16,
or spiritual such as that of 1John 1:5-7.
The creation of natural light was an intricate process. First God had to create
particulate matter, and along with those particles their specific properties,
including mass. Then He had to invent the laws of nature to govern how
matter behaves in combination with and/or in the presence of, other kinds of
matter in order to generate electromagnetic radiation.
Natural light's properties are a bit curious. It exists as waves in a variety of
lengths and frequencies, and also as theoretical particles called photons. And
though natural light has no mass; it's influenced by gravity. Natural light is
also quite invisible. For example: you can see the Sun when you look at it,
and you can see the Moon when sunlight reflects from its surface. But none
of the Sun's light is visible in the void between them and that's because
natural light isn't matter; it's energy.
The same laws that make it possible for matter to generate electromagnetic
radiation also make other conditions possible too; e.g. fire, wind, water, ice,
soil, rain, life, centrifugal force, thermodynamics, fusion, dark energy,
gravity, atoms, organic molecules, magnetism, color, radiation, refraction,
reflection, high energy X-rays and gamma rays, temperature, pressure,
force, inertia, sound, friction, and electricity; et al. So the creation of natural
light was a pretty big deal; yet Genesis scarcely gives its origin passing
mention.
2Cor 4:6 verifies that the light of Gen 1:3 wasn't introduced into the cosmos
from outside in order to dispel the darkness and brighten things up a bit; but
rather, it radiated out of the cosmos from inside-- from itself --indicating
that the cosmos was created to be self-illuminating by means of the various
interactions of the matter that God made for it; including, but not limited to,
the Higgs Boson.
You know it's curious to me that most people have no trouble readily
conceding that everything else in the first chapter of Genesis is natural, e.g.
the cosmos, the earth, water, sky, dry land, the Sun, the Moon, the stars,
aqua life, winged life, terra life, flora life, and human life.
But when it comes to the light of Gen 1:3 they choke; finding it impossible
within themselves to believe that Genesis just might be consistent in its
description of the creative process. I mean, if all those other things are
natural, why wouldn't creation's light be natural too? In point of fact, without
natural light, planet Earth would become a cold dead world right quick.
NOTE: The interesting thing about the laws of nature is that they're not
absolute laws. No; they're created laws-- created as a companion to the
created cosmos to regulate how the cosmos, with all of its forms of life,
matter, and energy, behaves. Seeing as how God designed and created
those laws, then He knows the secrets to manipulating them in order to
make things in our world behave quite contrary to common sense.
Take for example the floating axe head in 2Kgs 6:5-6. Solid chunks of iron
don't float. That's unnatural. Another example is the fire-proof bush of Ex
3:2. A bush that's impervious to fire is unnatural. It should have flared up
and Moses knew it too but it didn't because God can easily modify the
natural behavior of everything He ever created.
● Gen 1:4a . . And God saw the light, that it was good
God declared that light is good; but He didn't declare that darkness is good.
In point of fact, darkness typically represents bad things in the Bible; while
light typically represents good things. It's been an axiom from the very
beginning.
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