When Or What Is The Beginning ?

[modeller]

Can someone please explain the very first line in the Bible :
Genesis 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The definition of Beginning is : The origin of something, or the place, time, or way in which something started:

The definition of Nothing is : Not anything . Something that does not exist .

If we accept these defintions then there is Nothing before the Beginning

If there was Nothing before the Beginning , as in Genesis 1, then there could not even be a God to create something in the first place.

[Old_Geezer]

There can be something before the beginning of the universe. And that is clearly implied to be God in the text you refer to.

Now I'm going to begin my supper.

[chrisgel]

Ok OG and Jim. In for a penny.
If we allow that there could be a supernatural omniscient being, that can create matter and form it in to the universe, then what created him/it?
To say or imply that there is only one such entity would come under the category of special pleading.

[jim360]

Well once you allow for the existence of a God, anything is possible and nothing is irrefutable. A lot of "special pleading", as you put it, inevitably goes on. But that aside, what I'm really trying to drive at is that OP's question is not a difficult one to answer regardless of whether or not one believes in God.

[jomifl]

Nothing cannot exist without something to give it a comparative nothingness, therefore there must always have been something.Thus time began with the appearance of matter not god who had just a bit part.
But, the bible is all allegory anyway so was never meant to be taken as real.
Unfortunately some people take it literally ...

[Old_Geezer]

Nothing created it. That's what one starts with, a deity. The natural state of existence is not nothing, it is a deity, which as we can best understand it has managed to create itself using one of its mysterious ways.

[chrisgel]

Can't argue with that ;-))

[beso]

//But, the bible is all allegory anyway so was never meant to be taken as real.
Unfortunately some people take it literally ...//

From where does this advice come? It certainly does not say that in the Bible.
And even if it did, would we have to take that advice allegorically?

"Don't take it literally" is just a revisionist attempt to ignore the fact that the Bible is a hideous tome that is worse than worthless in a sophisticated society.

Indeed, revisionism is the main reason the ridiculous myths of New Testament were concocted.

[mibn2cweus]

Dictating what a god can or cannot do, when, how or why, is no less presumptuous than presuming that a god exists in the first place . . . The End!

[FredPuli43]

But it reads well,doesn't it?

[goodlife]

No,Genesis is much more than just the story of creation. It sets the stage for all of mankind’s history—past, present, and future. Much of history, and life itself, is incomprehensible if you omit those important first steps.because, you put your future in jeopardy if you ignore what Genesis really says. (Ps. 37:11)

[chrisgel]

Goodlife -
1) What has //But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth,
And they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.//
got to do with this post.

2) Is this going to happen any time soon because there's no sign of it yet.

3) //you put your future in jeopardy if you ignore what Genesis really says. (Ps. 37:11) // As Genesis 1 and 2 contradict each other could you please tell me which one I should ignore so as not to put my future in jeapordy.

[chakka35]

modeler, why do you want to try to make sense of a few lines written by someone unknown who claims that the earth existed at least three days before the rest of the universe and that you can have morning and evening on the first three days when the sun and the rest of the universe were not invented until the fourth.

Better to forget the nonsense of Genesis and ask the same questions with regard to the Big Bang.