James,
Either the "in the beginning" means the start of creation week, or it doesn't. The fact is, if it does, you have some explaining to do as to how it is that Heaven and Earth are formed in the midst of the week, and not at its start.
At the beginning of the week, "heaven and earth" were as a seed. The animals and plants were in there as well (Heb. 7:9-10) During the week, everything was called forth, formed and named.
Where is there a "beginning" with God? The water and the elements pre-existed Creation Week. The second day, God divides the waters, but He never, during that week, said "Let there be water." Nor did He ever say "Let there be earth." He says, instead, "Let the dry [land] appear." This means it was already there--but wet! Water was there, land was there, before God spoke anything in that week. This means that those elements, void of life and empty in all other respects, were there already, just waiting for God to fashion something beautiful of them.
Blessings,
Green Cochoa.
The Bible does not encourage such blasphemy as you seek saying, "Where is there a beginning with God?" Be humble. The secret things belong to HIM.
The "water and the elements", created at the beginning of the week, was the foundation material for everything in our universe. In short, everything was done IN SIX DAYS: from nothing.
I showed you in my previous post that Gen. 1 presumes a geocentric universe. The sun moon and stars were set in heaven to "divide the day from the night." Today we know that, instead, it is the earth's rotation towards and away from the sun that does that.
Here is a second proof that Gen. 1 presumes a geocentric universe: it says, "And THE EARTH was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." That DEEP was then lifted up, called heaven, and gave birth to the sun, moon and stars to serve the EARTH.
It was necessary that God call forth the seed of the universe from nothing at the beginning of the week, and that seed was THE EARTH at its core (from which would come all life), and HEAVEN surrounding it in water. In six days, that seed grew and became the house of God (Isaiah 66:1).
Such is the cosmology of Gen. 1. Stop trying to force your pre-conceived ideas on the text.
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