I say it's a summary of what the chapter is. Otherwise, what do you do with 2:4, and chapter 5? Compare how the author wrote the other parts and then compare that with verse 1. No use inferring what is not there.

If you have access to the SDA commentary, read it what it says for verse 1 about the false ruin and restoration theory and the 2 statements the verse makes and questions we can answer; and verse 2, and the additional note at the end of the chapter. Anything else is wild speculation.

How does what they are cautioning against compare or not compare with what you're suggesting?

Sounds like the ruin and restoration theory. Speculation on what the Bible doesn't say.
Reading the rest of the chapter, you know it wasn't perfect. He kept on creating. You have to start somewhere.

I'm sending you a private link so it doesn't bring more attention to false people. Read it and see how it compares or not to your thoughts. See were it's leading. You need to be very discerning....




Consider:

And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night:

God made the greater light to rule the day.
He made the 8-ball go in the corner pocket.

Would you agree the sentence structure or form is the same.

You're saying God made the noun. The sentence says He made the verb. I agree He 'could' have made the noun at that point, but the sentence doesn't mean it. Leave it as it reads, without speculating about multiple creations. Otherwise, you are saying it wasn't perfect. (I know you disagree, but consider the link)

Don't read into the Bible what is not there.
I agree with the commentary. I don't know when God made the earth. The earth existed before creation. Keep in mind, there is an interchange of the wording of creating earth and creating life on earth. God created both. But don't speculate where we have no information of such. Take the Bible as it reads.

Maybe you are erasing things in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy that ARE there?

Do you believe there was a literal war before the six day creation?

Revelation 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

" Lucifer in heaven, before his rebellion, was a high and exalted angel...
Christ, God's dear Son, had the pre-eminence over all the angelic host. He was one with the Father before the angels were created. Lucifer was envious of Christ, and gradually assumed command which devolved on Christ alone.....

The Father then made known that it was ordained by Himself that Christ, His Son,... would work in union with God the Father, in the anticipated creation of the earth and every living thing that should exist upon the earth. {SR 13.2}
Lucifer was envious and jealous of Jesus Christ....
He left the immediate presence of the Father, dissatisfied and filled with envy against Jesus Christ. Concealing his real purposes, he assembled the angelic host....
There was contention among the angels....

The loyal angels hastened speedily to the Son of God and acquainted Him with what was taking place among the angels. They found the Father in conference with His beloved Son, to determine the means by which, for the best good of the loyal angels, the assumed authority of Satan could be forever put down. The great God could at once have hurled this archdeceiver from heaven; but this was not His purpose. He would give the rebellious an equal chance to measure strength and might with His own Son and His loyal angels. In this battle every angel would choose his own side and be manifested to all.....

All heaven seemed in commotion. The angels were marshaled in companies, each division with a higher commanding angel at its head. Satan was warring against the law of God, because ambitious to exalt himself and unwilling to submit to the authority of God's Son, heaven's great commander. {SR 17.2}

All the heavenly host were summoned to appear before the Father,...
God informed Satan that he (Satan) had proved himself unworthy of a place in heaven. Then Satan exultingly pointed to his sympathizers, comprising nearly one half of all the angels, and exclaimed, "These are with me! Will you expel these also, and make such a void in heaven?" He then declared that he was prepared to resist the authority of Christ and to defend his place in heaven by force of might, strength against strength. {SR 18.1}

Then there was war in heaven. The Son of God, the Prince of heaven, and His loyal angels engaged in conflict with the archrebel and those who united with him. The Son of God and true, loyal angels prevailed; and Satan and his sympathizers were expelled from heaven. All the heavenly host acknowledged and adored the God of justice. Not a taint of rebellion was left in heaven.

Genesis 2:4 and onward is going over the same history again, as chapter one, adding a few more details.

Genesis five recounts the creation, then gives the genealogy of Adam's descendants.





Many, many years ago, I turned to the SDA Bible Commentary in a study of Daniel and the Sanctuary Doctrine. I found the commentary utterly confusing. No wonder Ford was so successful in denouncing the sanctuary doctrine. Thankfully, others showed better understanding and greatly helped me see the truth.

But I've never felt much confidence in the commentary since.

But back to the subject at hand --

The SDA commentary's "ruin and restore" theory is very different from what I have been presenting.
And no, I do not believe in THEIR theory.

I do not believe that God created an imperfect world, doing a poor job and it all fell apart due to catastrophic forces of nature over which God had no control.

In fact what I believe is the very OPPOSITE.
I believe God created a perfect universe in which catastrophic destruction was NOT occurring. So why would I even suggest the earth suffered ruin by natural catastrophic forces prior to the six days of creation?????
That's definitely NOT what I'm presenting.

Rather it's those that deny that a war waged by a very rebellious, powerful host of fallen angels, led by Satan, caused the catastrophic events we now view in the universe, who are the ones thinking God created an imperfect universe filled with catastrophic happenings.

Nor do I deny that God "spoke and it was done"!
Everything that was, He spoke into existence, including this earth and the whole solar system. Just because the actual earth was spoken into existence prior to the six days, does not deny the truth that it was spoken into existence.

However -- I believe it was spoken into existence in a perfect state, it was not "without form and void", but ready for God to create life upon it.

The destructive forces that have caused ruin are the result of sin. The sin and rebellion of fallen angels have left their mark on the universe, and the sin and rebellion of fallen humans are even now destroying the earth.

As far as anything being beyond God's control. That's also VERY false. EGW plainly tells us God ALLOWED the demonstration of strength against strength so the character of the rebellious angels would be manifest for all to see.

But then satan and his angels were restricted. They are no match for the power God!!!






No, God didn't have to start with an imperfect world.
I fully believe He speaks and perfection emerges.

But yes -- the Bible does show God started with an imperfect earth that was "without form, void", and "dark".

Why?
No -- it was not due to some "natural" catastrophic event over which God had no control ---

God was fully in control -- allowing the manifestation of the destructive character of Satan and his fallen angels rebellion. It also showed the superior strength of Christ and His angels who utterly defeated and restricted them, casting them out of heaven.



---

As for your comments on the "sun" --
They are simply confusing -- I have no idea what you are talking about.

Every time scripture uses the word "made" in Genesis 1, it is an act of creation.

Are you denying that God created the sun, or that He ignited it on the fourth day?

The Bible is plain --
It was dark on day one of creation.
If it was DARK that means there was no sun bringing light to it.

The only light was the light of God's presence.
He did not ignite it on day one.

Day four
God spoke lights into existence.
" Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night;"
One great light (the sun) to rule the day
One lesser light (the moon) for at night.

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.

Now when God created the heaven and earth (the universe) prior to the six days, the sun and earth were included -- for the earth was there prior to the six days of creation. But there was NOT light from the sun -- it was dark.

But when God spoke, on the fourth day, it blazed into the brilliant, fiery sun that is so important for life on earth.

Yes. Why do you ask this, why do you think this is relevant?
You keep emphasizing "natural" catastrophe. I made no classification of natural or not natural.


And what period of time was this in reference to?

But yet you just said it took 6 days. Please resolve this.

Because it is what I've been talking about all along, and you are arguing against it.



You were trying to link what I wrote to what the SDA Bible commentary wrote against, and inferring that I was presenting what they were against.

They were against a theory that the earth was destroyed by natural catastrophe that God had no control over.

But I never presented any such thing.






The war that I'm referring to --
which I have quoted huge portions of EGW passages to illustrate,
took place AFTER God and Christ made the plans to create earth. Satan became exceedingly jealous, and rebelled, denouncing Christ, and denying Him as being superior to himself.

The war took place BEFORE the six day creation.





Everything God did was perfect.
A perfect atmosphere
Perfect land covered with perfect vegetation
Perfect birds, fish, animals, people

The world was NOT perfect when He approached it. It was in a state of chaos. Even if God had not yet created life on earth prior to the six days, He still had NOT created it in a chaotic state.
In Genesis 1:2 we find the earth already present, and it was described in the same way as the world is described in the first verses of Revelation 20 -- The earth will again be "without form and void." So the term here means the chaotic earth after Satan has defaced the work of creation.

Soon the earth will be in that chaotic state again for a 1000 years, then God will again create a perfect earth and perfect heaven (universe).


Do you believe God created all the chaos we see in the universe now?
Do you think God existed within a universal abyss of chaos, that He Himself had created?
I don't.

I believe God created an orderly universe. A universe that was friendly to development and habitation. Not one where planets collide, explode, get demolished with meteorites hitting them, of suns burning out, or exploding. There is a lot of chaos in the universe.

Yes, I believe there was a cosmic war --
a large host of powerful angels, led by Lucifer, fighting against God Himself, and they were out to destroy God's creation,
and the chaos is a result.

But they were no match for God, they are now "bound in chains" according to Jude, kept in an "abyss" (some place of utter chaos, I know not where) with restricted access to this world alone -- but they are being unleashed in this world because people are denying the One Who can save and protect them, and are uniting their powers with the intents and power of the evil one. And soon this earth will again be "without form and void" an abyss, while God's people will be in heaven with God.

But that's not in Rev 12.
I have nowhere said I didn't believe in the war in heaven before creation.


Dedication, the sun may or may not have been created on day 4. I'm not dogmatic on that even though scripture does not show that and does seem to support it was existing before. It does not support the idea of the sun going out and being relit by God. But you are wrong about multiple creations, the ruin and restoration theory. You use the same verses and the same arguments for the day beginning at sunrise people.

I suggest you move these posts to the New Light forum. Under category ::A::

You yourself believe in multiple creations.
-- The earth was already there, the sun may have existed before creation --- those are all things that you have stated several times now.

Thus YOU believe in multiple creations.

So I don't understand why you are so against the thought that Satan and his huge host of mighty fallen angels destroyed things that God created during the pre-six day creation war they waged against God.

Instead of always veering off on some irrelevant concept that in some strange way that war changes the Sabbath, why not answer some questions --
Why is there chaos in the universe?
Do you believe God created that chaos --
-- if you do then you believe in violence and death as part of God's creation-- you think God's perfect creation operates on the dying and remaking cycles.

Which ends up being the very bases of theistic evolution!

You seem so against the thought that God could restore the damage Satan inflicted on this earth, (and, when the time is right, restore the damage they inflicted on the rest of the universe) yet you would rather have God create a universe that runs on a natural ruin and restore cycles??? That is the only answer you've given me to the actual question raised --And yes, you said as much when you compared it to the death and renewal of cells.

By comparing it to the death and renewal of cells, means a ruin and restore natural cycle.

Why have planets exploded, why have suns gone out, why are things crashing into each other in the universe? --
all that is scientific fact and the question which has been raised.

It's not some kind of "new light" and it certainly does not change the Sabbath. Those arguments are all irrelevant to the discussion.

THEISTIC EVOLUTION

According to this view, God created the building blocks and imbued them with natural laws with the eventual emergence of all the things we see in the world in mind. This view is similar to atheistic evolution in that it presumes a naturalistic—though God-designed, aided and ordained—origin of life.

The huge difference between theistic evolution and special creation concerns --
1. Time element, special creation took six days, theistic evolution evolved over eons of years.

2. Special creation everything was created perfect, there was no death, dying, survival of the fittest etc. etc. those things are all the result of sin.
While theistic evolution has eons of life and death cycles, with survival of the fittest leading to better levels of creation, etc. basically in theistic creation God creates with cycles of life and death -- thus death is not the result of sin but the means to improved forms of life.

Now --
when we look at the state of the universe in which we find destruction and levels of chaos among an otherwise orderly arrangement, we have to ask, why?

Does it confirm theistic evolution,
or was some sinful "war" fought there that caused chaos to enter God's perfect work?

Does God use death to shape life in the universe? No. Sin brings death.