In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth – Genesis 1:1
The very first verse in the Bible is absolute. God created the heaven and the earth. The rest of the chapter, of course goes on to explain how He created (and many still question why He created it to begin with), but the very first verse bluntly delivers the most important message: God created the heaven and earth. Everything starts here.
Now I could go on for pages and pages and pages with arguments of creationism vs. atheism vs. theological evolution vs. atheistic intelligent design and all the other belief systems that claim they know exactly how the universe and all living things came to be, but that would be a waste of my time and of yours. This is a Bible study and for all intents and purposes, we’ll go with the Bible’s versions of things.
But truth be told, the first book of the Bible is quite fantastical. God created the world out of nothingness, and in seven days created things that we could not dream to create in seven billion years. It’s not very scientific. It isn’t logical to believe that so much awe and wonder could be created in a mere seven (six actually) days. Beauty and wonder take time and yet, here was God creating all of existence by merely speaking words. This is where a lot of people have a problem with Christianity and the Bible. How can you possibly believe a book if the very first page spews such fallacies? Many people, through the ages have tried to come with ways of proving that the Bible is completely logical, but they always fall short. Why? Because when it all comes down to it, the Bible isn’t logical.
Now that may seem to be quite the statement to make, but it is an honest statement. The Bible is a book of talking snakes, parting seas and people coming back from the dead. There is no scientific way to prove that. And that’s ok. Logic is bounded by the knowledge of humanity. There is no point in believing in a God who is as only as smart as you are. Isaiah 55:8 says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” God doesn’t think like a human, and as such, you should not expect to be able logically or linearly follow what God does.
The very first book in the Bible doesn’t try to trick you. It tells you straight up with you’re in for. If you’re gonna try to read it and depend on reason alone, it’s not going to make very much sense to you. The Bible, and by extension, God asks you do only one thing. Open your mind and believe. As long as you are willing to that, then He’ll help you to understand His thoughts a little better.
