I am writing this in answer to Jesse Clark’s comment of October 24, 2010 on my blog article, "Hermenuetics," which was in answer to his first comment to my original article, "It’s a matter of time, Part 1."
First you thank me for what I wrote, then you proceeded to write that I was wrong in what I wrote. Amazing, I will attempt to tell you that you are correct about something before telling you where you are wrong.
You are quite right when you write that there was creation of the angels and also God’s abode before creation in the beginning.
God asked Job, “Where were you when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” (Job 37:7) This was at the time of the beginning so they must have been created before the beginning. No mention is made of the creation of where God dwells, heaven, yet the place is mentioned in scripture. So, it had to be created before the beginning.
Scripture says, “God created,” and not, “the devil destroyed.” This creation is referring to the absolute beginning of this temporal and material world and universe (Liberty Annotated Study Bible P. 5).
Heaven is the place in which to put God’s new creation. Earth being formless and void covered with water is the condition of the earth when newly created. Darkness, God did this in the dark for to Him light and darkness are alike in that He can see equally well in ether situation (Ps. 139:12). The Liberty Annotated Study Bible states that the deep is the water covering the earth. I prefer to think that it is the space in which God made to put the stars. This is truly deep; much deeper than the water covering the earth. I think the Study Bible is incorrect at this point, but will acknowledge that they could be correct.
Further, the Liberty Annotated Study Bible states on page 5, “God created the original heaven and earth from nothing (Lat. ex nihilo) and that verse 2 clarifies that when it came from the Creator’s hand, the mass was “without form” and “void,” unformed and without any life. The rest of the chapter then explains the process of creation in detail. There is no evidence in the Hebrew text for long ages of evolutionary development or of a gap of time between verse 1 and 2.”
In ninth grade science class my teacher asked, “Where did all this come from?” I was the only one to raise my hand and when the teacher pointed on me to give the answer I said, “Nothing”. Immediately, the teacher and the whole class burst out laughing. However, I was correct.
There is evidence that each day was 24 hours in length and that there was six of those days in which the Creator worked. In the text it says evening and morning the first day. We have 24 hour days today with seven days in a week. God says He worked six days and rested the seventh. Therefore the children of Israel were to work six says and rest the seventh. We have God’s word on it.
I will give you this admonition:
II Timothy 2:15:
Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Jesse, you appear to not be willing to take the Holy Bible for what it says. God says He is creating and you say the devil is destroying. Both positions cannot be correct. You write that God divides. Again God says He is creating. You seem to have a destructive and an imprecise bias.
Jesse, you write, “What follows? God “divides” day from night, firmament from water, water from land, kind from kind, man from women, etc…” None of this is true. You are not being accurate in your observation or in your thinking. You need to be more precise.
God divided the light from the darkness. The light He called day and the darkness He called night. God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters.” He divided the waters from below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse. The expanse God calls heaven. God said, “Let the waters under heaven be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear.” God said, “Let the earth bring forth herbs and fruit trees yielding fruit after its kind.” God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaven to divide the day from the night.” God put the man into a deep sleep and took the rib out of Adam and closed up the flesh of Adam and fashioned a women. This is all a part of creation by God.
We read of the demise of Satan in Isaiah 14:12-21 and also in Ezekiel 28:2-19. The angels fell by the fail of Satan which we read in Revelation 12:3,4. War will take place in heaven during the Great Tribulation and Satan and his angels will be cast out of heaven to earth Revelation 12:7-9. Satan will no longer have access to the throne of God to accuse the people of God before God any more.
Jesse, may God grant you understanding of His word.
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Sam, thank you again for taking the effort to reply. What I said before I stand behind, when I was thanking you it was not for being correct it was for taking a position on the word of God not "so and so says."
ReplyDeleteI respect that as a fellow believer, and I won't allow a disagreement to divide me from another who serves the same Messiah, so I try to make a point of establishing that we are brothers not enemies.
I have nothing more to add as far as the discussion, but I would clarify where I have not been understood. I never inserted any specific length of time nor do I believe in evolution. Furthermore, I have never questioned that the seven days were in fact approximately 24 hours. My only point of discussion was whether it was the beginning of beginnings or just a new beginning, which as I said I have nothing further to add we have both made our cases.
Beyond that I would say you read into my words meanings that are not intended. I find nothing destructive in saying "God divides" from my standpoint it is God putting boundaries and distinctions. Day and night become two seperate distinct things, same with land and sea, species, and man and woman. No destruction, nor do I imply some common ancestor.
And in none of that do I mean to say God did not create. Is it not God creating when he makes of your old man a new creation?