Question about Creation...?

Question

We all know Genesis 1 from the KJV bible:

1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

However, from Young's Literal Translation we have:

1In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth --

2the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness [is] on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters,

This seems to imply that Verse 1 is a summary of the rest of the chapter and that Verse 2 is the kick off.

Does this mean that the Earth and the waters were already there before God came along? If so, who created them?

Well yes... the language is archaic in the YLT. However, the KJV states in verse 8:

8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Why did he have to create Heaven again if it had already been created in Verse 1?

Buff:

I construed it by thinking about it. Do you think about it?

Missionary Kid:

All very well, but verse 1 can be construed as a summary can it not?

Answer 1

Yes, it means they existed before God. Genesis is a creation myth. The earth already was, and the religion was build upon that. Genesis also states that there were other people on earth. It mentions others cities, doesn't it?

Answer 2

Not at all... A few reasons that would be illogical
1 - It doesn't agree with the rest of scripture at all, which teaches that all things were created through Christ Jesus
2 - Saying that "God's preparing the heavens and the earth" doesn't imply that the heavens and earth were there. If I said, "I have to go prepare dinner" does that mean dinner is already there? No, it means I'm getting ready to make it there.
3 - It was translated, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." and that's because that's what happened

Answer 3

No matter what version you read this from, it clearly states that there was water before God actually made light, ect. Why else would it say that the Spirit of God moved over the water?
God did create this water. God created everything. When He created this water, we don't know. I believe that God created other planets and stars before He created ours, because if God has always been, what was He doing all those millions and billions and trillions of years before He decided to create the earth? Maybe God created the water years before, intending come back to it later, which He did. Who knows? But God is definitely a Creator, so He created other things before He created earth.

Answer 4

I have a better question for you. If God created us in his image, that would mean that our ability to reason is also of his image. From this we can assume that God (and the universe he created) is reasonableand rational. If this is so, why would God create all of the apparently FALSE scientific evidence regarding how the universe was created in an instant of light and heat, not in 6 days of seperating water from land (and where did that water come from, by the way, since God apparnetly seperated it, rather than creating it...)? And how about all the evidence of evolution, rather than being created out of mud. Is God LYING to us through his creation and the scientific evidence He's left lying around in it?
Doesn't it make more sense that thousands of years God would have told a story the primitve, bronze-age or stone-age Hebrews could understand, knowing full well that a few thousand years later their descendent would eventually be able to figure it out for themselves? Doesn't it make more sense to try and understand the universe around us by using the cognitve faculties God gave us, rather than just believeing what some several thousand year old book says?

Answer 5

Anything that was on Earth or in the Heavens, God created. Who can say that the world as we know it today is the first world God ever created. Maybe our earth is the second or third world, the Bible does not say. Possibly God created a world that turned out so bad, he destroyed it. And now he is trying to give us a second chance to get it right.

Answer 6

No...I don't think the Young's Literal Translation is too acurate. God created the heavens and earth and not something that just happened by chance

Answer 7

There is nothing in these words (either version) that suggests God was not there before the beginning. In fact the first four words tell us that He was pre-existent, "In the beginning God".

What I believe these words tell us is that the elements necessary for Gods creation existed without form prior to them being used for that purpose. I suggest God may have either created these elements or these elements may actually form part of Himself.

Answer 8

I'm not sure how you construed verse one and two that way in your mind, but no...In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

Answer 9

It is best to stick with the King James Version. Modern translations have been shown to be very unreliable, escpecially is so much was changed just to get a copyright. In my opinion, the only one who can hold a copyright on the Bible is God.

For more info on the translations, see source below.

Answer 10

Only God alone created everything.

“And indeed We created the heavens and the earth and all between them in six Days and nothing of fatigue touched Us”[Qaaf 50:38]
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13741&ln=eng