A small question I have always had about the creation story?

Question

My intentions are not to try to disprove the Bible. This is just a question I have always had a hard time understanding, even when I was a Christian. What are your thoughts on it?

In the first day, God created the light and the darkness. But on the fourth day, God created the lights in the sky, such as the sun, and the stars. Now, from a scientific view, the sun is what gives us light, we all know that. So how was light created before the sun was? And even before the sun was created, it states that there was already morning and evening. Yet the rotation of the earth is what causes that, it is when the earth turns away from the sun, that evening is produced. so how could this have happened before the sun was created?

Genesis:

3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.

Answer 1

Light is a very symbolic word throughout the Bible. The story of creation in the Bible is likely one that was handed down for many, many generations and its unlikely that it is anymore than symbolic and representational. This is not to demean the story at all, but to understand that its not to be taken literally.

The Ol' Hippie Jesus Freak
Grace and Peace
Peg

Answer 2

I wrote an article about the Genesis account of creation several months ago but since the article as a whole doesn't pertain specifically to your question, I'm only going to copy and paste portions of it here. If my answer makes you curious about the whole article, you can read it by clicking on the link I provide as one of my references.

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

"In the beginning" comes from the Hebrew word "reshiyth" meaning "first" and the word heaven comes from shamayim meaning "sky", so the first verse should read "First, God created the earth and sky."

Gen 1:2 And 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.

In the first sentence, the translations for the words "was", "without form" and "void" are not completely accurate. The Hebrew meanings of these words are:

"was"
hayah meaning become or come to pass

"without form"
tohu meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface)

"void"
bohu meaning to be empty; a vacuity, i.e. (superficially) an undistinguishable ruin

In the second sentence, the "Spirit" of God comes from ruach meaning wind and "face" is from paniym meaning "surface.

There are a couple of ways to interpret this verse so I will give both translations.
1. The earth became desolate and empty, darkness was over the face of the deep. The wind of God moved over the surface of the waters.
2. It came to pass that the earth was laid waste and ruined, darkness was over the face of the deep. The wind of God moved over the surface of the waters.
As you can see, both versions say the same thing. We'll come back to this after looking at verse 3.

Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

This verse is actually translated pretty accurately, at least close enough that nothing is really lost in the translation. The only reason I even mentioned this verse is because it's important to subject at hand.

Let's put all three verses together and see what the scriptures tell us. I will take the liberty to paraphrase:

First, God created the earth and sky. The earth became a wasteland, desolate, empty and ruined. Darkness covered the surface of the oceans. God caused a wind to blow over the waters.

The leading scientific theory for the extinction of the dinosaurs is a meteor impact in the Yucatan Peninsula:
"The shock wave from the impact would indeed have triggered massive earthquakes in the region and indirectly triggered other earthquakes around the globe. A tsunami would have formed from the impact, which occurred in a shallow sea. The giant waves would also have been generated by the earthquakes and undersea landslides triggered by the shock wave."
"The dust thrown up by the impact, the soot generated by the firestorms and the smog formed from the oxides of nitrogen and sulfur particles would have blocked sunlight for many months. The surface of the Earth would have plunged to freezing conditions -- typically 70 degrees Fahrenheit below normal -- and photosynthesis would not have been possible, even if plants had survived the fires and acid rain."

This scenario certainly fits the description of the wasteland as depicted in the Hebrew Scriptures. The earth would certainly have become desolate, empty of life and ruined. Darkness would have covered the earth. In Genesis 1:2, God caused a wind to blow that started ridding the planet of the soot and dust particles that caused the darkness giving the earth light once again as seen in Gen 1:3. Once there was light again, the rest of the new creation process could begin.

This light was probably only visible through an overcast sky but it was enough light to help the plants grow. I imagine the nights were quite dark and no stars would be visible. By the fourth day, the soot and dust particles had been diminished to the point where the Sun, Moon and stars were visible.

I hope this answers your question.

Answer 3

I think it is because...well, it was explained to me, but it is hard for me to explain. When there was nothing, God made the idea of light and darkness, I guess you could say. The sun is just one source of light. And darkness is something He created. People think if the sun and stars went out it would be dark right? Well, God had to create that darkness, it wasn't there. So, when the sun and stars are there, it is light, but God had to create that light, because it wasn't there. And the rotation of the earth being morning and evening is something humans just use as a measurement standard to compare and know when things happen. Maybe that is why it is written that way, but somethings we can't understand because our minds are limited to the world God created. God knows why because he understands more than us. Also, I think the original Hebrew word for Heavens in that verse means like the sky and stars, and the Heaven used later is like the Heaven we know of. I have always been confused about that too, but it doesn't shake my belief. I hope this was a fairly good answer! ☺☻☺☻

Answer 4

Keep in mind the Bible was written with an earth viewpoint. The water canopy and clouds from all the heat of the planet prevented any clear view of sun , moon, stars until later. The solar system was there, intact, or else life could not exist. They just could not be seen clearly.

Certain passages have a different point of view. Isaiah 40: 22 and Job 26: 7 show a heavenly view by saying the earth is round and hangs on nothing. This was a view not shared with learned people until 4,000 years later and proved 600 yuears after that. Until then the earth was flat and carried by a--man, turtle, collumns, snail.

Answer 5

The light source we share now is the Sun and the stars. You must remember, however, that you are taking about the timeframe these things were actually created. God clearly had another or other light source(s) during this time. Clearly that light was periodic around gases that may make up the earth.

Non of us were there...but one thing we probably do agree on is that it was very different from the way things are now.

Answer 6

The first day was light per se -- the concept of light -- and darkness per se -- the absence of light. The Bible is effectively saying that God did not create the material universe, physical matter, until after He created the ideas.

This is consistent with Cabala and many other esoteric philosophies. Cabala (spelled many different ways in English) is the esoteric tradition of Judaism, and the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch (spelling?), are the ancient books ascribed to Moses by tradition. They are what make up the Torah, and what was analyzed all sorts of fascinating ways by the Cabalists.

Answer 7

This is a well asked question. If you read the verse in His Word where people have been give the opportunity to look upon Gods face they say "His face shone like the Sun" the light could have been anything, as God He simply has to speak things into existence, try not to hung-up on small things, I salute you for trying to fully understand the TRUTH, It is said that even Satan can appear as as Angel of light, maybe he was giving that gift to the Angels.
What's important is that God created the universe and his son died for you sins!!

I am curious by you words"even when I was a Christian", Eternal life is a free gift there is nothing you can do to earn(just accept it) therefore there is nothing you can do to lose it(or even give it up) eternal life begins @ rebirth(salvation) therefore it never ends. this is called the ETERNAL SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER.you are born into this world from your mom, you cannot change that fact, you are born into eternity when you place your faith in Christ, there is nothing to change that fact!!

I pray this helps you, Love in Christ,
.45

Answer 8

I don't know. I'm not a literalist necessarily, but maybe the original light came from the Big Bang. If it was sending energy in all directions there may have been some energy released as light. Once matter was moving time would be measurable. But don't stake your faith on this -- obviously it says before that that God created the heavens and the earth, and I don't know enough about the language to know if that's a summary statement of what the rest of the chapter describes or if that happened first.

Answer 9

according to my knowledge, at that time only few people literate and few educate well. Therefore, the writer come up with a poem that demonstrate the creation of the universe. to make people understand how god created universe. When u read carefully, some logic are not even in sequence. It is like a poem than something that really happen, but does not disapprove God real creation. God does create the universe,but with our limited knowledge.
forgive my grammar.

Answer 10

Hmm, I have always interpreted Genesis to be an allegorical book that sets the stage for how God is depicted in the Bible. The story as a whole seems (to me) to instill within the reader a profound sense of awe at the sheer enormity of what God has created.

Thus, I am not a creationist, so my reasoning is that this sourceless light and contrasting darkness is perhaps not so visibly notable as it is simply present: I wonder if it is describing the creation of time itself, the fourth dimension which encompasses the first, second, and third.

Answer 11

Great question, much of these beginning passages are confusing. Perhaps it just means that God created the idea light and darkness, the ultimate opposties. Maybe God was the source of light. Great question, hopefully someone has a good answer for this.