Genesis 1:1 - what can this possibly mean?

Question

If God is the basis of all morality, what did Genesis mean when God said "... and He saw light was good"? What standard of morality was He using when he said that - there is no standard of morality OTHER than God, I thought.

If God had merely said "God created light and it was good" there would be no contradiction, in my opinion.

Answer 1

I'm confused.

You're saying God made the moral standard and now you're criticizing God for making a standard in his morality by calling light "good?"

Help me understand. whimper*

Answer 2

Maybe I am missing the point here but if god saw the light, doesn't that mean that it already existed?

duh I read the chapter again and it says He created it.

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

2 Now the earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

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.

I don't see the connection between light and morals. When I turn on the light in my bedroom so I can see it is good.

Answer 3

Being an atheist does not mean that you should doubt or even accept the morality of the statement. You state that 'there is no standard of morality OTHER than God, I thought' which tells me that somewhere along the way, you understand or accept the concept of the existence of God, otherwise you would not make such a statement.
Genesis, is about the beginning of life, and we are not necessarily talking about human life. In the biblical phrase, 'God saw the light, and saw that it was good' was probably based on the fact that He probably created the Sun, although this can be refuted by another statement that 'God created the Heaven and the Earth' but this pre-supposes that the Sun was there in the first place, and thus the morality lies in His own 'humility' in not having created the Sun, and has simply seen the light that is necessary for the creation of Day and Night, and thus the creation of life.
As to whether God existed in the first place is subject to much argument, discussion and philosophy, as well as scientific theory.

We often read the phrase about scientists (biologists and geneticists) as 'playing God' when they succeed in things like cloning sheep (remember Dolly?) and creating life without the need for human intervention (sex) by growing stem cells to be used for, we are told, curing all manner of ills, diseases etc.

The 'Big Bang' theory is possibly the best explanation for the existence of the universe, but how human life began is subject to an awful lot of conjecture.

Answer 4

A fixed source of light outside of the earth because the sun wasn't created until the fourth day. Now read John the first chapter - the Light is Jesus Christ - John 1:8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John the Baptist bore witness of Jesus Christ. He said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." Without the sun there is Great Light in the worlds.

Now read Revelation 21:23 "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." In the New Jerusalem there is no darkness.

Revelation 13:8
".........of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit were at Creation.

Answer 5

Genesis often ascribes human sentiment to the work of God.

Naturally, and ideally, everything God does is GOOD.

So if he made light and it was good, they could have easily have added "and he was not surprised in the least, if it were possible to surprise God, that is".

Genesis is common in most part to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Most scholars will agree that you can't read it like the TPS report from heaven for days 1 to 6 of the productivity cycle.

It is poetic, and beautiful and everything the beginning of a tome describing the work of God should be.

It does it's job nicely of saying "wow, God's pretty awesome and made all this stuff so here we are".

Much the same way on the banks of the greasy lompopo Rudyard Kipling postulated the elephant got its trunk.

I mean, Lucifer - the bearer of this light turned out to be someone of a fruit pusher in the end and lord of the flies to boot - and by all accounts God made him too.

The Bible also tells us that what we think or hold to be moral is way beneath God's inscrutible standard. On one hand he's quite happy to hint a guy should kill his son, or to visit tribulations upon Job, or let a whale swallow Jonah or forgive David for sending his best mate to the front line so he could jump his wife. On the other his judgement is saw awesome that even when we're dead we're awe-struck and dumbfounded when we clap eyes on him.

As a resource, the bible often makes little logical sense. I accept that, and a stuancher Catholic you won't find.

It was after all not written as a start to finish guide. It wasn't penned by one inspired man. It was written decades after the death of Christ. It's not even a continuous story but rather a collection of letters, proverbs and psalsms - including a few raunchy ones.

But.

And this is hard to explain to an Athiest - but bear with me. When you have faith in God, you FEEL it. You actually feel it like the force from Star Wars - moving through you, surrounding you.

Let's face it - even if God were a Scientifically provable fact, not disputed by anyone, with clear codes of conduct and "goodness" - humans will still find a way to say "that's all very good but my pants are feeling a whole lot of sexy right now" anyway.

We're gluttons.

Athiests and Christians have 1 very good thing in common. We both think we're seeking the truth of the universe, so let's agree over a few beers and laugh at the Scientologists.

Answer 6

First of all, it's not Genesis 1:1; it's Genesis 1:3-4. And how do you get morality from God seperating light (understanding) from darkness(lack of understanding). Not so? Then why isn't until a few verses later that a sun is created? What "light" and 'darkness" was already there?

Really. The contradiction exists only in your mind.

Answer 7

Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:3-4 - And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from darkness.

After he created the light, it really sounds to me as if he just kind of sat back and looked at his work. You know how artists will paint for weeks, and then have to leave it alone for a minute before they look at it? Then if it turned out right, they'll say its really good. I know God wouldn't have to do that, but it makes it easier to understand. He was just commenting on His work.

Answer 8

Genesis 1:1 is: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Now for the other stuff:

God is not the basis of all morality. It is the choice between good and evil that is the basis, having eaten from the tree of knowledge.

And the Old Testament is a translation from the Hebrew. And while the King James Version is one of the most beautiful pieces of literature (qua literature) in the English language and affected writing for about 400 years, it is riddled with translational errors.

If you are curious about a more exact translation, I suggest you find an annotated or academic translation.

Answer 9

In my Bible Genisis 1:1 says "In the beginnig, God created the heavens and the earth".

As far as your trying to use this reverse psycology thingie again? It didn't work on your other questions, what make you think it will work on this one?

Saw-hb.to gaze upon cast a glamce
Good-hb.Pleasant, comely

The words used are not for a standard of morality but in fact just what they really mean.

Next!

God Bless you and lead you into all Truth!

Answer 10

Hey... that about one of the first things that God created and he was surprised that it turned out "good"! He could tell that it was evening and morning one day! even before the Sun was created! So you don't need the Sun to mark the days... How much "gooder" can you get?

The glitch came on later on when he admitted that it was no good for man to be alone... after Adam tried hard to mate with some of the animals that were presented to him for naming!

The original creation of man alone after God's image was not the best choice! It didn't work that well!