Beginnings

“In the beginning, God”. Genesis 1:1

The Bible starts with a double whammy. Two words which are either loved (by the believer), or loathed (by the unbeliever). The words in this short entry to the Word of God cause heart problems, for good or ill, but cannot be ignored so let’s face them head on.

Firstly, we have the word “beginning”. When exactly was the beginning then? Do you know? Was it thousands, or perhaps billions of years ago? This has been the major topic of conversation at times, both in the pub and the church, and each is divided perhaps 50/50. Bible purists (is there any other kind?) say around 6,000 to 8,000 years, and those led and guided by science and a measure of common sense say millions, or even billions of years. God has given us all freedom of choice and a common sense of the obvious. Based on this alone, is it unreasonable to eliminate the ‘thousands of years’ argument? Oh, I can hear these Bible purists shout, “so you don’t accept the Bible as the inerrant and infallible Word of God then? 

Secondly, we have the word, “God”. Who says there is a God anyway? Which God? After all there are lots of religions and they all have their own God. Since we are talking about God in this context, we mean the Christian God. Yes, the triune God of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. That may be hard to get our minds round, but it is the sure ground where we take our stand. Those of us who profess to having a clear relationship with this Triune God, have no question over the validity of this choice. Once again, there are as many others, outside the believing church, who will question their God, as those who are within the camp of believers.

It’s when Scripture (yes we have to consider this as ‘Scripture’) puts these two words into the same phrase, that we have trouble. It’s bad enough that we disagree over the age of the earth, but that is only compounded by the choice of the word ‘God’. If we accept and believe that God was right there in the beginning, we have a sure foundation for our Christian faith, but we also have a certain root for an argument with those who disbelieve. It would be nice if we really could enter into a discussion, but invariably this always starts and ends as an argument, in much the same way as the topic of creation v evolution. But maybe that’s for another day. We have enough to chew on for this day.

In the Beginning, God

Christians of all sorts of denominations and theologies have differing views on the path of human life after initial creation, but we all agree on the origin of man. It is clearly taught in the first verse of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, in the familiar words we all know, “In the beginning God created”. It is after that point the various differences and even disagreements come in. How old is the earth? What part, if any, did evolution in any form play in the way we adapted and changed to our environment? To be more accurate, we usually refer to Charles Darwin’s book “On the Origin of Species” and the furore it caused when his Theory of Evolution was first introduced and published in 1859. That was over 150 years ago and we still debate its truth and relevance.

I sometimes wonder why we have so much trouble reading and understanding from Genesis 1:2 onward, when we seem to be happy to accept the first four words of verse 1? We can rule out the atheist community because they don’t believe in God anyway, and at the time Darwin’s theory had a willing audience because this theory doesn’t require a God to make it work for them. In fact Darwin wasn’t happy with his research and didn’t publish for many years because he did believe in God.

Professors of Theology of various church groups and denominations are happy to debate creation and evolution for as long as you like, and never seem to agree. If evolution was a certainty, the theory would be fact, and the case for evolution would be proven. But it can’t be shown by science. It’s like proving the Loch Ness Monster does or doesn’t exist. It is subjective, and there is no scientific evidence for either. This is a matter of faith alone and not hard science.

So, for my own part I will accept the Biblical account of creation in faith as fact, until it can be proven without any shadow of a doubt that there is no God, and I don’t see that happening. Science can address many laws and prove them by repetition of results and the application of time, but science cannot address feelings and emotions like; love, joy,  peace, patience, hate, life, death, right, wrong, good, bad, altruism and the list could go on. I find the God of the Bible the perfect Person and place to go in times when I don’t need a scientific proof, but I do need comfort and understanding. Try putting these under a microscope to prove their existence!