Genesis question

[ErikaG]

So, i finally sucked it up and spent the money for a life applications NIV bible and have made a commitment to read every day. I was reading genesis and i am dumbfounded. God made light and separated light from darkness on the first day. He didn't create the sun, moon and starsuntil day 4. So what was the source of the light? This may seem like a dumb question and maybe because i have never experienced it, but i cqnnot fathom light without sun. Any thoughts or opinions on this. Please enlighten me. I am sure that this is the first of many questions that i will ask

 

[angelique510]

The Light of the world is God Himself.

~A

 

[ErikaG]

That is exactly what i thought you might say. Still hard to wrap my tiny brain around. I am lovin this bible and all the cross referencing it gives! So much easier to read than my old KJV. I am curious to see what some of the others on here think.

 

[Saintscruiser]

Right on, Angel. That is exactly correct!

My all time favorite translation is The Living Bible, and that is because I like reading conversations. However, I found that there were certain words that weren't interpreted like they were originally written even in KJV, and I knew I needed to change. Then I purchased a New Century Bible and used that for many years. If I had questions, I would go back to KJV then back to the Bible I understood. Then I went to an Amplified Bible, and from there I purchased a NKJV with notes by Dr. Adrian Rogers. I am truly happy with this one. My mom-in-law loved mine so much she got one like it through Love Worth Finding website. It is a beautiful Book, and I do understand what I read. If I don't, I have all of these others that I can check for clarity.

Mom5, I'm excited you found a translation you are happy reading, and I haven't read all the way through the Bible. I've read most books in there, but not straight through. Chronicles and Judges bogged me down......whew! Cough, cough!

 

[trukinlady]

So, i finally sucked it up and spent the money for a life applications NIV bible and have made a commitment to read every day. I was reading genesis and i am dumbfounded. God made light and separated light from darkness on the first day. He didn't create the sun, moon and starsuntil day 4. So what was the source of the light? This may seem like a dumb question and maybe because i have never experienced it, but i cannot fathom light without sun. Any thoughts or opinions on this. Please enlighten me. I am sure that this is the first of many questions that i will ask

Hello M5!

IMHO, there's never a dumb question! Good for you on buying your Bible!! Reading it daily helps us to grow as a Christian, and strengthen our faith. If I come across something I don't quite understand, I go to biblegateway.com. There are many different Bible versions to choose from, and they even have a feature that lets you compare different versions side by side. That helps me a lot!

About your question: It's my understanding that God spoke the light into existence: He said "let there be light". Genesis 1:3

BTW, great question!

 

[angelique510]

Translating is so hard. Not only do we speak a different language than the ones in which the Bible was written, language changes over time. Pardon the (sort of) vulgarity here, but this is a glaring illustration; what would your your grandparents call a kittycat? What word would they use to describe a happy-go-lucky, carefree person? Those words mean something totally different today. Our parents used words like "heavy" and "dude". We children of the 80s had "gnarly" and "radical". Now our kid's language uses "words" like OMG WTF and BFF. Look at how our language has changed in fifty or so years. Browse Urban Dictionary. com for a while. It is interesting, to say the least. Don't say I didn't warn you

Parts of the Bible were written three thousand years ago or more, in a different language altogether. The "go-to" translation, King James, was written almost four hundred years ago. It's a lot like reading Shakespeare. Nobody talks like that anymore. Like Lady T, I use Bible Gateway a lot. I look at several different translations of a passage and then "average them out" to get the general gist of what is being said. Sometimes it helps to take a French or German or Latin translation and plunk the words into an online translator. There are some words we just don't have in English. I like to get the general feel or impression as opposed to a specific wording that may very well be wrong. There are many concordances, Strong's is the best known, and lexicons. Good stuff for us armchair philologists.

The "light" in Genesis - it is the opposite of darkness, and nothingness. It is good, the antithesis of bad. It is order, understanding, truth and rightness. It is sentience and all knowledge. It is the spark and fuel of all life and energy. It is pure and clean, and requires nothing outside itself to sustain it. All of these definitions are smaller lesser than the light we are trying to define. No word or words are close enough or good enough. It is beyond anything a human can comprehend, let alone explain. If you have never seen it, you know in your heart that it exists somewhere. And if you have seen it, you recognize it instantly and understand.

Be well,
~A

 

[blondeambition3]

The Light of the world is God Himself.

~A

yup.. there it is!

 

[blondeambition3]

Translating is so hard. Not only do we speak a different language than the ones in which the Bible was written, language changes over time. Pardon the (sort of) vulgarity here, but this is a glaring illustration; what would your your grandparents call a kittycat? What word would they use to describe a happy-go-lucky, carefree person? Those words mean something totally different today. Our parents used words like "heavy" and "dude". We children of the 80s had "gnarly" and "radical". Now our kid's language uses "words" like OMG WTF and BFF. Look at how our language has changed in fifty or so years. Browse Urban Dictionary. com for a while. It is interesting, to say the least. Don't say I didn't warn you

Parts of the Bible were written three thousand years ago or more, in a different language altogether. The "go-to" translation, King James, was written almost four hundred years ago. It's a lot like reading Shakespeare. Nobody talks like that anymore. Like Lady T, I use Bible Gateway a lot. I look at several different translations of a passage and then "average them out" to get the general gist of what is being said. Sometimes it helps to take a French or German or Latin translation and plunk the words into an online translator. There are some words we just don't have in English. I like to get the general feel or impression as opposed to a specific wording that may very well be wrong. There are many concordances, Strong's is the best known, and lexicons. Good stuff for us armchair philologists.

The "light" in Genesis - it is the opposite of darkness, and nothingness. It is good, the antithesis of bad. It is order, understanding, truth and rightness. It is sentience and all knowledge. It is the spark and fuel of all life and energy. It is pure and clean, and requires nothing outside itself to sustain it. All of these definitions are smaller lesser than the light we are trying to define. No word or words are close enough or good enough. It is beyond anything a human can comprehend, let alone explain. If you have never seen it, you know in your heart that it exists somewhere. And if you have seen it, you recognize it instantly and understand.

Be well,
~A

The "light" in Genesis - it is the opposite of darkness, and nothingness. It is good, the antithesis of bad. It is order, understanding, truth and rightness. It is sentience and all knowledge. It is the spark and fuel of all life and energy. It is pure and clean, and requires nothing outside itself to sustain it. All of these definitions are smaller lesser than the light we are trying to define. No word or words are close enough or good enough. It is beyond anything a human can comprehend, let alone explain. If you have never seen it, you know in your heart that it exists somewhere. And if you have seen it, you recognize it instantly and understand.

Be well,
~A

Now that was just 'poetry' to these ears! (~A you can PREACH to me anytime Sister! WOO!!!! This'll preach I'm tellin' ya!!!! ).... SO BLESSED by this!... STILL have goosebumps!!

 

[blondeambition3]

Hello M5!

IMHO, there's never a dumb question! Good for you on buying your Bible!! Reading it daily helps us to grow as a Christian, and strengthen our faith. If I come across something I don't quite understand, I go to biblegateway.com. There are many different Bible versions to choose from, and they even have a feature that lets you compare different versions side by side. That helps me a lot!

About your question: It's my understanding that God spoke the light into existence: He said "let there be light". Genesis 1:3

BTW, great question!

Yeah ... I tell Big Bang theory Believers that I believe in the Big Bang theory also.... "God said it and BANG! it happened!" Get's 'em every time...

 

[HyOnLyph]

From GotQuestions.org...

The question of how there could be light on the first day of Creation when the sun was not created until the fourth day is a common one. Genesis 1:3-5 declares, "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light 'day,' and the darkness He called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day." A few verses later we are informed, "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.' And it was so. 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. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the fourth day" (Genesis 1:14-19). How can this be? How could there be light, mornings and evenings on the first, second, and third days if the sun, moon, and stars were not created until the fourth day?

This is only a problem if we fail to take into account an infinite and omnipotent God. God does not need the sun, moon, and stars to provide light. God is light! First John 1:5 declares, "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all." God Himself was the light for the first three days of Creation, just as He will be in the new heavens and new earth, “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5). Until He created the sun, moon, and stars, God miraculously provided light during the “day” and may have done so during the “night” as well (Genesis 1:14).

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Much more important than the light of day and night is the Light who provides eternal life to all who believe in Him. Those who do not believe in Him will be doomed to “outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12).

 

[trukinlady]

Well said, Hy!!

 

[Saintscruiser]

I'm one of these folks who goes by Scripture and believes it to be the inerrant Holy Word of God. (Bless His holy name.) An interesting thought came to me while reading Hy's last post, and it was a good one, by the way, that God created the sun, moon, (which we know) and the stars. He spoke universes into being. He spoke this galaxy into 'being.' And yet, He only created man and wo-man (meaning 'of man') for one planet.....earth. He spoke those suns (which we know as stars) which are light years away, into being. He created the whole shebang in one big swoop........meaning, He didn't create life on other planets.....there are no little green men from Mars... Okay, I've said all of that to say this: There are no other civilizations in other galaxies or God would have said so. It's all a demonic hoax and this Scripture proves it.

Genesis 1:16-19 - Then God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17) God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth. 18) and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19) So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

God created the stars 'to give light on the earth.' That's all. It's as plain as it can be. Also notice that God records these first few creation days from night to morning. 'So the evening and the morning.....' No wonder the Sabbath is measured from sundown on Friday evening, to Saturday at sundown. Just some interesting chatter, here. I'll shut up now.

 

[blondeambition3]

I'm one of these folks who goes by Scripture and believes it to be the inerrant Holy Word of God. (Bless His holy name.) An interesting thought came to me while reading Hy's last post, and it was a good one, by the way, that God created the sun, moon, (which we know) and the stars. He spoke universes into being. He spoke this galaxy into 'being.' And yet, He only created man and wo-man (meaning 'of man') for one planet.....earth. He spoke those suns (which we know as stars) which are light years away, into being. He created the whole shebang in one big swoop........meaning, He didn't create life on other planets.....there are no little green men from Mars... Okay, I've said all of that to say this: There are no other civilizations in other galaxies or God would have said so. It's all a demonic hoax and this Scripture proves it.

Genesis 1:16-19 - Then God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17) God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth. 18) and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19) So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

God created the stars 'to give light on the earth.' That's all. It's as plain as it can be. Also notice that God records these first few creation days from night to morning. 'So the evening and the morning.....' No wonder the Sabbath is measured from sundown on Friday evening, to Saturday at sundown. Just some interesting chatter, here. I'll shut up now.

Woooo whoooo! Preach it Cuz!

 

[Elwin]

(Arrg! after an hour of working on this reply, the server decided to take a break! Give me patience, Lord... anyway let's start again.)

So, i finally sucked it up and spent the money for a life applications NIV bible and have made a commitment to read every day. I was reading genesis and i am dumbfounded. God made light and separated light from darkness on the first day. He didn't create the sun, moon and starsuntil day 4. So what was the source of the light? This may seem like a dumb question and maybe because i have never experienced it, but i cqnnot fathom light without sun. Any thoughts or opinions on this. Please enlighten me. I am sure that this is the first of many questions that i will ask

Not to chuck rocks at all the other replies you've received, but when in cemetery, er I mean seminary, we spent 3 months of intense study just to cover the first 3 chapters of Genesis. At the time, I thought to myself, "Good grief! Let's get on to the good stuff!" It wasn't until much later that I found that those first 3 chapters WERE the good stuff - so much so, that without a profound knowledge of just how important they are, every other doctrine of the Christian faith are foggy at best, and suspect at worst.
But anyway, back to the point of your question.
Let's break it down:

"God made light and separated light from darkness on the first day. He didn't create the sun, moon and stars until day 4."

Actually, that's not necessarily the way it happened in the way that you seem to think.

Genesis 1:1-2 (KJV)
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

We see here that he created the heaven and earth in an instant.
So then you ask, but what about day 4? OK, just hang with me for a bit. Take a look at verse 2:

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.

Here is your clue: without form and void.

Picture this if you will: A Great Artist decides to create a master painting. He takes material for canvas, stretches it over a frame, and primes the surface.
There is your picture, if you will.
It has 3 dimensions - you can hold it in your hand.
But it is blank. It's real and physical. But it is VOID of visual content.
All the raw materials are there.
It's waits for the Artist to give it color, depth - meaning.

See where I'm going here, now?


So what was the source of the light? This may seem like a dumb question and maybe because i have never experienced it, but i cqnnot fathom light without sun.

First off - sure you can fathom it! You do every night! You can fathom light without a sun with just the help of a simple candle or light bulb!



Well anyway, light is energy. (Actually, depending on which branch of physics you subscribe to, it may be a particle, a wave - or a even a wavicle. But that's another story... )

You don't necessarily need a localized source for light to exist. Remember your grade school science? The light that you see from a star may be from a star that no longer exists, because of the vast distances it needs to travel here. But that light did have a GENESIS, or beginning, if you will. (Gosh, I do love this stuff!)

But the bottom line is this: your question is essentially this: How can you understand this light without sun business?
Well you can't - not REALLY.
First off, you're human, thank God.
Second, you don't have the MIND and SENSES of God.
But that's OK. You don't need them.
Look, one more example, then I'll get out of your hair:

How does someone that is blind from birth truly understand the concept of light?
You can, as a sighted person, sit down an tell them all about it.
You can give them examples, like how when they turn their face to the sky, they can feel the warmth of the sun.
But they can't TRULY know and understand because they don't have the proper equipment (that is, working eyes) to fully fathom it!

If you had the equipment to TRULY understand that creation week, I'd be kneeling at your feet.
Because You would be Him...


So the bottom line is: He's given us an explanation of how he did it. That doesn't mean that we will ever TRULY fathom it - even in the hereafter.

But be confident in the fact that He did it, and then cared enough to share with us a glimpse of how He did it...

 

[Saintscruiser]

So the bottom line is: He's given us an explanation of how he did it. That doesn't mean that we will ever TRULY fathom it - even in the hereafter.

But be confident in the fact that He did it, and then cared enough to share with us a glimpse of how He did it... Posted by Elwin


I really like your last 2 sentences, Elwin. It sums it up nicely!