From Newsgroup: alt.bible

The real Creation story. (explanation of early Genesis verses)

I am going to give you the explanation of early Genesis of what those
creation verses mean. When I am done, you will see that Genesis is in
complete harmony with true science concerning the understanding of the beginnings of things; starting from the early earth to the appearance
of various life forms. You will likely say that I am just interpreting
that to make things come out right. Well all I can say is, what would
be the probably that the wording of the full creation account in
Genesis COULD BE INTERPRETED to be in harmony with the scientific
facts, if it was written by ignorant unscientific person or persons?
(more on this below)

Anyway, here is what the creation account of Genesis says when read
and understood this way:

Vs 1 is an introductory verse, starting off with the creation of earth
and the heavens. (stars, moon, sun, etc) Thus at the end of vs 1, all
those things are created, and the sun is shinning brightly in space,
and the earth exists in some kind of raw form.

Verse 2 also talks about how the very early earth looked right before
God started to prepare it for life.

In the next set of verses (3-31), God is going to tell us what He did
to prepare this created "earth" (at the point of vs 2), for the
arrival of mankind. He will divide those periods of creative
activities into 6 undefined lengths called a "day". (In the first two
chapters of Genesis, the word "day" has 4 different lengths of time
attributed to them.)

But if the sun is shinning brightly, why was there "darkness" on the
surface of the earth? (vs 2) God didn't say that there was darkness
throughout the universe, only darkness on the earth's "SURFACE".
Obviously something was blocking the light. (Also, the confusion of
most people lies in verses 14-19. A close look at the original words
used, clears up the apparent contradiction. But to get a fuller
understanding, a look at vs 6-8 is necessary first.)

Notice Ge 1:6-8 talks about a division between waters and waters. This
isn't land because it talks about land in verses 9,10. In verse 7 God
talks about waters "above the expanse". What is this "expanse"?

Genesis indicates that at the very beginning of the earth, there was
no clear division or open space, but that the entire globe was
enveloped in water vapor. This also accords with scientific reasoning
on the early stages of the planet's formation and the view that at one
time all of earth's water existed in the form of water vapor because
of the extreme heat of the earth's surface at that point. Also, right
at this point (vs 2) the water vapor was of such a makeup, that it
blocked the light from reaching the surface. (this shouldn't be so
hard to conceive, since even today under certain adverse local weather conditions, day can become as night.)

Then God adjusted the water vapor to let some light get through. (vs
3) However this light is highly diffused and no celestial objects are discernable. (like a heavy overcast day) This agrees with the Hebrew
word used for "light" here in verse 3. The word is "ohr", which means
light in a general sense. But in verse 14 the Hebrew word is 'maohr'
which refers to a luminary or a source of light. (So evidently more
changes were about to occur in relation to the water canopy above the
earth in vs 14.)

Next God divided up this envelope of water into two sections. He let
the first section cover the surface. He then allowed an atmosphere to
form (expanse). And on top of this expanse (atmosphere), was the
second section of that water vapor. So right at this point we have the
earth with water on the surface, an atmosphere, and a great cloud
canopy of waters at the upper limits of that atmosphere. (vs 6-8)

In verse 16 notice it doesn't use the Hebrew word "bara" meaning
'create' (as in vs 1), instead it uses the Hebrew word "asah" meaning
'make'. Since the "heavens" in verse 1 already contained the sun,
moon, and stars, then the statement in verse 15 meant that these
luminaries now became visible as distinct celestial objects through
the water canopy as observed from the surface of the earth, so that
when humans arrived on the scene, they would be able to use them to
keep track of time, etc.

The rest of the creation account shows the emergence of the various
life forms, which are basically in agreement with science. So to
summarize, notice this brief excerpt:

"The science of mathematical probability offers striking proof that
the Genesis creation account must have come from a source with
knowledge of the events. The account lists 10 major stages in this
order: (1) a beginning; (2) a primitive earth in darkness and
enshrouded in heavy gases and water; (3) light; (4) an expanse or
atmosphere; (5) large areas of dry land; (6) land plants; (7) sun,
moon and stars discernible in the expanse, and seasons beginning; (8)
sea monsters and flying creatures; (9) wild and tame beasts, mammals;
(10) man. Science agrees that these stages occurred in this general
order. What are the chances that the writer of Genesis just guessed
this order? The same as if you picked at random the numbers 1 to 10
from a box, and drew them in consecutive order. The chances of doing
this on your first try are 1 in 3,628,800!" ("Life- How did it get
here? By evolution or by creation?", 1985, p. 36)

Also compare the creation account in Genesis with the creation account
of the ancient Babylonians.

The Babylonian creation account says the god Apsu along with the
goddess Tiamat created other gods. Apsu later on didn't like these
other gods and tried to kill them, but he ended up getting killed by
the god Ea. Tiamat was upset at the killing of Apsu and thus tried to
kill Ea. Instead, Ea's son Marduk killed her. Marduk split her body in
half, and with one half made the sky and the other half made the
earth. Marduk then with the help of Ra, made mankind from the blood of
the god, Kingu.

I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to see that Genesis had
access to information that the rest of humanity (at least the
Babylonians, and none other than I ever read about) did not have at
that time.

Thus, the Bible does not contradict itself concerning the creation
account nor is out of harmony with true science, but when investigated
shows a logical and reasonable way those things happened.

There can be some confusion in chapter two of Genesis, but when you
understand the writing style, it helps to clear things up.

Genesis Chapter 1 through Chapter 2 Verse 4, is one account of the way
the creation occurred. This one was written chronologically.

Genesis Chapter 2 Verse 5 onward is a parallel account that starts out
at a period in the third day right before land plants were created.
(Ge 2:5) It gives us some more details not given in Chapter 1. It next
skips to day six and talks about the creation of man. Again it gives
more detail (quite a bit more in this one) not found in the first
account.

When reading the Bible, just keep in mind that it was not uncommon for
Bible writers to write out of chronological order. (For example, read
the gospels of Jesus; the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.) I
personally like everything in chronological order. But I can't ignore
writing styles that Bible writers choose to write that are out of
order. And that is what the writer of Genesis did with the 2nd
parallel creation account starting at Ge 2:5. He wrote things of
topical importance here, not the importance of sequential order as
earlier.

When you read the Bible with the above understandings, you will see
that it is in harmony with true science and does not contradict
itself.


"LEARN FROM JESUS

oYou Are Going to Hear of Warso
Find out what this statement made by Jesus really means.
Learn More".
See jw.org (1/2/2026)
James: zebrabible@proton.me

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.bible

Since you didn't get the memo, the creation account points people to
Christ as the creator God and light of the world, who brings us salvation:

rCLIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things
were made through him, and without him was not any thing made
that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of
men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all
might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to
bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light
to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and
the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But
to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave
the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood
nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of
God.rCY (John 1:1rCo13, ESV)

The Bible doesn't need you to save it, Heresy James. You're the one who
needs to be saved by the Christ of the Bible.
--
Have you heard the good news Christ died for our sins (rCa), and God
raised Him from the dead?

That Christ died for our sins shows we're sinners who deserve the death penalty. That God raised Him from the dead shows Christ's death
satisfied God's righteous demands against our sin (Romans 3:25; 1 John
2:1-2). This means God can now remain just, while forgiving you of your
sins, and saving you from eternal damnation.

On the basis of Christ's death and resurrection for our sins, call on
the name of the Lord to save you: "For 'everyone who calls on the name
of the Lord will be saved'" (Romans 10:13, ESV).

https://christrose.news/salvation

To automatically receive daily Bible teaching updates with colorful
images and website formatting, subscribe to my feed in a client like Thunderbird:

https://www.christrose.news/feeds/posts/default
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.bible

On Fri, 2 Jan 2026 20:15:50 -0600, Christ Rose
<usenet@christrose.news> wrote:

Since you didn't get the memo, the creation account points people to
Christ as the creator God

Alright, show me.



and light of the world, who brings us salvation:

oIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God.

Improper use of Greek grammar there. As this Catholic note on this
verse says:

"Was God:lack of a definite article with "God" in Greek signifies
predication rather than identification".

Thus Jesus (Word) should be "a god", not "God".

He was in the beginning with God. All things
were made through him, and without him was not any thing made
that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of
men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all
might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to
bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light
to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and
the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But
to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave
the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood
nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of
God.o (John 1:1u13, ESV)

The Bible doesn't need you to save it, Heresy James. You're the one who >needs to be saved by the Christ of the Bible.

I just lifted up a giant mirror before those words. Figure it out.

Lately, all the main titles at jw.org has been about Jesus. No
comments?

See: https://www.jw.org/en/
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2