The first verse in the Bible – 'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth' - is for me the main argument of faith - The Premise of Faith. It is a proposition upon which the structure of the Bible narrative is based and from which every salvific conclusion is drawn. It is the heliport from which every Bible believer must take off.
Genesis 1:1 — “Bereshit Bara Elohim” Pronunciation
This verse, in my opinion, does not indicate a time for the beginning of Creation but presents the very first starting point for every Bible reader. It is the a priori premise he must accept before he can read on and understand who God is and what God wants from him.
Hebrews 11:6 - "For whoever comes to God must believe that He exists and is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him." Anyone who wants to believe MUST first of all accept that God is the beginning of all that exists.
"From that starting point," Moses, actually says on God's behalf, "we can come to know this God - the Creator of everything and us all. Only when you accept this main starting point can you move on and can you understand my brief account of how He dressed this earth into existence. For you see, everything here was desolate and empty and there was only water, and the only thing alive was the Spirit(s) of God."
Even more premises when you read on: God is Spirit (John 4:24), the Holy Spirit is God (John 16:13), Christ is the Creator (John 1:1-3), Let Us make men (Gen. 1:26) - Elohim is plural.
Those who have difficulty with Genesis 1 and 2 should throw their Bible in the waste basket because God as Creator is THE ultimate, and primary premise in the Bible; Creation is the ultimate, undeniable act which proves of His Godhead.
Whoever loves and honors God as Creator cannot help but recognize that He sets before Him a memorial for this: His crowned Creation with THE MARK of creation, the Sabbath of the seventh day (Genesis 2:2,3 and Exodus 20:8-11). Those who love and honor God as Creator will recognize and respect this sign of His creative power.
The seventh day is the Monument set in Time of the great work He has done, in Creation and Redemption, and it will be an eternal monument on the new earth. This Monument of Time was instituted in Eden, in a sinless situation, so that monument can NOT be counted as a shadow ceremony of sin's forgiveness. It was instituted when no Jew existed, so the argument "it is for the Jews" does not hold - it is a monument that God gave to Adam and Eve, all of our everyone's ancestors.
You may be a learned scholar knowing all details of chiasm in the Book, if you desire a Bible without a Creator, then you must blot out a lot of passages in your Bible with a black marker.
For the atheist, the Bible thus becomes a book that does not deserve to be read; for someone who says he believes, but not in a Creator-God, it becomes an extremely unpleasant confrontation.
It is therefore sad that there are Christians who censure the book they say is the basis of their faith and existence. For if God is your Creator, He has something to say about you and you have to answer to Him because even the breath in your nostrils comes from Him.
And that's exactly what many people are troubled with — being accountable.
So they write Him off or make Him into a powerless idol, a Santa Claus who gives presents even to naughty children and who has so much love that He condones any wrongdoing, and even bomb-belted suicide killers go to heaven. Food for mockers ...
It is clear that God considers it very important that we recognize that He IS Creator, I AM. Creation is the basis and Recreation is the goal of the Bible. Salvation is the only means, the Only Way.
In 2017 I blotted out every reference to Creation in my Bible and the result was astonishing! The following 285 "landmines" detonate in the book, if God is not Creator:
Genesis 1 and 2
Genesis 3:1, 12, 23
Genesis 5:1, 2
Genesis 6:6, 7
Genesis 14:19, 22
Exodus 20:11
Numbers 16:20
Deuteronomy 26:19
Deuteronomy 32:6
Job 4:17
Job 32:22
Job 35:10
Job 36:3
Job 37:16
Job 38:4-38
Job 39:1-34
Job 40:10-28
Job 41
Psalm 8:3,5,6
Psalm 89:12, 13, 48
Psalm 95:6
Psalm 102:19
Psalm 104:30
Psalm 136:5-9
Psalm 148:5
Psalm 149:2
Proverbs 14:21
Proverbs 17:5
Proverbs 22:2
Ecclesiastes 12:1
Isaiah 4:5
Isaiah 17:7
Isaiah 27:11
Isaiah 40:26, 28
Isaiah 41:20
Isaiah 43:1, 7, 15
Isaiah 44:2, 24
Isaiah 45:7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 18
Isaiah 51:13
Isaiah 54:5, 16
Isaiah 57:19
Isaiah 64:8
Isaiah 65:17, 18
Isaiah 66:2
Jeremiah 10:16
Jeremiah 51:19
Ezekiel 21:30
Ezekiel 28:13, 15
Hosea 8:14
Malachi 2:10
Matthew 19:4
Mark 2:27
Mark 10:6
Mark 13:19
Mark 16:15
Acts 4:24
Acts 15:18
Romans 1:20, 25
Romans 8:19-22
1 Corinthians 11:9
2 Corinthians 5:17
Galatians 6:15
Thus, Bereshit bara Elohim - The Premiss of Faith!
Those who reject this, drift away.
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Ingrid Homoet is a member of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee in Netherlands Union of Churches Conference. She is a member of Groningen SDA Church, and a senior policy advisor for the Dutch government. She is also a dedicated opponent of women’s ordination, having written several articles on the topic.
