Re: Cosmogony from the Book of Genesis.


Sorcerer wrote:
"LEJ Brouwer" <intuitionist1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1151026159.282399.94530@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
| Let us contemplate the following...
|
| 1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Ok, contemplating...
What's a beginning?

That's a very interesting question. Clearly the 'creation' of the
universe entails the creation of both space and time. The word
'beginning' has no meaning in the usual sense if time does not already
exist, and so this could possibly refer to the creation event itself if
this occurred at a particular point in the finite past. However, if the
universe has always been in existence (i.e. there is no initial time),
then this interpretation cannot be correct.

From the context, it seems more likely to be a 'best effort' at
explaining to us in terms which we can grasp with reference to our own
experiences, the concept that the universe was 'created' (again
'created' like any other verb, does not really make sense unless time
already exists) by God who, 'being' the 'creator' of spacetime, must
also transcend it. Because the words 'created' and 'beginning' refer to
things which transcend the physical realm, it is not really possible
for us to understand them except indirectly by analogy. The statement
is therefore a metaphor for a greater reality which is beyond our
grasp.

Well that's my half-penny's worth on the matter.

- Sabbir

.

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