01-01-Full

In the beginning

Genesis 1:1,2

Hawking asks "Did the Universe have a beginning?"

Genesis 1 gives the answer to Hawking's question

Let's look at this important verse word by word.

1.  In the beginning

            * Hebrew is BE-ROSHITH

            * B' means IN – Rosh means HEAD or FIRST

* the beginning of... time (vs Once upon a time)

            * the beginning of... history

            * the Rosh Hashanah of humanity (sundown Wed)

2.  God

            *Hebrew for God is ELAH or EL = ALLAH = strong/worship

            * Gen 1:1 uses ELOHIM

* this is a plural noun ... with a singular verb cf v.2 "Spirit"

* Appl – God was there before the beginning=no other gods!

3.  Created

            * Hebrew is BARA - Greek translation = POEM! 

            * word is only used with GOD as subject

            * some say this word is only used of Ex-Nihilo

            * Heb 11 teaches that God created seen from unseen

            * Appl – Creator = Control, Sovereignty

4.  The  heavens

            *Hebrew is HA'SHAMAYIM – waters!

            * ancients thought of the world as existing in water = womb

            * "heavens" does not refer to God's abode, vs Moses' idea

5.  And the earth

            *Hebrew is HA'ERETZ

            * it means "FIRM"  or "CURSED" (see Fall of Man)

            * Mount Ararat takes it name from this – first ground after flood

            * v.2 tells us that the "earth" began as formless%%gap theory

            * v.2 also tells us it was empty – a canvas for God's poem

            * APPL – God can take messed up empty lives and recreate!

Remember Your Roots!

Gravity – too strong, stars burn out too soon, no life

Weak Nuclear Force – too strong, only hydrogen;  too weak, no hydrogen

Strong Nuclear Force – same

Electromagnetic force – too weak, no molecules, no life

2005 Newsweek Poll – 80% said Yes, God created universe

Gallup Poll of teens, same year – 81%

Richard Dawkins, in his book River Out of Eden, explains: "The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."

In a single blinding pulse, a moment of glory much too swift and expansive for any form of words, the [universe] assumes heavenly dimensions, space beyond conception. In the first lively second (a second that many cosmologists will devote careers to shaving into ever-finer wafers) is produced gravity and the other forces that govern physics. In less than a minute the universe is a million billion miles across and growing fast.

Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything (Broadway Books, 2003);

The detection in 1963 of cosmic microwave background in the universe was one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century because it is strong evidence that the universe had a definite beginning. Before this time many scientists and philosophers, including Aristotle, believed the universe was eternal and always existed.

The background noise of the universe is evidence of a "beginning" and is more popularly known as the Big Bang Theory. Arno Penzias won a Nobel Prize for his co-discovery of this background noise. He says, "The creation of the universe is supported by all the observable data astronomy has produced so far. As a result, the people who reject the data can arguably be described as having a 'religious' belief." That is, people who refuse to consider the evidence because it conflicts with their preconceived ideas are following a dogma in the most stubborn sense of the word.

Penzias thinks the most logical explanation of the universal background noise is "a moment of discrete creation from nothing" and says, "The best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted had I had nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, the Psalms, or the Bible as a whole."