Genesis chapter 1 verse 2, which of course is the second verse in the Bible seems to indicate that the earth was created in a formless and voided condition. Look these words up to see what they mean. "without form" To'-hoo; to lie waste: a desolation, a worthless thing. in vain, confusion, empty place, without form, nothing. a thing of nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness. But Isaiah 45:18 says, "For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens: God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it NOT IN VAIN, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else. There was something that happened between the first verse in the Bible and the second verse. God created the earth in a perfect state in the Beginning, and then there was a destruction that came about because of the rebellion of Satan, and then it was reconditioned by our Father which is the present earth age that we now live. This is the reason that the earth appears to be much older than 6 thousand years, because it is. This is of course one of the "arguments" out there.
Well, one argument for a literal reading of Genesis one is that there is no context anywhere in Genesis for it being treated as anything except an historical account. The language bridging the episodes, for example, is exactly the same as the language bridging the episodes of the stories of Abraham's family (Gen. 2:4, 6:9, 11:27, 25:12, 25:19, 36:1).
A second argument for a literal reading of Genesis 1 (and through 11) is that it is treated that way throughout the rest of the Bible, including by Moses' (Exodus 20:11), Jesus (Matt. 19:4), Paul (Rom. 5:12ff, 1 Cor. 15:45ff, 2 Cor. 11:3, etc), Hebrews (Heb. 4:3-4, 11:3), and Peter (2 Peter 3:5-6).
The idea of reading Genesis 1 as figurative rather than literal doesn't come from anything in context or anything in the rest of scripture. So, where does it come from?
I just recently started this class called scientific creationism versus evolution. It has recently gotten me wondering just how much people know about the issues involved, and some of the views on it, including the idea of a literal reading of Genesis chapter 1 versus a figurative reading of Genesis chapter 1. What arguments are out there?
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