TEST THE BIBLE

Dr. Kent Hovind's analysis of Genesis 1:1 from his new book WOE:

 

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Thus begins the world’s best-selling book. What a way to start a book! The Bible here is claiming to be telling us about “The Beginning!” It doesn’t start with some pre-existing matter or time, like all other religious books. This is it! The very beginning, starting from nothing! The first ten words in the Bible are amazing! They contain a very interesting trinity of trinities that must come unto being exactly in the order stated here. Let’s look at this verse carefully!

 

“In the beginning ...” This is a reference to time. Time has three parts (trinity). Time has past, present, and future. Where can you go to get away from time? There have been scores of movies and books made about time travel, but even these are still locked in time. While it would be cool to time-travel forward or backward, imagine being able to be outside of time! Time itself is a very interesting trinity, but these first three words raise two very interesting questions! What did God do before the “beginning?” And when was the “beginning,” as talked about here?

 

Let’s take the first one first. Questions like, “What did God do before the beginning in Genesis 1:1?” have a built-in false assumption. It is one of those questions like: “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?” If you answer, “Yes,” you are admitting that you did beat your wife! If you answer, “No,” then you are admitting that you are still doing it! What if you never did? Sometimes the question itself is invalid because it contains a built-in assumption. Just the word, “before,” itself has time attached to it. To ask what God did before the Creation assumes that God is locked in time like we are. If God is limited by time, He is not God! Time is God. The little human brain cannot comprehend much of this truth right now; but this is not the 21st century in Heaven. There is no time there. God exists in a different dimension that we cannot grasp. It is called “eternity.”

 

- Deuteronomy 33:27 "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms”

- 1 Timothy 1:17 "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God ...”

- Isaiah 57:15 "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy...”

 

Just as a fish lives in the water and is totally immersed in it, without even being aware that it is in the water, we are totally immersed in time and have been for our entire lives. We can’t even imagine being outside of time. It’s a part of the “matrix” we are in. Try to explain to the fish that there is a totally new world outside of his limited world of water called “air” and he will not get it. If you try to explain there is another world outside of air called “space,” you will really blow his little brain! Try to explain eternity and it will blow your brain!

 

The Bible doesn’t tell us a lot about “eternity,” probably because our little minds wouldn’t be able to grasp it. It would be like trying to explain colors to a blind man. Since I am also limited by time, I can only tell you what the Bible says on this topic. I do not claim to understand it but I do believe it by faith. God is not in time. He is eternal: He claims He is eternal. He is not locked in time like we are. He sees the past, the present, and the future all at the same time. He is outside of the limitations of time. Some think that since God knows the future then He must also be controlling the future, so why bother?

 

This illustration may help: - Suppose you were in a raft floating down the Colorado River through the twists and turns of the Grand Canyon. Now suppose a new raft full of people started the same trip from the same starting point every hour all day long. The groups would be spaced apart so that none of them can see each other. They just “go with the flow” of the river as it carries them along. Now suppose there is a helicopter way up overhead so that the pilot can see every raft at the same time. He can see each of them and they can each see him, but they cannot see each other. The pilot can see all of them because he is not stuck in the flow of the river in the canyon. He’s outside the river. God is like that pilot, and the river is like time. He can look from eternity and see 2010 and 2014 and 1864 and 3000 BC, all at the same time! Put that in your brain and let it soak for a while! Now suppose everyone in the rafts had radios to talk with the pilot. He can see what is coming and offer advice about staying to one side or the other to avoid future problems, but they remain in control of the rafts. From his vantage point the pilot can see their future. The people in the raft have a limited view of what is around them. They can only see their 'present.'. They would be fools not to listen to the advice of the guy with a better view!

 

That’s what prayer and Bible reading are all about! God is trying to give us warnings and advice about what to do in various aspects of our lives from dating to business to scores of other things. We would be fools not to listen and heed His advice! But He won’t force you to do anything. You control your life. Some say, “If God knows the future, then He must have everything predestined. He must have even predestined some to go to Heaven and some to go to Hell” (Calvinism). No, no, no! These people are confusing God knowing what is coming, with God controlling what is coming. Big difference!

 

If God did not know the future, He would be limited by time and He would not be God. Time would be God. If He did step in and control everything then we would be robots and our love for Him would be meaningless. He could make us obey Him but what value is there in that? I am 6'1” and 200 pounds. My wife is 5'1' and 110 pounds. I could easily overpower her and force her to say, “I love you,” but it would not mean a thing! God wants you to voluntarily love Him. He isn’t going to force you. He sees every twist and turn of your future and would love to have you “call in” often and ask for His advice, but He doesn’t force His will on any of us. If you ignore His warnings and go to the left over the waterfall because it looked better from your raft than staying to the right as He advised, okay. You can make your own decisions in life. Don’t blame God when bad things happen. You are in control of your life. So, to answer the question, “What did God do before the Creation?” There was no “before the Creation.” God actually created time for us to live in. He’s not in time like we are, so the question is invalid.

 

I told you there was a trinity of trinities in the first 10 words of the Bible. Time is the first. Space is next. “In the beginning (time) God created the heaven (space) ...” Space also has three dimensions; length, width, and height. Each is unique yet dependent on the other two. Just as you and I, as humans, cannot escape time, we are stuck in it, neither can we escape space. No matter where you go, your location can be marked with three coordinates for length, width, and height. God is in all places (omnipresent) all at the same time and in all times at the same time.

 

The third trinity in Genesis 1:1 is matter, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the EARTH.” Matter exists as solid, liquid, or gas. The time/space/matter nature and trinity of our universe must come into existence in the order stated. If you had matter before space, where would you put it? If you had matter and space before there was time, when would you put it?"

 

God, in ten words, gave us a great lesson on His nature. He exists as one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit He is with us, through the Son He saved us, and through the Father He loves and disciplines us.