Bible Discussion Thread

God did not create the earth to be void, dark and formless.
why do i say that?
this is because it is inconsistent with the nature of God to make something that is imperfect.
Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights...
So God couldn't have created an earth that would become void and dark such that God would have to bring light and reform it again.
So you may ask? So what is the Bible talking about here in Gen 1:2.
Now understand this...
God created the heaven and earth IN THE BEGINNING; not on the first day.
It was the first day that God started his "creation work on the earth".
But between the BEGINNING and the FIRST DAY that God started working on the earth, somethings were already happening on the earth because God had already created the heaven and the earth. And it was these things that caused the earth to become void, dark and formless. So God came in to reform the earth.
Gen 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. AND the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
God created the heaven and the earth AND the earth was without form...
note that the "AND" there does not necessarily denote a continuation but can indicate a duration between the event before and after.
So I believe God created a perfect heaven and earth with creatures living in it but something happened and the perfect earth that God created became void, dark and formless. So God came in to reform that earth for man who was now going to take over the earth; so I support Insights comment that there was an earth age before this age mentioned here in the Gen 1:2-.
Note: What God told man right after He created him:
Gen 1:28...God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and REPLENISH the earth, and subdue it...
God told man to REPLENISH the earth. God would not have told man to replenish the earth if at a time it did not have life on it before man came. So man had to refill that once filled earth.
You may ask,"what was the earth fill with" You may also ask "what happened to the perfect earth that God created for it to become void, dark and formless". Well I can't go into that now; maybe another time.
But the reason why the Holy Spirit did not reveal it into details to Moses was because this Chapter was talking about man so what was happening before the age of man is not that "necessary".