Bad Theology

Text for today: Genesis 1 i-x

In the beginning the earth is formless and empty, and God hovers over the water. God calls for light, and then separates the waters to create heaven and earth, praising Himself all the while.

When God creates the world, He does so not by calling it into existence from nothing, but by manipulating the waters which already exist, thereby clearing first the vault of heaven and then the dry land. Similarly, He may easily have brought forth life by manipulating organisms that were already in the sea: we are told that the earth was void, not the waters. Since God moved only over the surface, any life in the depths may have been beyond His reach until the waters were parted and the dry land emerged. Indeed, curiosity as to what older and more powerful gods than Himself had placed in the waters may well have been His reason for requiring illumination.

There is no unequivocal sign that God created ex nihilo either the first light or His petty kingdom of heaven and earth; nor is there any unequivocal sign that He was alone before the Creation. The fact that He caused the light to appear by giving an order is as obvious a clue as the lack of indication as to who created the waters. The clear implication is that God was accompanied by at least one servant when the world was begun: the start of the fiasco was witnessed by a light-bearer, upon whom the necessity for rebellion against the tyrant may already have been dawning.