Age of the Universe: What does the bible really say ? ~ 2/4

"In the Beginning" is rendered from the Hebrew word reshit which Moses used has a very specific sense in scripture. In the Bible, the term always refers to an extended yet indeterminate duration of time never a specific moment. It is a block of time which precedes an extended series of time periods. It is a time before time. The term does not refer to a point in time but to a period or duration of time which falls before a series of events.
~Dr. John Sailhamer; Genesis Unbound p.38

http://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Unbound-Proactive-Creation-Account/dp/088070868...

In rhetoric, a merism is a figure of speech by which a single thing is referred to by a conventional phrase that enumerates several of its parts, or which lists several synonyms for the same thing.

Merisms... are conspicuous features of Biblical poetry. For example, in Genesis 1:1, when God creates the heavens and the earth (KJV), the two parts combine to indicate that God created the whole universe. Similarly, in Psalm 139, the psalmist declares that God knows my downsitting and mine uprising; indicating that God knows all that he does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merism

The proper way to understand Genesis 1:1 is "In the beginning God created the universe from nothing."

A common misconception is to see Exodus 20:11 as describing the same events of Genesis 1:1 .
"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them"

This is an example of where the English heaven and earth is not being used as a Merism in the Hebrew. The universe includes the sea. So we must ask to what does the pronoun them in the phrase all that is in them. The word them ,rendered from the Hebrew hoo הוּא, is used as a plural 3rd person pronoun. The plural sense is a dead giveaway that this verse does not use the Hebrew merism meaning universe. Thus Exodus 20:11 means that God made three distinct things in six days: the sky, the land and the seas and that he filled them with all that is in them during the same period. In other words it describes Gods work between Genesis 1:2 through 2:4 in arranging the earth.

I am not claiming that the Bible dates a billions of years creation. I believe I have proven it is intentionally vague. My opinion is that it is a mystery that centers around the relative nature of time from differing points of reference. Romans 1:20 tells us that the creation speaks the truth about Gods works. Because God simply has not revealed the age of the universe in scripture, it is irresponsible to make divisive claims that he has.

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[muslim22630]

who wrote the first 5 books of the bible . the bible was change 164 times. it is handy work of prest . so many book was left out of the bible. i believe in the bible but iwonder which part is the true words of god. there are too many mistake in the bible. science prove it.

[bigwhammyRocks]

Moses wrote it. We have manuscripts from 100 BC found in the dead sea scrolls that match the Masoretic text from 1000AD to the letter. No changes.

It's much more attested to than the Q'uran as Muhammad was a illiterate warlord and never wrote anything at all.

[32933ad]

i am sorry but the word bara really means fattened or filled. not created. "in the beginning god filled the heavens and the earth."

[bigwhammyRocks]

Please cite your source because that's just not so according to the 4 or 5 different Hebrew lexicons that I am looking at. For example Brown Driver Briggs

[Nickspasic]

Ellohim, Elloh(im) Im is a royal plurl, like when the queen says we are not ammused, it doesnt mean there is more then one queen it just helps illistrate her importance. God is one, and Ellohim without the royal plurl is Elloh, which sounds almost identicle to Allah. The God of the Torah, Old testiment, Ingil, New testiment, and Quran, Final testiment are all from the same god they are just different revolation's and the Quran conferms the message of god from all previous revolations. God is one

[bigwhammyRocks]

Your "royal plural" example is in English which is not relevant.. Can you cite an example in the Hebrew language to support your claim?

[Parkrose21]

yea this guy actually gives 40 min of proof to back his theory up and you? You just make a statement and dont even try to back it up.

[duckgeezer]

OMG, i'm staggered that in these modern times some NUTTERS still believe that there's a god up there.

Get a life!

[HannoverFisk]

"Science will win because it's useful"

[ArkAngelHFB]

@ultim4t32 I will put it this way...

If can make like and mater from nothing... and arrange it in the fashion he wanted... then why could he not have a long term plan for it...

We often make five and ten year plans for our lives....

Why then could god not make a five billion year plan for all life..

[ultim4t32]

@hennessey808 IF you are not sure what to believe. You apparently already are bible familiar. Perhaps learn about science - evolution, abiogenesis and cosmology. Only go to reputable scientists in the field. There are tons of christians purposely spreading false information out there. People like Ray Comfort and Kent Hovind (and more) make their livings telling people what they want to hear knowing full well they are not being accurate.

[ultim4t32]

@Parkrose21 what about evolution (and I will specify macro evolution)? Do you believe god would design life then allow evolution to occur and change them completely? How can you claim a scientific approach to bible translation and then ignore the science- dna record and fossil record which makes evolution an undeniable fact at this point. This looks more to me like yet another retreat and redefinition by christians to hold onto their bronze age beliefs.

[gregrutz]

@OGSamwise There is a 65 million year gap between the Age of the Dinosaurs and the Bible.

[OGSamwise]

@natruto Gap theory is actually a misnomer. There is no gap in the continuity of events, between the destruction of the pre-adamic civilization described in Jeremiah 4:23-27 and the events of the earth's restoration in Genesis.

[OGSamwise]

@gregrutz Heaven's= the entire known universe. Watch the section on merisms again, it's fairly straight forward and not that complex to grasp.

[hairyreasoner]

From your info: "reshit." Yes indeed, it's sort of all been said before.  Reshit.