Beginnings, science and the Bible

Beginnings, Science and the Bible

The First Cause and Timelessness

Common Sense tells us that time began with creation. Before that there was no time. Why? Because the ultimate first cause must have always existed and been timeless. This is a logical conclusion and cannot be satisfactorily contested. However although recognizing that this is a fact it is difficult to understand.

Is this a scientifically accurate conclusion? Yes!
Consider that much of science has been learned by means of mathematics.
In maths we accept the fact of a recurring decimal place. This means that something can be infinitely small. This is difficult to comprehend and so we ignore it in our calculations, but it is there.

You can see this yourself. Some calculators perform simple calculations that will give you a fraction to an unlimited number of places. Say you were using a calculator to calculate a money figure. The answer may be 0.52.7462478 cents and then the calculator runs out of display space. If enough space was provided the calculator could go on to infinity, so what do we do? We round the figure up to 0.53 cents. Infinity is difficult to understand but we accept this concept. Scientists accept the concept of infinity. Therefore it is not unreasonable to accept that an ultimate first cause can exist and is timeless.

Time before Science

How does the Bible handle this concept?

(Psalm 90:2) Before the mountains themselves were born, Or you proceeded to bring forth as with labor pains the earth and the productive land, Even from time indefinite to time indefinite you are God.

(1 Timothy 1:17) Now to the King of eternity, incorruptible, invisible, [the] only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

What was the first act of creation? Science cannot say because it is limited to the evidence of the material universe and the speculations of philosophers, which with their limited life experience mean nothing.
However the Bible tells us.

(Proverbs 8:22) . . .“Jehovah himself produced me as the beginning of his way, the earliest of his achievements of long ago. . .

In the above scripture Jehovah is referred to as the ultimate first cause. Who is Jehovah?

(Exodus 15:18) 18 Jehovah will rule as king to time indefinite, even forever.

(Psalm 83:18) . . .That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth.

Who was this one that Jehovah produced at the beginning of his way when he began creating? The one that served as Jehovah’s master worker carrying out the bidding of his master.

(Proverbs 8:23) . . .From time indefinite I was installed, from the start, from times earlier than the earth.

(Proverbs 8:29-30) . . .when he decreed the foundations of the earth, 30 then I came to be beside him as a master worker, and I came to be the one he was specially fond of day by day, I being glad before him all the time,

The Bible clearly identifies this person as the son of God, Jesus Christ.

(Colossians 1:13-17) . . .He delivered us from the authority of the darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, ……….15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All [other] things have been created through him and for him. 17 Also, he is before all [other] things and by means of him all [other] things were made to exist,

Jesus identifies himself at as the faithful and true witness “the beginning of God’s creation” at Revelation 3:14

(Revelation 3:14) . . .These are the things that the Amen says, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation by God,

These scriptures taken from different parts of the Bible and show that this is in agreement with the whole Bible.

To handle the next scripture we need to clear up a misconception before our understanding can be improved

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God

The above translation is from the authorized or King James version of the Bible (1611)

Notice that it appears to say that although the word was with God the word was also God. Can anybody be with himself. According to trinity believers, yes they can. They say:-“all things are possible with God.” However is this so? No!

To show how nonsensical this belief is, one of Jehovah’s witnesses pointed out to me that if God was three persons, then if this understanding is true, then when the Bible says that the word was with God, it would mean that there were now four persons, namely the word and God. (who was actually 3 persons ) Going further, when it explains that the word was actually God ( who was supposed to be composed of 3 persons) then the obvious conclusion would be that there were now 6 persons in the picture. (The word who was God and therefore 3 persons, and God himself who was also 3 persons.) Because the word was with God then the 3′s must be added together.

Can you see what nonsense this is. The Bible does not support unreasonable explanations like this.

(Hebrews 6:18) . . .in order that, through two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. . .

(James 3:17) 17 But the wisdom from above is first of all chaste, then peaceable, reasonable, ready to obey, full of mercy and good fruits, not making partial distinctions, not . .

Here is the same scripture taken from the NW translation published by Jehovah’s witnesses

(John 1:1-2) In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. 2 This one was in [the] beginning with God.

So why did the translators of the KJ translate the way that they did? Greek grammar permits both ways of translating the text, but they chose to use the translation that contradicted itself and also the very principles that God lives by. Why? Because it supported their belief that Jesus Christ was God himself according to the trinity doctrine, which, as we know is one of the basic teachings of almost all the churches of Christendom. The trinity doctrine claims that the father, the son and the holy ghost, are three persons, and all are God. some even claim that God is a committee, but this is only an attempt to make sense out of this nonsense. Notice that in the following scriptures, the oneness of God is emphasized, no matter what translation is used and this is understandable, because the false religions surrounding Israel all worshipped a trinity of some sort. See The origin of Religion on the site

Deut 6:4

(ASV) Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah:

(GNB) “Israel, remember this! The LORD —and the LORD alone—is our God.

(KJV) Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

(LITV) Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.

(NW) Listen, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.

In the original Greek language, which is the language that the Greek scriptures (otherwise known as the new testament) were written in, the definite article (the) appears when the noun Is specific. For example “The Book” However, when any, indefinite book is referred to, English requires the indefinite article (a) to be inserted before the noun, ( a Book) but this is not the case in Greek. Why not? Because there is no indefinite article (a) in the Greek language. By not having a definite article, in front of the noun in Greek the noun is understood to be “indefinite.”(a book)

Sometimes it is unnecessary to use the indefinite article in English. for example:-” the person was truly a man” or “the person was truly man” In the second case it is understood to mean “of mankind.” Therefore it is not an absolute rule in English and the translater has the option depending on the context. So when translated to English some times, the English indefinite article (a) may not need to used, but it should be inserted to help the reader understand the proper meaning of the text when necessary and this is grammatically correct.

Because the translation of the KJ version can lead to a misunderstanding of the text, there is a need for the indefinite article (a) to inserted before the noun,

This is why the NW translation has taken this into account when translating the text. This is now exactly in harmony with what the other scriptures tell us about Jesus. The KJ translation ignored the context and translated to support the false doctrine which was probably the belief of the translator.

Jesus was the first creation produced by God and because he served as a master worker with God, he was also a subordinate god or mighty one. He existed in the beginning, because that was when he was created, whereas his Father who was timeless existed before him and never ever had a beginning. So the Father was an “Almighty One” whereas the son was a “mighty one.”This was the beginning of the spirit world

(Genesis 17:1-2) . . .When A’bram got to be ninety-nine years old, then Jehovah appeared to A?bram and said to him: “I am God Almighty. Walk before me and prove yourself faultless. 2 And I will give my covenant between me and you, that I may multiply you very, very much.”

(Isaiah 9:6) . . .For there has been a child born to us, there has been a son given to us; and the princely rule will come to be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

The Beginning of Time

From then, time began. Later the time came when God began the creation of the material universe and this is where Genesis chapter one comes into the picture when it speaks of the beginning of the universe.

That is why the Bible says

(Genesis 1:1) . . .In [the] beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Science is only able to examine, learn and draw conclusions from the material creation and so apart from arriving at the conclusion that the universe has had a beginning is totally blind to what happened before that.

However, has science been able to contradicts these facts? No! All the scientific evidence points to a beginning of the creation of matter and therefore the existence of the creator of the universe.

Only the Bible identifies the creator of the universe as Jehovah the Almighty God.
Furthermore it alone explains who Jehovah created first and how he used his son as a “master worker” who was responsible for carrying out his wishes. This is how the son shared in creating everything both spiritual and materially.

What a wonderful provision and addition to our knowledge the Bible provides for us.

The first beginning was when this master worker shared in the creation of other intelligent creatures similar to himself in the spirit world.

Therefore Jesus in his pre-human existence as the Word of God, and the master worker, not only shared in the creation of other spirit creatures under Jehovah’s direction, but also transmitted God’s commands to the rest of the spirit world, who in turn carried out God’s instructions. Therefore it is no surprise to us that when Jesus came to earth he continued to faithfully deliver God sayings to mankind.

Notice how Jesus continued to function as God’s spokesman when he was on earth.

(John 7:16-18) . . .Jesus, in turn, answered them and said: “What I teach is not mine, but belongs to him that sent me. 17 If anyone desires to do His will, he will know concerning the teaching whether it is from God or I speak of my own originality. 18 He that speaks of his own originality is seeking his own glory; but he that seeks the glory of him that sent him, this one is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. .

After the creation of spirit creatures, the Bible proceeds to tell us how the material universe and earth was created and brought to a condition so as to support life.
The stages in the creation of material life forms were explained and the laws God instituted as to how this was to proceed, namely that they were to re-produce “according to their kind”

These activities proceeded in stages until the creation of the first humans and the ability given them to also re-produce after their kind.

Nothing as ever been produced by modern science to show that this was illogical or unscientific in any way.

How God Runs the Universe

Because living creature were given the ability to be creative and intelligent and therefore capable of freewill and freedom of choice. how was God to maintain the unity and cooperation of his intelligent creation?

This has been discussed in greater detail in other articles on this site but briefly it could be said that God created intelligent creatures, supplying them with a minimum amount of instinctive behavior characteristics and also capable of exercising similar moral characteristics to himself. The lower forms of life were endowed with far more instinctive behavior characteristics and only the limited intelligence required to perform their function in the overall scheme of things.

The simple answer is that God has relied on the way he created humans to maintain the unity of his creation. With their ability to appreciate the way that they are treated, they could be expected to respond and grow to love him,

Like a loving parent that disciplines and treats his children with love and kindness and thus builds a family that respects and loves their father God logically expects similar respect and love from his creation.

All God’s family of spirit persons and humans are created with what we refer to as freewill. This means that we ourselves can experience emotion and desire. The things we desire furnish the motivation to achieve the fulfilment of those desire. This is what makes us superior to robots.

Consider this illustration. Which would you prefer to give your love and affection to? A lovable little puppy that wagged his little tail and showed absolute delight in your presence or a little dog that you wound up and did everything that you wanted it to do? Surely the answer is obvious,

Because we were made in the image of God, and although imperfect we can still understand how God feels about his creation. He would like us to respect him as our heavenly father. He would like us to appreciate the way he treats us and show this by being obedient to him. We also benefit ourselves by responding in this way. Would we not wish to have the same kind of response from our own children? The only real difference is that God has all these qualities in perfect balance so that he will not allow sentiment to over-balance his wisdom like imperfect humans sometimes do.

Some parents forget that when they discipline their children they are teaching the child to discipline itself and how to exercise self-control. If this is not done in the growing stage while under parental direction, then when the child grows up, it will lack the emotional strength to discipline itself. It is now a helpless victim of every desire that appeals to it whether beneficial or not. A sentimental parent holding back from applying discipline when necessary, is sentencing his child to a life of slavery to desires, which will ruin its happiness and contentment in the future. Is that what you want for you child? God is not like that. Sometimes parents have to discipline their children and because they love the child this becomes hard to do, however they must consider where this disobedience is leading to. If a child grows up without the ability to exercise self-control it will be a slave to any desire that it entertains. This can lead to crime, immorality, drug addition and even violent behavior, if it is unable to get its own way. Do we want this for our children? So parents should discipline their children even though it hurts them as well. That is why, following God’s example the Bible recommends discipline. Discipline, however should only be enough to achieve its goal and it should be consistent if the lesson is to be learned.

(James 1:14-15) . . .But each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin; in turn, sin, when it has been accomplished, brings forth death. . .

(Hebrews 12:5-11) . . .“My son, do not belittle [the] discipline from Jehovah, neither give out when you are corrected by him; 6 for whom Jehovah loves he disciplines; in fact, he scourges every one whom he receives as a son.” 7 It is for discipline YOU are enduring. God is dealing with YOU as with sons. For what son is he that a father does not discipline? 8 But if YOU are without the discipline of which all have become partakers, YOU are really illegitimate children, and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we used to have fathers who were of our flesh to discipline us, and we used to give them respect. Shall we not much more subject ourselves to the Father of our spiritual life and live? 10 For they for a few days used to discipline us according to what seemed good to them, but he does so for our profit that we may partake of his holiness. 11 True, no discipline seems for the present to be joyous, but grievous; yet afterward to those who have been trained by it it yields peaceable fruit, namely, righteousness.

Satan’s cowardly diabolic plan was to create a situation which he thought God would not be able to handle without breaking his righteous principles. He knew of God’s devotion to righteous principles and regarded this as God’s weakness. So he set up a trap to trap his own father. Because God had stated his purpose for humans to multiply and produce perfect people happily fulfilling their assignment to turn the whole earth into a paradise, he figured that God would have to break his principles to extract himself out of the dilemma, when faced with the disobedience of the first couple..

What was God going to do? Break his principles which his entire creation trusted him to uphold, no matter? No way! But to uphold these principle, it was going to cost him dearly. The children of Adam were now in a terrible situation. Their father Adam had squandered their life rights. They had now inherited death and sickness and slavery to a unscrupulous leader, and finally would return to the dust in response to the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Why? Because God could not sustain them without contradicting his own laws. Had the Devil won? Jehovah has the wisdom to handle any matter. This was the Devil’s mistake. He underestimated his father. He thought that he was smarter than God. It is amazing how many children today manifest this same attitude and imagine that they are smarter than their parents.

Who could Jehovah trust sufficiently to make certain that his father’s good name would be upheld? Why his firstborn, the one whom he specially loved. The one whose company and loving association he had enjoyed for perhaps millions of years. But would this son accept the assignment, after all he also had freewill? Yes! The son was only to happy to serve his father in this instance. But what a terrible emotional ordeal God would have to suffer himself.

(Hebrews 10:7-10) . . .Then I said, ‘Look! I am come (in the roll of the book it is written about me) to do your will, O God.’” 8……………………..10 By the said “will” we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.

These scriptures show Jesus’ attitude

(John 8:28-30) . . .Therefore Jesus said: “When once YOU have lifted up the Son of man, then YOU will know that I am [he], and that I do nothing of my own initiative; but just as the Father taught me I speak these things. 29 And he that sent me is with me; he did not abandon me to myself, because I always do the things pleasing to him.” 30 As he was speaking these things, many put faith in him.

What was the Joy that he looked forward to? The clearing of his father’s name and the opportunity to rectify all the problems as the king of God’s kingdom

(Hebrews 12:2) . . .as we look intently at the Chief Agent and Perfecter of our faith, Jesus. For the joy that was set before him he endured a torture stake, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

From God’s Perspective

When you consider all these details do you think that we are worth it? Here is one of the illustration that I find moves me in appreciation for Jehovah’s wonderful qualities,
Look up at the heavens on a clear night. You can see thousands of stars Modern knowledge show that some of these twinkling little stars are not stars at all but are universes. Some of those universes are even bigger than our own universe and they are almost invisible to us.

Now consider the matter from God’s perspective. Is it not a miracle that our universe, our planet has not been lost? Is the situation not just like a needle in a haystack.

When you and I walk outside on the grass, do we consider the billions of little forms of life that are busy at work keeping our planet functioning? What about when you tramp on them and crush them out of existence? Are you cruel and selfish because you don’t give them a thought? True, they were built to function like that and designed in a way that they do not have the trauma and fear of death that we have, otherwise Jehovah would hold us accountable, but does this not put the matter into perspective. If God was like us having so little regard for the ants and other insects then he would surely have lost us but he cares for us, and even those ants because of the way that he has designed them and provided for them

In the past when I was flying around the country on tours with the bands that I worked with, I used to look down and marvel. Houses could not be seen. The earth looked absolutely deserted. I used to imagine Hitler standing on a soup box and laying down the law as what he was going to do and thinking, from God’s perspective, how insignificant all of this was. Then in just a little while Hitler was gone. He ended up as a dissatisfied unhappy old man that had turned the whole world upside down by his antics, only to finally commit suicide. What a waste of time and effort. Yet Jehovah does care. Out of his love for those that loved and served him he destroyed a wicked and ungrateful world during the flood but not before giving them an opportunity to escape the destruction

How do you think God’s feels when he looks at the chaos that the inhabitants of the earth and their rulers, both spiritual and earthly rulers have brought about? Consider the self-control that Jehovah exercises in not taking violent action to get rid of all these wicked things. Why does he hold back?

(2 Peter 3:9-10) . . .Jehovah is not slow respecting his promise, as some people consider slowness, but he is patient with YOU because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance. 10 Yet Jehovah’s day will come as a thief, . . .

When Cain killed Abel do you recall what God said?

(Genesis 4:9-11) 9 Later on Jehovah said to Cain: “Where is Abel your brother?” and he said: “I do not know. Am I my brother’s guardian?” 10 At this he said: “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed in banishment from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood at your hand………

If this is how God felt when one man was murdered, imagine how God feels about the millions of senseless killings all over the world.

Why did Jehovah not put Cain to death? Because he had not yet made a law against killing and so although Cain was doing bad things he had not broken any specific law of God.

Because rebellion began during the beginning of man’s creation, and because of the reasonable person that Jehovah is, he allowed the rebels all the rope they needed to prove that they knew better than he did. It was necessary to have the Bible written for our benefit. There were many imperfect persons, who preferred following God’s way of managing matters and needed the direction and guidance that only he could give. After all Satan has far more experience and expertise in deception than we could handle without this help from God.

If you desire more information based on good sound reasoning and common sense and in harmony with the wisdom of God you need to be in touch with the true Christian Congregation. To that extent the links on this site will take you there. But in the meantime I suggest that you take the opportunity to read the other articles on this site which have been designed to handle most questions the persons have regarding these subjects.

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