In my first posting, I sidetracked onto the scientific elements of the creation story. For a more thorough analysis of the Big Bang from a Biblical perspective look here.
But, for this second part, I wanted to dig a little deeper into the scripture
Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2And 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.
From Bible Gateway
The earth was without form and void. What does that mean? And the Spirit of God move upon the face of the waters. (What waters?) If I may be so bold as to suggest. Try reading the Bible as if for the first time every time. I think we’ve heard and read these same old stories so many times that we read into them from our perspective and sometimes we miss what’s really there underneath. It also helps to keep a good lexicon handy. I don’t advertise here but let me suggest e-sword. The basic version (KJV only) is free. But the updates are pretty reasonable.
If we look at the description of the pre-creation earth it is
without form
void
covered by darkness
Let’s dig a deeper meaning from these, shall we.
without form
H8414
תּהוּ
tôhû
to’-hoo
From an unused root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), that is, desert; figuratively a worthless thing; adverbially in vain: – confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.
void
H922
בּהוּ
bôhû
bo’-hoo
From an unused root (meaning to be empty); a vacuity, that is, (superficially) an undistinguishable ruin: – emptiness, void.
darkness
22
חשׁך
chôshek
kho-shek’
From H2821; the dark; hence (literally) darkness; figuratively misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness: – dark (-ness), night, obscurity.
Definitions from Strong’s Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries.
Notice that all of the definitons paint a picture not of a non-existent world but of a brutal, chaotic miserable place. I believe that the creation story begins not with empty space but with the prehistoric chaotic earth.
Armchairapologist's Weblog 
Genesis 1-2 Continued
July 21, 2008
In my first posting, I sidetracked onto the scientific elements of the creation story. For a more thorough analysis of the Big Bang from a Biblical perspective look here.
But, for this second part, I wanted to dig a little deeper into the scripture
Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2And 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.
From Bible Gateway
The earth was without form and void. What does that mean? And the Spirit of God move upon the face of the waters. (What waters?) If I may be so bold as to suggest. Try reading the Bible as if for the first time every time. I think we’ve heard and read these same old stories so many times that we read into them from our perspective and sometimes we miss what’s really there underneath. It also helps to keep a good lexicon handy. I don’t advertise here but let me suggest e-sword. The basic version (KJV only) is free. But the updates are pretty reasonable.
If we look at the description of the pre-creation earth it is
without form
void
covered by darkness
Let’s dig a deeper meaning from these, shall we.
without form
void
darkness
Definitions from Strong’s Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries.
Notice that all of the definitons paint a picture not of a non-existent world but of a brutal, chaotic miserable place. I believe that the creation story begins not with empty space but with the prehistoric chaotic earth.