Page 44 - BV16

44 Hope of Israel Mail Bag

sentatives of the former group are some 65 species of creates something it is good, majestic and beautiful -- as
Limnaea and 25 species of Planorbis. Of the land snails Job 38 confirms.
important families are the Pupillidae, with 50 species; the
Zonitidae, with 65 species; and the exceedingly numerous Isaiah 45:18 further clarifies these verses: “For
Helicidae, of which the EXCLUSIVELY AMERICAN thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself
genus Polygyra alone contains 125 species. Snails have that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he
been present in North America for a very long time and are created it NOT IN VAIN, he formed it to be inhabited: I am
found in the fossil record. the Lord; and THERE IS NONE ELSE” (KJV). The He-
brew word here translated “vain” is tohu and means “to lie
The idea that this physical world only goes back waste,” “a desolation,” “a desert.” It can also be translated
6,000 years is ridiculous and is nowhere supported by the “confusion,” “empty place,” “without form,” “nothing,”
Bible or the physical sciences. As I have already men- “wilderness.” It is the very same word used in Genesis 1:2,
tioned the first chapter of Genesis shows that this planet where we read the earth “was without form.” In one verse
fell into a state of “tohu” and “bohu” after being in exis- it says YEHOVAH God created the earth and it “was with-
tence for an indeterminate amount of time. YEHOVAH out form;” while in another it says YEHOVAH did not
God then refashioned the earth as a suitable habitat for create the earth “without form.” This sounds like a contra-
Adam and Eve and their descendants. diction.

In the book of Genesis, as it relates to the original However, the KEY to understanding this appar-
creation of the universe, we read the simple statement: “In ent contradiction lies in the little word “was” which can
the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” also be translated “became.” When YEHOVAH originally
(Genesis 1:1, KJV). The Amplified Bible renders this created the earth, it was a beautiful place. He created it
verse: “In the beginning God (prepared, formed, fash- with no waste, no desolation, no wilderness. It was inhab-
ioned) and created the heavens and the earth.” The Good ited. The angels praised YEHOVAH with joy, admiration
News Bible states: “In the beginning, when God created and enthusiasm when they beheld the recently created pri-
the universe...” The Moffatt Translation renders it: “When meval earth. Then something went very wrong and it be-
God began to form the universe...” The Goodspeed trans- came “tohu” -- that is, waste, a ruin, a desolation. The
lation says: “When God began to create the heavens and original earth suffered a great cataclysm of cosmic propor-
the earth...” tions. The Hebrew words translated “without form and
void” in Genesis 1:2 literally mean a desolation, a wilder-
So what exactly does the book of Genesis tell us? ness, an empty uninhabited ruin. The words tohu and bohu
It simply tells us that YEHOVAH God created the uni- are very powerful and denote catastrophe. They strongly
verse (including the earth) in a period of time called “the imply that some sort of primeval upheaval -- or perhaps
beginning.” How long ago that was is nowhere indicated several -- occurred!
in the Bible. To figure that out YEHOVAH has given us
brains and intellect! This time of “the beginning” could The Bible gives no information for determining
very well have been six to ten billion years ago. Astrono- how long ago the universe was created. After the chaos
mers calculate that a “Big Bang” took place at that time -- and destruction of Genesis 1:2 occurred, YEHOVAH God
out of which the entire cosmos was created! Verse 2 of the began a process of RE-CREATION or RECON-
first chapter of Genesis continues: “And the earth was STRUCTION that lasted for seven days. Note carefully
without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of that Genesis 1:16 DOES NOT describe the sun and moon
the deep” (KJV). Is this verse describing the original cre- and stars being created on the fourth day. How could light
ation as being formless and void? If so, it would be a total have been possibly created on the first day, but the sun and
contradiction. Verse one states that YEHOVAH created stars which impart light not till the fourth day? That makes
the heavens and the earth. Now when YEHOVAH God absolutely no sense! The fact is the original Hebrew for
“made” in verse 16 actually means “made to appear, made

The Berean Voice July-August 2002