Troublesome Topic: Water and Light Are the Foundations of the Physical Universe
Lesson 5 of 13Genesis 1:3
Translation
And ELOHIM said,
“Oh light,
come into being,”
Go to footnote numberand light came into existence. (See comment below.)
Paraphrase
And THE CREATOR AND OWNER OF ALL THINGS said, “Listen up, oh light which resides inside of me, I command you to reveal yourself, now!” Then light revealed itself, becoming a physical reality. (See comment below.)
Water and Light Are the Foundations of the Physical Universe
Light is a key element of energy. Without energy from the sun, no living thing can exist on this earth. Since water is the closest thing we have to a universal solvent, water can contain in itself many dissolved elements, making it very useful in sustaining life. In fact, no life can exist as we know it, without water. Some have speculated about possible life forms elsewhere in the universe that do not need water, but it is only speculation, such creatures have never been proven to exist. You can find articles on the internet about animals that don’t need water, but when you read the details you will see that they absorb moisture from their food or from their surroundings, or they reabsorb their urine. They all need water and they get it in one way or another.
The next lesson is: The Problem of Distant Stars
Footnotes
1
In English, our command verbs are good for commanding things that already exist to do something, but not very good at commanding things to appear from nothing. The Hebrew says, “Be light.” The options “May light appear,” or “let there be light,” seem too mild to me. Yes, they are grammatically correct command forms in English, but since they include the little words “may” and “let” they almost seem to imply that light had the option to appear or not appear. Everyone understands that when God commanded light to appear, light did not have a choice, it could only obey. But my point is that our language struggles to adequately convey what really happened. Maybe I am the only one troubled by this dilemma. I find the solution through remembering that, before speaking the words, God already possessed in Himself the properties and qualities that light would demonstrate, and He had already pictured what it would look like when His inner qualities became outward realities or manifestations. So the only thing that was needed was for Him to command that light which already existed within Him be revealed outside of Him. But now I have created another dilemma by saying there is an inside and an outside to God, who, in truth, encompasses all things. This goes to show how incapable we are of fully understanding and expressing these things.