In reference to the Book: The Time of Creation
Dear Richard:
Thank you very much for sending us your article. We enjoyed reading it.
We really don't believe that there are conflicts in the Bible, either, and agree that the problem is our method of interpretation, that is if we look at the original text. We have also encountered translations that have obvious political overtones.
As you saw in my book, I really don't subscribe to either the gap or 6,000 year theory. It would be a good idea to read further because we seem to be on the same track, or at least parallel tracks. This is because while we seem to agree on most points, I disagree that anything in Genesis 1:1 implies a rehabilitation.
This leads us to another divergent point of view. Since God spoke the universe into existance, and since God is a spiritual being, both energy and matter as we know it in our physical world had to have been created from "nothing" or at least from the spiritual realm, as many of the ancient Jewish sages believed.
In Hebrew, the root word of heaven is "water", and heaven really is a combination of the two words fire and water, which represent a spiritual connection, such as John speaks about. Furthermore, since water is a plural word, so is heaven. So in Genesis 1:1, heaven may mean a pre-universe. There are really three heavens referred to in the Hebrew: the atmosphere around the earth, the universe, and the spiritual heaven, all of which are referred to simply as heaven, which means that we much place this word in the context of the passage.
We'd appreciate your comments on these points, too.
In the Love of the Lord,
Frank and Mary
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