What Happened Before the Big Bang?

[countryboy]

I believe Genesis can be read not in the sense of creating something from nothing but as transforming what was into the universe we know.

Thankfully, we live in a country where you can believe what you like. Unfortunately, it may not always be this way.

[Chris]

Thankfully, we live in a country where you can believe what you like. Unfortunately, it may not always be this way.

"The second word is the Hebrew verb bara (ברא) ("([he] created/creating"). It is in the masculine form, so that "he" is implied. "Bara" is also used in Genesis 2 verses 3 and 4. John Walton claims that the meaning of "bara" is not "create" in the modern sense, but to differentiate/separate and to allocate roles – e.g., in the creation of Adam and Eve, God allocates gender roles to "male and female"." @ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_1:1

See also http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/tlw_creation.html, https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexi.../nas/bara.html, http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/articles_image.html

'bara' doesn't mean create from nothing.

[Mister D]

"The second word is the Hebrew verb bara (ברא) ("([he] created/creating"). It is in the masculine form, so that "he" is implied. "Bara" is also used in Genesis 2 verses 3 and 4. John Walton claims that the meaning of "bara" is not "create" in the modern sense, but to differentiate/separate and to allocate roles – e.g., in the creation of Adam and Eve, God allocates gender roles to "male and female"." @ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_1:1

See also http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/tlw_creation.html, https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexi.../nas/bara.html, http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/articles_image.html

'bara' doesn't mean create from nothing.

It is true that in ancient Near Eastern cultures only that which had a purpose or function could be said to exist. For example, rocks in the desert did not "exist". I think it's fair to read Genesis with that in mind. Still, I think it's moot. That is, I'm not sure it really matters. Unlike trying to reinterpret the Resurrection for moderns I'm not sure this has has much of a theological impact.

[Orion Rules]

I believe Genesis can be read not in the sense of creating something from nothing but as transforming what was into the universe we know.

From God is nothing made into something.

[Collateral Damage]

What Happened Before the Big Bang? We can't know.

A Black Hole belched.

Enjoy the visual.

[The Xl]

No way to know for sure. Way above the pay grade of even the smartest of us

[Chris]

From God is nothing made into something.

Study the Hebrew original.

[Sergeant Gleed]

There was a thought.

Then, the thought thought, and creation began.

I heard that somewhere.

Which is nonsense, of course.

Nothing cannot think.

What is logical is that there are other spaces, and they far out universes like AOC'S cows.

[Chris]

Strange, I say, the point of this thread was to point out the limits of human knowledge even about the universe we exist in, not to say anything about faith in God.

[Peter1469]

Strange, I say, the point of this thread was to point out the limits of human knowledge even about the universe we exist in, not to say anything about faith in God.

Right. God is compatible with our science.