A Reading of Genesis 2

Good: Con states, "I have provided the interpretations of Genesis accepted by the vast majority of informed Christians today. " The specific argument that Con presents is that "good" is a property of "God. " This argument is irrelevant to this debate. As I stated in R1, in this debate no other sources are allowed except the KJV of the Book of Genesis. Con has neglected and broken the rules I set forth in Round 1. I'm not sure if that means he should lose the debate, but it definitely reflects badly on his argument. Let me clarify: Any interpretation of the bible by another religion or any other source, any interpretation that uses or is done by anyone or anything other than Con, is an outside source, and in the case of a Christian interpretation, it interprets Genesis and "God" in the context of other biblical sources. As such, it has no bearing here. Con is allowed to find the exact passages in Genesis that lend support to this Christian interpretation, but merely stating that this is the Christian interpretation and that therefore it is correct, has no bearing on this debate. Con must prove his arguments using the actual words of Genesis, as they are the only source allowed. The Beginning: Con states that I am misinterpreting "the beginning. " He states that "It is clear by the context that 'beginning' means 'The act or process of bringing or being brought into being' In other words, far from implying that time existed before the beginning of the universe, it simply refers to the timeless event where God created everything, including time. " This is one possible interpretation, and it is not necessarily wrong. But it admits that there is at least a space in which God creates everything, a place "where God created everything," a spatial dimension. Con's words themselves suggest this as a necessary condition, and this spatial dimension is something other than God that exists simultaneously with him before creation of the universe. In reality, the "beginning" can only be interpreted in two ways: as either a temporal dimension or a spatial dimension, as a time or space that God occupies before the creation of the universe. So my opponent's claim that the "beginning" is timeless is a possible interpretation, but for it to be true, it requires that a spatial dimension exist. Therefore, it does not show that God did not exist with something else. Also, my opponent states that the "beginning" refers to a "timeless event. " An event is nonetheless something that existed simultaneously with God before the creation of the universe, as an "event" requires either a spatial or temporal dimension. My opponent follows the word "event" with "where" because he does not want to admit there is a "temporal" one. That is fine, as long as he admits there is a "spatial" one. To make this clearer, I am going to analyze the opening of Genesis almost word by word to show how "the beginning" is either a spatial or temporal dimension that God occupies before he creates the universe. Before doing this, I'd like to separate the opening into two phrases: the first is "In the beginning," and the second is "God created the heaven and the earth. " The second is simple, so it will not be necessary to analyze; I will only look at the first phrase. The first word, "In," is a preposition. A preposition, in case anyone does not know, helps link nouns, pronouns, or phrases to other words or phrases. This linking indicates either the temporal or spatial or logical relationship of the word or phrase that the preposition introduces to the rest of the sentence. In the particular case of the preposition "in," it can be interpreted to designate both a spatial or temporal relationship. An example: you are "in" something. It creates a spatial relationship between two things, one which is "in" the other. The next word is "the," which, as an article, can be skipped without comment. The final word of the first phrase is "beginning. " This is the word that the preposition "in" introduces, and it is the word that the preposition will link to the rest of the sentence in either a temporal or spatial relationship. In other words, the word "beginning" is the object of the preposition. This means that the rest of the sentence is put in either a spatial or temporal relationship to the word "beginning. " It also means that the word "beginning" is a noun, as a verb cannot be the object of a preposition. With all this in mind, we are now ready to look at the two phrases of the opening of Genesis together. We can see that the rest of the sentence is in either a spatial or temporal relationship to the word "beginning. " This means that either a "beginning" of space exists that the rest of the sentence occupies, or a "beginning" time exists in which the rest of the sentence occurs. Either way, the prepositional phrase "in the beginning" shows that some dimension must have existed. If no dimension existed, the rest of the sentence could not be placed in either a spatial or temporal relationship to the "beginning. " Furthermore, this dimension necessarily exists prior to the action of the rest of the sentence, the action being designated by the verb "created. " Therefore, some dimension, either spatial or temporal, existed prior to God's creation of the heaven and the earth. Finally, although I do not see how, it might be argued that, because "in" is a preposition, that it creates a logical relationship and not a spatial or temporal one. I do not think the word "in" can be used to designate a "logical relationship. " Supposing Con does argue convincingly that this is the case, Con would still have to admit that logical relationships existed before the creation of the universe. In other words, God would be in a logical relationship to the "beginning. " Either a logical relationship must exist prior to creation, or some spatial or temporal dimension. The resolution is affirmed. Thank you.