Question: Why does the Bible use ‘and it was so’, and it was good?
Bible Reading: Genesis ch.1
Text: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31)
You are referring to Genesis chapter 1 where ‘and it was so’ is stated after God commands that the waters be separated (v.7), the dry ground appear (v.9), the land produce vegetation (v.11), the sun, moon and stars be lights (v.15), the wild and domestic animals be created (v.24) and that mankind be created as the ruler of the earth (v.30). This tells us one simple truth – that God spoke and when he spoke it happened. Sometimes we can say things, command things, or promise things – and they don’t happen. But God spoke and it came into being.
We now know that every living thing consists of information. You and I for example have a unique DNA – that if stretched out, could go all the way to the moon and back! It’s just a combination of four letters A, C, G and T. God spoke the world into being. The Word (Logos) created everything by the word of his power.
Then after each act of creation we see that God says, ‘it was good’. It is not just that God created but that everything he created was good. But notice the difference in the very last verse of chapter one. God saw that it was ‘very good’. This is after the creation of humanity – the apex of God’s creation. The all-powerful God created a good world.
Now that immediately causes a question to arise. Some look at the creation and see that it is not good. Like for example the well-known atheist Stephen Fry who said: ““You can’t just say there is a God because well, the world is beautiful. You have to account for bone cancer in children. You have to account for the fact that almost all animals in the wild live under stress with not enough to eat and will die violent and bloody deaths. There is not any way that you can just choose the nice bits and say that means there is a God and ignore the true fact of what nature is.”
Does he not have a point? Yes – but it is a very limited one – and is in fact answered by your question. If there was no God we would just be left with nature ‘red in tooth and claw’, evil and pain – and there would be no explanation and very little we could do about it. However, the Bible goes further than Fry’s somewhat simplistic analysis. It tells us that the all-powerful God, did create a good world, but that there was the Fall which affected and infected everything. What do we mean by the Fall?
Humanity was created as the apex of God’s creation. Male and female were both made in his image. We were then given the choice to believe, obey and serve God freely. We chose not to. And as a result, evil entered into the world and, amongst other things, the earth was cursed (Genesis 3:17). So, when Fry and others complain that God did not create the world good, they are not telling the truth. The problem is that Fry does not accept that there is a God at all, never mind a good God. Even more they do not accept that there such a thing as sin – or at least personal sin which they, like every human being, has. And they have no hope for the future of the planet or the universe. Romans 8 tells us that the whole creation is groaning, waiting for the children of God to be revealed – so that it can be released from its bondage to decay. Stephen Fry and others have no answer nor any hope. Christ does. God brought the world into being by the power of his word – and he will rescue it by the power of the Word!
So, you see that these two phrases are really important. They tell us of an all-powerful creator and of the fact that God is good and that this good God created a good earth. The alternative is Hellish and hopeless.
Consider: What hope is there if we live in a world which is fundamentally bad? What hope is there for a world if there is no good God? Why should the goodness of God give you great hope?
Further Reading: Genesis 1-4 – In the Beginning – Roger Fawcett
Prayer: Lord our God, you are good and the giver of all things good. All you created was good. We know that in your providence you permitted humanity to turn away from you and spoil your good creation. Yet we also know that you have determined to save and renew – and you have promised that all things work for the good of those who love you. We love you and praise your name! Amen.
You can buy SEEK from any good bookseller….
(if you have read it why not review it on Amazon or elsewhere?!)
Something important to remember is that “good” and “bad” are our own, very human, value judgments, made from a thoroughly subjective viewpoint – our own. Also, many people want desperately to believe there is no God because that would require re-thinking their lifestyles and the way they’ve been brought up. It would require acknowledging that humans are not made up of different classes or castes — those who are brilliantly intellectual and those who are not; those who think they can survive this world and those who are physically, emotionally or intellectually less capable of doing so. Many people don’t want to admit that they can do nothing without Christ — and that they can do all things through Christ. I’m afraid that Mr Fry, for all his wit and his definitive portrayal of Reginald Jeeves, may fall into at least one of those categories, above.
I think good and bad are a reflection of the God given law written on every human heart….though often skwed by sin, Satan and society…
Fry is a Jew .
When the Jewish Messiah finally arrives , the Earth will be vastly improved by the butchery of most of the Goyim.