In the beginning -- there was just God.
And the Voice of God said, "Let there be light".
Suddenly, the darkness was pierced by the brightest, whitest, most searing eruption of light that could ever be imagined; closely followed by the loudest, deepest and most violent explosion that could ever qualify to be described as sound.
At that moment, in an unspeakably vast cavity of space whose existence had never before been seen or imagined -- where before, there was nothing -- an immense weight of something sprang into being. From the place of the Voice, an endless cloud of matter exploded, its perimeter racing outwards at the speed of light; filling the enormous emptiness, driven outward by the very Breath of God.
Time passed. Whether seconds or aeons no-one can tell, for time itself was still young. There was no way to record its passing; no-one to measure it. The cloud grew and grew, the matter expanded and cooled. The light dimmed -- but was not extinguished. Clouds of gas formed, and galaxies, and stars, and planets.
And the Mind of God searched the vast universe; cataloguing, calculating, searching for that which He knew must be. That which He had both foreseen, and planned.
A single planet, perfectly formed. Of rock, not gas. Not too light, not too dark. Not too dry, not too wet; With a sun that would warm it, not roast it. With oceans -- not ice; of water -- not methane. Rotating - that there might be both night and morning; with its axis tilted, that there might be both summer and winter, seedtime and harvest. With its own moon, to stir by its gravity both air and water, mixing its oceans, smoothing its seasons.
The Voice spoke again, the Breath stirred the atmosphere. Rain fell, clouds thinned and broke. Plates collided, mountains rose, ocean floors fell. The waters were gathered into one place --- and dry land appeared.
And God looked, and God smiled. Any fool could see that it was good.
And the Voice of God said, "Let there be light".
Suddenly, the darkness was pierced by the brightest, whitest, most searing eruption of light that could ever be imagined; closely followed by the loudest, deepest and most violent explosion that could ever qualify to be described as sound.
At that moment, in an unspeakably vast cavity of space whose existence had never before been seen or imagined -- where before, there was nothing -- an immense weight of something sprang into being. From the place of the Voice, an endless cloud of matter exploded, its perimeter racing outwards at the speed of light; filling the enormous emptiness, driven outward by the very Breath of God.
Time passed. Whether seconds or aeons no-one can tell, for time itself was still young. There was no way to record its passing; no-one to measure it. The cloud grew and grew, the matter expanded and cooled. The light dimmed -- but was not extinguished. Clouds of gas formed, and galaxies, and stars, and planets.
And the Mind of God searched the vast universe; cataloguing, calculating, searching for that which He knew must be. That which He had both foreseen, and planned.
A single planet, perfectly formed. Of rock, not gas. Not too light, not too dark. Not too dry, not too wet; With a sun that would warm it, not roast it. With oceans -- not ice; of water -- not methane. Rotating - that there might be both night and morning; with its axis tilted, that there might be both summer and winter, seedtime and harvest. With its own moon, to stir by its gravity both air and water, mixing its oceans, smoothing its seasons.
The Voice spoke again, the Breath stirred the atmosphere. Rain fell, clouds thinned and broke. Plates collided, mountains rose, ocean floors fell. The waters were gathered into one place --- and dry land appeared.
And God looked, and God smiled. Any fool could see that it was good.
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