A friend once told me that the audacity of the "In the beginning" line was in how it did not explain, justify, or otherwise try to convince - the Biblical narrative just starts recounting the facts, straight up, as if to say "if you can't handle this first chapter, good luck with the rest." Indeed, it is a brilliantly-conceived beginning, inviting us to trust the teller of the story; the One who was present at the creation is certainly to be trusted to tell the facts about what happened.
A friend once told me that the audacity of the "In the beginning" line was in how it did not explain, justify, or otherwise try to convince - the Biblical narrative just starts recounting the facts, straight up, as if to say "if you can't handle this first chapter, good luck with the rest." Indeed, it is a brilliantly-conceived beginning, inviting us to trust the teller of the story; the One who was present at the creation is certainly to be trusted to tell the facts about what happened.