[jlogajan]

The Bible is the inerrant Word of God.
And God said, Let us make man in our image
Neither space nor time pre-exist... God alone was the observer of creation.

First, I noticed "inerrant" doesn't seem to be much of a constraint when you are free to substitute different words and meanings as needed to arrive at whatever conclusion you wish to arrive at.

However, if God really said "make man in our image", and since man has three spatial dimensions and also a time dimension -- it implies God too had those characteristics, and therefore space and time DID pre-exist.

Of course, as I say, if you can redefine "image" to mean whatever you want it to mean, then the claim of "inerrancy" is a pretty cheap coin.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for sharing your views! FWIW, I tried to only substitute words that were defined as symbols elsewhere in the Bible.

[Krafty123]

If you can't read Hebrew, I heartily recommend getting a copy of R. Hirsch's commentary of the Bible (Feldheim publishers?). He explains a lot of the etymology... Also try to read Rashi.

"Image" means shape, as in a mold was prepared within which to shape man, "Likeness" denotes understanding and intellect (Rashi). The two together mean that man possesses reason, free-will, and morality (Rambam).

Ari