Where is the bottom?

I’ve heard people ask the question — where is the bottom? They ask this in relation to things going on in the world. It’s usually a question that is asked after something shocks us and goes beyonds the boundaries of what has been considered normal at the time. There are many things that we could point to in relation to this — senseless violence (When is violence actually sensible anyway?), corruption, boldface lying, destruction of the earth, exploitation, oppression, etc.

So, where is the bottom? My answer is that there isn’t one. And it shouldn’t surprise us. Scripture is actually pretty helpful in this regard. I think it helps to think about all these things happening a bit differently. Thinking there is a bottom is a mistake. Scripture doesn’t talk about it this way.

In Genesis 1:1–2, it states: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while the wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” (NRSV). That translation is ok, but it misses several things, of which I am not going to touch here. The main reason I bring this up is that the word for “the face of the deep” can also be translated as the abyss. Without context, we miss some of the “deeper” meaning of the term, no pun intended.

Here’s something to understand about this term:

“Darkness — in Hebrew chòsheq — is not the light’s absence, as when I’m inside a room and someone turns off the lights before leaving. In the Bible, darkness is a…