Genesis 1 (heavens and elohim)

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I might not be wise jumping in here but maybe it is of some significance
that Gen.1:1 has God creating "heavens" (plural). Again, like elohim, this
is a plural. And like 'elohim' it is a plural that is taken by most Hebrew
readers to denote the "majesty" or "greatness" of a singular thing. The
sky, like God, was taken as something pretty big and awesome, so the plural
is used. (So said a couple of Hebrew grammars I studied years ago.) But if
the reader starts with the assumption that there are a number of gods
involved in the creating and that there are a number of heavens being
created then this grammatical point will be ignored. 

It is almost impossible to read anything without bringing our prior
assumptions to it. Cultural assumptions have made an honest objective study
of the Bible almost impossible for 1600 years. That's why I do believe that
the first step to an honest understanding of any Bible book is to check out
who its author was, and who its audience, why it was written, etc.
Otherwise we may not reach agreement on the meaning of the very first
verse! ;-)

Neil

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