Wrong. All potential-possibility needs an intrinsically real being to make it actual, since out of nothing comes nothing. That is the basis of Aquinas’ argument. You evidently didn’t make much use of your university experience. Which is a bit of an embarrassment on your part since I didn’t go to university and I know this fact very well.
Ah, but Linux you keep making the same error. You are confusing two very different realities, the eternal realm of God and the finite, contingent, limited, created realm of the universe. The realm of the eternal God is absolutely other than and outside of the realm of the universe. God created the finite universe out of nothing ( not even virtual particles - we have discussed this before ). Nor did he create it " out of " his own
esse.
He created whole, entire substances with their own
esse. In other words he created substances or beings composed of essence and
esse. Their
esse was limited by their respective essences which had a potential for so much esse and no more. You must think of the
esse of the universe as entirely other than the
esse of God. The
esse of the universe can be imagined ( incorrectly of course ) as a created " something " in which all created substances
participate or share to the extent their respective essences will allow. So it is the universe’s own version of
esse totally other than God’s
Esse but created by him along with each beings substance in which each substance
participates or shares, not God’s
Esse.
Only if we conclude that the
esse of God and the
esse of creatures are entirely different and other than each other is God’s creation of the universe from nothing secure. And I will add, only in this way are we saved from Pantheism.
As far as the concept of
being is concerned, that goes back to the very earliest Greek philosophers. But it was Aristotle who hit on the notion of the potency - act principles of
being. But it was St. Thomas who made the greatest contribution to the concept of
being as a universal concept by analogy.
Being came to be understood as any
essence that
existed. God of course was a Being or
Essence that was
Existence or Esse pure and simple.
All created beings were substances composed of
essence and *esse or existence.[l]. Material beings were essences composed of
matter and
form. In material beings it was the
forms which receive and limit the being’s respective
esse or existence. So the existence of each material being or substance came through its respective form. And this existence was created out of nothing along with the being or substance. Matter is understood as
prime matter, the underlying stuff of all material being. But prime matter, form, and esse are not beings in themselves but principles of being, they do not exist alone except in the case of God who is
Pure Esse or Existence.
As far as creation out of nothing is concerned, this is an element of Faith in Divine Revelation. As I have said before it cannot be demonstrated, at least that was the opinion of Thomas and the Church. He accepted it on Faith and then went on to explain what this meant. So to ask for proof of this is to beat a dead horse, wasted effort. And no one today is any closer to offering a valid proof than in Thomas’ day. Linus*
