Did God really create the world out of nothing?

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jkiernan56 said:
Thank you Greylorn for being so genuine and real - for being human. You disarmed me completely. As far as your question about why did an Omnipotent God create a world full of jerks, fools? … I don’t have an answer to either … but I know how much of a jerk I can be at times and at the same time know I am wanted by God … I accept that I am completely known and this omniscence of God - knowing all things - that He wanted and chose me as well as each of us… otherwise I wouldn’t be.

As far as my earlier experience of knowing I am wanted by God that I mentioned earlier that happened to me, I can only say I don’t know why God did that for me other than how bruised and damaged I was. I don’t want to get into too much detail - but in a nutshell I used to be in a prison of self-hatred and no self worth. The Lord lifted me up and allowed me an experience of His love … that has been slowly changing my life.

I know we are not enemies but fellow travellers on the same path of trying to figure out meaning and purpose. One author I think you would really like is CS Lewis. He is one of my favorites and you remind me a little of him. He thought very clearly, logically, methodically and also shows a very human side. Have you ever read anything by him such as Mere Christianity?

I look forward to hearing from you again … Jim
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Jim,

Many years ago when I had a wife and children I would read to them every night (when I was not at work) because they were not allowed to watch our 7" B&W TV. C.S. Lewis was among the authors I chose: specifically his Chronicles of Narnia series, 40 years in advance of their current popularity. I personally but privately read Lewis’ other writings on Christianity. They are fine for Christians, but my desire to set a personal course for the reconciliation of God with science had already set in, and I was no longer a regular Christian.

If you wish to pursue my ideas further, let me know, and I will supply my website URL in a private communication.

If you are content with your current beliefs, there is no point in considering the ideas on this site. They are for the discontent, the agnostics and atheists, and trained Christians doubting their dogma.
 
greylorn said:
Jim,

Many years ago when I had a wife and children I would read to them every night (when I was not at work) because they were not allowed to watch our 7" B&W TV. C.S. Lewis was among the authors I chose: specifically his Chronicles of Narnia series, 40 years in advance of their current popularity. I personally but privately read Lewis’ other writings on Christianity. They are fine for Christians, but my desire to set a personal course for the reconciliation of God with science had already set in, and I was no longer a regular Christian.

If you wish to pursue my ideas further, let me know, and I will supply my website URL in a private communication.

If you are content with your current beliefs, there is no point in considering the ideas on this site. They are for the discontent, the agnostics and atheists, and trained Christians doubting their dogma.
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Please send me your website in a private communication. I’d like to at least understand where you and other people are coming from. As far as reconciling of God with science, it is my personal conviction that all truth comes from God and that science cannot be in contradiction or at odds with faith. For me, believing something does not make it true. I believe in something because I think it is true. I know what I experienced and for me to deny it would be like cutting off my head.
 
jkiernan56 said:
Try to imagine the idea of absolute nothingness including the idea of even God not existing (which we know is an impossibility for God). Something cannot result from absolute nothingness. Now bring God who is pure spirit back into the equation before the world was created. Only God existed and it was God who thought and willed to create the universe. But out of nothingness? Isn’t it more accurate to say God created the world out of His own potentiality?
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Gregory of Nyssa would agree with you:
The notion of the utter infinitude of the Divine led Gregory to offer a unique perspective on the creation of the universe. While the doctrine of creation ex nihilo (literally “from nothing”) was already popular in Christian theology, the Nyssene bishop suggested that this “nothingness” could not logically coexist with a truly infinite God.
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Gregory of Nyssa would agree that God’s Infinitude necessarily precludes a true “nothingness” from existing.
 
Since God Himself is beyond conceptualization and rational understanding, God Himself can be spoken of as “nothing”:
“It is by this use of the term “nothing” in the sense of “the negation of all that can be spoken of or thought of” that Gregory of Nyssa, we imagine, would explain his interpretation of the traditional description of creation as being “from nothing” to mean that it is “from God,” for God, as it is commonly believed by the Fathers, is in His essence ineffable and incomprehensible.”
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– The Identification of Ex Nihilo with Emanation in Gregory of Nyssa, Harry A. Wolfson, The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 63, No. 1 (Jan., 1970), p. 60
 
Hi all, please know 1st that I am not a Catholic but I do respect all Christian standpoints, and I Love God… That said…

if God is a Spirit and Heaven is a spirit that God lives in… is God a different Spirit matter than heaven is?.

Lets backtrack… Did God create the All Universes from an absolute NOTHING…or as Heb 11:3 says
‘things unseen’ …‘invisible’. The Bible is Gods Word, our thoughts are lower than His,and not all believers are ready to hear or understand what God wants them to hear…

So please don’t discard a notion or thought on the basis of its human
insanity, In a sincere heart God takes pleasure!
Thank you for this oppertunity
 
In the sense that nothing we know of existed before the Big Bang (literally there was no before), yes God created the universe from nothing.
 
jkiernan

If you are content with your current beliefs, there is no point in considering the ideas on this site. They are for the discontent, the agnostics and atheists, and trained Christians doubting their dogma.

I suspect soon enough they may be doubting your dogma as well. 😉
 
Eucharisted said:
Nothing existed before the beginning, so what could God have used to create the world? He HAD to create the world from nothing. He didn’t change nothing into something, He created the world. Only He existed, and than, He created the world.
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God is beyond everything, including time. Time is a scientific measurement mad up by humans. God is beyond that.
 
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