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WannabeSaint
Guest
For instance, why would it be logically impossible for a man to create another person ex-nihlo without the assistance of God?
Is it logically possible for something other than God to create something ex-nihlo?
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End_Timer
Guest
I tried to create a pebble & failed. If anyone has succeded
they’ve kept it to themselves
they’ve kept it to themselves
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Dan_Defender
Guest
Never mind why. Man has never created something out of nothing. That is good enough for me.
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Shakuhachi
Guest
It is not even logically possible for God. Nor Biblical.
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STT
Guest
We do ex-nihlo any time that we freely decide.
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EndTimes
Guest
ex ni·hi·lo – out of nothing… especially universes and Life Itself. 
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Cirdan_XII
Guest
Does creating a song or poem count?
Even then, I am using abilities and inspiration that in some way, whether directly or indirectly, trace back to God.
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ProdglArchitect
Guest
No we haven’t.
Everything we’ve created comes from preexisting material, be it a chair or a painting. Even our thoughts are formed from things we’ve experienced.
No we don’t. Our decisions are the result of processing various stimuli to arrive at a conclusion. Those stimuli form our decision making process, along with the pre-existing processes of our mind. Therefore, choices are not ex-nihilo.
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Wesrock
Guest
No, it is not possible for anything other than God to create ex nihilo, whether it be man or even angel. All created things are only able to act on actual things that already exist.
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FiveLinden
Guest
If you can believe one god that created out of nothing, you can believe in any number of beings that also have the same power. People have been imagining these beings for as long as they have been imagining beings. There is no proof that anything was ever created out of nothing although some, including Catholics, believe it to have happened.
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Mi_Rose
Guest
You presuppose that there is a God and only one God at that.
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Wesrock
Guest
Believe it or not theologians and philosophers have actually spoken to and provided demonstrations as to why there can only be one such being with such a power and that it is results in a logical absurdity if one supposes there be more than one.
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Kullervo
Guest
I think it’s not possible from a Catholic point of view. That’s why we call God “the Creator”.
Tolkien (a devout Catholic) stated in his books that his dark lord Morgoth couldn’t creat anything only corrupt that what’s made by the creator.
Tolkien (a devout Catholic) stated in his books that his dark lord Morgoth couldn’t creat anything only corrupt that what’s made by the creator.
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STT
Guest
Are you always a part of chain of causality? No. This means that you can initiate a chain of causality when you decide freely. Otherwise you wouldn’t be responsible for your decision.
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ProdglArchitect
Guest
We are all part of a chain of causality. I am influenced by the decisions I’ve made in the past, as well as what I see around me, which is similarly influenced. Given this knowledge and understanding of the chain of causality that has come before, I make decisions. I operate my free will within the chain to add an additional link to it.
Your post is, as ever, a non-sequitur. Being influenced by a preceding chain of events in no way inhibits my free will, but I hold no pretense that you will even consider that you are wrong. Feel free to respond, but I won’t be wasting my time with it any further.
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STT
Guest
As you wish.
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STT
Guest
The options define a situation when you want to make a decision. Options are the result of past decisions and how the world rolls around you. We won’t exercise our free will when we prefer an option since our decision is biased by a reason. We only make free decision when the decision is not biased by a reason. You cannot escape this: Your decision is either for a reason or it is not (when you equally like options for example). Your decision is not free in the first case and it is free in the second case.
It follows.
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EndTimes
Guest
No one is pre-supposing. God has revealed Himself to Man.
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lelinator
Guest
Until you define “something” and “nothing” this question is unanswerable.
For example, is the concept of something…something. If it is, then an omniscient God can’t possibly create something out of nothing. While I would argue that I as a solipsist can.
And what about potency, is potency something? And can even an omnipotent God make something exist, that doesn’t have the potential to exist? Here I would argue that not even I as a solipsist can do that.
So the question depends upon what constitutes nothing. But it also depends upon what constitutes something. Is a vision in your mind something? And how would that differ from a concept in your mind? Can a vision in your mind be said to be something, but a concept isn’t. And how do you know that everything isn’t simply a concept in your mind, created from nothing.
So to answer this question one must first define what nothing is, and what something is. And depending upon how you do that, it could be argued that not even God can create something out of nothing.
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