Something : From Nothing (Paperback)

Something From Nothing What does it mean to bring something from nothing? According to the Vatican Council it means that "everything outside of God, as to its whole substance, was created by God out of nothing." (Ott,92) Some people say that there is no God and that creation came to be on its own terms; that is, by the Big Bang. Scientists have been able to show what the origins of the Universe were like by modern experimentation at CERN. On the other hand, those of us who have faith know that it is impossible to comprehend the mind of God, even when we are treating a subject as difficult as creation out of nothing. We all assume God is perfect in every way and that God's perfection means he has power over himself and everything beneath his power. It is like parents who have a real power of command over their children. In the same way God has absolute command over creation. Mystery in Life Let us not forget that not all things are easily explainable. There is a certain kind of Mystery to our life and because of this our life must be regarded with respect. On the other hand, we are familiar with the differences between the scientific argument and the theological argument. The scientific argument assumes the rigor of scientific principles and natural argument. Theological argument takes its principles from divine revelation; that is, from God's very word. It has always been difficult to imagine "something" like "nothing." Our imaginations begin to atrophy when we try to imagine the substance of nothing, since there is nothing there. It adjusts itself by first imagining something, then the opposite of something, which is nothing. For example, we can imagine some point in time where there was nothing in the universe (however, we couldn't call it a universe, since there was nothing really there). Then next we imagine something that begins in the universe and this we can call creation (improperly). Scientists call this the BIG BANG theory. This method of discover is a method of unraveling the nature of creation from within natural principles themselves. It happens to work in this way and many modern scientist have gone this route. The Church, because of its mission to teach the truth taught by God, especially the Word Incarnate, take the route of faith. The route of faith says that "In the beginning God created heaven and earth." (Gen. 1:1) This is not taken from a natural viewpoint, since already on hearing the Word of God, we are already at the beginning of all beginnings; that is, we are assenting to Him who brought every beginning into being. This method of coming to understand creation is very direct; that is, it goes directly to the source and receives its credibility from God himself who witnesses by his own word to what he reveals.