The following are my beliefs which came from my faith. I believe that God created the material world out of nothing and the material world reveals God's glory. Please feel free to discuss.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Three things are affirmed in these first words of Scripture; the eternal God gave a beginning to all that exists outside of himself; he alone is Creator; the totality of what exists depends on the One who gives it being. Scripture and Tradition never cease to teach and celebrate the fundamental truth that the world was made for the glory of God. St. Bonaventure believed that God created all things not to increase his glory, but to show it forth and to communicate it for God has no other reason for creating than his love and goodness.
This one, true God, of his own goodness and "almighty power", not for increasing his own beatitude, nor for attaining his perfection, but in order to manifest this perfection through the benefits which he bestows on creatures, with absolute freedom of counsel "and from the beginning of time, made out of nothing both orders of creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal. . ." Dei Filius, I: DS 3002; cf. Lateran Council IV (1215): DS 800
The glory of God consists in the realization of this manifestation and communication of his goodness, for which the world was created. God made us to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace for "the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man's life is the vision of God: if God's revelation through creation has already obtained life for all the beings that dwell on earth, how much more will the Word's manifestation of the Father obtain life for those who see God. The ultimate purpose of creation is that God who is the creator of all things may at last become all in all, thus simultaneously assuring his own glory and our beatitude.
I believe that God creates by wisdom and love. That God created the world according to his wisdom. It is not the product of any necessity whatever, nor of blind fate or chance. I believe that it proceeds from God's free will; he wanted to make his creatures share in his being, wisdom and goodness. I believe that God needs no pre-existent thing or any help in order to create, nor is creation any sort of necessary emanation from the divine substance. God creates freely out of nothing. If God had created the universe from pre-existent matter, what would be so extraordinary in that? A human artisan makes from a given material whatever he wants, while God shows his power by starting from nothing to make all he wants.
Scripture bears witness to faith in creation "out of nothing." "Look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed." 2 Macc 7:22-21,28
Because God creates through wisdom, his creation is ordered. The universe, created in and by the eternal Word, the "image of the invisible God", is destined for and addressed to man, himself created in the "image of God" and called to a personal relationship with God. Our human understanding, which shares in the light of the divine intellect, can understand what God tells us by means of his creation, though not without great effort and only in a spirit of humility and respect before the Creator and his work. Because creation comes forth from God's goodness, it shares in that goodness - "And God saw that it was good. . . very good" Gen 1:4,10,12,18,21,31 - for God willed creation as a gift addressed to man, an inheritance destined for and entrusted to him.
God transcends creation and is present to it. God is infinitely greater than all his works. But because he is the free and sovereign Creator, the first cause of all that exists, God is present to his creatures' inmost being. God upholds and sustains creation. With creation, God does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act and brings them to their final end. Recognizing this utter dependence with respect to the Creator is a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence.
Creation has its own goodness and proper perfection, but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created "in a state of journeying" (in statu viae) toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained, to which God has destined it. We call "divine providence" the dispositions by which God guides his creation toward this perfection. The witness of Scripture is unanimous that the solicitude of divine providence is concrete and immediate; God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history. The sacred books powerfully affirm God's absolute sovereignty over the course of events. The Holy Spirit is the principal author of Sacred Scripture, often attributing actions to God without mentioning any secondary causes. This is a profound way of recalling God's primacy and absolute Lordship over history and the world, and so of educating his people to trust in him.
Paraphrased and excerpted from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
Catechism of the Catholic Church - Table of Contents
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Three things are affirmed in these first words of Scripture; the eternal God gave a beginning to all that exists outside of himself; he alone is Creator; the totality of what exists depends on the One who gives it being. Scripture and Tradition never cease to teach and celebrate the fundamental truth that the world was made for the glory of God. St. Bonaventure believed that God created all things not to increase his glory, but to show it forth and to communicate it for God has no other reason for creating than his love and goodness.
This one, true God, of his own goodness and "almighty power", not for increasing his own beatitude, nor for attaining his perfection, but in order to manifest this perfection through the benefits which he bestows on creatures, with absolute freedom of counsel "and from the beginning of time, made out of nothing both orders of creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal. . ." Dei Filius, I: DS 3002; cf. Lateran Council IV (1215): DS 800
The glory of God consists in the realization of this manifestation and communication of his goodness, for which the world was created. God made us to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace for "the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man's life is the vision of God: if God's revelation through creation has already obtained life for all the beings that dwell on earth, how much more will the Word's manifestation of the Father obtain life for those who see God. The ultimate purpose of creation is that God who is the creator of all things may at last become all in all, thus simultaneously assuring his own glory and our beatitude.
I believe that God creates by wisdom and love. That God created the world according to his wisdom. It is not the product of any necessity whatever, nor of blind fate or chance. I believe that it proceeds from God's free will; he wanted to make his creatures share in his being, wisdom and goodness. I believe that God needs no pre-existent thing or any help in order to create, nor is creation any sort of necessary emanation from the divine substance. God creates freely out of nothing. If God had created the universe from pre-existent matter, what would be so extraordinary in that? A human artisan makes from a given material whatever he wants, while God shows his power by starting from nothing to make all he wants.
Scripture bears witness to faith in creation "out of nothing." "Look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed." 2 Macc 7:22-21,28
Because God creates through wisdom, his creation is ordered. The universe, created in and by the eternal Word, the "image of the invisible God", is destined for and addressed to man, himself created in the "image of God" and called to a personal relationship with God. Our human understanding, which shares in the light of the divine intellect, can understand what God tells us by means of his creation, though not without great effort and only in a spirit of humility and respect before the Creator and his work. Because creation comes forth from God's goodness, it shares in that goodness - "And God saw that it was good. . . very good" Gen 1:4,10,12,18,21,31 - for God willed creation as a gift addressed to man, an inheritance destined for and entrusted to him.
God transcends creation and is present to it. God is infinitely greater than all his works. But because he is the free and sovereign Creator, the first cause of all that exists, God is present to his creatures' inmost being. God upholds and sustains creation. With creation, God does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act and brings them to their final end. Recognizing this utter dependence with respect to the Creator is a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence.
Creation has its own goodness and proper perfection, but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created "in a state of journeying" (in statu viae) toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained, to which God has destined it. We call "divine providence" the dispositions by which God guides his creation toward this perfection. The witness of Scripture is unanimous that the solicitude of divine providence is concrete and immediate; God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history. The sacred books powerfully affirm God's absolute sovereignty over the course of events. The Holy Spirit is the principal author of Sacred Scripture, often attributing actions to God without mentioning any secondary causes. This is a profound way of recalling God's primacy and absolute Lordship over history and the world, and so of educating his people to trust in him.
Paraphrased and excerpted from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
Catechism of the Catholic Church - Table of Contents
