God the Creator

Juaeo-Christian belief that he's the Creator; in control
1. Apostle's Creed: 'I believe in God [...] creator of heaven and Earth
2. Genesis
  1. 'In the beginning when God created the heavens and the Earth' (Genesis 1:1)
  2. Genesis 2= very human image of God (walking)- anthropomorphic!
  3. Isiah 40= God watching over creation, people in creation= grasshopper-sized to God
Craftsman
1. Job 38- the designer, laying foundations, etc, & in control of sun and moon
2. Genesis 2= making Adam from dust- potter!
In Control
1. Isaiah 40: 22-23= has powers to reduce the earth to nothing
2. Throws Adam and Eve out of GofE
Creatio ex nihilo
1. Key Christian belief
2. Creation out of nothing
3. !! Some hints from early Bible that God= craftsman, shaping pre-existent formed matter
  1. Genesis 1:2 God's spirit hovers over formless void
    1. Psalm 104:26 is similar
4. Fits with idea of universe/ time beginning with Big Bang
Human being's place in Creation
1. Jewish scripture= human beings at top of hierarchy of all life
2. Psalm 8: You have been given dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet
3. Genesis 1:26 humans made in the image of God
  1. Superior?
  2. Privileged?
  3. Imago Dei suggests share some of God's attributes?
  4. Rationality; to think and reason?
  5. NOT that God is like a human and made humans to match himself physically
The Beauty of Creation
1. God creates ordered, beautiful, harmonious, world
  1. The beauty off creation reveals the creator
    1. "The beauty of creation reflects the infinite beauty of the Creator" - Catechism of the Catholic Church 341
2. Disharmony= caused by humans; against God's wishes
Genesis and Myth
1. Message of myth= important, not the literal truth of it
  1. What matters is the MESSAGE of the creation stories
2. Genesis= communicates Jewish beliefs of God as Creator of World (1) and humans as most important part of creation (1)
3. 7 Days of Creation= myth?
  1. Many species of animals walked earth before humans or writing of the Bible
  2. G1 creation story= adopted ideas from the culture it emerged from? Influenced by earlier Psalm 104?
  3. Developed from Canaanite creation myths from Ugarit (Syria)- esp. God moving over water
Dates don't matter
1. When Bible refers to God creator its not concerned with the date when Earth began
2. Aquinas= G as C is concerned with G causing universe to exist & continuing to cause it to exist
Omni Qualities
1. Bible= analogies to say something about God
2. Omnipotent
  1. Unlimited power
    1. Created world!
    2. Job 38:12 : Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place
    3. Present through creation; world imbued with His power
      1. Controlling weather
        Joshua 10: 11b, 13 : the LORD threw down huge stones from heaven [...] ...And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
    4. Supremacy & greatness to humans (God is exalted in his power- Job 36: 22)
  2. Aquinas= God is 'active power'
  3. Can do anything logically possible?
3. Omniscience
  1. 'Infinite, limitless knowledge
  2. God's aware of his creation; knows exactly what happens within
    1. E.g. when Eve eats fruit from Tree of Knowledge
  3. Job 38: 31-33 : Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
4. Omnipresence
  1. Present throughout creation
    1. Responsible for everything that exists and continues to exist
    2. Job 38= God's presence is everywhere from the stars, weather, animals, death
  2. Linked to omnipotence
Uniqueness of God
1. Its highlighted by his Omni qualities
2. Completely different from anything which exists/ lives in the universe
God's responsibility for what happens within the universe
1. Usually associate a creator with the object that has been created; held responsible. Is God?
  1. BUT God shouldn't be compared to a human designer of any sort!
2. OR, natural disasters= God did a poor job--- THUS the world could be better if God's omnipotent; therefore he can't be omnipotent
  1. BUT God omnipotently made world full of change & natural law- natural disasters are consequence of world working in regular way. Makes world understandable for humans; world in which they can learn things. No change & development would = no births, no deaths!
  2. Possible explanations for why God, for example, created earthquakes- only in earthquake zones, and you can't blame car manufacturer if you step in front of car, really?
3. Different Approach
  1. God's responsible for everything coming into existence; how things behave within universe is according to natural laws of science or a personal decision
  2. People cause most evil in the world; the 'Free Will Defence'
    1. If God omnipotently intervenes then people don't have free will
  3. World exists as fact, but its a mistake to say God's responsible for what happens in it
  4. Science explains how world & universe work- gravity, evolution
  5. God X responsible for what happens in world because there's no need to believe in God to explain what happens in the world
  6. Richard Dawkins: "The desire to see purpose everywhere is a natural one"
  7. Its a faith choice; only matters if you believe in God

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	Created by Miranda Daniel almost 9 years ago