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| February 26, 2014 |
Ex Nihilo: Did God Create the World out of Nothing?
I was studying the Bible lesson for Sunday February 16, 2014 titled, How did we get here and why? from our Baptist study guide; Bible Studies for Life. From the time I read the explanation of ex nihilo, I was fired up thinking this explanation was not wrong, but incomplete. Some people may even go as far as declaring the theory of "Ex Nihilo" as completely wrong because Bible did not imply or indicate as such. The "Ex Nihilo" means God created the world out of nothing. Is this true? How can God create this flamboyant world and the entire system working in unison out of nothing? A consistent pattern of intricate design that seems to repeat itself, in certain specific order in creation was created out of nothing? I do believe God can do anything he wants to do, but everything God created follow certain patterns of laws and order within any system. That is how anybody who does not even believe in God can see the evidence of a designer in the entire creation of God. That designer is the Creator, and his name his God! God cannot violate that order; otherwise man will be very confused about God’s way of doing things. God following certain pattern, process, or design is what created science. Without following these special designs science will be unable to investigate God’s complex creation. If God violates the order in which he created things, there will be chaos and nothing for us to study. The entire world will be in disarray. Such a system will collide and quickly become non-functional. Consequently, it is very important for us to understand God created a functioning world, the universe and the creations both man and animals following certain laws and order.
Human Soul-spirit Complex
The first verse that disqualifies the theory of "ex nihilo" is, "Before I made you in the belly, I knew thee" (Jeremiah 1:5). God is saying through this verse that your soul – your spiritual existence existed in the spirit realm before manifestations in the physical. God did not say, at the beginning "I created thee," while at the same time referring to a functioning person prior to appearance on earth. How can you know how a system functions without testing it or seeing it in action? "I knew you," means you are a functioning soul created and active in the spirit realm before physical manifestation on earth. The first created independent computer is the human soul. God gave that soul a spirit as the functioning unit and a locomotive engine. God then placed the soul-spirit complex inside another computer called the human body to facilitate the experience of life on earth. Wow! At times the human body computer breaks down and the spirit-soul complex just come out of the body and back into the spirit dimension where it originally came from.
The second verse that disqualifies the theory of "ex nihilo" says, "In him was life, and the life was the light of men" (St. John 1:4). John is the only book of the gospel that gives us a glimpse of the spiritual manifestation and birth of Christ from the spiritual realm into the physical. All the other gospels discussed about the physical birth of Christ from the earthly perspective. So only the gospel of St. John explained how the pre-existing spirit of Christ took a physical body and lived among us.
Creations Follow Certain Order
In putting these two verses of the Bible together it becomes evident that God did not create the world out of nothing. From the earthly perspective, it appears as though God created the world out of nothing. Right! From the spiritual perspective and in reality, before God created the world, God himself already mapped the plan of creation within himself as an architect building a house. Prior to building a house an architect will sit down and design the building and the way each room will look to the eyes. The house will not come into existence by the architect snapping his fingers or slapping somebody upside the head. Builders have to build the house according to already designed specifications by the designer. Those architects are so smart not to put the kitchen with beautiful aroma of food being prepared in closer proximity to the opposing aroma of the bathroom. In this case, the designer is the architect. Similarly, before God created anything, he first created the blue print of creation (or the building plan) within himself. When he speaks the words, what comes out was a special design from the heart of God that manifests in the earthly. Good Lord! And some people say there is no God. They must be real crazy!
To Christians who lack spiritual understanding, God is reduced to a magician when we allude that he created the world out of nothing. God does not draw a bird from a hat like magicians do. Magicians play tricks to deceive people. God is not a magician or a trickster. Everything God created follow certain order and pattern. Prior to those things manifesting in the earthly realm, God the Father had the master plan within himself. The creation of the world is not God calling the world out of nothing, but God bringing the already designed system within himself into manifestations in the earthly realm. Creation is therefore a process of God bringing what is invisible in the spirit realm to visible things in the earthly realm. Just because we are unable to see the events of the spirit realm does not mean we have to reduce God to a magician.
Nullifying "Ex Nihilo"
Only God knows where people got this theory of "ex nihilo" from because the Bible in Genesis did not say, nor imply such. "In the beginning, the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep" (Genesis 1:1-2). It did not say there was nothing. The Bible say there was something, on earth prior to God calling things to order. If there was nothing on earth prior to God calling things to order, then God will violate his own principle. So, from the earthly dimension there was something here before God called things to order. We do not know when God created the world without form. But he created the world out of something. Consequently the theory of "ex nihilo" is non-Biblical. In the Bible lesson the Baptist Bible Studies for life lesson on page 116 for that Sunday February 16, 2014 implied that God created the universe out of nothing. This is inaccurate. God said, "Before I made you in the belly, I knew thee." If this is true, how could God have created the earth out of nothing? This verse confirmed that the master plan of creation (the blue print) was already designed inside God. "Ex Nihilo" is an exercise in human cognitive process lacking the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Nice try!
Pre-Existence of Souls
Further studies of the Bible also implied that God already created all the souls that would appear on earth. God is not busy creating new souls. God is done creating things based on what the Bible said in Genesis when God rested. For many years, I questioned why everybody born in this world is guilty of the sin of Adam and Eve. It finally became obvious to me that all souls that were appearing on earth were already created at the time God created the world - - - from the foundation of the world. If we were not in existence in "soul form" at the time Adam and Eve committed the original sin there was no way for us to have been smeared with their sin. In many situations in the Bible it is implied that God created everything from the foundation of the world, meaning from the beginning. Even the plan of redemption was already created from the foundation of the world.
"All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8).
Jesus did not die from the foundation of the world. He died when he appeared in the New Testament as a sacrificial Lamb of God for the sins of the world. Consequently, the blue print of salvation was already designed from the beginning of time. The interesting thing about the book of Revelation is the covering of three time periods; the past, present and future. The book also covers two dimensions; the spiritual and the physical. God does not live in either of those time dimensions. God exists in timeless existence in the Spirit realm of His Holiness. Praise God!
The blue print of creation first existed in the heart of God. When God speaks, he calls what is already designed inside him, in the spiritual, to physical manifestations on earth. To us in the early realm, God created the world out of nothing. No! He did not! God created the world out of the master plan design within himself. That was why Jesus said in the Lord’s prayer, "May it be done on earth, as it is in Heaven." Meaning, Jesus requested the bringing the heavenly existence to manifest from the spirit realm into the physical realm on earth. Similarly in his creation process, God brought what already existed from the spiritual into the physical dimension on earth. The earth is therefore a passageway for all souls to experience the purification process by fire after the original sin. The human purification by fire is the subject of my next book coming out in summer 2014 about the power of Redemptive Suffering and Forgiveness. The book answers why there are so many sufferings in the world. Because we live in a fallen world is one of the answers, but not the key answer. The Lord revealed other reasons why we go through trials and tribulations on earth. Actually the answers are more positive than the fact that we live in a fallen world.
In the earthly dimension, we are just passing through as souls in transit. We come from our spiritual existence into earthly existence. After the earthly journey is over, we take off earthly garment and go back into the spirit dimension.
By Yinka Vidal, Author, Closer Walk With Jesus
Follow on Twitter: @YinkaVidal
