St Augustine - creation ex nihlo

• St Augustine: 'there was nothing from which you could make heaven and earth. Therefore, you must have created them from nothing...there is nothing that you cannot do. You are good and all that you make must be good'
• The Catholic Church teaches there is one omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent God who is responsible for creating the universe and everything in it
• Creation in Genesis

  The opening words of the Bible show God's creative power, stating 'in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth' (Genesis 1:1)
• God's creative role in Genesis 1

  Creates the world in six days and rests on the seventh
• God's creative role in Genesis 2

  Creates the world and creates humans, who he calls Adam and Eve
• God in Genesis

  • Eternal and transcendent (outside of space and time)
• Most Catholics read the Genesis accounts as symbolic stories. They give insights into the nature of God and why creation came into existence. This means Catholics accept scientific explanations as they provide the specifics of how the universe was created
• Creation ex nihilo

  To create from nothing
• St Augustine of Hippo wrote about God creating the world ex nihilo
• Nothing existed before the universe was created, except God
• God created the universe ex nihilo as he is omnipotent
• God is omnibenevolent and good, so the universe is good
• God is shown as superior to and different from the universe he created
• 1 John 4:16: 'God is love'
• Love

  Exists as three things: the Lover, the beloved and the love between the two
• In the nature of God

  God the Father is the lover, God the Son is the beloved, and the Holy Spirit is the love between the two
• Love cannot exist on its own, it needs something to give it and someone to receive it</b>
• Love therefore needs to be in three parts – just as the Trinity is three persons united together in love
• God as a Trinity of love

  • Reminds Christians of the goodness of God
  • God's love pours out into the hearts and lives of believers
• If God is love, God must exist as a Trinity