Origins of the Universe

• Catholics teach that God is an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent creator, who made the universe and everything in it​.
• The opening words of the Bible show God’s creative power, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth​.
• In Genesis 1 God creates the world in 6 days and rests on the 7th, this is followed by Genesis 2, another creation story where the humans God makes are named Adam and Eve.
• For Catholics Genesis is not literal but symbolic, it does not tell us the truth, but does tell us unmistakable truths about God and humans​.
• For example, in Genesis God is eternal and transcendent, creation reflects God’s power and benevolence​.
• God made the universe to fit the needs of humans due to his own goodness​.
• Catholics believe Genesis gives insights into the nature of God and why creation came into existence, this means they accept scientific theories of creation, which they think give the specifics on how the universe was created without undermining God​.
• John - ‘All things came into being through him’ 
• Creation ex nihilo means creation from nothing, the Bible teaches that this ability to create is unique to God due to his omnipotence​
• In Genesis 1 God creates everything for the universe without materials​
• Other Old/New Testament passages reinforce the idea that God alone is the architect of the universe which had no other beginning before God​
• God is the only eternal being, the only thing to exist prior to the universe​
• Aquinas supported creation ex nihilo, he created the ‘causation argument’ to show God was the ‘uncaused first cause’, Aquinas observed that everything in the universe showed cause and effect, every effect must have a cause for example a person must push a domino to cause the chain reaction​
• Aquinas concluded that logically the universe must have a cause too, the only being powerful enough to cause the universe is God as he is omnipotent, transcendent and eternal, so existed before anything else
• St Augustine wrote an autobiography called ‘Confessions’ in this he wrote about God creating the universe ex nihilo, he stated nothing existed before the universe except God, and God made the universe good​
• God is shown as superior to and different from the universe he created​
• ‘You were and besides you nothing was’ – Augustine shows God as an eternal being who existed before the universe​
• ‘You must have created them from nothing’ – God created the universe ex nihilo as he is omnipotent​
• ‘You are good and all that you make must be good’ – God is omnibenevolent and good, as is creation​
• ‘There is nothing you cannot do’ – God alone created the universe​
• Catholics:​

  • The Genesis accounts are symbolic stories because there are two accounts written at different times in different styles​
  • The stories are not the truth but have underlying truths which help to show the nature of God, humans and  creation​
• Fundamentalists:​

  • The creation stories should be interpreted literally​
  • The Bible is the word of God and everything in it is true, most believe the world was created in 6 days as described in Genesis and support the young earth theory (that the world is only a few thousand years old and not billions of years)​
  • Reject scientific attempts to explain creation as flawed because they undermine the creative power of God​
• Both Catholics and Fundamentalists:​

  • God is omnipotent and the ultimate creator, he created the universe and everything in it, God’s creation was good​
• Jews:

  • Tenakh - one God created the universe from nothing and is the source and sustainer of all life​
  • Genesis - first book of the Torah so share similar beliefs
  • Orthodox - think God created the universe in 6 days and rested on the 7th (factual account)
  • Reform - metaphorical
  • Observe Shabbat each week as a reminder of creation - ‘observe the Sabbath and keep it holy’
  • Rosh Hashanah - anniversary of the sixth day of creation
  • Barukh She’amar prayer - ‘Blessed be He who spoke and the world came into being’​