Creation

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What have we covered so far…

I believe…  Role of faith and its relationship to reason  Apologetics   Truth and threats to it …in God…  Proofs for God’s existence   Atheism/agnosticism …the Father Almighty…  Attributes of God  Religion  Indifferentism and truth

What’s next?

 “…creator of heaven and earth…”

CCC ¶

282

 “…the basic question that men of all times have asked themselves: “Where do we come from?” “Where are we going?” “What is our origin?” “What is our end?” “Where does everything that exists come from and where is it going?” The two questions, the first about the origin and the second about the end, are inseparable. They are decisive for the meaning and orientation of our life and actions .”

CCC ¶

283-285

   Scientific discoveries about our origins have been great! “These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator” “Since the beginning the Christian faith has been challenged by responses to the question of origins that differ from its own.”  “All these attempts bear witness to the permanence and universality of the question of origins. This inquiry is distinctively human .”

“Distinctively human”

 What makes us unique? Why does it matter?

Sheed reading for Tuesday

CCC

¶337-343

 Heirarchy of being

God the Creator: Why?

 “Until we know WHY a thing exists, we cannot properly know anything else about it. Whatever details we can discover by studying it, our interpretation of the details must always be governed by our understanding of WHY the thing exists at all.” -Sheed  What is the purpose of the universe? Why did God create it?

How was the world created?

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2.

 God created it (necessary being) God created

ex nihilo

: out of nothing

CCC

¶296 “If God had drawn the world 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” –St. Theophilus of Antioch

“God creates an ordered and good world” (

CCC

¶299)

 “And God saw that it was good…very good” (Gn 1) for God willed creation as a gift addressed to man.  Anthropic Principle: Creation is ordered to man (all the variables of the universe are “just” right)  Cosmic Origins Episode 2

CCC

¶301: God’s continual care

 “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.”

Mirror analogy – Frank Sheed

 Another comparison from human experience may help. If I stand in front of a mirror, my image is in the mirror, but only while I stand there. If I go, it goes. Only my continuing presence keeps the image in being.

 The reason is that the image is not made OF the mirror but only IN the mirror. The mirror contributes nothing but receptiveness: it is purely receptive, purely passive. So of the nothingness in which God mirrors himself: we may figure it as receptive or passive – carrying receptivity, passivity to the ultimate power. Thus the image is sustained by my continuing presence: the universe is sustained by God's continuing presence. Take me away and the image ceases. Take God away and the universe ceases.

  What would happen to the universe if God was taken away?

What happens if we do not see the world as upheld by God at all times?

It’s a matter of sanity…

 If we see anything at all--ourselves or some other man, or the universe as a whole or any part of it--without at the same time seeing God holding it there, then we are seeing it all wrong. If we saw a coat hanging on a wall and did not realize that it was held there by a hook, we should not be living in the real world at all, but in some fantastic world of our own in which coats defied the law of gravity and hung on walls by their own power. Similarly, if we see things in existence and do not in the same act see that they are held in existence by God, then equally we are living in a fantastic world, not the real world. Seeing God everywhere and all things upheld by Him is not a matter of sanctity, but of plain sanity, because God is everywhere and all things are upheld by Him. -Frank Sheed

Psalm 8

 O Lord, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth! You have set your majesty above the heavens!

 When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place —what are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them?  Yet you have made them little less than a god, crowned them with glory and honor.

 O lord, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth!

 Wisdom 11:22, 24-26  Indeed, before you the whole universe is as a grain from a balance, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.

 For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned. And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved had it not been called forth by you? But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord and lover of souls.

Genesis 1-3

   The first three chapters of Genesis are myth and historical.

Myth:

(a parable or etiological story) a story that teaches a truth.

“An etiological narrative offers a mythic explanation for the origin of something (as opposed to a historical or scientific explanation) and thus frees an individual or culture from defining something in strictly historical or scientific terms. In other words, an etiological narrative gives

reign to poetry, dream states, imagination, and associative creativity

. It is the language of origins liberated from the constraints of history and science.”

Children start with myths not history or science:

Genesis 2:7

And Yahweh God formed man from the dirt of the ground.

As we mature we can grow in appreciation of myth and add to it with science and history.

 “This is not to say that etiological narratives are always completely fanciful —with never a link to history or science of any kind whatsoever. It is only to say that etiological narratives, to the degree that they constitute a genre of communication, are first and foremost imaginative. To lay upon them the burden of having to be in accord with the formal disciplines of history and science is, therefore, to misidentify their primarily mytho poetic purpose.”

Fundamentalism

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A religious movement after WWII which adhered strictly to conservative principles.

1.

Literal interpretation of Scripture.

Holds that the earth was created in seven 24 hour days.

2.

Entire history of the universe is described in the list of genealogies in the OT. (Therefore, 4000-8000 years old) Faith and Reason completely split.

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Has effected both Protestants and Catholics.

http://creationmuseum.org/whats-here/photo preview/ How would you respond?

Read p. 127-128 in

Fundamentals of the Faith

 What 3 differences does the doctrine of creation make?

 Knowledge of God  Knowledge of the world  Knowledge of ourselves

So what scientific/historical truths does Genesis teach that the Church accepts and also teaches?

1.

There must be a beginning 2.

 Monogenism: 1st set of parents Identical Ancestors Point (5,000-15,000 years ago) 3.

4.

5.

Original Sin God infused the soul directly Anthropic Principle

Understanding myth and history

   As we have seen, Genesis is considered “myth” and yet contains historical truths as well. Pius XII taught that Genesis is not “on par” with other myths but is superior to them because of the divine inspiration God gave in the creation of the story of Genesis. Furthermore, we must understand that Genesis’ history, as well as science, is not to be understood as attempting the same techniques as today’s scientific and historical methods. (Mark Shea article)

Fundamentalism

1.

1.

Literal interpretation of Scripture.

Holds that the earth was created in seven 24 hour days.

2.

Entire history of the universe is described in the list of genealogies in the OT. (Therefore, 4000-8000 years old) How would you respond?

How to refute Fundamentalism

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Explain the author’s intention: the bible is a religion book, not strictly a history or science book.

1.

The true meaning of Divine Inspiration Divine Inspiration “uses” human authors as they are. The human authors of Genesis were incapable of making claims based on modern day scientific facts and methods. The Hebrew word for day is

yom

which means era or epoch rather than a 24 hr. period. Genealogies were teaching tools for the Jews, not exactly historical.

Big Bang Theory

 Proposed by a Roman Catholic priest: Fr. Georges Lemaitres  Not atheistic but held by most atheists (recall the different questions faith and science ask)  There is no contradiction between believing in the Big Bang and Catholicism so a Catholic can, but does not have to believe this theory.

Evolution

 1.

Evolutionary theory does not necessarily deny revelation and can be maintained by Catholics under the following conditions from JPII: Dialogue must remain open at the scientific level since there are still competing theories.

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5.

Many theories of evolution do not rely on scientific fact but on certain philosophical presuppositions. The theory of evolution is not yet absolutely certain.

As long as the theory does not contradict Revelation, it can aid to our understanding of humans.

Dogmas that cannot be denied:

Test Thursday on Creation

          What question is unique to humans?

Why did God create the universe?

How was the universe created?

 By God, out of nothing, anthropic principle Image for God’s continual care?

 Insanity, mirror, return to natural state What is the proper relationship of faith and science?

What does it mean if we say the first 11 chapters of Genesis are “myth”?

What historical truths does Genesis teach us? (5) Fundamentalism? Refutation? Big Bang Theory?

 Lemaitres, problems?

Evolution?

 Problems?