THE PROBLEM OF CREATION

  1. INTRODUCTION.
    How is God related to the world? The Scrptures teach that the world has been created by God (Gen. 1:1, etc.). How is this relation to be interpreted? Does all forms of theism take God to be the creator of the universe? The answer is "No", if the word "creator" means the being who makes the world out of nothing (ex nihilo). In the theology of the Greek philosophers, there is no concept of a God who creates out of nothing. In fact, the Greek philosophers denied that the world was created out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo) asserting that "Out of nothing, nothing comes" (ex nihilo nihil fit). According to Aristotle and in traditional theism, God is considered to be related to the world as the cause to an effect.

  2. HISTORY.
    1. ANCIENT THEORIES.
      The Greeks had two different views of the relation of God to the world, neither of which involved creation. One of these relations may be called transformation and the other emanation. These stand in contrast to the Biblical view.
      1. Plato.
      2. Aristotle.
      3. NeoPlatonists.
      4. Augustine.
      5. The Biblical View.
      6. Medieval Schoolmen.

    2. MODERN THEORIES.
      1. Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism.
      2. Theistic Evolution.
      3. Progressive Creation.
      4. Treshold Evolution.
      5. The Day-Age Theory.
      6. The Literal Day Theory.
      7. The Gap Theory.
      8. Flood Geology.
      9. Tranquil Flood Theory.
      10. Local Flood Theory.
      11. Creationism.

  3. CONCLUSION.
    1. The Creation and First Law of Thermodynamics.
    2. The Second Law of Thermodynamics and Death.
    3. The Biblical Flood.
      1. The Pre-Flood World.
      2. The Flood.
      3. The Post-Flood World.
    4. Adam When?.

  4. COSMOLOGY.
    1. Theory of Relativity.
    2. Special Relativity.
    3. General Relativity.
    4. The Relativity of Space and Time.
    5. The Big Bang Theory.
    6. Supersymmetry.
    7. Grand Unified Theory.
      1. SuperString Theory.
      2. Twistor Theory.
      3. Black Hole Theory.
    8. Theory Of Everything.
    9. Before the Big Bang.
    10. Conclusion.
      1. Laws of Thermodynamics.
      2. Theory of Relativity.
      3. The Age of Reason.
      4. The Relativity of Space and Time.
      5. The Biblical View of Space and Time.