[P-Marlowe]

You don't have to search through Macabees to find the principle of creation "ex-nihlo" all you have to do is look at the psalms:

Psa 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

The universe was spoken into existence. It was not "organized" from pre-existing material. All the material necessary to make the universe was created by God, by the breath of his mouth.

Wai-ming, if you believe that there was anything that pre-existed God, then what was it and what proof do you have to support your position?

[wai-ming]

I learned in high school that "matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed from one form to another." I believe it is called The First Law of Thermodynamics.

I have no problem with a God who works within natural laws rather than circumventing them. Did God create everything out of nothing? He probably could have if He had wanted to. But perhaps matter and energy have always existed, just as God has.

Ps 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

Great scripture. God decreed it, and so it was done. Nothing "ex nihilo" about that.

Wasn't it Julie Andrews who sang "Nothing comes from nothing. Nothing ever will..."?

[The_Reader_David]

The passage of the Psalmist when read in light of the already accepted doctrine of creation ex nihilo supports the doctrine, but it cannot be said to be a scriptural basis for the doctrine: making by word could simply be evidence of sovereignty over pre-existing matter--it obeys His word.

In fact the only explicit Scriptural support for "from nothing" comes from Maccabees. (The passage you cite could more easily be read as support for the participation of the Son = Word, and Spirit = breath in the creation, than as a basis for creation ex nihilo.)