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God performed only one act of CREATION — of space, time, matter and energy ...all that is and ever will be — where absolutely nothing had existed before. (Ex nihilo)

While I am reluctant to put my foot into the "in-between" of a dispute between two such beloved brothers....

At first, I thought it was only a "semantic problem." I.e., the "meaningful" difference between "creation" and "formation."

But that didn't satisfy....

Then the thought occurred to me that this entire "dispute" is resolvable in terms of the concept of ex nihilo Creation, which the Holy Scriptures inerrently proclaims and attests.

From there, I wondered: What is the basis of the supposition that "'ex nihilo' creation" must be a one-time, one-off event?

There are a few folks around FR right now who are paying attention to "time problems," to problems of spatio-temporal dimensionality, of how space and time seem to go hand-in-hand in ordinary existence, and yet manifest to our individual consciousness in ways that point beyond spacetime itself.....

On that basis, I am not insisting that "ex nihilo creation" must be a one-off, one-time creation "event."

And so I'd give points to marron on this question....

Dear TXnMA, dear marron: May God ever bless you and all your dear ones!

Thank you so very much for sharing your views!!!

Yeah, I didn't want to get in the middle of a difference between two beloved brothers in Christ either.

And certainly, if the universe were not reliably made, we could not have form, substance, reason or language - much less be able to say anything useful about it whether science, math, philosophy or whatever.

And yet when we see a newly born child, we see a new creature in this universe. And that little creature may grow up to add never-before-envisioned arts, technology or whatever to the body of knowledge within this universe.

The Creation was God's doing. His alone. Man cannot undo it or remake it no more than he can end it or prevent its end. And yet it was God's will to let us be a part of what it'll become, whether for good or ill.

Thank you all so very much for your wonderful essay-posts!

I’m Just “hoseing” around... you understand...

WHAT IF?... Tele-Kinetic intelligent creative power is possible..
You know.... “Psychokinesis”

Surely not among humans but available somewhere in this vast “universe” -OR- beyond...
Humans might call this energy “God” or something..

Whether one entity or a committee, cabal, junta, or group one cannot tell..
Seems far more possible than Barry Obama trying to SPEND the U.S.S.A. out of debt..
OR provide Utopia for the Poor by stealing from the Rich...
OR making celebrities of useless eaters at the expense of the productive ones.. whom are milked and sheared like animals..

Under “Psychokinesis” time may be just a commodity, linear or circular depending on the need..
The human mind “jokes” about dimensions disregarding the implications of them..

Under this scenario “made by God” is quite logical..
If one considers “made” to mean “imagined”...

Behold: a rarity!!

Seldom, indeed, is it that I find three of my esteemed and beloved siblings in Christ in disagreement with me on so fundamental point as to whether ex nihilo creation was -- or was not -- uniquely confined to "the creation week".

(Point of distinction: I said, "was not", rather than "could not be" ...)

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Therefore, I must re-examine my position and ask myself a few questions:

Does Scripture list more than one instance of ex nihilo creation?
Does Scripture list instances of ex nihilo creation after the Creator began his "day of rest" ?
Is the birth of a child an act of ex nihilo creation, or is it an example of "formation" from pre-existing created material?
Was the ensoulment of Adam an act of ex nihilo creation -- or did God "breathe" into Adam HIS pre-existing "neshamah"? Note: this raises the question,
"Does introducing something [pre]existing in "the Heavenly dimension" into this universe -- where it never existed before -- constitute an act of ex nihilo creation?"
Was "man in the image of God" without precedent -- or was the Prototype from which he was modeled (God) already in existence? ("Let us make Man in Our image".) [Take note of the verb...]
When Adam (and his clone, Eve) were made/created in the Garden, and ordered to "be fruitful and multiply", did their ensoulment pass on to their offspring (as did the sin from their Fall)? Or...
Does God perform a new act of ex nihilo creation every time a human is born? Every puppy? Every seed that germinates? Every microbe that undergoes mitosis?
Were there no humans or other "creatures" conceived / born / germinated / sprouted into existence while God "rested" on the seventh day of Creation?
Is He busy, now, flitting all over His Earth (not to mention the rest of His universe) performing some sort of act of ex nihilo creation every time a human (or other "creature") begins existence?
Does the term, "creature" truly specify an act of ex nihilo creation?
Or, (like the Michaelangelo painting cited in #143) are we allowing a human construct (a word ["creature"]) in a human-devised language) to lead us to conclusions not warranted by Scripture?

While I cogitate on these questions -- and (re)-search Scripture for answers -- I hand them to you, my Sisters and Brothers in Christ, so that you can be ready to deal with whatever conclusions I reach...

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For those who have access to it, I refer you to

Schroeder, Gerald L., Genesis and the Big Bang -- specifically the chapter, "THE SOUL OF LIFE", PP 149-152.

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FWIW, marron my discussion of "created" vs "formed" was not nearly so much a disagreement with you as it was intended to be a lead-in to discussion of a couple of points I raised in my (mostly ignored) #143... But, I was "blindsided" into this "sidetrack" by my esteemed and beloved Sisters... ;-)

Yet, in all of this, my intended focus remains on the subject of this thread: "evolution vs creation"...

[[At first, I thought it was only a “semantic problem.” I.e., the “meaningful” difference between “creation” and “formation.”

But that didn’t satisfy....

Then the thought occurred to me that this entire “dispute” is resolvable in terms of the concept of ex nihilo Creation, which the Holy Scriptures inerrently proclaims and attests.]]

Again- I think it’s pretty clear that the bible talks about ex nihilo, AND also mentiosn the fact that death did not occure before the fall of man- The symantic differences between’creation/formation’ therefore are moot- if no death occured before the fall of man (Summarized ‘If you eat of the fruit, you shall surely die’) then evoltuion could not have happened, and it’s very likely that 6 days means just that- six days- The bible holds enough evidence to present a strogn ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ case for special one time creation UNLESS one delves into the word with a scalpal and the itnent of fittign hte word to a preconceived ideology that excludes God from the whole works- We don’t find anythign in God’s word to even begin suggestign htere were several creation events ‘outside of’ the six days, and I beleive it woudl take a seriosu imagination to invent a case for such an idea?

If I mistook your itnentions of your post in 218- I apologize, I just beleive we can stray quite far from God’s true itnentions in His word if we want to soemtimes- especially when the simplest answers seem to be the best msot of the time-