I read recently this blog post.

https://Newedenministry.com/2020/06/14/creatio-ex-omnia/

The thoughts in this post arose from that blog post - read it. It’s good.

I’ve always been told that God created what is from nothing.  The fancy theological term is “creation ex nihilo”. I loved the way the blog post talked about another way of seeing creation.

Let’s set up the idea a little. 

First of all, most people who assent to some idea of a god, would agree that god (whatever god is) is infinite. 

And most would agree that infinite is that with no limits or end.  And for something to be truly infinite, in the absolute sense, it is infinite in all directions and in all dimensions. 

For something to be infinite, it cannot be contained by anything. 

So, if god is infinite, than rather than being contained by anything, god is the “thing” that contains all things.   (I use “thing” for lack of any word that can describe the infinite)

Thus we cannot think of god as being “in heaven” because in order for a god to be contained in a place called heaven, heaven would have to contain god and if god is infinite nothing can contain god.  This is one way we know that when the Bible talks about heaven, it is not being literal, but is being metaphorical, or rather – metaphysical. 

It is this kind of infiniteness that in fact defines god.  Due to god’s infiniteness, there is nothing which is not god.  God is the sum total of everything. 

The Bible speaks of this when it says that “god is over all and through all and in all. “

And not only is god in and through everything but is also in and through every possible non-thing you can imagine. And every possible thing and non-thing you CAN’T imagine.  And… every NON possible thing and non-thing.    It is all in god and god is in all of it.  There is no separation.   

Even nothingness is not a boundary that contains god.  If it were, god would not be infinite. 

So…  back to creation.  

The idea of creation being a process whereby something is brought into being from nothing suggests that the something and the nothing are separate entities.  Our logic tells us this must be so. However, if god is both the something and the nothing they are NOT separate entities, but in fact - one. So in order to even speak of “something” as a different thing from “nothing” a division must occur.

Therefore, creation is not so much a bringing something out of nothing process, but rather an act of separation.    

Creation and the incarnation of something new happens when the boundless infinite creates boundaries.  Separations between things that exist from things that do not exist, thus creating existence as a separate entity.  God was in all of it- or rather WAS all of it -  before god separated existence from non-existence. 

So, if god was both existence and non-existence and god separated them from each other in order to create, then god doesn’t just create a separation between two things, but actually creates a separation within god’s self in order to create. 

Think about this for a minute.  What does that mean about separation?  I was always taught that separation from god was a bad thing and should be avoided at all costs.  And yet, if god is infinite — god had to have created a separation within god’s self in order to create. 

So, how can separation be a bad thing?

If separation creates?

If it were not for separation, there would be no life, no diversity, no conflict certainly, but also no change and growth.  I myself have grown and changed tremendously through separations.  Separation from old ideas, old behavior patterns, old relationships and relationship patterns.  

Every change is a separation from what was there previously.

And we see this ultimately in the crucifixion event when god is again, separated from god’s self and cries out, “my god, my god, why have you forsaken me?”

And a new thing is created. 

Behold I make all things new. 

To comment click on the header “Creating through Separation”