I have recently written a post in which there has been dialog discussing differences in Mormon and Christian theologies. On my post calledMore Dialog on Mormonism Part 1 - Responses
I was pointed to the following article by Blake T. Ostler. The article is supposed to be a refutation to a work by Paul Copan and William Lane Craig in which they argue that Mormons are wrong and that God created the universe out of nothing. It turns out that many Mormons believe that God made the universe out of pre-existing chaos. Who knew? What amazed me at the article was the professional polish and detail displayed in it. Craig and Copan argue that the Bible and Physics teach that all of the universe was created out of nothing - "creatio ex nihilo" in latin. Ostler takes offense. He argued that the Bible teaches "creatio ex materia"- latin for creation out of material. I think Ostler fails to prove his case for five reasons:1. He asserts that "creates" in Genesis 1:1 does not mean "out of nothing" but never explains why. Instead he spend his time in the New Testament trying to show that the earth was created out something. Genesis 1:1 says
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2. Craig and Copan, and for that matter myself, do not argue that the earth was created out of nothing -- no all of matter, time, and space was created out of nothing. Using scripture pointing out that those things were organized into the configurations we see today is moot
3. He seems to confuse "make" with "create". There is a difference. You "make" something out of what's available. You create something that is new.
4. There was no refutation of the "ex nihilo" argument from the ground of Physics as William Lane Craig always uses when he defends the truth of God's existence against atheists and skeptics.
5. Ostler never explained where the "chaos" out of which the Heavens and earth were made came from.
From what I understand "ex nihilo" undermines Mormon Theology because it automatically points to a transcendent and timeless God...while Joseph Smith had taught that God was once a man who had a god but became a god himself - infinitely regressed backward.
LDS Prophet Joseph Smith taught that God was once a mortal man:
"God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. ...I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil,...
It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, ...and that He was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ Himself did; ...you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another,... from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings. and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power" (History of the Church, Vol. 6, Ch. 14, p. 305-6).
