What do we understand by “creation”?
There is a difference between creation and production. We say the carpenter produces the table. We do not say that he creates the table. He is working on the material that exists in front of him and produces a beautiful table from it. Creation however is not produced from any previously existing matter but is from “nothing” simply by the power of God. We do not say that parents create a child but generate a child which is in line with the parents, same nature as the parents.
God creating the universe cannot also be called generating it. The nature of the universe and the nature of God are different. The Almighty Father in whom we believe is the creator and is the master of the universe. Psalm 95. 3-5 says that he is a great and mighty God and to him belongs the depths and heights of the earth as well as the sea and the dry land i.e., everything belongs to him. There were some heretics in the early centuries of the Christian era like Manicheans who said that the world and matter are created by the devil, the evil spirit.
Is the world evil?
A question could be asked: is the world evil? Is it to be considered as a place of temptations? Is it to be considered as a place of our temporary stay but our real and permanent home is heaven? I am afraid, after Vatican II’s document “Church in the Modern World” (Gaudium et Spes), we can no more think of the world as evil. What God has created is good. In the very first chapter of the Bible, we hear again and again the phrase ‘and God found it good’ and in the last set it is said “very good” (Genesis 1.31 “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good”).
The earth is our home since we are made from the earth (Cf. Genesis chapter 2) and our bodies contain so many chemicals found on this earth e.g., calcium, iron, zinc, phosphorous, iodine etc. It is true that finally we go to heaven i.e., where God is and God is everywhere. We would become, as Karl Rahner a theologian says, pan-cosmic i.e., part of the wide universe in a new stage of our existence in eternity with God and the whole of creation. But that eternal and fundamental choice is made here on this earth. So the time I spend on this earth is very important and useful because here my eternity is fashioned and so I cannot downgrade the time I spend on this earth. Here when we use this expression “creator of heaven and earth” what we mean is: that God is the creator of all that we see in the firmament above (sky) and on this earth on which we walk and live. In short it means the whole universe without any exception. In Paul’s letter to the Colossians 1.15-17 it is said that all things in heaven and on earth, including the invisibles i.e., angels and spirits are made by God in and through the Son.
The human being as a manager of the world
This universe that has been created is to be managed well and God willed that the human beings created in the image and likeness of God i.e., endowed with intelligence and free will and hence being persons somewhat similar to God, should share in this responsibility. This could be called as the ecological responsibility of the human being. He is not the owner to do as he wishes but he is only a manager who has to foster the well-being of this universe.
Genesis 2.15 says: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it”. But he misused it and continues to do so in his rebellion against God and so it happens that the world itself rebels against the human being: “…thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you…In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” (Gen 3.18-19). Similarly in Romans 8.19-23 we are told that the whole of creation has been subjected because of the sin of the human being and is eagerly waiting for the liberation of the children of God when it also will be freed. So it is a call for us to use well the things of this world for the glory of God, our own good and the good of the whole universe. It is then that joy, peace and happiness will overflow and for which the whole universe eagerly awaits. We wait for the new heavens and new earth at the end of times as the book of revelation proclaims (Rev 21.1).
What should a Catholic say or think about Evolution?
Here it is good to reflect on an allied question which troubles some people. They ask: while the Bible says the world was created in 6 days in a finished form as we see it today (Cf. The first two chapters of Genesis the first book of the Bible), science tells me that the world was evolved after the Big Bang and the universe is not only evolving but also expanding. Which am I to believe? First of all the Bible is not book to teach me science. It is a religious book to give me a religious message. There is no difficulty in religion to hold to the big bang theory. What we have to say, however, is that God is the one who created the original matter and established the inner laws i.e., put the big bang on its course. There is also no difficulty in holding the theory of evolution. Normally theologians distinguish two types of theories of evolution: one is a chance, random occurrence without rhyme or reason and is also euphemistically called as “blind evolution”; the other is “guided evolution” wherein we say that God is the hidden force, which some scientists would prefer to call force “X”, which guides the evolution so that it proceeds according to the laws of nature established by God.
Purposefulness is observed in the line of evolution where we find that what is strong and fitting survives; the weak on the contrary tends to disappear from the scene; environment itself seems to help the organism to adapt and modify to face the changed situation. So, we see a certain determining line of evolution. The one who believes says that God is the one who works behind the scene without directly interfering each time but having programmed the whole of creation at the very beginning it works itself out according to the known or unknown laws of nature.
God’s power is manifested in these secondary agencies through which God achieves his purposes just like the efficient Executive who does not have to run round to every department but having organized the whole thing sits back and watches as everything runs out smoothly; the efficient Executive is acclaimed for his wisdom and success. So it is not needed for God’s direct intervention at every stage! There is no difficulty for a Catholic to hold the theory of guided, theistic evolution which seems very probable. It is even permissible to hold that the human body itself is evolved from lower animal species according to the laws of evolution, but at some stage in that evolution, God created the human soul (which God does even today: our parents generate our bodies but it is God who creates our immortal soul simultaneously). In fact God’s greatness, goodness and power are seen in evolution where we see that God can act even through secondary agencies as we mentioned above!
To be continued next Thursday…